August 29, 2023 • 32 mins
Sportscaster, podcast host and new mom Erin Andrews joins Brooke for the last episode of the season! The Fox Sports mega star talks about her most embarrassing sideline gig, and why she feels she has to work harder than her male counterparts. Plus, Erin opens up about her decade-long fertility struggles and gives a candid perspective of the surrogacy process.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
What do you do when life doesn't go according to plan?
That moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down
with a guest to talk about the times they were
knocked off course and what they did to move forward.
(00:27):
Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all
are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and
every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice
answers one question. Now what, there's a there's total total sisterhood.
(00:52):
And then Nanny Connie for sure, I.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Know, teach me, please God, teach me.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Oh she's the best. So she made you let's see
potato chip cookies.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yet I know, and I'm pissed off.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Tell her to get get on that.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I don't know about you.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I absolutely suck at anything domestic in my life. I
basically feel like I'm back at college. I'm learning everything.
And you know, when she asked me, do you have this,
prime example, do you have a bunt cake pan? My
husband then looks for her and goes a bum cake,
No idiot, no a bunt. I don't have one, girl,
Go to your neighbor and go get one.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We got.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I mean, I am learning, burping the baby, changing the baby.
What I'm missing in my kitchen. It's been a real
tutorial over here.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
My guest today is veterans sportscaster and new mom Aaron Andrews.
Aaron has been in the game for decades, as a
fixture at Fox Sports and a familiar face to millions
who watched the NFL e tweek. Outside of football, she's
covered in a number of other pro sports, host a
TV shows, has a successful clothing line, and co hosts
(02:03):
the podcast Calm Down with fellow sportscaster Carissa Thompson. Aaron
is down right impressive. She's one of those people who
seems to meet every challenge head on. I am grateful
for her time and vulnerability, and I hope that you
enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Here is
Erin Andrews. First of all, congratulations, Oh thank you, and
(02:34):
nice to meet too. Nice to meet you too, baby Mac.
How old is see?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
So he is going to be I guess he was.
He's gonna be six weeks this week? Yeah, hey, can
I just ask as a mother? My husband and I
are having a really hard time when you like see
a couple or you see a mother and you're like, oh,
how old your baby and they're like seventeen months? And
he's like, are we going to be those people? Because
I don't know if I am, maybe I will be.
(03:00):
A lot of stuff is already surprising me. I feel
like I'll be like, well, he's a little over a year,
But what is with the calculation?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I can't do math that fast.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
That's such a funny question, you know. I think it's
that your life changes so drastically that you're just and
the days feel so long. Then the years go by
really quickly. So I think that it's just this documentation
of like, and that was another day I survived. Oh wait,
(03:30):
we got through a week, you know. So I do
think that that it's this like it's like a badge
of honor to be like seventeen months and four.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Days exactly in fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
It's like a life sentence, except you're you're checking off
the days. Yeah, because your life will never be the same. However,
you won't trade it for anything, but by the same token.
They they're total strangers. Yeah, and they live off of you,
(04:00):
like in your house, and it's it's bizarre, Like it's
very strange. You guys have to get to know each.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Other exactly well, and even more so for me because
there's no connection in terms of me carrying him, you know,
I almost feel like it's so interesting the guy in
the relationship. They always talk about, you know, the person
that didn't carry the baby, and how you know whoever
that is didn't really connect with the baby and it
takes a minute.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And so that's.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Something with Nanny Connie that when I normally live in
La and we have a place out here in Montana,
and she said, after you have this baby, let's go
to Montana because we're here, and I don't you know,
a lot of my friends didn't come out this summer,
which is good because I'm in it with him.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Trying to learn him.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
So I don't know if that's something I've kind of
created in my head, but I feel like, even more so,
my connection is something I'm trying to create with him.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So for people that don't know who Nanny Connie is,
she's a legend, an angel, she's an angel iventioned a
baby whisper. She is, and she is a baby nurse
amed nanny. You know, I worked with her from my
with my second daughter, and a lot of it is
(05:15):
I had to learn how to do certain things too.
But she takes away the fear because we're not giving
a book. There's no rule book. There's also a lot
of guilt, like I had a tremendous amount of guilt
with my first daughter because I had really bad postpartum depression.
But I'm sure she tells you, I mean, you are
that baby's only mama.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I like study his face and she will constantly say
in the background, that's your baby, that's your baby. And
it's like, oh, you know, because it took me like
nine ten years to get him with all my trials
with IVF and so forth, and failed pregnancies and failed
circuses and so forth. So yeah, all the things. She's
an angel. She's a nurse, she's a nanny, she is
(05:57):
a therapist. She is like a bit of you know,
heaven in your living room. It's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I totally identify with I mean, I went through IVF
seven times.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Oh wow, I didn't know that you went you.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Eight, you said eight.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Nine.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, oh god, it's just it's so heartbreaking, and it's
it's worse like my husband would see me rip off
the estrogen patches, you know, I would be bleeding and
then lost pregnancies. And and then when you really start
talking to people and you realize how common it is,
you know, but is your h how is your schedule
(06:31):
going to change with the with the start of the
NFL season.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
That's going to be the hard part for me. That's
why this month has been so good for us. And
we get home in a couple of weeks and it's
just like boom, here we go. And you know, if
I have a random, you know, athlete calling me for
the game I'm studying for, if we have a you
know call change for you know, we are our life
is based off of what the teams that were covering
(06:57):
schedule basically, So if we have a set schedule with
a head coach and a quarterback at nine am on
a Tuesday, but then practice didn't go right, he's injured,
we go off of them. So then we had, you know,
and so my life has to kind of change. And
then of course I travel and I go do sit
down interviews, and I'm there for the game, and I
(07:17):
pray the game doesn't go too long so I can
get back on my flight and get home for that night.
You know, we miss Thanksgivings, we miss Christmas, so a
lot of anxiety all wrapped into one. And it's about
to happen in four to five weeks, which is absolutely crazy.
But again, the good thing with Connie is she's been
with people like you. She's been with people that have
really hectic schedules, and she's like, baby, we'll get through it.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
But you've been in sports and you've been a sideline
reporter for so many years. You've covered college football, You've
covered the NFL, and then you also covered baseball, hockey, basketball,
and even NASCAR.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I mean, I did one stont on NASCAR, and it
was my biggest nightmare in the whole world, my big nightmare.
And I'm interested to know what yours is coming from
the acting world. Mine is I wake up, I'm at
a game or I'm at an event that I don't
know why I didn't prepare for, because preparation for me
is insane. It's half of the reason why I have
(08:16):
wrinkles or anxiety. So NASCAR, the one event. I had
just signed with Fox Sports. I'd been with ESPN for
eight years. Here she is, they're rolling her out for
their big event at Nascart's before football. I don't know
anyone like I will do my best studying. And they
had played it off. They said, no, no, no, no, no,
it's a fun walk and talk. You're just gonna go out,
(08:37):
you know, before the race, and you're going to talk
to all the drivers right before they get in their cars.
I'm like, okay, I can bys with the best of them.
I had studied the people that they said we we're
going to go to all right, we're going to send
it down to the newest member of our Fox Sports family,
Aaron Andrews, her debut at NASCAR. Well, she's just going
to catch up with some of the drivers and see
(08:58):
what they're up to second before they go into their car. Guys,
thanks so much. I'm so thrilled to be here. It's
an honor. I'm so excited. Let's head over to that
driver's not there. Let's okay, Well they're not there, Well,
we'll come back later. Let's head over to where danikapet everybody.
Brooke went to go pee. I had no one to
(09:19):
talk to. Nightmare coming true, and I was like, oh
my god, oh my god, finally fifty cent is here.
Fifty I mean, you know, it was horrific, awful experience.
So yes, that was my one NASCAR experience, and I
am mortified. Whenever I see a driver, they're like, you
remember that, I remember it? You know what I think
about it at three thirty in the morning with chest pains.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
You know, I can't even I can't even imagine keeping
all of the information. So how do you prepare? Do you?
What's like, what's your homework?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Like? So much so and I don't even use like
three fourths of it right Like, I sit there with
my big binder, my big trapper keeper on the sidelines
in my arm.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I'm holding it.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I've got all my stuff typed out ready to go.
If it rains, I get pissed off because it gets wet.
I've got my notepad. We get packets every single day,
so getting ready. In a couple of weeks, we are
going to do a preseason game, and then two weeks
after that we have Week one. So we're already now
getting every day packets of every single article that was
(10:20):
written of these teams, and when you are doing teams
brook that are big time markets, like your New York's,
your Philadelphia's, your Dallas. Dallas has like seven thousand writers.
Your pamphlet is this big and I am so anal
and probably something I need to let go and maybe
baby Mac and Connie will teach me about that. I
don't have to read every single one. But because I'm
(10:42):
a female, because I never played, because I never want
the NASCAR experience at the football game, I feel like
I have to read everything. Then during the week we
get on calls that are probably two hours long with
the head coach, the quarterback, the star of the defense,
the defense, which that teaches the defense. It's way more
preparation that i'll, like I said, i'll ever ever use.
(11:05):
But I am so like robotic that if I don't
have that done, I feel like I will be paralyzed
on the field. Which probably is a great session for
doctor phil Why who.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Knows that type of preparedness that you are just describing
is so important. But you also said something that was
very striking to me. You said, because I am female,
can you delve into that a little bit more? Is
(11:37):
it more pressure.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, I mean, listen, I'll be honest. I'm fortunate to
have one of three four spots on a Fox, NBC, ABC,
But those spots, I mean, this is the starring role
every sideline reporter wants. You know, I'm on the A crew. Yes,
I worked my ass off to get here, but look,
I never want to forget what got me here. And
(12:00):
I think what got I know what got me here
was the chip on my shoulder. I didn't play this sport.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
When I first came up in the industry, I didn't
want to be like everybody else. I didn't want to
wear even though now oversized blazers and baggy pants are
really in. And I was the first girl to maybe
clip in a couple of extensions, and you know, dye
my hair blonde a little bit and gave a gave
a here's one from my mom, gave a hoot about
what I, you know, looked like. But I also, I'm
basically like I talk like the guys, I study like
(12:28):
the guys, drink and eat like the guys. But yeah,
I know that I will never have the experience of
going back in the locker room and knowing how to
turn this thing around at half time. Because I'm a female.
There is more pressure, I know it on me because
I am a female.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I've been thinking a lot about this lately, just how
in both of our industries, really, what was always accepted
an acceptable behavior the sexualization of women and how women
were sexual life or even how they were spoken to
or about, regardless of the quality of the work. Did
(13:06):
you have to deal with that acutely when you first
started your career.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
You know, the crazy part is everybody always thinks it
comes from an athlete or a coach or my dog's
having his breakfast by the way, Sorry, I'm trying to
mute the mic every time he's like eating the kibble.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah. It wasn't by athletes.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
It wasn't by coaches, it wasn't by general managers, sands well, fans. Yeah,
and you know, my husband does not enjoy being on
the sidelines very much because fans are absolutely they've been marinating,
you know, since the morning. By the time they're at
their game, they are inebriated. I had to deal with
early in my career, and it's pretty interesting because it's
(13:50):
something that I still think fuels me. I know it,
you know, it's something that always upset in my family.
Local writers. The stuff that was written about me in
newspaper by local writers when I first came on the scene.
If I ever went back and posted some of that stuff,
it is mind blowing and wouldn't be allowed. And a
(14:13):
lot of it was guys saw me as coming in
with the ESPN's young girl. They saw how coaches and
athletes maybe treated me differently, or saw the attention that
they gave me, and they would voice their opinion pretty
darn quick in their articles. And this stuff now would
never be accepted.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Did you respond, did you feel the need to respond,
or did you was it? Don't honor that with a response.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I try not to honor things, but I will never forget.
I'm sure you're probably the same way. Anytime anything difficult
has happened in your life, you remember who was there
and who wasn't. I'm really good at remembering what people
said there. I went through an experience, obviously it's well documented,
where I stalked and my stalker videotaped me in hotel rooms.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I went through a huge.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Trial with it.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
And I remember before when my family knew that the
FBI was investigating, we were told do not say a word.
Do not say a word, because they wanted to catch
him in the act. They didn't want him to throw
away evidence that he was keeping of all the places
that he had stalked me.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
And there was a real thought.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
There was a lot of people said behind the scenes
and even publicly, and I remember who they all are,
that I did this to myself for publicity. Look, it's
psycho and again things I need to let go in therapy.
I remember every single person that said I did it
to myself to help my career. And I've confronted some
people because some of those people are in my industry
(15:49):
and I see them on the sidelines and it's probably
not healthy, but they try to be nice to me
and because they see where I am now after fifteen
years later. I've had situations on the field where I'm
talking to a head coach and the head coach is like, oh,
do you know so and so, And I'm like, sure do.
He said on his radio show that I deserved this
(16:09):
and I did it to myself to get higher.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
How are you not healthy? Not the best thing to do, but.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Now, but you know what, come on, that's if you
need that for yourself. You're you're not supposed to be superhuman.
For God. That means I have stalkers, had them, there
have been arrests made, I've been to court as well,
you know, and you know I've had to face stalkers
(16:35):
and and and what happened when then you'll find this
too now as a mom, then there are certain things
that become so off limits and you will, you will
find that animal, ferocious person inside and you're and you're
not fine. But thank God that you you you reclaimed
(16:58):
that power and you fought it. You fought for yourself,
and in doing that as a public figure, you're not
taking it lining down. Who were the people that really
were on your side that you were?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Family, your family, my family, a lot of coworkers you
know also too. And then I don't know, you know
what you've You've gone through so much in your life.
I kind of like call that time in my life
when I was trying to cope and deal with it
my glazed over time. I wasn't really present, I was
just glazed over. I was like, Hi, how are because
I was still on television and I wanted to show
(17:33):
everybody like, you know, there hadn't been an arrest.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I was going through a trial. I'm fine, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I have a kind of a mailbox, buy my emails
where I pushed all the supportive emails from friends, friends
back home, friends in high school, and sometimes I'll go
back and read them. But it's yeah, like there were
so many great people that reached out during men.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I want to pivot back to to parenthood for another minute,
just because I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy
for Mac. You got a little boy. Did you want
a boy or girl or did you have any Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I definitely wanted a boy.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I mean he really didn't have a choice because I
just we didn't have much left in the frozen bank.
We had already lost two with another Saragate, and this
was he was kind of like our last good one left.
So yes, we definitely definitely want to. He waited, just
he was like, that's what everybody says. It's so funny.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
My first daughter had been frozen for two years. Oh
my yeah, yeah, she was in the freezer for two years.
All the other ones didn't take or took them, and
I lost, you know, and I I was like, just
put the rest in, let's take you know. See what happens,
you know, but you know it's a very interesting thing. No,
(18:57):
did you because when you have because I don't know
this world. But when you interview, do you find us?
Are again? Do you get to know her? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, we're very lucky we were aligned. So after our
first experience where we finally decided to do Sarahgacy, it
was really hard to get to that point because it
was just like, you still have hope.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
My husband's a former NHL player, I'm very competitive in
what I do. Haven't really dealt with much, I guess defeat,
not winning, not being the top of your sport, your industry.
So that was very hard kind of being like, we
need help, and I think, well, I know when we
decided that. On Easter of twenty twenty, when we're all
locked down. Normally we're with all our friends that have
(19:43):
kids to celebrate Easter and go have a good time
with them. We were all locked down and we didn't
have kids, and I just remember being like, this sucks,
like it suck to be locked down anyways, but it
just we what were we doing. We need to start
a family, We need to get serious about this. So
we decided then to find a saragacy group. Through loss
we had gain. We had went one direction, we lost
(20:07):
two of our embryos, but then it led us to
this other group and this lovely woman who runs a
I want to say company, but it's not. But it
is a company where she aligns people with sarrogates and
she became a family member.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Her name is Stephanie.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
She's with family Match consulting anybody that's looking for advice
or maybe help with this, I highly recommend her. She
just holds your hand like you said, you didn't know anything.
We didn't know anything, and it's a difficult and it's
a really grueling process, especially when it doesn't work. Because
I didn't have many embryos left. My doctor was very
(20:45):
very strict, very thorough, very picky.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
In who he chose.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
We probably went through maybe I want to say, three
to five women before we landed on our girl or woman,
our saragate, our angel. And it consists of this in
a nutshell. You first get a profile on them, you
read all about them, you read about their life, they
read about you. Then both parties decide if they want
(21:11):
to meet. You get on a zoom, you meet them,
You meet their better half. You talk about your story,
you ball your brains out. Then you call your person
back and decide if it's a match. If it's a match,
then comes the contract, the legal process.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Which is all so fun.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yes, so that's money that takes time. And then once
you are in agreement about all of that, you then
send her to your fertility doctor. They do thorough exams,
so you wait a month or so to get results
on that. Then if there's a match, you go. We
had gotten to the point with like I said, three
(21:47):
to five girls, that it came to this is a match.
Or my doctor was like, I just looked at her,
but I need her to be perfect because you only
have one left. And plus he to me felt so
bad that we had lost the two before and I
didn't have that many. And so finally, after all of that, gosh,
(22:07):
I think it took us probably about a year, we
found our girl. And then comes the process of her
going through the drugs, her going through you know, the transfer,
her waiting the ten to twelve days to see if
she's pregnant. You're pregnant. But as you know, Brooke, go
you gotta overcome some hurdles. You gotta go, you know,
so it's so growing. It feels like the longest marathon.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Did you share all this publicly?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Like?
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Were you or was it?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I had always said when people asked after we got married,
when are you guys going to start a family, I'd
always said, oh, you know, we're working on it. But
I had never really been too honest with how much
we were working on it, that I was shooting up
at games, that I was, you know, going through IVF
every summer.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Did you wish you it's fuken about your fertility struggles earlier?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
I think that, and it's a good not to turn
the tables. I don't know when you decided to share it.
I shared it after I think like the seventh or
eighth try, where I was just like, I'm so tired
of this. And I think it's like when I started
realizing these waiting rooms are packed, there are so many
women in here, there are so many couples in here,
(23:16):
and what are we doing? Why are we not talking
about this? So I think that's when I just got
so done with it and so tired of it. I
don't know if I wished I had, I am after
seeing all the outreach that I and support I've gotten
where women are like thank you, thank you, But for
some reason, people just don't talk about it. I mean,
what do you think with your journey?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I mean, I spoke about it pretty publicly. I wasn't
ashamed of it at all. Yeah, I don't. That's just
not the way I operate, you know. I'm like, this
is my truth, this is it. I know I'm not
the only one, so that, you know, for me, I
spoke about it pretty quickly, but more so because I
had such terrible postpartums, So that was when, you know,
(23:58):
that was when I of course shared it. You know.
I didn't feel I mean, I didn't feel obligated. I
didn't feel like it was a responsibility. But I did
feel that we need to talk about these things to
take away the stigma. I'm no less a female, I'm
no less a mother. I think it's important, and I
think sharing the story. I don't think it is an obligation.
(24:20):
I don't think it's because of a public figure. I don't
believe that you are obligated to share your entire life
with people. For me, it's cathartic because then I own
my narrative and I feel that you have that strength
as well. Do you keep reclaiming your narrative? What are
(24:42):
some of the things about your life that you cannot
wait to share with mac.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Or frightened? Just I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I think, do you want them to play sports? Like
that's such a weird like as a mom, do you
want them to play sports? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I do.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I mean the other day, a preseason game was on
and I was on the couch and holding him and
feeding him, and I just looked.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
At my husband. I was like, do you know how
long I've been waiting for this?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Like I can't wait for in our house, it's always
either the NFL network or the NHL network. And you know,
I can't wait for him to go to the ring
for the first time with his dad. I can't wait
for him to put his first skates on. I can't
wait to take him to a football field, not so
much a game, but just to run around on the
grass and see where Mommy's office is. I think that'll
(25:27):
be really cool. I can't wait till him and my
dog finally connect. My Golden retriever was having a really
hard time just because he's not feeding him. He's not
like you know, Max's just worried about. What's he worried
about right now? The pacifier and maybe you know the bottle.
But yeah, until mac has a treat in his hand, howie,
my dog will not care.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
But the dog's got to adjust too. I mean, the
dog has ten six years all to himself. And now
mom is a little bay tracked, and now it's gonna
take a while. And then once he becomes once Max's
not really a person yet, he's like a little and
then once like my U, we had a big, big
(26:10):
dog and at the time and dog always slept in
our room. And then once the baby got to be
a certain age, she just started sleeping outside of the
baby's room and didn't never came back up to be
with us, just stayed literally stayed in my daughter's room. Again,
I should call this show now What because it is
(26:31):
about those unexpected, like massively unexpected moments. Do you have
a most significant now what moment?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Wait? Give me an example? Can you give me an example?
I mean mine?
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Now what was my biggest now what was probably having
postpartum yea, getting my own television show like it was
so positive. But I had to do it, you know,
I had to. I had to show up, really show up.
Getting into college that was a now what moment? It
can be any it can be, Mac.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I mean it is, and it's because of how much
you know it kind of not that it was my narrative,
but it's been my life for so long. I you know,
I think I said to my husband this summer, do
you realize this is the first summer since we've met,
I haven't been doing IVF. I mean, I you going
on a trip and not having to schedule the trip
when you're going to have your period, when you think
you're going to have to go get an ultrasound, like
(27:26):
your whole thing is, you know, based on your reproductive system,
and it sucks. Yeah, Mac, I you know my career,
I would say, finally, you know, being a part of
a big football broadcasting crew something I've worked so hard for.
I know, you know, like you talked about with your
experiences in life, mine obviously stalking, might obviously lost with
(27:48):
pregnancy and so forth. Be interesting to see what's now?
Aren't you curious about that? Now that you've done what
you've done with the television show, you came out about postpartum, Like,
what's the next one?
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I think you just finding them. You know, I started
my own company and it's all based around new beginnings.
It's called Comments, and it's for women over forty and
it's and it's really it's my next sort of platform.
I just want to sort of finish with your clothing line,
because I mean it's called where by Aaron Andrews, and
(28:23):
I love it because I think for years, Game day
clothing for women was either cropped or sparkly, or super
sexualized and not chic or the flip side sort of
way to mail. Right, what made you want to create
the line? Like, I can't believe it hasn't been done,
and I'm so glad you did it.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Well, it's all those things that you mentioned. You know,
I'm very much kind of like a basic Betty Tomboy
kind of in my dress. Like I love an oversized blazer,
I love a you know, a comfy V neck. I
love a bomber jacket. All the things that we wanted
to kind of make for women to be able to
support their team wait for it anywhere and everywhere. I
(29:06):
just I've been a sports fan my whole life, and
I kind of just had a hard time figuring out
what I was going to wear to games. I like,
you know, cheering for my team during the week, but
I don't need it like puked up you know on
my chest that I am.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
You're gonna have plenty of one.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
I already did.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Last yesterday, we really got into the projectile point of
the show and it was crazy. Anyways, So yeah, I like,
you know, I a huge fan of my husband's team.
I like to dress that support, you know, the Los
Angeles Kings, the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Celtics, the
Florida Gators where I went to school.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Not I vas NASCAR, baby.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
But yeah, so I just I felt like there needed
to There was such a huge white space as you mentioned,
and I listen, we are still trying to knock doors down. Girl,
I cannot wait to have a compis by it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I love you for that.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Fanatics dot com where by EA dot com. It's in
pretty much all the arenas and stadiums if you're heading
out to an NFL game. But yeah, check us out.
It's definitely been a labor of love. I didn't go
to school for this. I'm learning so much. It's incredible
the even now to this day, how many doors still
get slammed in your face.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
With you having success, Oh yeah, oh it and it
never ends. But you know you've you've you've done it,
and you're learning more and more and more and more.
And isn't that great to be at this stage and
to keep keep broadening your mind and your and your
bag of tricks. So I think everything you're doing is wonderful.
(30:38):
I lovely best, best, best of times as a mom,
and you just savor, savor that little baby head. Smell
tell Nanny Connie, I say hi, and give him back
a kiss from me.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Oh you will.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That was Aaron Andrews. To hear more about what's going
on in her world, go listen to her podcast Calm
Down on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your shows.
As for me, I'm taking a few weeks off to
perform a one woman show. I have been writing it
and rehearsing it for months. It's scary, in fact, it's terrifying,
(31:26):
but it's also exciting. It's a gift and I can't
wait to tell you all about it in the meantime.
Stay safe, be kind, Thank you for listening. Now. What
with Brooke Shields is a production of iHeartRadio Our lead
producer and wonderful showrunner is Julia Weaver. Additional research and
(31:48):
editing by Darby Masters and Abu Zafar. Our executive producer
is Christina Everett. The show is mixed by Vahid Fraser.
What do you do when life doesn't go according to plan?
That moment you lose a job, or a loved one,
or even a piece of yourself. I'm Brookshields and this
is now What, a podcast about pivotal moments as told
by people who lived them. Each week, I sit down
with a guest to talk about the times they were
knocked off course and what they did to move forward.
(00:27):
Some stories are funny, others are gut wrenching, but all
are unapologetically human and remind us that every success and
every setback is accompanied by a choice, and that choice
answers one question. Now what, there's a there's total total sisterhood.
(00:52):
And then Nanny Connie for sure, I.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Know, teach me, please God, teach me.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Oh she's the best. So she made you let's see
potato chip cookies.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yet I know, and I'm pissed off.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Tell her to get get on that.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
I don't know about you.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I absolutely suck at anything domestic in my life. I
basically feel like I'm back at college. I'm learning everything.
And you know, when she asked me, do you have this,
prime example, do you have a bunt cake pan? My
husband then looks for her and goes a bum cake,
No idiot, no a bunt. I don't have one, girl,
Go to your neighbor and go get one.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We got.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
I mean, I am learning, burping the baby, changing the baby.
What I'm missing in my kitchen. It's been a real
tutorial over here.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
My guest today is veterans sportscaster and new mom Aaron Andrews.
Aaron has been in the game for decades, as a
fixture at Fox Sports and a familiar face to millions
who watched the NFL e tweek. Outside of football, she's
covered in a number of other pro sports, host a
TV shows, has a successful clothing line, and co hosts
(02:03):
the podcast Calm Down with fellow sportscaster Carissa Thompson. Aaron
is down right impressive. She's one of those people who
seems to meet every challenge head on. I am grateful
for her time and vulnerability, and I hope that you
enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Here is
Erin Andrews. First of all, congratulations, Oh thank you, and
(02:34):
nice to meet too. Nice to meet you too, baby Mac.
How old is see?
Speaker 3 (02:39):
So he is going to be I guess he was.
He's gonna be six weeks this week? Yeah, hey, can
I just ask as a mother? My husband and I
are having a really hard time when you like see
a couple or you see a mother and you're like, oh,
how old your baby and they're like seventeen months? And
he's like, are we going to be those people? Because
I don't know if I am, maybe I will be.
(03:00):
A lot of stuff is already surprising me. I feel
like I'll be like, well, he's a little over a year,
But what is with the calculation?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I can't do math that fast.
Speaker 1 (03:10):
That's such a funny question, you know. I think it's
that your life changes so drastically that you're just and
the days feel so long. Then the years go by
really quickly. So I think that it's just this documentation
of like, and that was another day I survived. Oh wait,
(03:30):
we got through a week, you know. So I do
think that that it's this like it's like a badge
of honor to be like seventeen months and four.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Days exactly in fifteen minutes.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
It's like a life sentence, except you're you're checking off
the days. Yeah, because your life will never be the same. However,
you won't trade it for anything, but by the same token.
They they're total strangers. Yeah, and they live off of you,
(04:00):
like in your house, and it's it's bizarre, Like it's
very strange. You guys have to get to know each.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Other exactly well, and even more so for me because
there's no connection in terms of me carrying him, you know,
I almost feel like it's so interesting the guy in
the relationship. They always talk about, you know, the person
that didn't carry the baby, and how you know whoever
that is didn't really connect with the baby and it
takes a minute.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And so that's.
Speaker 3 (04:29):
Something with Nanny Connie that when I normally live in
La and we have a place out here in Montana,
and she said, after you have this baby, let's go
to Montana because we're here, and I don't you know,
a lot of my friends didn't come out this summer,
which is good because I'm in it with him.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Trying to learn him.
Speaker 3 (04:46):
So I don't know if that's something I've kind of
created in my head, but I feel like, even more so,
my connection is something I'm trying to create with him.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So for people that don't know who Nanny Connie is,
she's a legend, an angel, she's an angel iventioned a
baby whisper. She is, and she is a baby nurse
amed nanny. You know, I worked with her from my
with my second daughter, and a lot of it is
(05:15):
I had to learn how to do certain things too.
But she takes away the fear because we're not giving
a book. There's no rule book. There's also a lot
of guilt, like I had a tremendous amount of guilt
with my first daughter because I had really bad postpartum depression.
But I'm sure she tells you, I mean, you are
that baby's only mama.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
I like study his face and she will constantly say
in the background, that's your baby, that's your baby. And
it's like, oh, you know, because it took me like
nine ten years to get him with all my trials
with IVF and so forth, and failed pregnancies and failed
circuses and so forth. So yeah, all the things. She's
an angel. She's a nurse, she's a nanny, she is
(05:57):
a therapist. She is like a bit of you know,
heaven in your living room. It's pretty amazing.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
I totally identify with I mean, I went through IVF
seven times.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
Oh wow, I didn't know that you went you.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Eight, you said eight.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Nine.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Yeah, oh god, it's just it's so heartbreaking, and it's
it's worse like my husband would see me rip off
the estrogen patches, you know, I would be bleeding and
then lost pregnancies. And and then when you really start
talking to people and you realize how common it is,
you know, but is your h how is your schedule
(06:31):
going to change with the with the start of the
NFL season.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
That's going to be the hard part for me. That's
why this month has been so good for us. And
we get home in a couple of weeks and it's
just like boom, here we go. And you know, if
I have a random, you know, athlete calling me for
the game I'm studying for, if we have a you
know call change for you know, we are our life
is based off of what the teams that were covering
(06:57):
schedule basically, So if we have a set schedule with
a head coach and a quarterback at nine am on
a Tuesday, but then practice didn't go right, he's injured,
we go off of them. So then we had, you know,
and so my life has to kind of change. And
then of course I travel and I go do sit
down interviews, and I'm there for the game, and I
(07:17):
pray the game doesn't go too long so I can
get back on my flight and get home for that night.
You know, we miss Thanksgivings, we miss Christmas, so a
lot of anxiety all wrapped into one. And it's about
to happen in four to five weeks, which is absolutely crazy.
But again, the good thing with Connie is she's been
with people like you. She's been with people that have
really hectic schedules, and she's like, baby, we'll get through it.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
But you've been in sports and you've been a sideline
reporter for so many years. You've covered college football, You've
covered the NFL, and then you also covered baseball, hockey, basketball,
and even NASCAR.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
I mean, I did one stont on NASCAR, and it
was my biggest nightmare in the whole world, my big nightmare.
And I'm interested to know what yours is coming from
the acting world. Mine is I wake up, I'm at
a game or I'm at an event that I don't
know why I didn't prepare for, because preparation for me
is insane. It's half of the reason why I have
(08:16):
wrinkles or anxiety. So NASCAR, the one event. I had
just signed with Fox Sports. I'd been with ESPN for
eight years. Here she is, they're rolling her out for
their big event at Nascart's before football. I don't know
anyone like I will do my best studying. And they
had played it off. They said, no, no, no, no, no,
it's a fun walk and talk. You're just gonna go out,
(08:37):
you know, before the race, and you're going to talk
to all the drivers right before they get in their cars.
I'm like, okay, I can bys with the best of them.
I had studied the people that they said we we're
going to go to all right, we're going to send
it down to the newest member of our Fox Sports family,
Aaron Andrews, her debut at NASCAR. Well, she's just going
to catch up with some of the drivers and see
(08:58):
what they're up to second before they go into their car. Guys,
thanks so much. I'm so thrilled to be here. It's
an honor. I'm so excited. Let's head over to that
driver's not there. Let's okay, Well they're not there, Well,
we'll come back later. Let's head over to where danikapet everybody.
Brooke went to go pee. I had no one to
(09:19):
talk to. Nightmare coming true, and I was like, oh
my god, oh my god, finally fifty cent is here.
Fifty I mean, you know, it was horrific, awful experience.
So yes, that was my one NASCAR experience, and I
am mortified. Whenever I see a driver, they're like, you
remember that, I remember it? You know what I think
about it at three thirty in the morning with chest pains.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
You know, I can't even I can't even imagine keeping
all of the information. So how do you prepare? Do you?
What's like, what's your homework?
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Like? So much so and I don't even use like
three fourths of it right Like, I sit there with
my big binder, my big trapper keeper on the sidelines
in my arm.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I'm holding it.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I've got all my stuff typed out ready to go.
If it rains, I get pissed off because it gets wet.
I've got my notepad. We get packets every single day,
so getting ready. In a couple of weeks, we are
going to do a preseason game, and then two weeks
after that we have Week one. So we're already now
getting every day packets of every single article that was
(10:20):
written of these teams, and when you are doing teams
brook that are big time markets, like your New York's,
your Philadelphia's, your Dallas. Dallas has like seven thousand writers.
Your pamphlet is this big and I am so anal
and probably something I need to let go and maybe
baby Mac and Connie will teach me about that. I
don't have to read every single one. But because I'm
(10:42):
a female, because I never played, because I never want
the NASCAR experience at the football game, I feel like
I have to read everything. Then during the week we
get on calls that are probably two hours long with
the head coach, the quarterback, the star of the defense,
the defense, which that teaches the defense. It's way more
preparation that i'll, like I said, i'll ever ever use.
(11:05):
But I am so like robotic that if I don't
have that done, I feel like I will be paralyzed
on the field. Which probably is a great session for
doctor phil Why who.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
Knows that type of preparedness that you are just describing
is so important. But you also said something that was
very striking to me. You said, because I am female,
can you delve into that a little bit more? Is
(11:37):
it more pressure.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, I mean, listen, I'll be honest. I'm fortunate to
have one of three four spots on a Fox, NBC, ABC,
But those spots, I mean, this is the starring role
every sideline reporter wants. You know, I'm on the A crew. Yes,
I worked my ass off to get here, but look,
I never want to forget what got me here. And
(12:00):
I think what got I know what got me here
was the chip on my shoulder. I didn't play this sport.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
When I first came up in the industry, I didn't
want to be like everybody else. I didn't want to
wear even though now oversized blazers and baggy pants are
really in. And I was the first girl to maybe
clip in a couple of extensions, and you know, dye
my hair blonde a little bit and gave a gave
a here's one from my mom, gave a hoot about
what I, you know, looked like. But I also, I'm
basically like I talk like the guys, I study like
(12:28):
the guys, drink and eat like the guys. But yeah,
I know that I will never have the experience of
going back in the locker room and knowing how to
turn this thing around at half time. Because I'm a female.
There is more pressure, I know it on me because
I am a female.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I've been thinking a lot about this lately, just how
in both of our industries, really, what was always accepted
an acceptable behavior the sexualization of women and how women
were sexual life or even how they were spoken to
or about, regardless of the quality of the work. Did
(13:06):
you have to deal with that acutely when you first
started your career.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
You know, the crazy part is everybody always thinks it
comes from an athlete or a coach or my dog's
having his breakfast by the way, Sorry, I'm trying to
mute the mic every time he's like eating the kibble.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Yeah. It wasn't by athletes.
Speaker 3 (13:27):
It wasn't by coaches, it wasn't by general managers, sands well, fans. Yeah,
and you know, my husband does not enjoy being on
the sidelines very much because fans are absolutely they've been marinating,
you know, since the morning. By the time they're at
their game, they are inebriated. I had to deal with
early in my career, and it's pretty interesting because it's
(13:50):
something that I still think fuels me. I know it,
you know, it's something that always upset in my family.
Local writers. The stuff that was written about me in
newspaper by local writers when I first came on the scene.
If I ever went back and posted some of that stuff,
it is mind blowing and wouldn't be allowed. And a
(14:13):
lot of it was guys saw me as coming in
with the ESPN's young girl. They saw how coaches and
athletes maybe treated me differently, or saw the attention that
they gave me, and they would voice their opinion pretty
darn quick in their articles. And this stuff now would
never be accepted.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Did you respond, did you feel the need to respond,
or did you was it? Don't honor that with a response.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I try not to honor things, but I will never forget.
I'm sure you're probably the same way. Anytime anything difficult
has happened in your life, you remember who was there
and who wasn't. I'm really good at remembering what people
said there. I went through an experience, obviously it's well documented,
where I stalked and my stalker videotaped me in hotel rooms.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I went through a huge.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Trial with it.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
And I remember before when my family knew that the
FBI was investigating, we were told do not say a word.
Do not say a word, because they wanted to catch
him in the act. They didn't want him to throw
away evidence that he was keeping of all the places
that he had stalked me.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
And there was a real thought.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
There was a lot of people said behind the scenes
and even publicly, and I remember who they all are,
that I did this to myself for publicity. Look, it's
psycho and again things I need to let go in therapy.
I remember every single person that said I did it
to myself to help my career. And I've confronted some
people because some of those people are in my industry
(15:49):
and I see them on the sidelines and it's probably
not healthy, but they try to be nice to me
and because they see where I am now after fifteen
years later. I've had situations on the field where I'm
talking to a head coach and the head coach is like, oh,
do you know so and so, And I'm like, sure do.
He said on his radio show that I deserved this
(16:09):
and I did it to myself to get higher.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
How are you not healthy? Not the best thing to do, but.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
Now, but you know what, come on, that's if you
need that for yourself. You're you're not supposed to be superhuman.
For God. That means I have stalkers, had them, there
have been arrests made, I've been to court as well,
you know, and you know I've had to face stalkers
(16:35):
and and and what happened when then you'll find this
too now as a mom, then there are certain things
that become so off limits and you will, you will
find that animal, ferocious person inside and you're and you're
not fine. But thank God that you you you reclaimed
(16:58):
that power and you fought it. You fought for yourself,
and in doing that as a public figure, you're not
taking it lining down. Who were the people that really
were on your side that you were?
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Family, your family, my family, a lot of coworkers you
know also too. And then I don't know, you know
what you've You've gone through so much in your life.
I kind of like call that time in my life
when I was trying to cope and deal with it
my glazed over time. I wasn't really present, I was
just glazed over. I was like, Hi, how are because
I was still on television and I wanted to show
(17:33):
everybody like, you know, there hadn't been an arrest.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
I was going through a trial. I'm fine, I'm good.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I have a kind of a mailbox, buy my emails
where I pushed all the supportive emails from friends, friends
back home, friends in high school, and sometimes I'll go
back and read them. But it's yeah, like there were
so many great people that reached out during men.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
I want to pivot back to to parenthood for another minute,
just because I'm so happy for you. I'm so happy
for Mac. You got a little boy. Did you want
a boy or girl or did you have any Oh?
Speaker 2 (18:15):
I definitely wanted a boy.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I mean he really didn't have a choice because I
just we didn't have much left in the frozen bank.
We had already lost two with another Saragate, and this
was he was kind of like our last good one left.
So yes, we definitely definitely want to. He waited, just
he was like, that's what everybody says. It's so funny.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
My first daughter had been frozen for two years. Oh
my yeah, yeah, she was in the freezer for two years.
All the other ones didn't take or took them, and
I lost, you know, and I I was like, just
put the rest in, let's take you know. See what happens,
you know, but you know it's a very interesting thing. No,
(18:57):
did you because when you have because I don't know
this world. But when you interview, do you find us?
Are again? Do you get to know her? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, we're very lucky we were aligned. So after our
first experience where we finally decided to do Sarahgacy, it
was really hard to get to that point because it
was just like, you still have hope.
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Right.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
My husband's a former NHL player, I'm very competitive in
what I do. Haven't really dealt with much, I guess defeat,
not winning, not being the top of your sport, your industry.
So that was very hard kind of being like, we
need help, and I think, well, I know when we
decided that. On Easter of twenty twenty, when we're all
locked down. Normally we're with all our friends that have
(19:43):
kids to celebrate Easter and go have a good time
with them. We were all locked down and we didn't
have kids, and I just remember being like, this sucks,
like it suck to be locked down anyways, but it
just we what were we doing. We need to start
a family, We need to get serious about this. So
we decided then to find a saragacy group. Through loss
we had gain. We had went one direction, we lost
(20:07):
two of our embryos, but then it led us to
this other group and this lovely woman who runs a
I want to say company, but it's not. But it
is a company where she aligns people with sarrogates and
she became a family member.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Her name is Stephanie.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
She's with family Match consulting anybody that's looking for advice
or maybe help with this, I highly recommend her. She
just holds your hand like you said, you didn't know anything.
We didn't know anything, and it's a difficult and it's
a really grueling process, especially when it doesn't work. Because
I didn't have many embryos left. My doctor was very
(20:45):
very strict, very thorough, very picky.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
In who he chose.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
We probably went through maybe I want to say, three
to five women before we landed on our girl or woman,
our saragate, our angel. And it consists of this in
a nutshell. You first get a profile on them, you
read all about them, you read about their life, they
read about you. Then both parties decide if they want
(21:11):
to meet. You get on a zoom, you meet them,
You meet their better half. You talk about your story,
you ball your brains out. Then you call your person
back and decide if it's a match. If it's a match,
then comes the contract, the legal process.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Which is all so fun.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Yes, so that's money that takes time. And then once
you are in agreement about all of that, you then
send her to your fertility doctor. They do thorough exams,
so you wait a month or so to get results
on that. Then if there's a match, you go. We
had gotten to the point with like I said, three
(21:47):
to five girls, that it came to this is a match.
Or my doctor was like, I just looked at her,
but I need her to be perfect because you only
have one left. And plus he to me felt so
bad that we had lost the two before and I
didn't have that many. And so finally, after all of that, gosh,
(22:07):
I think it took us probably about a year, we
found our girl. And then comes the process of her
going through the drugs, her going through you know, the transfer,
her waiting the ten to twelve days to see if
she's pregnant. You're pregnant. But as you know, Brooke, go
you gotta overcome some hurdles. You gotta go, you know,
so it's so growing. It feels like the longest marathon.
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Did you share all this publicly?
Speaker 3 (22:31):
Like?
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Were you or was it?
Speaker 3 (22:33):
I had always said when people asked after we got married,
when are you guys going to start a family, I'd
always said, oh, you know, we're working on it. But
I had never really been too honest with how much
we were working on it, that I was shooting up
at games, that I was, you know, going through IVF
every summer.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
Did you wish you it's fuken about your fertility struggles earlier?
Speaker 3 (22:54):
I think that, and it's a good not to turn
the tables. I don't know when you decided to share it.
I shared it after I think like the seventh or
eighth try, where I was just like, I'm so tired
of this. And I think it's like when I started
realizing these waiting rooms are packed, there are so many
women in here, there are so many couples in here,
(23:16):
and what are we doing? Why are we not talking
about this? So I think that's when I just got
so done with it and so tired of it. I
don't know if I wished I had, I am after
seeing all the outreach that I and support I've gotten
where women are like thank you, thank you, But for
some reason, people just don't talk about it. I mean,
what do you think with your journey?
Speaker 1 (23:36):
I mean, I spoke about it pretty publicly. I wasn't
ashamed of it at all. Yeah, I don't. That's just
not the way I operate, you know. I'm like, this
is my truth, this is it. I know I'm not
the only one, so that, you know, for me, I
spoke about it pretty quickly, but more so because I
had such terrible postpartums, So that was when, you know,
(23:58):
that was when I of course shared it. You know.
I didn't feel I mean, I didn't feel obligated. I
didn't feel like it was a responsibility. But I did
feel that we need to talk about these things to
take away the stigma. I'm no less a female, I'm
no less a mother. I think it's important, and I
think sharing the story. I don't think it is an obligation.
(24:20):
I don't think it's because of a public figure. I don't
believe that you are obligated to share your entire life
with people. For me, it's cathartic because then I own
my narrative and I feel that you have that strength
as well. Do you keep reclaiming your narrative? What are
(24:42):
some of the things about your life that you cannot
wait to share with mac.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Or frightened? Just I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
I think, do you want them to play sports? Like
that's such a weird like as a mom, do you
want them to play sports? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (24:56):
I do.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I mean the other day, a preseason game was on
and I was on the couch and holding him and
feeding him, and I just looked.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
At my husband. I was like, do you know how
long I've been waiting for this?
Speaker 3 (25:05):
Like I can't wait for in our house, it's always
either the NFL network or the NHL network. And you know,
I can't wait for him to go to the ring
for the first time with his dad. I can't wait
for him to put his first skates on. I can't
wait to take him to a football field, not so
much a game, but just to run around on the
grass and see where Mommy's office is. I think that'll
(25:27):
be really cool. I can't wait till him and my
dog finally connect. My Golden retriever was having a really
hard time just because he's not feeding him. He's not
like you know, Max's just worried about. What's he worried
about right now? The pacifier and maybe you know the bottle.
But yeah, until mac has a treat in his hand, howie,
my dog will not care.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
But the dog's got to adjust too. I mean, the
dog has ten six years all to himself. And now
mom is a little bay tracked, and now it's gonna
take a while. And then once he becomes once Max's
not really a person yet, he's like a little and
then once like my U, we had a big, big
(26:10):
dog and at the time and dog always slept in
our room. And then once the baby got to be
a certain age, she just started sleeping outside of the
baby's room and didn't never came back up to be
with us, just stayed literally stayed in my daughter's room. Again,
I should call this show now What because it is
(26:31):
about those unexpected, like massively unexpected moments. Do you have
a most significant now what moment?
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Wait? Give me an example? Can you give me an example?
I mean mine?
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Now what was my biggest now what was probably having
postpartum yea, getting my own television show like it was
so positive. But I had to do it, you know,
I had to. I had to show up, really show up.
Getting into college that was a now what moment? It
can be any it can be, Mac.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
I mean it is, and it's because of how much
you know it kind of not that it was my narrative,
but it's been my life for so long. I you know,
I think I said to my husband this summer, do
you realize this is the first summer since we've met,
I haven't been doing IVF. I mean, I you going
on a trip and not having to schedule the trip
when you're going to have your period, when you think
you're going to have to go get an ultrasound, like
(27:26):
your whole thing is, you know, based on your reproductive system,
and it sucks. Yeah, Mac, I you know my career,
I would say, finally, you know, being a part of
a big football broadcasting crew something I've worked so hard for.
I know, you know, like you talked about with your
experiences in life, mine obviously stalking, might obviously lost with
(27:48):
pregnancy and so forth. Be interesting to see what's now?
Aren't you curious about that? Now that you've done what
you've done with the television show, you came out about postpartum, Like,
what's the next one?
Speaker 1 (27:59):
I think you just finding them. You know, I started
my own company and it's all based around new beginnings.
It's called Comments, and it's for women over forty and
it's and it's really it's my next sort of platform.
I just want to sort of finish with your clothing line,
because I mean it's called where by Aaron Andrews, and
(28:23):
I love it because I think for years, Game day
clothing for women was either cropped or sparkly, or super
sexualized and not chic or the flip side sort of
way to mail. Right, what made you want to create
the line? Like, I can't believe it hasn't been done,
and I'm so glad you did it.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Well, it's all those things that you mentioned. You know,
I'm very much kind of like a basic Betty Tomboy
kind of in my dress. Like I love an oversized blazer,
I love a you know, a comfy V neck. I
love a bomber jacket. All the things that we wanted
to kind of make for women to be able to
support their team wait for it anywhere and everywhere. I
(29:06):
just I've been a sports fan my whole life, and
I kind of just had a hard time figuring out
what I was going to wear to games. I like,
you know, cheering for my team during the week, but
I don't need it like puked up you know on
my chest that I am.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
You're gonna have plenty of one.
Speaker 2 (29:23):
I already did.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Last yesterday, we really got into the projectile point of
the show and it was crazy. Anyways, So yeah, I like,
you know, I a huge fan of my husband's team.
I like to dress that support, you know, the Los
Angeles Kings, the Boston Red Sox, the Boston Celtics, the
Florida Gators where I went to school.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Not I vas NASCAR, baby.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
But yeah, so I just I felt like there needed
to There was such a huge white space as you mentioned,
and I listen, we are still trying to knock doors down. Girl,
I cannot wait to have a compis by it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
I love you for that.
Speaker 3 (29:57):
Fanatics dot com where by EA dot com. It's in
pretty much all the arenas and stadiums if you're heading
out to an NFL game. But yeah, check us out.
It's definitely been a labor of love. I didn't go
to school for this. I'm learning so much. It's incredible
the even now to this day, how many doors still
get slammed in your face.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
With you having success, Oh yeah, oh it and it
never ends. But you know you've you've you've done it,
and you're learning more and more and more and more.
And isn't that great to be at this stage and
to keep keep broadening your mind and your and your
bag of tricks. So I think everything you're doing is wonderful.
(30:38):
I lovely best, best, best of times as a mom,
and you just savor, savor that little baby head. Smell
tell Nanny Connie, I say hi, and give him back
a kiss from me.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Oh you will.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
That was Aaron Andrews. To hear more about what's going
on in her world, go listen to her podcast Calm
Down on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your shows.
As for me, I'm taking a few weeks off to
perform a one woman show. I have been writing it
and rehearsing it for months. It's scary, in fact, it's terrifying,
(31:26):
but it's also exciting. It's a gift and I can't
wait to tell you all about it in the meantime.
Stay safe, be kind, Thank you for listening. Now. What
with Brooke Shields is a production of iHeartRadio Our lead
producer and wonderful showrunner is Julia Weaver. Additional research and
(31:48):
editing by Darby Masters and Abu Zafar. Our executive producer
is Christina Everett. The show is mixed by Vahid Fraser.
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