June 20, 2023 • 40 mins
Unrivaled Sensation, Activist and Gay Icon Cyndi Lauper, is the third very special guest of our Pride Month episodes. Listen in as two dear friends catch up with each other in a funny, heartbreaking, wacky and poignant way, as only two longtime friends could. They gab about their latest life happenings, their careers, and the day-to-day battle to use your voice and platform to unite for the good of mankind and the world. (And do yourself a favor, check out the clip of Cyndi singing after stepping on a bee!)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well, hello everybody. It's me Rosie O'Donnell, star of Exit
to Eden, and I'm very sorry that I was in
that film and for all of you who had to
see it, my apologies. It was fun to make, though.
I will tell you that we were in Hawaii for
a while and Danny Ackroyd told me lots of stories
(00:32):
about UFOs and it made the whole set vibe.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Very chill.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Did you see the UFO thing in Las Vegas by
the way? Okay, so, like this guy's in his backyard
at midnight with his friend or his brother, and the
police somehow get this triangle of blue green floating down
weirdly like an asteroid game, you know, in a video game.
Like it's was weird. It was like Tetris from the sky.
(01:01):
And then there was like apparently a boom and there's
a nine to one to one call where this guy
is saying there's a creature. They're scary, they're eight to
ten feet. I'm not kidding. This is not a joke.
And I was like, why is this not the top
story on the news? I mean, I know a lot's
gone on, and I know that Trump was indicted and
(01:23):
that my friends is a victory for humanity and makes
a soul proud to be Americans when the government works
as it's supposed to. It's a beautiful thing. And speaking
of beautiful things, I got to see Joni Mitchell and
Brandy Carlisle in concert at the Gorge in Washington State
(01:49):
near Seattle. It was the most astounding night of my life.
I don't even know how to explain it. It was
like ethereal. It was nostalgic, it was uh so energetically healing.
To sit amongst twenty seven thousand people who were similar
(02:13):
in some magically beautiful way, it was astounding.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I was.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So happy when I was there. It lifted me in
a way that it was unbelievable. First of all, Brandy Carlile.
I don't even know what I can say about this
Brandy Carlyle. I have to say I missed the boat
on Brandy Carlisle, not on purpose. I don't know how
I did it. Sometimes like I you know, I never
saw a madman. I mean, that's ridiculous. How can you
(02:42):
say that. I don't know what happened with the Brandy Carlile.
I don't know what to say. I just would like
to humbly apologize because I'm in a deep dive of
Brandy Carlile, everything about her life. I'm about to listen
to her book on tape that she narrates, and my god,
she has done something amazing when she puts together in
(03:03):
honors these legendary women who have given so much of
themselves in art and music and culture, to give them
the accolades that they so deserve in this lifetime, in
this day and age. This amazing gay woman standing there
beside this amazing Joni Mitchell, who I don't know, is
(03:31):
the reason my heart beats. I don't know her lyrics are.
They're always with me everything profound that happens in my life,
on TV, in the news, in my world, I assign
a Joony Mitchell quote to it because something about the
situation will remind me something of what she has so
(03:52):
beautifully said in all her lyrics. And to see her
up there shining, you know, love when man, she said
it like twenty times during the concert, and I was
bowled over. Annie Lennox was there. She sang Ladies of
the Canyon, and she is a force that Annie Lennox,
(04:15):
She is a force. The whole night Sarah McLaughlin delicious.
Everyone who was there, you know, and I know who
was very sorry to have missed it, but she was
busy working herself. Is the woman that I'm about to
speak to next right here on onward with Rosie O'Donnell.
(04:39):
It's my friend, and Jonie's too. Cindy Lauper is here today,
and well it's not today, but you know what I'm saying.
She sat down with me and we had a nice
long chat and I love her so much. And happy birthday, Cindy,
who turned seventy years old on Thursday. So Sin, I
(05:00):
love you. You're an icon, honey, You're the best. Your
live performance of Carrie that you did at the Jony
Tribute in the early two thousands was unbelievable and it
remains one of my favorite live performances I've ever seen anywhere.
You Cindy Lauper, You all right, take a listen in
(05:20):
conversation right now with Cindy Lauper. Well, hello, everybody, Look
who's here with me? Cindy laupahysin.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
How are you do? I'm really good? How are you?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I'm all right? You're going to Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I heard I am.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I'm making the move from Malibu, which I love, but
it's a little remote, you think. And Dakoda, it's like
living in the Hampton's, right.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Oh not, Hampton's is too busy.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I really I never liked when I went there because
it seemed like I was the kid from the Fresh
Air Fund, you.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Know what I mean. Everybody had designer everything.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Even though I was like adult and rich and had
my own life, I still felt a little bit like
I didn't fit in there.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I always liked it, like when there was still like
cranberry bogs out there, and you know all the farmers
and the oyster farmers. They're all being pushed out because
of high price.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Real estate, right exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
No, everybody wants to live in a rural place and
make it like the city, which is counterproductive, Like why
would you want to do that?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
How is David how's he doing?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
He's doing great, he really is. Yeah. He's been writing
and writing and writing, and he was always such a
great storyteller. So I'm excited for him totally. And Deklin
is doing his thing, and I'm still moving forward with
working girl. And I did this thing, oh, It's funny
(07:09):
because the Tribeca Film Festival, Dolores Roach was in the
Tribeca Film thing and my documentary because there's everybody for
a while or both like you got to do a documentary.
I was like, why, I'm not dead yet, right, And
they said, but that's just it correct. You'll be able
to make sure it's truthful. So I was like, okay, right,
(07:33):
so you've got a lot of things. So this Dolores
what's the name Delora with the Horrors of Dolores Roach?
And check this out?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Is it a true story?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Is true?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It's on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, but it started as a podcast on Spotify. Right.
I played a theater usher on Broadway. I had my
own following of course, of course, and I uh on
the side, I was a private investigator, okay, you know,
but theater was my passion. So you know, my mom
(08:07):
last year had just died, right, And I went to
Italy and I'm laying around and Malise and my manager,
she sends me this script and I said, oh, come on,
I can't even think she's just read it. So I
start reading it and I start laughing and it's really
(08:27):
it sounded like me, right, the character so yeah, and
I figured out I could do this. I don't even
know what the hell her name was, but I changed
it to Ruthie because I like Ruthie.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
That's your name right there, Ruthie.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, Ruthie. And I went to this wig store with Yudah,
my hair person, and I found a gray wig. Oh
my god, it was like blue gray. You know the
color you want to get when you're bleach in your hand,
bleaching your hair, drawing. Get it grain and turns a
little blue purple. I was so excited because all of
a sudden I started putting Ruthie together and they were
(09:07):
so cool about it. This writer, Aaron Mark, Well, after
I read it and I say, it's really good. Yeah,
of course, and then she sent me the letter. They wrote,
So I had played that year or the year before
at the Hollywood Bowl. I had stepped on a bee and.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Wait a minute, wait a minute, they saw you at
the Hollywood Bowl. That's what made them think of casting you.
But you were singing at the Hollywood Bowl. Yeah you talk?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I sing?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, sure, you know. I was singing it, but it
was the orchestra.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
So I just kept singing, and I think I was
talking and singing at the same time, like I pulled
a bee out of my foot. I said, oh great,
a beat really, and I just kept singing, you know,
because if you stop, the orchestra.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Gets messed up. Yes, well, it's like of them.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
It's not like your band. You stop your band and
they're like, okay, you know two three four, it's like,
oh no, no, sin no contraa.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
We got the obos, we got the clothes, got a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
So they had seen that show and I got admitted.
I guess I was funny. Sometimes I'm funny.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You are funny.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And so they wrote this love letter and I was like, yeah,
how could I say no to that?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So after I got done, you know, we went to Italy.
It was fun. We went to Capri. You know, everything
was last minute because I know my mother was passing,
but I didn't know when. And I got to be
honest though, Oh my mom, when she went, she was
so incredible.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
What were you there there?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Of course I was there, Yes, of course I was.
I created the room. I put the crystals around to
balance the energy. I put the She loved roses, so
she had a bouquet of peach roses. You know, she
had two different kinds of dementia, which is terrible for her.
And it was just, you know, she was really declining
(11:15):
and it was going to turn into that she couldn't
talk anymore and be trapped in her body. And my
grandfather had that. And when my grandfather had that, she
would say things to me like, if I ever get
like that, you put a pillow over my head, and
I'd be like, maeah, then I go to jail for
(11:37):
killing you, okay, And then you know, so when she
started to lose her ability to talk and remember words,
I was showing her the pictures of all the old
relatives and that she looked at me and she was
like and she was trying to say, she doesn't even
remember who these people are. And I would say to her,
(11:58):
I said to her, I said, I know, my you
don't remember who they are.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
And she looked at me. She took my hand, she said,
we don't need words, which got me like, of course,
how could you not? And then she had problems breathing.
So I started with the stones, the crystals, the energy
in the room, the flowers. Everything she would look at
(12:23):
would be nice, right, And I took some lavender. I
rubbed her feet. Every single meditation thing I learned or
past life or whatever I used.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Right that night.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, and while I'm talking to her about all this stuff,
I said, and you know, the place you go and
the forgiveness and all this stuff. I mean, before she
went unconscious, she did say a few things about the
people she was seeing. And there was an aid there
(12:57):
that had lost her twin bit babies and never told anybody.
And my mother's husband who had passed away. She said, oh,
there he is, and he's got your babies and they're okay,
and nobody knew. And then when she said that, I
looked at the lady who was telling me they're hallucinating,
(13:17):
and I said, Okay, she's not hallucinating, because if she was,
she wouldn't have known about.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
That would just ow right? So did the aid get
all upset?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
She went out and had a couple of cigarettes.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Right, Okay, kind of got her.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
A little, But she was a lovely, lovely woman, and
the people were lovely. At one point I did stop
and tell her, hey, ma, listen, you know, just in
case all this stuff I'm telling you isn't true, you
will come back and tell me. Right.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
So then.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Then I just went back to pat in her head
about the yelling white and you know, all this stuff
and the stuff that she was saying, you know, about
what they were telling her. And then you know, listen,
I'm half Sicilian and you know these Sicilian people they
live with the freaking dead all the time she was
(14:13):
talking about all this stuff. And then in my mind's
eye and in my head, I started to see my aunt,
my grandmother, my grandfather, my stepfather, and what she told
my sister one this was oh so sweet. She said
that she couldn't go yet because she didn't have a robe,
(14:35):
and they had robes, and they were in this beautiful,
beautiful forest of deep green and oranges, and it was
so beautiful, but she couldn't go to she didn't have
a robe. So my sister in all went and got
her finest robe to put over her so she wouldn't
angst about it. And it was just so the whole
(14:58):
experience of that. I think that when people pass, it's
not just like, oh, you know, yeah, they're going to
pass soon. I don't think so. I think it's really
hard to die. And I think that holding somebody's hands
and talking them through it, like the last thing I
(15:22):
said to my mother. Oh, and I had the music on,
you know, the meditation music with the birds, the piano
and the herd. I had that going while I was
talking to her. I held her hands through it. And
then I said, you know, I was patting her head
and she was gasping, I said, and I was trying
to calm her down. I said, look, ma, remember when
(15:44):
you told me we don't need words.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Well, where you are going, you don't need air.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
You're going to become the air. And then she stopped breathing,
and you wait, looking at your time like five for three,
two one, but didn't happen. And then come to terms
with Okay, she's gone, she's at peace.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Was she afraid to die?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Son?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Was she fearful?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I don't know, but I made her not fearful. Good
for you, because they kept telling her all kinds of
things about peace and forgiveness and release. And plus I
had all the stones you know for release, forgiveness in
all places here and put this here, and you.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Know, and my mom, good, honey, she went in style. Hey,
don't go away, more to come.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
That was my whole summer wayst year. That was such
a big thing, and yesterday was.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
A year that your mom passed. Yeah, I mean, now,
how were you right after?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I don't know. I went to sleep one night afterwards
and I woke up and I felt like I was
holding her hand again, and I'm holding a hand and
I'm sitting up and I looked down and I'm like, no,
Mom's not dead, Like maybe she's not dead because she's
(17:36):
laying right there and you're sleeping next her. And I
kept telling myself, wake up, but it felt so real. Yes,
And I woke up and there was David. It wasn't
it was Mom at all. But I don't know if
she came back to tell me, yeah, it was okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It was all right. All your stuff you did worked.
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
It's funny, you know, when my mom died, I had
one time where I felt like she visited me. I was,
you know, probably twelve years old. She died when I
was ten, and I was in my little bedroom and
Long Eyeland, Long Island, and I felt like someone sat
down on the bed and I was, you know, young,
and I was afraid. I turned on the light. I
(18:22):
didn't see anyone. I turned off the light and then
I was like, let me just check. And I put
my hand in the space where it was and it
was warm. Oh, the place was warm. So I remember thinking,
maybe she did come to visit me. Maybe, you know,
because it was so traumatic. Of course, when you're ten,
I think it's traumatic at any age.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, you do. You never want to be without your mom,
you know.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
No, yeah, no, you don't, you know, because your mother
it's it's a weird relationship when you're a girl, when
you I mean the same thing with your dad. My
dad was different, you know, and I had I was
working so much and the kid was little, and I was,
oh my god, it was a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So and you were super duper famous, which makes it
hard to navigate too right when fame affects everyone in
your world, not just you, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
But in two thousand and four or three, Oh, I.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Know you don't like this word, but you are an
icon Cyndy Lauper. I know you don't like that.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yeah, no, it's okay, it's okay. Anyway to make a
long story short, oop's too late for that. But when
I read the script in Italy, I didn't want to
go back to work, but I looked at it and
it looked.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Like fun, like just fun, which is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah, And they came back and the producer and writer,
he was one of these real creative guys that you
could just talk to like you know. Of course, my
best acting coach ever, David Thorton, Yes, was giving me
clues and things of you know, and they literally let
me like when my character, my character kept quoting every.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Show, every Broadway show line.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, like mouse trap Wow. And because you know it's
the old one, you could probably get easy to get
that one and Shakespeare.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
But it was fun and you love doing it because
you're so great when you act, and I love seeing
you in acting sometimes.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
No, if it's good, if it's a good one and
I relate to it, you know, it's fun. Yeah, And
it depends on the people around you, you know, the.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Tootle who you're working with. It starts from the top.
And if you got somebody in charge who loves what
they're doing and loves making art, it can be the
most glorious time, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I mean, if you get a good director, Gosh, you
turn into Flipper for them, right, I mean I would, Yeah, you.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Do whatever they ask. Of course, it's like sure, I
can do that, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah. Remember at the beginning of our careers, we all
used to write on our eight x ten you know, juggling,
unicycle riding, when they said special talents. All of it
was lies. So then I got a part and they're like,
so you can ride a unicycle?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah? Yeah, And then I tried.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
To learn, but I couldn't, you know, But you law
yourself into parts.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I think every bad or good, every experience brings you
to the next point totally in your life. Yes, good, bad,
the good, the bad and the ugly, and you learn
and you just get better.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
You got a big birthday coming up, don't you? Oh God, come.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
On now, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
What do you think about it? Are you dreading it?
Are you excited about it? I mean, first of all,
year is beautiful.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
I always get pissed off, really cause yeah, freak wants
to be that old you know, and as But you know,
as long as I could do my up with down
with dorg and you can, as long as I could
stand on my head, well, you know, you still get
all these little Yeah, I know you're doing pet all
the time. You know, It's like you gotta do pt
(22:08):
so you could do you're up with down with dog correctly? Yeah,
you know, it's like it's a pain, you know. So
I'm going to Italy.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So where are you going for your birthday with David
and everybody? Or you just take yeah David, yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
But anyway, I've been busy this year and we started
the girls just want to have fundamental rights funds, which
you know, sin if there's not a time for that
right now, I don't know. I can you believe they
did as soon as they decided that they were going
to lie. You know, how about this? You go onto oath,
(22:47):
you say something onto oath, and then when you get
the job, you just do exactly the opposite. So basically
you lied under oath. But that's okay. And who do
you got? You got one person from a cult, a
cult a religious cults in the Supreme Court. You got
(23:08):
another guy who all right, I don't even want to
get into that guy.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
All I hope is that his daughters don't have to
live with what he put into law. Okay, but I'm
sure they'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Because I heard you talking about ja.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I don't remember where it was, but you were so
articulate and so poignant when you were saying about the
cleaning lady and.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
That, yeah, yeah, Ted Cruise's cleaning lady, Ted Cruise's daughters,
they're going to be all right, but not the cleaning
Lady's daughters, right, all right, because that, you know, you
can never forget. Then we're all living on this planet together,
and you may think that you are privileged. Whatever you
do is going to come back in a way that's
(24:00):
going to surprise you. And that's part of life, that's
part of learning. But honestly, for them, you know, especially
with all the work that we did. But what now
that the kids don't get? Who would have thought it
was that the kids today? No, But what some people
don't understand is that if we back then were oh,
(24:25):
you're just going to be canceled right right, we would
never be now in a place where kids can really
question how they're feeling and and be who they are,
even if it's they okay for everybody to get around.
(24:46):
It's not a sexual thing at all. It's a gender thing,
just a gender thing. Like I don't know if I'm
male or female, I'm both. I want to be accepted
as a human being. And not put in this package.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yes, all the time, and what it means to be
those things, you know. I mean, I don't know if
you remember, but Dakota as a little girl was very
Everything was pink. It was everything was girly, girly pink.
And you know, she got into this fourth fifth grade
class last year. She's ten, and she told me around Christmas,
you know, mom, I'm non binary. And I said, fantastic,
(25:25):
what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
You know?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And there she is schooling me, my ten year old,
this lesbian me. You know, she's telling me all about
and she goes, you know, there's some kids in my
class that don't even know their gender. And I said,
sure they do, honey, they're a boy or a girl.
She goes, Mommy, that is your sex, not your gender.
There are many genders. It's like this kid is teaching
me you know.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah, but you see that's how they feel. And I
understand it's hard to wrap your head around. It's very
hard to wrap your head around. But I am happy that.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
The work that you and I why and.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Other people did that moved us forward enough that kids
could actually question and say, hey, I don't want to
be pigeonholed as male or femen. And what happens is
is that parents or what's happening, which always happens, ironically,
(26:22):
is that whenever there's a money issue problems, all of
a sudden authoritarianism comes into play. You like, all of
a sudden, I'm supposed to have your religion. No, that's
not why, that's not how this country was sounded, exactly right,
and that's why, you know, put my nose out that
(26:45):
a handful of religious zealous people decided to use enforce
their religion onto me, right right, because that ain't I
don't I don't subscribe to that, and I don't want to.
And to have an educated person stand on a pupen
(27:09):
as a governor and lie, right, lie like a fucking rug, right,
like a rug. He lies, and everyone's like, oh, I
really like that guy. Yeah, you know I'm talking about
to Santi. Course, he's a crazy, crazy person. He's a Nazi.
He's very much in the model of Trump. But han
(27:31):
he's educated and he should have had education open his
mind unless he's just greedy and it's the same bullshit
like Trump.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Oh, look up, Pierre, look up here. Pray to God.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Praise God and then stick some somebody's got their hands
in your pocket, because basically it's money and that's it.
You think Trump was religious?
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Now, what are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (27:58):
How about in Florida, they're trying to take the children
away trans kids, they're trying to take them away. They
legally have a bill that has been passed and signed
by DeSantis ord Satan as I call them.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
They can take devil the.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Children away from their legitimate parents if the parents try
to get them gender affirming care in the state of
Florida in the United States in twenty twenty three. Wow,
we gotta do something. Everyone who's opposed to fascism taking
foothold in the in the United States, which it already has.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
No weah, that's because the money again. Yeah, I'm telling
you every time there's money problems, distraction, distraction. But hey, hey,
oh my god.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Children or trans are different. Oh my god, people who
are different, right, let's get them.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Yeah, don't pass the bill that that bans assault weapons
like the one that just was used in Hollywood, Florida.
How many times are they Why do they need assault weapons? Right? Oh,
but let's get rid of kids at drag shows.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
And if they do have family friendly ones that like
you know, Hamburger, Mayory's or whatever, that's exactly what they are,
family friendly brunch where you know, you could bring your
own kids, you can do do bring your family and friends.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
You know, it's it's uh, it's scary. Who cares? Who cares? Exactly?
You know what about kabookie? You're to walk kabookie.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
They don't like the white makeup exactly different, they should.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Like white and egg.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Let's ban books. Let's burn the books because why tell
kids the truth? Right? Why let them know the real history.
Because the only way that you can make a better
world is by having people understand what we did wrong
exactly because we can fix it. That's what this is about,
(30:00):
out us coming together and helping each other and fixing
what's fucked up.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
And just you know, like people want to go back
to the fifties. Yeah, who is that good for?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
No one?
Speaker 5 (30:13):
Not me?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
White men, white men's because women couldn't have credit cards, right, right? Women.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I know what my mother went through. She couldn't even
be educated. She want to be educated. But you know,
if you're poor, you can just whistle a marry too.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, you became a teacher or you became you know,
a secretary that my mother went to Catherine Gibbs. That's
what she did. Well, listen, I want to tell you
congratulations on the documentary. Let the Canary Sing. And it's
all about your life, career ups and down, sideways, backwards.
It's all about you.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's about mostly the career. David's not
in it and Declan's not in it, okay, because I
want them to have their privacy and their life because
they sure are artists in their own their own right, correct,
and they should have the spotlight on them.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Not totally true, A blurd with me, got it? I
got it.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Well, I'm so happy for you. I'm happy for all
your success. Happy birthday. I love you so much. I
think you're the greatest. I remember going to your fortieth
or fiftieth on a boat, fifty in the boat.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
In the Hudson River.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
I remember that the junk, No, it was the East
Rim River when the Chinese junk. And then they wouldn't
let me. I wanted everybody to do the whole pirate thing,
and my everybody said.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
No, Yeah, I thought it was I thought it was
a funny idea, and I was willing to do it.
I would have put that patch on and a fake sword.
I would have been a ya ya yay pirates for yees.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
See what makes pirates so sexy?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
I don't know. They just are so sad, so sick.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I love you. Say hi, say hi to the boys
for me.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Okay, I will you say hello to everybody?
Speaker 4 (31:59):
I will?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I will, sweetheart, I love you so much and thank you. Hey,
We'll be back with more questions from you after this.
(32:27):
All right, Well that was Cyndi Lauper God Almighty, She's
a dream. I gotta tell you, she's a dream. Sometimes
I like pinch myself the world that I live in.
You know that I get to know and love these iconic,
huge meteorite talents. They're just huge and powerful and they
shake the earth and it's it's thrilling to be in
(32:49):
their orbit. Okay, we've got some questions from you or comments,
and if you want to leave one, you go to
Onward Rosie at gmail dot com. Leave us a voice memo,
you failure, you know how to do it.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Just here we go. Here's a question.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Kai, Rosie.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
My name is Danniel and I'm in Tesamania, Australia.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
One thing I.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Would like to ask you is what is America like
now compared to the America of thirty years ago? We
went there when I was sixteen in nineteen ninety and
was something that all families wanted to do in my neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
To go to America on a holiday was like the greatest.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
And now it seems so many of my powers don't
want to go to America anymore.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And I wonder what's it feel.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
Like in the every day to be an American citizen
with our politics presuming us so similar I think anyway,
I love you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
What a great question.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Boy.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Thirty years ago it's hard to even remember, but I
will tell you this, you know, thanks to the amazing
literature that's been written about what happens to a country
when they lose their democracy, you know, and we know
what's happening. And I'd like to hope that we're not
(34:08):
the frogs in the pot on the slow boiling right.
I hope that we are aware of just how dangerous
a precipice we're all on all over the world to
have dictators want to come in and do for themselves only,
and you know that is not the founding principles of
the United States of America. And when I grew up,
(34:28):
you know, it was troubling times in the country, right
it was the Vietnam War, it was Nixon resigning and
how that shook the nation, and many people thought we
would never be able to come together as a nation
again after Nixon, and what happened between Democrats and Republicans,
and what's happening now is it's nearly unthinkable for me
(34:53):
to look at the polls that say, even after he
was arraigned, arrested, indicted, people still believed in him. Some
fifty percent of Republicans still had faith and believed in
this man. I can't understand it. So to me, it
(35:14):
feels like scary. It feels like we have to use
our voice now, especially artists, when times get tough. That's
what the artists do, and it's their responsibility. So when
they make shows like Handmaiden's Tale, everybody can take note
how it went down and how they got there, and
how Margaret atwould even thought up that tale, which people
(35:35):
told her was far too extreme and could never happen.
And here we are and here we are. So I
believe in the human spirit. I believe that we will
right the wrongs that have been done in the name
of selfish, narcissist rhetoric. I don't know. I hope it
(35:56):
gets better, and I'm going to work towards that goal
in any way that I can, and I hope everyone
does too. Thank you for the question. And I love Australia.
And now there's another.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
One, Hi, Rosie.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
This is David in Grand Rapids, and I feel like
a broken record. Everyone's telling you the same thing. I'm
going to as well. I grew up watching your show,
and I think it's because I was this burgeoning gay boy,
and a lot of us gay kids were drawn to
(36:30):
your show. I think it's because you were so genuine
and you were full of such joy, And even though
we may not have known that you were gay, I
think we see our people subconsciously and we were drawn
to you. And I have a not a question, but
a story that I hope will touch you. My father
(36:54):
was a very very strict, tough who grew up in
the hood, and he was very very protective of his
three sons, and he was extremely careful not to let
us watch any television that could be harmful or influence
(37:17):
us in any way. That was not his vision of
what a young black man should grow up to. And
he would just tell us we couldn't watch many, many,
many shows. But what he would say often is go
watch the Rosie O'donald's show. You should be watching. And
(37:40):
it was so crazy because he felt that your show
was the safe show. Your show was not going to
be harmful in any way, even though he was acutely
aware that I was showing signs of becoming gay. Your
show was rated G and it just looked like good,
(38:01):
family fun. So my father really insisted that we watch you.
And I just want to thank you for being a
safe place that I could turn to as a kid.
I am obsessed with your podcast. I listened to it constantly.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being yourself.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Wow, that was quite something, really beautiful. I have to
tell you, and I thank you for leaving that message.
And I wish I got to meet your dad. You know,
it was family fun, but it was definitely gay. I mean,
you know, John was gay, I was gay. A couple
(38:46):
of writers were gay, A bunch of them, A bunch
of the producers. You know, it was a gay friendly
show with a black male executive producer and me at
the helm and his name is Bernie. And I think
we made the MERV Griffin Show for the next generation.
And the MERV Griffin Show was a haven for gays too.
(39:08):
I mean, come on, he had ja Ja, he had
Tody Fields, he had bet Midler, he had everyone MERV
Griffin and Broadway was represented. And you know he was
gay himself. MERV Griffin. Isn't that the tale that they
tell A different time, a different world. You know, what
was possible in his lifetime and what's possible in mine
(39:30):
and in yours the next generation. So thank you for
sharing that with me. It really does move me and
I feel the love, so I thank you for it. Well,
this has been a great show everybody. I hope you
enjoyed it as much as I did. And peace out.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
We'll see you.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Next week with Billy Porter, the last of our special
guests for Gay Pride Month. Hey I'm gay, It's okay.
Peace out, bu
Well, hello everybody. It's me Rosie O'Donnell, star of Exit
to Eden, and I'm very sorry that I was in
that film and for all of you who had to
see it, my apologies. It was fun to make, though.
I will tell you that we were in Hawaii for
a while and Danny Ackroyd told me lots of stories
(00:32):
about UFOs and it made the whole set vibe.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Very chill.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Did you see the UFO thing in Las Vegas by
the way? Okay, so, like this guy's in his backyard
at midnight with his friend or his brother, and the
police somehow get this triangle of blue green floating down
weirdly like an asteroid game, you know, in a video game.
Like it's was weird. It was like Tetris from the sky.
(01:01):
And then there was like apparently a boom and there's
a nine to one to one call where this guy
is saying there's a creature. They're scary, they're eight to
ten feet. I'm not kidding. This is not a joke.
And I was like, why is this not the top
story on the news? I mean, I know a lot's
gone on, and I know that Trump was indicted and
(01:23):
that my friends is a victory for humanity and makes
a soul proud to be Americans when the government works
as it's supposed to. It's a beautiful thing. And speaking
of beautiful things, I got to see Joni Mitchell and
Brandy Carlisle in concert at the Gorge in Washington State
(01:49):
near Seattle. It was the most astounding night of my life.
I don't even know how to explain it. It was
like ethereal. It was nostalgic, it was uh so energetically healing.
To sit amongst twenty seven thousand people who were similar
(02:13):
in some magically beautiful way, it was astounding.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I was.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So happy when I was there. It lifted me in
a way that it was unbelievable. First of all, Brandy Carlile.
I don't even know what I can say about this
Brandy Carlyle. I have to say I missed the boat
on Brandy Carlisle, not on purpose. I don't know how
I did it. Sometimes like I you know, I never
saw a madman. I mean, that's ridiculous. How can you
(02:42):
say that. I don't know what happened with the Brandy Carlile.
I don't know what to say. I just would like
to humbly apologize because I'm in a deep dive of
Brandy Carlile, everything about her life. I'm about to listen
to her book on tape that she narrates, and my god,
she has done something amazing when she puts together in
(03:03):
honors these legendary women who have given so much of
themselves in art and music and culture, to give them
the accolades that they so deserve in this lifetime, in
this day and age. This amazing gay woman standing there
beside this amazing Joni Mitchell, who I don't know, is
(03:31):
the reason my heart beats. I don't know her lyrics are.
They're always with me everything profound that happens in my life,
on TV, in the news, in my world, I assign
a Joony Mitchell quote to it because something about the
situation will remind me something of what she has so
(03:52):
beautifully said in all her lyrics. And to see her
up there shining, you know, love when man, she said
it like twenty times during the concert, and I was
bowled over. Annie Lennox was there. She sang Ladies of
the Canyon, and she is a force that Annie Lennox,
(04:15):
She is a force. The whole night Sarah McLaughlin delicious.
Everyone who was there, you know, and I know who
was very sorry to have missed it, but she was
busy working herself. Is the woman that I'm about to
speak to next right here on onward with Rosie O'Donnell.
(04:39):
It's my friend, and Jonie's too. Cindy Lauper is here today,
and well it's not today, but you know what I'm saying.
She sat down with me and we had a nice
long chat and I love her so much. And happy birthday, Cindy,
who turned seventy years old on Thursday. So Sin, I
(05:00):
love you. You're an icon, honey, You're the best. Your
live performance of Carrie that you did at the Jony
Tribute in the early two thousands was unbelievable and it
remains one of my favorite live performances I've ever seen anywhere.
You Cindy Lauper, You all right, take a listen in
(05:20):
conversation right now with Cindy Lauper. Well, hello, everybody, Look
who's here with me? Cindy laupahysin.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
How are you do? I'm really good? How are you?
Speaker 3 (05:41):
I'm all right? You're going to Santa Monica.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
I heard I am.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
I'm making the move from Malibu, which I love, but
it's a little remote, you think. And Dakoda, it's like
living in the Hampton's, right.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Oh not, Hampton's is too busy.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I really I never liked when I went there because
it seemed like I was the kid from the Fresh
Air Fund, you.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Know what I mean. Everybody had designer everything.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Even though I was like adult and rich and had
my own life, I still felt a little bit like
I didn't fit in there.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Yeah, I know, I know.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
I always liked it, like when there was still like
cranberry bogs out there, and you know all the farmers
and the oyster farmers. They're all being pushed out because
of high price.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Real estate, right exactly.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
No, everybody wants to live in a rural place and
make it like the city, which is counterproductive, Like why
would you want to do that?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
How is David how's he doing?
Speaker 3 (06:47):
He's doing great, he really is. Yeah. He's been writing
and writing and writing, and he was always such a
great storyteller. So I'm excited for him totally. And Deklin
is doing his thing, and I'm still moving forward with
working girl. And I did this thing, oh, It's funny
(07:09):
because the Tribeca Film Festival, Dolores Roach was in the
Tribeca Film thing and my documentary because there's everybody for
a while or both like you got to do a documentary.
I was like, why, I'm not dead yet, right, And
they said, but that's just it correct. You'll be able
to make sure it's truthful. So I was like, okay, right,
(07:33):
so you've got a lot of things. So this Dolores
what's the name Delora with the Horrors of Dolores Roach?
And check this out?
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Is it a true story?
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Is true?
Speaker 2 (07:43):
It's on Amazon.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Yeah, but it started as a podcast on Spotify. Right.
I played a theater usher on Broadway. I had my
own following of course, of course, and I uh on
the side, I was a private investigator, okay, you know,
but theater was my passion. So you know, my mom
(08:07):
last year had just died, right, And I went to
Italy and I'm laying around and Malise and my manager,
she sends me this script and I said, oh, come on,
I can't even think she's just read it. So I
start reading it and I start laughing and it's really
(08:27):
it sounded like me, right, the character so yeah, and
I figured out I could do this. I don't even
know what the hell her name was, but I changed
it to Ruthie because I like Ruthie.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
That's your name right there, Ruthie.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, Ruthie. And I went to this wig store with Yudah,
my hair person, and I found a gray wig. Oh
my god, it was like blue gray. You know the
color you want to get when you're bleach in your hand,
bleaching your hair, drawing. Get it grain and turns a
little blue purple. I was so excited because all of
a sudden I started putting Ruthie together and they were
(09:07):
so cool about it. This writer, Aaron Mark, Well, after
I read it and I say, it's really good. Yeah,
of course, and then she sent me the letter. They wrote,
So I had played that year or the year before
at the Hollywood Bowl. I had stepped on a bee and.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Wait a minute, wait a minute, they saw you at
the Hollywood Bowl. That's what made them think of casting you.
But you were singing at the Hollywood Bowl. Yeah you talk?
Speaker 3 (09:38):
I sing?
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Yeah, sure, you know. I was singing it, but it
was the orchestra.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
So I just kept singing, and I think I was
talking and singing at the same time, like I pulled
a bee out of my foot. I said, oh great,
a beat really, and I just kept singing, you know,
because if you stop, the orchestra.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
Gets messed up. Yes, well, it's like of them.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
It's not like your band. You stop your band and
they're like, okay, you know two three four, it's like,
oh no, no, sin no contraa.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
We got the obos, we got the clothes, got a lot.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
So they had seen that show and I got admitted.
I guess I was funny. Sometimes I'm funny.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
You are funny.
Speaker 3 (10:21):
And so they wrote this love letter and I was like, yeah,
how could I say no to that?
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Correct?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
So after I got done, you know, we went to Italy.
It was fun. We went to Capri. You know, everything
was last minute because I know my mother was passing,
but I didn't know when. And I got to be
honest though, Oh my mom, when she went, she was
so incredible.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
What were you there there?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Of course I was there, Yes, of course I was.
I created the room. I put the crystals around to
balance the energy. I put the She loved roses, so
she had a bouquet of peach roses. You know, she
had two different kinds of dementia, which is terrible for her.
And it was just, you know, she was really declining
(11:15):
and it was going to turn into that she couldn't
talk anymore and be trapped in her body. And my
grandfather had that. And when my grandfather had that, she
would say things to me like, if I ever get
like that, you put a pillow over my head, and
I'd be like, maeah, then I go to jail for
(11:37):
killing you, okay, And then you know, so when she
started to lose her ability to talk and remember words,
I was showing her the pictures of all the old
relatives and that she looked at me and she was
like and she was trying to say, she doesn't even
remember who these people are. And I would say to her,
(11:58):
I said to her, I said, I know, my you
don't remember who they are.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
And she looked at me. She took my hand, she said,
we don't need words, which got me like, of course,
how could you not? And then she had problems breathing.
So I started with the stones, the crystals, the energy
in the room, the flowers. Everything she would look at
(12:23):
would be nice, right, And I took some lavender. I
rubbed her feet. Every single meditation thing I learned or
past life or whatever I used.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Right that night.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, and while I'm talking to her about all this stuff,
I said, and you know, the place you go and
the forgiveness and all this stuff. I mean, before she
went unconscious, she did say a few things about the
people she was seeing. And there was an aid there
(12:57):
that had lost her twin bit babies and never told anybody.
And my mother's husband who had passed away. She said, oh,
there he is, and he's got your babies and they're okay,
and nobody knew. And then when she said that, I
looked at the lady who was telling me they're hallucinating,
(13:17):
and I said, Okay, she's not hallucinating, because if she was,
she wouldn't have known about.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
That would just ow right? So did the aid get
all upset?
Speaker 3 (13:28):
She went out and had a couple of cigarettes.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Right, Okay, kind of got her.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
A little, But she was a lovely, lovely woman, and
the people were lovely. At one point I did stop
and tell her, hey, ma, listen, you know, just in
case all this stuff I'm telling you isn't true, you
will come back and tell me. Right.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
So then.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Then I just went back to pat in her head
about the yelling white and you know, all this stuff
and the stuff that she was saying, you know, about
what they were telling her. And then you know, listen,
I'm half Sicilian and you know these Sicilian people they
live with the freaking dead all the time she was
(14:13):
talking about all this stuff. And then in my mind's
eye and in my head, I started to see my aunt,
my grandmother, my grandfather, my stepfather, and what she told
my sister one this was oh so sweet. She said
that she couldn't go yet because she didn't have a robe,
(14:35):
and they had robes, and they were in this beautiful,
beautiful forest of deep green and oranges, and it was
so beautiful, but she couldn't go to she didn't have
a robe. So my sister in all went and got
her finest robe to put over her so she wouldn't
angst about it. And it was just so the whole
(14:58):
experience of that. I think that when people pass, it's
not just like, oh, you know, yeah, they're going to
pass soon. I don't think so. I think it's really
hard to die. And I think that holding somebody's hands
and talking them through it, like the last thing I
(15:22):
said to my mother. Oh, and I had the music on,
you know, the meditation music with the birds, the piano
and the herd. I had that going while I was
talking to her. I held her hands through it. And
then I said, you know, I was patting her head
and she was gasping, I said, and I was trying
to calm her down. I said, look, ma, remember when
(15:44):
you told me we don't need words.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Well, where you are going, you don't need air.
Speaker 3 (15:51):
You're going to become the air. And then she stopped breathing,
and you wait, looking at your time like five for three,
two one, but didn't happen. And then come to terms
with Okay, she's gone, she's at peace.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Was she afraid to die?
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Son?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Was she fearful?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I don't know, but I made her not fearful. Good
for you, because they kept telling her all kinds of
things about peace and forgiveness and release. And plus I
had all the stones you know for release, forgiveness in
all places here and put this here, and you.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
Know, and my mom, good, honey, she went in style. Hey,
don't go away, more to come.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
That was my whole summer wayst year. That was such
a big thing, and yesterday was.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
A year that your mom passed. Yeah, I mean, now,
how were you right after?
Speaker 3 (17:15):
I don't know. I went to sleep one night afterwards
and I woke up and I felt like I was
holding her hand again, and I'm holding a hand and
I'm sitting up and I looked down and I'm like, no,
Mom's not dead, Like maybe she's not dead because she's
(17:36):
laying right there and you're sleeping next her. And I
kept telling myself, wake up, but it felt so real. Yes,
And I woke up and there was David. It wasn't
it was Mom at all. But I don't know if
she came back to tell me, yeah, it was okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
It was all right. All your stuff you did worked.
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:00):
It's funny, you know, when my mom died, I had
one time where I felt like she visited me. I was,
you know, probably twelve years old. She died when I
was ten, and I was in my little bedroom and
Long Eyeland, Long Island, and I felt like someone sat
down on the bed and I was, you know, young,
and I was afraid. I turned on the light. I
(18:22):
didn't see anyone. I turned off the light and then
I was like, let me just check. And I put
my hand in the space where it was and it
was warm. Oh, the place was warm. So I remember thinking,
maybe she did come to visit me. Maybe, you know,
because it was so traumatic. Of course, when you're ten,
I think it's traumatic at any age.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Yeah, you do. You never want to be without your mom,
you know.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
No, yeah, no, you don't, you know, because your mother
it's it's a weird relationship when you're a girl, when
you I mean the same thing with your dad. My
dad was different, you know, and I had I was
working so much and the kid was little, and I was,
oh my god, it was a lot.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So and you were super duper famous, which makes it
hard to navigate too right when fame affects everyone in
your world, not just you, you know.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
But in two thousand and four or three, Oh, I.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Know you don't like this word, but you are an
icon Cyndy Lauper. I know you don't like that.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
Yeah, no, it's okay, it's okay. Anyway to make a
long story short, oop's too late for that. But when
I read the script in Italy, I didn't want to
go back to work, but I looked at it and
it looked.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Like fun, like just fun, which is a good thing.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Yeah, And they came back and the producer and writer,
he was one of these real creative guys that you
could just talk to like you know. Of course, my
best acting coach ever, David Thorton, Yes, was giving me
clues and things of you know, and they literally let
me like when my character, my character kept quoting every.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Show, every Broadway show line.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Yeah, like mouse trap Wow. And because you know it's
the old one, you could probably get easy to get
that one and Shakespeare.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
But it was fun and you love doing it because
you're so great when you act, and I love seeing
you in acting sometimes.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
No, if it's good, if it's a good one and
I relate to it, you know, it's fun. Yeah, And
it depends on the people around you, you know, the.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Tootle who you're working with. It starts from the top.
And if you got somebody in charge who loves what
they're doing and loves making art, it can be the
most glorious time, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
I mean, if you get a good director, Gosh, you
turn into Flipper for them, right, I mean I would, Yeah, you.
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Do whatever they ask. Of course, it's like sure, I
can do that, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yeah. Remember at the beginning of our careers, we all
used to write on our eight x ten you know, juggling,
unicycle riding, when they said special talents. All of it
was lies. So then I got a part and they're like,
so you can ride a unicycle?
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah? Yeah, And then I tried.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
To learn, but I couldn't, you know, But you law
yourself into parts.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Sometimes.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
I think every bad or good, every experience brings you
to the next point totally in your life. Yes, good, bad,
the good, the bad and the ugly, and you learn
and you just get better.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
You got a big birthday coming up, don't you? Oh God, come.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
On now, I know, I know, I know, I know,
I know.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
What do you think about it? Are you dreading it?
Are you excited about it? I mean, first of all,
year is beautiful.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
I always get pissed off, really cause yeah, freak wants
to be that old you know, and as But you know,
as long as I could do my up with down
with dorg and you can, as long as I could
stand on my head, well, you know, you still get
all these little Yeah, I know you're doing pet all
the time. You know, It's like you gotta do pt
(22:08):
so you could do you're up with down with dog correctly? Yeah,
you know, it's like it's a pain, you know. So
I'm going to Italy.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
So where are you going for your birthday with David
and everybody? Or you just take yeah David, yeah, right.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
But anyway, I've been busy this year and we started
the girls just want to have fundamental rights funds, which
you know, sin if there's not a time for that
right now, I don't know. I can you believe they
did as soon as they decided that they were going
to lie. You know, how about this? You go onto oath,
(22:47):
you say something onto oath, and then when you get
the job, you just do exactly the opposite. So basically
you lied under oath. But that's okay. And who do
you got? You got one person from a cult, a
cult a religious cults in the Supreme Court. You got
(23:08):
another guy who all right, I don't even want to
get into that guy.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
All I hope is that his daughters don't have to
live with what he put into law. Okay, but I'm
sure they'll be okay.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
Because I heard you talking about ja.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
I don't remember where it was, but you were so
articulate and so poignant when you were saying about the
cleaning lady and.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
That, yeah, yeah, Ted Cruise's cleaning lady, Ted Cruise's daughters,
they're going to be all right, but not the cleaning
Lady's daughters, right, all right, because that, you know, you
can never forget. Then we're all living on this planet together,
and you may think that you are privileged. Whatever you
do is going to come back in a way that's
(24:00):
going to surprise you. And that's part of life, that's
part of learning. But honestly, for them, you know, especially
with all the work that we did. But what now
that the kids don't get? Who would have thought it
was that the kids today? No, But what some people
don't understand is that if we back then were oh,
(24:25):
you're just going to be canceled right right, we would
never be now in a place where kids can really
question how they're feeling and and be who they are,
even if it's they okay for everybody to get around.
(24:46):
It's not a sexual thing at all. It's a gender thing,
just a gender thing. Like I don't know if I'm
male or female, I'm both. I want to be accepted
as a human being. And not put in this package.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Yes, all the time, and what it means to be
those things, you know. I mean, I don't know if
you remember, but Dakota as a little girl was very
Everything was pink. It was everything was girly, girly pink.
And you know, she got into this fourth fifth grade
class last year. She's ten, and she told me around Christmas,
you know, mom, I'm non binary. And I said, fantastic,
(25:25):
what does that mean?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
You know?
Speaker 1 (25:27):
And there she is schooling me, my ten year old,
this lesbian me. You know, she's telling me all about
and she goes, you know, there's some kids in my
class that don't even know their gender. And I said,
sure they do, honey, they're a boy or a girl.
She goes, Mommy, that is your sex, not your gender.
There are many genders. It's like this kid is teaching
me you know.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah, but you see that's how they feel. And I
understand it's hard to wrap your head around. It's very
hard to wrap your head around. But I am happy that.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
The work that you and I why and.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Other people did that moved us forward enough that kids
could actually question and say, hey, I don't want to
be pigeonholed as male or femen. And what happens is
is that parents or what's happening, which always happens, ironically,
(26:22):
is that whenever there's a money issue problems, all of
a sudden authoritarianism comes into play. You like, all of
a sudden, I'm supposed to have your religion. No, that's
not why, that's not how this country was sounded, exactly right,
and that's why, you know, put my nose out that
(26:45):
a handful of religious zealous people decided to use enforce
their religion onto me, right right, because that ain't I
don't I don't subscribe to that, and I don't want to.
And to have an educated person stand on a pupen
(27:09):
as a governor and lie, right, lie like a fucking rug, right,
like a rug. He lies, and everyone's like, oh, I
really like that guy. Yeah, you know I'm talking about
to Santi. Course, he's a crazy, crazy person. He's a Nazi.
He's very much in the model of Trump. But han
(27:31):
he's educated and he should have had education open his
mind unless he's just greedy and it's the same bullshit
like Trump.
Speaker 2 (27:45):
Oh, look up, Pierre, look up here. Pray to God.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
Praise God and then stick some somebody's got their hands
in your pocket, because basically it's money and that's it.
You think Trump was religious?
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Now, what are you kidding me?
Speaker 1 (27:58):
How about in Florida, they're trying to take the children
away trans kids, they're trying to take them away. They
legally have a bill that has been passed and signed
by DeSantis ord Satan as I call them.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
They can take devil the.
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Children away from their legitimate parents if the parents try
to get them gender affirming care in the state of
Florida in the United States in twenty twenty three. Wow,
we gotta do something. Everyone who's opposed to fascism taking
foothold in the in the United States, which it already has.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
No weah, that's because the money again. Yeah, I'm telling
you every time there's money problems, distraction, distraction. But hey, hey,
oh my god.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Children or trans are different. Oh my god, people who
are different, right, let's get them.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
Yeah, don't pass the bill that that bans assault weapons
like the one that just was used in Hollywood, Florida.
How many times are they Why do they need assault weapons? Right? Oh,
but let's get rid of kids at drag shows.
Speaker 1 (29:06):
And if they do have family friendly ones that like
you know, Hamburger, Mayory's or whatever, that's exactly what they are,
family friendly brunch where you know, you could bring your
own kids, you can do do bring your family and friends.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
You know, it's it's uh, it's scary. Who cares? Who cares? Exactly?
You know what about kabookie? You're to walk kabookie.
Speaker 4 (29:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
They don't like the white makeup exactly different, they should.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
Like white and egg.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
Let's ban books. Let's burn the books because why tell
kids the truth? Right? Why let them know the real history.
Because the only way that you can make a better
world is by having people understand what we did wrong
exactly because we can fix it. That's what this is about,
(30:00):
out us coming together and helping each other and fixing
what's fucked up.
Speaker 2 (30:06):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
And just you know, like people want to go back
to the fifties. Yeah, who is that good for?
Speaker 2 (30:12):
No one?
Speaker 5 (30:13):
Not me?
Speaker 2 (30:13):
White men, white men's because women couldn't have credit cards, right, right? Women.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
I know what my mother went through. She couldn't even
be educated. She want to be educated. But you know,
if you're poor, you can just whistle a marry too.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
Yeah, you became a teacher or you became you know,
a secretary that my mother went to Catherine Gibbs. That's
what she did. Well, listen, I want to tell you
congratulations on the documentary. Let the Canary Sing. And it's
all about your life, career ups and down, sideways, backwards.
It's all about you.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's about mostly the career. David's not
in it and Declan's not in it, okay, because I
want them to have their privacy and their life because
they sure are artists in their own their own right, correct,
and they should have the spotlight on them.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Not totally true, A blurd with me, got it? I
got it.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Well, I'm so happy for you. I'm happy for all
your success. Happy birthday. I love you so much. I
think you're the greatest. I remember going to your fortieth
or fiftieth on a boat, fifty in the boat.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
In the Hudson River.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
I remember that the junk, No, it was the East
Rim River when the Chinese junk. And then they wouldn't
let me. I wanted everybody to do the whole pirate thing,
and my everybody said.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
No, Yeah, I thought it was I thought it was
a funny idea, and I was willing to do it.
I would have put that patch on and a fake sword.
I would have been a ya ya yay pirates for yees.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
See what makes pirates so sexy?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
I don't know. They just are so sad, so sick.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I love you. Say hi, say hi to the boys
for me.
Speaker 3 (31:56):
Okay, I will you say hello to everybody?
Speaker 4 (31:59):
I will?
Speaker 1 (31:59):
I will, sweetheart, I love you so much and thank you. Hey,
We'll be back with more questions from you after this.
(32:27):
All right, Well that was Cyndi Lauper God Almighty, She's
a dream. I gotta tell you, she's a dream. Sometimes
I like pinch myself the world that I live in.
You know that I get to know and love these iconic,
huge meteorite talents. They're just huge and powerful and they
shake the earth and it's it's thrilling to be in
(32:49):
their orbit. Okay, we've got some questions from you or comments,
and if you want to leave one, you go to
Onward Rosie at gmail dot com. Leave us a voice memo,
you failure, you know how to do it.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Just here we go. Here's a question.
Speaker 3 (33:05):
Kai, Rosie.
Speaker 5 (33:06):
My name is Danniel and I'm in Tesamania, Australia.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
One thing I.
Speaker 5 (33:10):
Would like to ask you is what is America like
now compared to the America of thirty years ago? We
went there when I was sixteen in nineteen ninety and
was something that all families wanted to do in my neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
To go to America on a holiday was like the greatest.
Speaker 5 (33:27):
And now it seems so many of my powers don't
want to go to America anymore.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And I wonder what's it feel.
Speaker 5 (33:34):
Like in the every day to be an American citizen
with our politics presuming us so similar I think anyway,
I love you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
What a great question.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Boy.
Speaker 1 (33:48):
Thirty years ago it's hard to even remember, but I
will tell you this, you know, thanks to the amazing
literature that's been written about what happens to a country
when they lose their democracy, you know, and we know
what's happening. And I'd like to hope that we're not
(34:08):
the frogs in the pot on the slow boiling right.
I hope that we are aware of just how dangerous
a precipice we're all on all over the world to
have dictators want to come in and do for themselves only,
and you know that is not the founding principles of
the United States of America. And when I grew up,
(34:28):
you know, it was troubling times in the country, right
it was the Vietnam War, it was Nixon resigning and
how that shook the nation, and many people thought we
would never be able to come together as a nation
again after Nixon, and what happened between Democrats and Republicans,
and what's happening now is it's nearly unthinkable for me
(34:53):
to look at the polls that say, even after he
was arraigned, arrested, indicted, people still believed in him. Some
fifty percent of Republicans still had faith and believed in
this man. I can't understand it. So to me, it
(35:14):
feels like scary. It feels like we have to use
our voice now, especially artists, when times get tough. That's
what the artists do, and it's their responsibility. So when
they make shows like Handmaiden's Tale, everybody can take note
how it went down and how they got there, and
how Margaret atwould even thought up that tale, which people
(35:35):
told her was far too extreme and could never happen.
And here we are and here we are. So I
believe in the human spirit. I believe that we will
right the wrongs that have been done in the name
of selfish, narcissist rhetoric. I don't know. I hope it
(35:56):
gets better, and I'm going to work towards that goal
in any way that I can, and I hope everyone
does too. Thank you for the question. And I love Australia.
And now there's another.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
One, Hi, Rosie.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
This is David in Grand Rapids, and I feel like
a broken record. Everyone's telling you the same thing. I'm
going to as well. I grew up watching your show,
and I think it's because I was this burgeoning gay boy,
and a lot of us gay kids were drawn to
(36:30):
your show. I think it's because you were so genuine
and you were full of such joy, And even though
we may not have known that you were gay, I
think we see our people subconsciously and we were drawn
to you. And I have a not a question, but
a story that I hope will touch you. My father
(36:54):
was a very very strict, tough who grew up in
the hood, and he was very very protective of his
three sons, and he was extremely careful not to let
us watch any television that could be harmful or influence
(37:17):
us in any way. That was not his vision of
what a young black man should grow up to. And
he would just tell us we couldn't watch many, many,
many shows. But what he would say often is go
watch the Rosie O'donald's show. You should be watching. And
(37:40):
it was so crazy because he felt that your show
was the safe show. Your show was not going to
be harmful in any way, even though he was acutely
aware that I was showing signs of becoming gay. Your
show was rated G and it just looked like good,
(38:01):
family fun. So my father really insisted that we watch you.
And I just want to thank you for being a
safe place that I could turn to as a kid.
I am obsessed with your podcast. I listened to it constantly.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for being yourself.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Wow, that was quite something, really beautiful. I have to
tell you, and I thank you for leaving that message.
And I wish I got to meet your dad. You know,
it was family fun, but it was definitely gay. I mean,
you know, John was gay, I was gay. A couple
(38:46):
of writers were gay, A bunch of them, A bunch
of the producers. You know, it was a gay friendly
show with a black male executive producer and me at
the helm and his name is Bernie. And I think
we made the MERV Griffin Show for the next generation.
And the MERV Griffin Show was a haven for gays too.
(39:08):
I mean, come on, he had ja Ja, he had
Tody Fields, he had bet Midler, he had everyone MERV
Griffin and Broadway was represented. And you know he was
gay himself. MERV Griffin. Isn't that the tale that they
tell A different time, a different world. You know, what
was possible in his lifetime and what's possible in mine
(39:30):
and in yours the next generation. So thank you for
sharing that with me. It really does move me and
I feel the love, so I thank you for it. Well,
this has been a great show everybody. I hope you
enjoyed it as much as I did. And peace out.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
We'll see you.
Speaker 1 (39:48):
Next week with Billy Porter, the last of our special
guests for Gay Pride Month. Hey I'm gay, It's okay.
Peace out, bu
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