An Unlikely Affair: The Song That Changed Everything (Part One)

0:01Speaker 1:Hi, Amber. Hi, Lola. Welcome to an unlikely affair.

0:09Speaker 2:Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of an unlikely affair.

0:12Speaker 1:Hi, Lola. Hi, babe. I missed you. I'm so happy you're back.

0:15Speaker 2:I'm so happy to be back.

0:16Speaker 1:And in my bed.

0:17Speaker 3:I know.

0:18Speaker 2:Ocean's not so happy, but I am.

0:20Speaker 1:Fuck them. Okay.

0:22Speaker 2:Sorry, that's just my mood today.

0:24Speaker 1:I don't think you're saying that about Ocean. No, I'm not. Trust me, I'm well aware.

0:29Speaker 2:I am so excited for today's guest. I heard her speak at a meeting once, and I was completely in awe of her story, and I was just like, her story needs to be shared. So, that person is Christina Perry.

0:47Speaker 1:Hello.

0:47Speaker 4:Hi.

0:48Speaker 1:I'm a little starstruck. Oh, my God. Yes.

0:51Speaker 3:I mean, like when when I heard that you were confirmed and ready to come in, I was so excited because you just have like so many layers and your resume is absolutely incredible. You're talented, but you also share. The Journey in Sobriety, which Amber and I both share as well. So I'm so excited to have you.

1:09Speaker 1:Oh, yay. I'm excited to be here. Thank you.

1:12Speaker 2:So I want you to say, OK, tell me the exact story you told me on the meeting. But I want to go back a little bit further.

1:17Speaker 1:Where did you grow up? I grew up in Philadelphia. My dad's from Italy. So he immigrated in like the 50s. And then I have just the biggest Italian family ever. And South Philadelphia and all over that area. And I grew up there. And Love it. I still love Philly. I have so many Philadelphia tattoos. I'm like so obnoxiously Philly. But if you're from Philly, like you have to be. You guys wear your Philly. Yeah, we do. We do. And honestly, I appreciate it. I always have been. And like even in through my career, I feel like Philly has appreciated that I appreciate Philly. And they've been like the best to me. Like Wawa sends me free stuff every month. Like I just am like. I was voted number two favorite artist out of Philly. Obviously Bradley Cooper would be number one. And I'm cool with that. Cause I love him too. And you're in two very different categories.

2:15Speaker 1:I would say so. Thank you. But I, um, yeah, I very much, uh, still keep Philly with me, even though I've been living in LA since 2009. Like so 2007. Yeah. Can I ask you one question, though?

2:28Speaker 3:Because you said you have a lot of Philly tattoos.

2:29Speaker 1:Do you have an eagle anywhere? No, but I have the actual city of Philadelphia here. That's sick. And I have it as 1776 in honor of, I don't even know. When it was established?

2:39Speaker 2:They're like, we declare this state.

2:42Speaker 1:Philadelphia. Literally, what? I don't even know why I did that. I don't know when I did that. There's a lot of tattoos that I got in my non-sober period. Got it. Same. That just appeared one day, and that's one of them. I think I was doing it in honor of the Declaration of Independence or something. That's hysterical.

2:59Speaker 2:You would have been a fun drunk to hang out with. You weren't crazy. I could see you were fun.

3:03Speaker 1:Oh, I was both, girl.

3:04Speaker 2:You were a good time.

3:05Speaker 1:I was a good time. There was a good time, and then I wasn't.

3:08Speaker 3:I'm always a good time until one too many vodka sodas.

3:12Speaker 1:And then i end up with heart tattoos around my nipple and then i have.

3:15Speaker 4:To explain it to my five-year-old dude wait i've got i've got one of my butt that says do you like it and it has it has splash marks that i didn't ask for and i have to explain that to my eight-year-old what is the.

3:26Speaker 3:Splash marks she doesn't know they're just i have a few ideas but how do you explain it to your eight-year-old.

3:34Speaker 1:I have said it was a joke, that I got it with my friends, and that's it. I didn't go into being blackout drunk while getting it. And then the artist deciding to add splash marks. She can find that all out a little bit later. A little bit later. Do you just have the one daughter? No, I have Carmela, who's eight and a half. And I have to say half. She'd be super offended if I just said eight. We just celebrated her half birthday, which I don't recommend starting that because now it's a thing. It's a disaster. And I wake up literally the day of and I'm like, oh my God, I didn't have anything planned. Eight and a half and then almost four. I have another daughter named Pixie and she's my baby. The baby. So two girls. Amazing.

4:20Speaker 1:I did have a daughter between the two of them named Rosie and she passed away. Yeah, so I have three girls. I'm so sorry. Thank you. How old did your daughter pass away at? She died in utero, but I was like full term. I am so sorry. Thank you. Yeah, it's really hard. It's a huge part of my story. So just throwing it out there.

4:40Speaker 2:So Philly, you grow up there. You're a fucking badass. You discover your voice.

4:45Speaker 1:Like at what age?

4:47Speaker 2:You're like, oh, I actually have talent.

4:49Speaker 1:Oh, I was the last person to know. I did not... Well, I got a record deal when I was 23. So that's when Oh, and funny enough, my best friend Kelty is my fairy godmother in all of this because I had a friend who you guys know, but she moved to LA because she was like, you are talented and you don't play shows and I'm your only fan and I'm gonna like manage you and I was like, Okay, and I was a waitress. I mean, I should go back a little further, but Kelty was like, like I didn't perform. I had, um, songs on YouTube before that was like a thing. Like I would just put up covers, but like I had no views. I always say Kelty was my only viewer. Like she was like just my bestie who was like, I think you're talented. And I was like, cool. Like I was actually very shy. So I grew up, I loved musical theater. I loved writing songs.

5:38Speaker 1:I loved the Beatles. I was very emo and, like in my bathroom listening to Mariah Carey crying and Selena and like singing like I was in the movie and like singing about love I never had. And I, um, so I was always that person, but like, I was just not the big performer, like out loud. Like, I think I was just a little bit too shy. I also think it ties into my alcoholism. Yeah. Well, you had.

6:00Speaker 2:Deep feelings, like deep feelings. You just didn't know what to do with them. Like you weren't a songwriter yet, but you had that in you.

6:07Speaker 1:100%. And I think, I now think I was always a little songwriter, like going back even to being four. My mom said that I like wrote a letter to Santa and said like, I don't deserve any presents. Like that's like, that is so emo. Like I can't even pretend that I'm not, but, but it, but like I've now, now that I'm almost 40, I've gone back in so many different ways through therapy. And I'm just like, oh, I was always a little songwriter, but I was also always an alcoholic. Like I always felt uncomfortable in my skin.

6:34Speaker 1:uncomfortable in my body, uncomfortable being me. So for my teen years, like a lot of that one over like my true essence, because I was just like a teenager. So I got older and braver, but I think really it took Kelty believing in me first, um, and making me play shows and making me, um, give people my music or record my music even. Cause no one had heard. I wrote Jar of Hearts, um, um, December 29th, 2009. And, uh, so good. Thank you. And I only showed Kelty and, uh, and, and she was like, you have to, you know, play this for, um, no, no. She said, email it to me.

7:12Speaker 1:And I was like, no dude, like I, I don't want you to show anybody. And she was like, I promise I won't show anyone. And then she immediately emailed it to the choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance, Stacey Tukey, who she grew up with in Canada doing dance together. And Stacey was like having a big moment. Once again, Kelty knew everything in pop culture and I didn't. So she knew how big So You Think You Can Dance was and I didn't. So she was like, maybe one day you can play this on your show. And then Stacey was like, how about Wednesday? And that was June 30th, 2010. Jar of Hearts, the demo that I made got played on the show. And then I flew to New York City the next day, got a record deal.

7:49Speaker 1:It's wild. My origin story is insane, but it has so much to do, one, with me moving out of my own way. I was always in my way. I found this out sort of my whole life, and I'm still learning this. But also the story of someone else believing in you is so big. Kelty knows I wouldn't be here without her. I've joked about giving her my firstborn child. But instead, I just got Matt and Nathan to sing at her wedding, and we're good. Um, so we, uh, you know, I, I really kind of look at it like so many stars aligned, but like it, it was, it wasn't all me. Like I, I was so like, I feel like unable to make this happen in my life.

8:30Speaker 1:Like I was not like as driven or as like, like, like so many people are like, I need to be heard. Like, I, I don't know if you guys know the Enneagram, like Enneagram threes are like, they need to achieve, but Enneagram four, which is me, uh, which is actually so Enneagram four of me even to say that. um, we're like, like we have to be unique, but like, don't look at us. Oh, that is so emo of you.

8:54Speaker 4:Yeah.

8:54Speaker 1:But I do think that the, the entertainment industry is made up of those two numbers because you have like really talented people who suffer with their gifts and like, you know, just end up connecting in the world and connecting with people and having success through their art, but in spite of them. And then you have the people like, You know, Ryan Tedder, who's like, I'm going to win every single thing I ever do. And then he does.

9:18Speaker 2:See, I want that attitude. What's your zodiac sign?

9:31Speaker 1:I'm a Leo. Oh, I love a Leo. But I'm Aquarius, Aquarius.

9:34Speaker 4:Oh.

9:35Speaker 1:Aquarius, Aquarius, Aquarius. leo so i i'm like i'm a little bit more aquarius the older i get.

9:44Speaker 2:So you decided to come out to california i'm sure after that entire uh situation exploded yes so.

9:50Speaker 1:I well i had actually come to la uh before that happened and kelty is the one who came out here and like cause I came out here thinking maybe I'd be a songwriter. Cause like I had loved writing songs. So like I thought, oh, that's a job I could do. I could write songs for other people and then I don't have to sing them. And then you don't have to be the face. You can get your art out. The universe had other plans. It was like 100% me. But at the time, I kind of tricked myself into thinking like, oh, let me just go to the land where people do this. And then that's when I went first.

10:17Speaker 1:And then Kelty followed maybe a year later and was like, you're a mess. I was drinking. I actually think this all ties together because when I moved out here, I drank for another year and a half maybe. And then I got sober. none of this would have happened if I didn't get sober. Like this all, this is where the rubber met the road. It was like, no, no, no. I was so lost in every capacity. But during the time that I wasn't sober, that I was out here without Kelty here, I was like, you know, working at three different restaurants and then I was just like drunk every day and sleeping in every morning. And So like I was doing nothing. Like I came out here with a dream and then I did what like a lot of people do when they come out to LA is like they come out here and they don't do it.

11:00Speaker 1:So can I ask you something?

11:02Speaker 3:When you, you got the record deal before you moved to LA, like when, when you hear someone got a record deal, most people think, which I think with the spotlight on the music industry right now, you realize how many artists are really done dirty because.

11:16Speaker 1:It's not like millions just fell into your lap and you were off to the races, right? That's exactly what happened to me. A hundred percent.

11:25Speaker 4:No, no.

11:25Speaker 1:Like I, what's funny is mostly what you're saying is actually true for most everyone. But what did happen was, so I didn't get the record deal until the song played on So You Think You Can Dance. But were you in L.A. at that point in time? I had come to L.A., but I was doing nothing. Okay, you were in L.A.

11:41Speaker 4:Got it.

11:41Speaker 1:Kelty coming here was like, you're going to do this. I made a demo of Jar of Hearts. That was the only thing I had done. Okay. Didn't have managers. Didn't have a label. Was just a waitress.

11:50Speaker 2:Okay.

11:50Speaker 1:So it is kind of unique and also like feels fake, but like I literally went from being a waitress to recording artists overnight. And what's interesting is that was just maybe as hard as what happens to other people too. Like having your dream come true, like it was, I certainly don't want to sound ungrateful. It was awesome. And I actually have a funny story of the day that the record deal hit my bank account. I had like $ 36 in my bank account and I was sitting at sushi with Kelty and she was like buying me lunch for the 400th time because she just had a job that was a little better than my job, you know, but she was always looking out for me like a big sister. And then we were sitting having sushi and like, I literally got a text message like that. I had gotten my record deal and I was like, Kelty, I'm going to buy you lunch forever. Like I thought like I was like super rich, which at the time I was considering I only had $ 36 in there before. But so that actually did, I literally, it, it did happen to me overnight. But then uh, the journey of it began that, that comes with like all the things that

12:53Speaker 1:everyone experiences in the music industry and like being done dirty is like, I have so many versions of that, even though I did enter this business where my song did well first. So the song went to the top of the charts the night it was on. So you think you dance and everyone's like, who is Christina Perry? What is this? And I was like, I don't even know. Like what? It's not supposed to be me. I thought I was going to give it to someone else. And I mean, it happened so fast. that it was really traumatizing.

13:20Speaker 1:I actually still deal with that trauma in therapy in different ways than it just happening. That was really cool, like winning the lottery, but we also know winning the lottery is sometimes a curse. So I spent 14 years now in the music industry trying to... get level because like it started so crazy. So I don't know which one's better. I don't know if I should have been riding around in a van, you know, playing and they're like, you know, everyone goes, I'm not an overnight sensation. I've been doing this my whole life. And I'm just like, I'm an overnight sensation. I, you know, I just did this today, but like definitely just as hard. Wow.

13:58Speaker 2:Yeah, and you have to have someone that, going back to what you said, you have to have someone that believes in you. Because in moments where you doubt yourself and you don't believe in yourself, if it's just that one person that's carrying you through, and it goes back to the program that we're in, it's a we program. I can walk into a room and be completely devastated, upset about something, and I know that I'm not alone, and someone's going to carry me through the next moment, the next minute, the next five minutes, the next thing you know, I'm on the other side of whatever that is.

14:25Speaker 2:And I'm like, oh, wait. I am okay. I am good at what I do.

14:29Speaker 1:Well, I will say, so when this all did happen, I was sober a year and a half. So that year, for me, a year being sober, I did 12 steps. I learned what contrary action was. I learned all these things. And man, I just don't think it all would have happened if I didn't. Because I knew to trust Kelty more than me. Because I knew to just be where my feet are. Because I knew to... I had a sponsor. I called that sponsor every freaking day. I was like, I'm flying to Europe. I'm on TV. I'm doing this.

15:06Speaker 1:It was in the height of everything. I don't know how I kept it. Maybe that's what higher power is or an example of it in my life. Because I have a really... weird relationship with god but i um i i see it like the proof i think was that i i stayed sober and was able to be present for that because i think if i a if i hadn't gotten sober i don't think it would.

15:29Speaker 2:Have happened how did you know you needed to get sober sorry to cut you off but where was that moment in in your life where you're like oh shit this has become a problem so i.

15:36Speaker 1:Was married to my first husband who i married uh in florida on ecstasy when i was 21 and Wow. There were signs the whole time. I just had a life full of those.

15:47Speaker 2:Well, I actually.

15:49Speaker 1:Didn't even know the term blackout until I got sober. But I think from 17 to... Well, I got sober at 23, but. For those years, they're all blurry because I think I'm just a blackout drinker. I think I just was always in a blackout. And so so many things happened I don't even recall or know how. So I ended up moving to L.A., being a waitress, but meeting someone four months later. We got married in Florida on ecstasy. I don't know. Came back. All of a sudden, I live in Silver Lake. I have a husband and two chihuahuas.

16:17Speaker 1:And I was just like, what is my life? How did I get here?

16:19Speaker 4:Yeah.

16:19Speaker 1:So I mean, I'm obviously fast-forwarding a lot of things. But I... I woke up, I always, I like to say this if I get to speak. I woke up on April 10th, 2009. And what I look back now can consider was like this little gift next to my bed, which was, I should get sober. Just the thought. It was like, I should get sober. And my husband at the time, he had already gone to work. I had alcohol poisoning. I was sick all over the room, all over our dog. Like, you know, it was one of those demoralizing kind of mornings. But for some reason I had that thought for the first time ever. I'd never had that thought before. I didn't hang out with sober people.

17:02Speaker 1:It was not a thing. People were like, you have a problem because I did a very good job of like, I don't know, appearances. Like I learned, my mom's a hairdresser. I learned from a very young age, like to make everything look great so that like no one knows. So I didn't have people saying like you have a problem or anything, but so it was a completely like magical independent thought that I had. But I look back also to must've been somewhere around then that I was at a bar, um, maybe two or three weeks before this happened.

17:31Speaker 1:And there was a girl there who was drinking Red Bulls, who was a friend of my friend. I was friends with the DJ and she's like hanging out and she was drinking Red Bulls and she was like, no, I don't drink. And so I was like, oh, and like left her immediately. I was like, why would I be friends with you? Yeah. Not my girl. So I never thought of her again until that moment because I was like, I know a sober person. Like, I wonder how she does it. Like she was the one that popped into my head when I thought I should be sober. I thought of this girl named Brett and I was like, Oh, I, I, I wonder if I should ask her. And so what's actually really interesting is, so I asked the DJ to, to hook me up with Brett. Brett was not sober anymore that quick and was like, Ask this girl. And so then this one girl said, let me let me ask this guy. And the guy was actually Dax Shepard, which is so crazy. Wow. And said to him, hey, there's a girl that wants to get sober. Like, what should she do? And Dax said, tell your friend to go to the log cabin at eleven thirty a.m. on Sunday.

18:35Speaker 1:And this was like a Friday. And I was like, I didn't know who Dax Shepard was. I didn't know that all happened till later. I've since then hugged him and thanked him because I feel like I'm here because of him. And I still have the same sponsor I met that day. So my life changed that day. And I went to that meeting and I, I sat in the speaker seat. I didn't even know that there was such a thing. I'd never been to a meeting. And of course, I smelled like I belonged there. I was all dressed up. I'm like, it's church. I was like, ooh.

19:03Speaker 1:But I was a mess. And then the woman who was speaking, I asked her eventually to sponsor me. But she gave me her phone number that day. And then she's been my sponsor for 16 years. That's incredible. And so I knew I needed to get sober to answer your question. I knew I needed to. really physically get sober. I relapsed. I stayed sober for two years, went out the day my album came out. So fast forward everything until 2011, May 10th, 2011, the night my album came out at midnight, I drank by myself, lost my sobriety.

19:39Speaker 1:And then I didn't get sober for nine months. And in those nine months, I tried to drink like a gentleman. I had a head you know, a head full of program, but I emotionally hit the bottom and that was huge for me. So I was like, I actually was just so physically ill in 2009 that I was like, it's, this is an easy choice. Like I just need to not be sick.

20:02Speaker 4:Mm-hmm.

20:03Speaker 1:And then once I was not doing that anymore and I was just kind of chill about it and not going overboard, not crossing the line, not blacking out, I wanted to die. Like I just was like, my friend was like, you know, asked me if I wanted to go to a meeting and I was like, I guess. And then I went and that was March 1st, 2012. And I've been sober since.

20:32Speaker 2:In that moment where you decided to drink when your album came out, was that a feeling of just being unworthy? Or what was the driving force of that dark moment for you?

20:42Speaker 1:It's a great question. It was a combination. You know, they say you kind of relapse backwards. Like you start doing the 12 steps backwards before you go out. So for me, that was really true because, you know, it started with like going to less meetings. Now I was also in the height of my career. This was like rate jar of hearts is huge thousand years. I just wrote it. Like it's like, like paper, it seems like you have it all. Exactly. Everything, which is also very Enneagram for me to be like, I'm going to drink now.

21:10Speaker 1:I need to know what this is. Yes, please. It's so good. Nine numbers. It's a whole thing. You got to get, take me through it after. Okay, so I will say, you know, it wasn't as dramatic as just my albums out, I'm going to drink, it really was probably months of me not going to meetings as much not talking to my sponsor as much. I wasn't sponsoring any other people, which I think is also worth noting, because I always say that now when I speak that until I got this sobriety, and started sponsoring other women, I stayed. So I think that's a huge piece of it is I wasn't really doing 12, uh, the 12th step, but also, um, I drank over a dude. I mean, I had like the worst relationship and what's kind of wonderful now is that I promised myself after that I would never drink over a dude. Like I made like a hard non-negotiable, uh, and I haven't, which is great, but like, That I needed to do too. Like I was in just like endlessly bad relationships. And then that all, we fought every day. We broke up every day. I mean, it was definitely all kind of coming to, you know, and then it was the pressure maybe being relieved that

22:19Speaker 1:this album had come out. And I don't think I stopped working from June 30th, 2010 until May 10th, 2011. Like that was like my first day off. Yeah. And I was like, of course I'm going to drink. I'm exhausted. I had no defense. I had no defense between me. Take a load off.

22:35Speaker 2:Was he in the program as well?

22:36Speaker 4:No.

22:38Speaker 1:So just, uh, he was probably an alcoholic. I can't say, but.

22:41Speaker 3:Will you date, I guess you're just newly coming out of, of your marriage, but in the future, I know you're swearing off men right now. Totally get it with you, girl. Um, is it a non-negotiable with the drinking? Like, do you make sure you date men in the program?

23:01Speaker 1:Well, you know, I think about it a lot because between 2012 and, uh, 2018, no, 2017 is when I got married. So I dated a lot of people actually in between then. Um, and, um, Some of them were sober and some of them weren't. And some were in active addiction and some were total normies. So I feel like I've experienced a lot of variety. And I've been married to someone for nine years that is not in the program, but is in our family. sister program for me, which also I think now wasn't for me at all to begin with, but got him in, you know? And, uh, and so, and he drinks, uh, and has our whole marriage and, and, and it didn't bother me in the sense of being near alcohol. Okay. My biggest thing now is I want to connect. If I'm ever going to do that again, I need to connect with someone so deeply that that if they're drunk or high, I probably won't because I'm not. Do you know what I mean?

24:05Speaker 4:I totally am.

24:05Speaker 1:So I think it's circumstantial. I don't want to say that it's a non-negotiable because I don't want to cut myself off from the endless possibilities of whoever I may meet in the future. But I'm going to know if the connection is is deeper than I've ever let myself connect to a person. Like I know my bar is like going to be so high. So I don't think it's going to be, they have to be sober, even though it's so nice when they are and they have this language and they, and we have like this thing in common where we're always like raw dogging life, you know, kind of like that. So I think that will like, would be attractive to me, but if they're normies and you know, I don't mind being around it. So I'm sober.

24:47Speaker 1:So you don't feel like it would affect your sobriety at all. No, because A, I promised myself I'd never drink over a dude. Love it.

24:53Speaker 4:Yeah.

24:54Speaker 1:But B, I. Worked really hard in my sobriety to never be uncomfortable around it. Like, I think that's a huge thing because I've toured with a lot of musicians who, you know, you're not allowed alcohol on the premises because they're sober. And that is fine. I respect that. That's like knowing your boundaries and your self-preservation. But I was like, when I was coming up in the music business, like I didn't feel comfortable asking that of everyone that works for me.

25:20Speaker 1:You know what I mean? Like, so I just was like, I better figure it out. Now I did always have a sober bus. So I would tell my band and crew, like, you guys can drink and do drugs and eat sugar. I had a sugar-free bus, too. Everyone hated me. But everyone loved not gaining five pounds after every tour. And they would, like, trade candy bars in the bunks. I would hear them. I was, like, prisoned. I was, like, yes. I was a sugar police. We had the best time ever.

25:46Speaker 1:So I would, like, I made a safe place for me. So the bus was, like, my sanctuary. Like, you can do anything you want out there. But when you come on the bus, like, there's nothing here. And everyone respected that. And so... I feel like I kind of walk around my life like that too. If I'm at a party that I have to be at, that I don't even want to be at, but like I go and I do what I need to do. And then I leave when like, you know, my sponsor always kind of instilled that in me. Cause I was like, everything I do is social. Like every, my career is social. Everyone's drinking, everyone's partying, everyone's. So I had to learn, like go in, do the schmoozing, do the thing you're there for and go.

26:20Speaker 1:Or if I'm not uncomfortable, stay and have a great time. But I, I don't, let myself get in situations that like make me feel super uncomfortable. I've like fully, like I know my limit.

26:32Speaker 4:Yeah.

26:32Speaker 2:And you're going to know too. I feel like that's the gift of sobriety is that we have like this deep intuition, not only like as women, as mothers, and then now like you're completely free of drugs and alcohol. You have this knowing. So like when you meet your guy again, It's not like, I say that all the time. Like, okay, do I want someone that's sober or not sober? And there's like, I'm like weighing out the pros and cons. And I'm like, wait a second. Here I am trying to control the situation again. I'm not going to control it.

27:00Speaker 1:You know what freaks me out the most?

27:02Speaker 3:And maybe this is an ignorant thing to say, but I feel like I'm in a safe space. It worries me to be involved with someone who's in the program.

27:11Speaker 1:Because I don't want to have.

27:13Speaker 3:To worry about their sobriety because I know where I'm at in mine, and I know that I'm strong.

27:18Speaker 1:You could take me to a nightclub, and I will hang with the best of them until 5 a.m., not even thinking about.

27:23Speaker 3:Taking a drink. I— Don't want to worry about yours. I have two little girls that I have to look after. I got to make sure we're on solid ground. I also can't have a fucking drug addict. And that's super fair.

27:36Speaker 1:I'm not there yet because I'm not even dating. But that will definitely be on my mind too. Especially because we all know alcoholics because we are them. And it's like, yeah, I don't know if I want that variable hanging always. in a partner.

27:51Speaker 3:Yeah.

27:51Speaker 1:Like I already have to deal with mine. Exactly. It's not alcohol.

27:54Speaker 3:And then tomorrow I could meet my guy and he could say, I'm in the program and I could say, I'm in love with you and you've got your shit together.

28:00Speaker 1:Let's go. Right. I guess it really depends. Like, again, it's the bar. It's like, where are you at in your sobriety? Obviously I'm not going to date a newcomer. Like for me, you know, that's just, that's that, that wouldn't work for me. But I, um, I also think like, what's funny is I dated a lot of guys in the program before, um, before I got married and, And every time I'd break up with one, I would, like, not be able to go to those meetings anymore. And, like, that pushed me out to the valley. At one point, I just stopped doing the east side. I just stopped doing the leho. Oh, no. So it is funny that, like, I know me. And, like, I shouldn't mess with anyone at my favorite meetings. You know what I mean?

28:39Speaker 4:Yeah.

28:39Speaker 1:You got to protect your sobriety.

28:41Speaker 4:Yes.

28:41Speaker 1:You guys, this is.

28:42Speaker 3:Chat is like the most incredible chat I think we've ever had on an unlikely affair. So this is part one and make sure you catch part two with Christina Perry.

28:52Speaker 1:It's coming right up.