The Unraveling That Changes Everything with Brooke Baldwin: Ep 5
Highlights from the episode:
The moment Brooke realized saying “no” was the bravest thing she could do
What happened immediately after the phone call canceling her show on CNN
What Brooke is learning about unraveling, healing, and identity
Redefining success and finding joy in the slow rebuild
Podcast show notes:
When Brooke Baldwin lost her dream job, she didn’t expect to lose her sense of identity along with it. What came next wasn’t a clean pivot or a perfect plan. It has been a slow, deeply personal process of figuring out who she is without the title, the platform, or the external validation.
In this episode, Brooke talks with me about the shock of a career ending abruptly, the power of being cracked open, and how she finally gave herself permission to stop striving. I really appreciated how honest and open Brooke was about what she has learned and what she is still discovering.
What You’ll Hear:
What it really felt like to walk away from CNN (06:50)
The power (and pain) of being cracked open by loss (08:42)
Why Brooke kept saying yes… until she finally had to say no (10:55)
Navigating identity after a longtime career unraveling (16:10)
Learning to see the signs, and to follow them (30:40)
How Brooke found her way back to joy (34:55)
Brooke reminds us that you don’t have to have it all figured out, and how sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is stop chasing and start listening.
This is a conversation about trusting your gut, finding the courage to pause, and choosing a different kind of success.
Connect with Brooke Baldwin
Check out Brooke’s book Huddle: How Women Unlock Their Collective Power
Brooke’s Substack Unraveling - unravelingwithBrooke.Substack.com
Find Brooke on Instagram: @brooke_baldwin
Read the Vanity Fair article referenced in the episode.
Learn more about the American Woman with Brooke Baldwin project: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2018/01/entertainment/american-woman/
This is Brooke’s poster that she and Lindsay reference at the beginning of the episode.
Be sure to subscribe to Things No One Tells You—Lindsay’s podcast all about the real, unfiltered conversations we don’t always have but should. From big names to everyday voices, each episode dives into the moments that shape us. Listen wherever you get your podcasts!
Follow along with Lindsay below!
Full Transcript
[00:00:05] Brooke: I remember exactly the moment when there was maybe not even out of CNN just yet. I left in April of 2021 and somewhere in there I remember having a phone call with a really powerful woman and I said to her, I think I could have stayed in and done some sort of special correspondent work or maybe become an anchor elsewhere.
[00:00:23] And I just decided that I wanna be in longer form storytelling. I've been doing this for 20 years. I've gotten to the, like one of the highest positions in the game. I wanna try something else. And so, I really totally bet on myself. But if you had told me four years ago. Like how hard that road would be. I'm glad I didn't know. I'm also glad that was the choice I made. When you are in a machine for 20 years, whether it was local news or for CNN, for me, you're just like, part of being, you're used to being part of a machine. And I think the biggest adjustment in what really kicked off my unraveling was being dropped, kicked out of my dream job.
[00:01:07] But then also this wait, who am I if I don't have this container, this fancy container that is CNN around me? Wait, who am I if I don't, if I'm not CNN's Brooke Baldwin and I'm just Brooke. It was a lot, Lindsay, in the beginning, of just who am I actually?
[00:01:25] Lindsay: Hey everybody, I'm Lindsay Czarniak, and this is Things No One Tells You. This is a podcast about the behind the scenes moments that shape who we are, those things that also are really relatable and really connect us. So, each week I'm gonna talk with newsmakers, trailblazers in the worlds of sports, entertainment, all things, but also everyday folk. People who are talking about the real stuff that no one tends to share. Follow me at Lindsay Czarniak and be sure to subscribe, rate and review Things No One Tells You wherever you like to listen. Hello everybody. Hope you're having a great week. Welcome to TNOTY. That stands for things no one tells you. But we love the ring that it's got: Tea-Naughty. And we thank you for being here to listen to this episode of The Things No One Tells You podcast. I'm Lindsay Czarniak and this has been so much fun because I really feel like I am learning something new from each guest or guest that we're talking to on our show. And it is oftentimes things that I had no idea that they were gonna bring to the table, which is a really, the part that I love.
[00:02:27] I also wanted to take a minute before we jump into this week's guest to thank those of you who I've heard from after last week's episode with Neha Rush who wrote the book, The Power Pause. I loved hearing what you had to say and look forward to chatting more about that and. About this episode and my guest who I just can't wait for you to hear from Brooke Baldwin.
[00:02:50] Brooke is such an established journalist. She hosted her own show at CNN for years now. She is moving to creating her own platform as well as still hosting other things and also entrepreneurial endeavors. So, I cannot wait to dive into her reinvention and what she's doing along the way. It's fascinating, but first I wanna give you a little snippet into what's going on in my life. I'm wondering if you guys are in this boat where you hit a certain point when maybe it's like a summer thing, but I all of a sudden have found this intense need to purge. And have you ever had a room or a closet you walk into in your house and it's like you can't even get in and you forget stuff that you had?
[00:03:34] I just went through sunscreens that were from 2023. Thank God, I'm not putting them on my kids. I also have been really wanting to just rearrange, and I had this thought when I was working on my own closet 'cause I was just trying to purge things. I'm like, if I don't feel good in this, why am I even keeping this? And then I had this thought, what if I really only wore the clothes? That just made me feel really excited to leave the house. And I feel like maybe that would be like seven items that I have. But then I started to do that, and I found this pair of pants in my closet that I've been looking for two years.
[00:04:08] And I was like, this is absolutely pathetic. so, I'm just wondering how you guys do the purges in your house. And I have also identified that oftentimes it is helpful if you have someone, my 8-year-old daughter turns out is. Super great at that in organizing because she will just tell it like it is.
[00:04:26] She's like, nope, don't like it. And sometimes I have to fight with her because it'll be something that is intentionally for her that she still has tags on. But I'm like, no, you're wearing this and that's it. But anyway, for whatever reason, it's just always difficult to do that. For yourself. And I think in some ways that ties into what we're talking about today in this podcast episode with Brooke because it's like, for some reason, sometimes it is hard to listen to your own inner voice.
[00:04:53] I love CNN. It's actually the very first job I had after I graduated college was behind the scenes at CNN. But, a few years ago I found myself with an opportunity to work on CNN sports with the team there, so I went, and I was an anchor and a reporter for them. It was a blast. I had to be on at 4:30 in the morning, and that meant I had to leave my house at 2:45. So that was so crazy. And I remember that wakeup call because I was like, “Not a wake-up call.” It was like my phone going off with my alarm. But that was such an interesting, body required shift because 2:45 that's different from 4:30 because you're getting, you're going to bed, you're really timing the amount of hours that you're getting.
[00:05:41] But anyway, I remember that and what I loved is there is something about being up way before everyone else that I really enjoy. but also in the afternoons oftentimes I would hit a wall. So now when I watch my husband, when he comes home and he's still got work tasks to do, I'm always like, oh my gosh.
[00:05:58] That's the part people don't see. It's like the amount of work you have after the show that you've done, which I think he does really well, which is very cool. And anyway, back to my time at CNN Sports, that is when I first really saw Brooke Baldwin and Brooke was. Hosting her own show. She was wildly successful at CNN. But I remember specifically this one morning where she came in and she walked across the newsroom, and she just has such a presence about her. And that was what struck me right outta the gate. I was just like, oh, wow. Like I would love to just sit down and talk to her. I had to go get on set, so I wasn't able to.
[00:06:36] But anyway, Brooke has always been someone that I have admired from afar because she is extremely relatable on television. I really feel that from her watching her, but I also just think she's very sure of herself. She knows what she's talking about, but she also knows how to really connect with the people that she's working with, whether it's someone who's a colleague who she's co-anchor with or an analyst or if it's a guest.
[00:07:00] So I'm like, she's awesome. I also really, truly believe that she is a phenomenal writer. Before we move on a little levity. Alright, if you follow me on social, then you know I love to do a Joke of the Day. So, here's this one. What did the sad tortilla chip say? I don't wanna taco about it. I love it. And the reason I picked this one is because Brooke Baldwin is doing the opposite of that in her new journey, right?
[00:07:30] Brooke is talking about and bringing people along for the ride in this new normal, this new world that she's navigating. And it is absolutely awesome. I've subscribed to her Substack. I read the things that she writes about and every time I'm just like, oh yeah, me too. Like I just love what she's doing. And I think she's really hitting the nail on the head on some of the direction of where our industry is really going. But, backing it up, as I said, she was an anchor at CNN for several years. So good at what she does. And I've heard so many stories of reinvention. We've talked a lot about it here in this space.
[00:08:08] But the one Brooke Baldwin shared with me still leaves me thinking, this episode, Brooke Baldwin, my friend, opens up about the unraveling that changed everything for her from losing her dream job to finding out how to redefine her voice to what it really means to come home to yourself. Tell me about what's behind you, your background, which is amazing.
[00:08:31] Brooke: I'm in my office here in Venice, California, and of all sorts of souvenirs, this is like the one thing I actually kept from my time, it's CN, it's this giant poster from. Oh, Betty White and Ashley Graham and, Tracy Reese and Pat Benatar, Issa Rae and DVF and Sheryl Crow.
[00:08:52] And Ava DuVernay. I keep these women behind me with me, but also the poster represents a really big “No” I got from my boss because I knew I wanted to focus and tell women's stories. This was after the 2016 presidential election when I was backstage at the Women's March in Washington, which was bananas. And I remember, like going to my boss and I was like, I'm telling you something is happening with women in this country. At the time I was hosting two hours by myself. I was like, can I have two minutes once a week on my show to tell women's stories?
[00:09:28] Lindsay: And oh, that's such a good idea too. And, I can tell that's one of those things like, you just feel it in here. You're like this. I knew it.
[00:09:35] Brooke: Lindsay, I was possessed. But when I asked him, can I please have two minutes on my own show, he said, no. He said no. And so, I turned that note.
[00:09:46] Lindsay: Like the boss or like the EP.
[00:09:49] Brooke: Boss. Boss.
[00:09:49] Lindsay: Okay. Got it.
[00:09:50] Brooke: The president of CNN. I went straight to the big kahuna, and he was like, no. And I went home and cried.
[00:09:56] Lindsay: But what was the reason?
[00:09:58] Brooke: I think actually at that time, if you go back to January of, that would've been 2017, we had a new administration suddenly inaugurated, and we were just starting to realize how crazy, how insane the news cycle would be. And I honestly think it was as simple as, he didn't wanna give up two minutes. I think he probably had some sort of Spidey sense that we would need to cover this White House 24/7, 365. And there would be no room for what I wanted to do. And my lesson, which is why I keep this [poster] here, is I turn sort of that exit into an entrance into creating this series for CNN.com. Which then planted the seeds of me writing this book about the collective power of women, which became Huddle, which became so much of who I am. So, it was like a big fat “No.” Changed my life. That's why that's here.
[00:11:03] Lindsay: I love that so much. And the no. So, when you started doing that series that you envisioned for CNN.com, how did you get to that place?
[00:11:12] Brooke: You know when you are so passionate about something, it is in your body. I was possessed, I was myopic. And so, the second I got to know, and I had, I got, I cried, went home and cried about it that night and I was like, okay, how, who will say yes to me? So, I went to the head of CNN Digital at the time. I had a great relationship with him, with Andrew Morse, and I think I was like, can we please go out for a cup of coffee? And I basically pitched him to the series and he, without even… he was like, yes. Yes.
[00:11:46] Lindsay: Oh, that is so good. That's such a big, you're right. It's such a big lesson. I love what you just said about when you get the big fat No, who will maybe gimme the Yes?
[00:11:54] Brooke: Someone wants to do a yes. Someone you just cannot give up.
[00:11:58] Lindsay: That, you just made me think about, which I have not thought about for a long time. The only time I cried was in a news director's office. Because I was in Washington, DC doing local sports, and my boss, I was pitching him on why we needed to be at this NASCAR race. Because, being in DC, Joe Gibbs had been the coach of the Redskins at that time and then, was now doing motor sports, and there was some big event, but I was so passionate about it. It was like, I felt it. There was no reason we should not be doing it. And it was a hard No.
[00:12:30] Brooke: It was and I'm sure it wasn’t in budget.
[00:12:35] Lindsay: No. Yeah. Yeah. But I was just like, and I knew, I felt it in my face. I'm like, don't do this. Don't do this. Everyone says don't do this. You know what I mean?
[00:12:41] Brooke: But you were in the boss's office. You were in his office...
[00:12:44] Lindsay: Oh, and then I couldn't stop. And I knew. I was like, I was gonna cry. And then I'm like, now I've just gotta be compelling with it. I was like, he's not gonna say yes. I'm crying in his office. And, I don't know what I said, but I just had to get the heck out of there. And then I did, and I was fine, but it was not one of my brightest moments. And it's so funny how that stuff consumes you. And how.
[00:12:50] Brooke: What did you end up doing?
[00:13:00] Lindsay: We didn't go down there, but I do think the lesson for me in that was there was a reason we couldn't do it, and I think it was budget and that was unfortunate and it sucked, and I was mad and pissed and no one else listened to me, but it's like, what do you do with that? There wasn't someone else that could have given me a yes in that situation because I didn't have the money to fly our whole team down there. But I think I just used that no, at that moment to just continue to champion what it is you believe in. And at some point, yes, people will listen. Which I don't know. I was reading again today, some of the stuff I read. I had read your Vanity Fair article a while ago, last year when it came out after you left CNN. The article, people hadn't seen it was about your exit and how leaving there gave you your voice.
[00:14:04] Brooke: Yeah.
[00:14:05] Lindsay: And I was like, there's just something about what you're doing with your Substack, with Unraveling. Because this happened to me, too, when I was listening to something that you posted there, because I did subscribe last week. But I was getting so inspired but fired up to the point that I was in this coffee shop this morning and I was like, father, and I swear, I'm like, oh my God, what am I doing?
[00:14:28] And I just, it was 'cause I was reading back over the story of your ending days there and some of the stuff that I hope, that maybe you'll share today. But I think that I have, in some ways, similar experiences. And I just think that the things that you are uncovering, that you are now opening doors to, it is everything that is so empowering for people that are in it. People that don't even know they'll be in it. You know what I mean?
[00:14:53] Brooke: Yes. Great. I always say we're either about to unravel, we are unraveling, or we have unraveled. And I think our story, I'm not special. My story is sadly… my story is not unique. And I hope that just my presence and my truth helps and yours like helps open doors for other women and men and just knowing like they're not alone and also, it's gonna be okay.
[00:15:19] Lindsay: Yeah. And the power in connecting about it, I think, and like relatability in sports. I always say that I think the way that sometimes fans are made if people don't understand the sport or whatnot, is they hook themselves to a player or to a team. because they're following along in the storytelling aspect of it.
[00:15:35] And I believe what that really is at some point there's something that they relate to. Like maybe there's a NASCAR driver who's sponsored by Cheez-Its, and you love Cheez-Its, or maybe it's like the NBA player, who's like mom is from your hometown, whatever. Yes. Yes. My point is that I think it comes down to connection a lot.
[00:15:53] I, so I do really wanna hear what is one of the things that no one tells you that you've experienced on your journey along the way. But I also just think it would be helpful maybe if you could explain a little bit of how you got from, like, how I first knew you was as the CNN anchor. I actually started at CNN and then I left and did the sports thing, and then I came back for a stint and I remember seeing you walking through the New York office and I was like, oh my God, Brooke, she's so beautiful and smart. You know what I mean? And I'm like, oh, there. And yeah.
[00:16:25] Brooke: I'm gonna take you, I'm gonna surprise you and take you a step back, which is, we actually met in Washington DC I, Lindsay was working at Fox Five up in Friendship Heights as a freelance reporter for two years. And I remember you being this Channel 4 big badass sports anchor.
[00:16:45] And I was like, I love her. I really admired you from afar. And we were in a room or in an awards banquet or something together, and I know I went up to you and I was like, hi, my name's Brooke. And then cut to several years later, we were in the makeup room at CNN for work. And I was like, of course I know you. And you like, welcome to the team. And, I've always been a fan of yours from afar.
[00:17:11] Lindsay: Thank you. Likewise. That's so awesome. And I just think this is so great. I wish I was your roommate. I do love my husband, but I just, yeah, it's, I don't know. It's so funny. It's so funny how people take these different journeys and like mine, I would've never expected at first that I would be in sports. And then after that, now it's like I wouldn't have expected to be doing what I'm doing now. And I'm sensing obviously that you feel the same way, but how did, what was your path if you can fill in the gaps?
[00:17:45] Brooke: Do you want me to go back to local news and how I got into TV or what? Where do you want to start?
[00:17:50] Lindsay: Maybe let's start from CNN because we can go back to how you got into it, too, but just 'cause I really would love to talk about what got you to sharing the things you're sharing in Unraveling and on that platform.
[00:18:03] Brooke: Yes, so I came to CNN in, I wanna say it was… so I left Washington. I moved to Atlanta. It was like 2008 maybe. It was just in time for the entire economy to crash. And I moved to Atlanta and I was gonna be a freelance correspondent and they, at CNN were like, we're freezing all the positions. And I basically squatted in an office and put my name on a post-it on the wall for a really uncomfortable amount of time. And people were like, who is this Brooke Baldwin? And why does she keep showing up in this building? But, okay. She seems nice, so whatever. We'll let her try to pitch stories. Anyway, cut to… I eventually get hired.
[00:18:40] I get hired as a correspondent. I become an anchor, and then I hosted my own show. I was the only woman at CNN during that time with two hours all by myself. And I did that. I had my own show for maybe over 10 years. And then I found out in January of 2021, it was literally the day that Trump was impeached for the second time. That's how I remember the day that I got the phone call that I, too, would be out. And so, I left in April of that year, which happened to coincide with when my book came out. And then I've been out now, on the other side, for four years.
[00:19:20] Lindsay: Did you sense that you were going to be on the outs?
[00:19:26] Brooke: Yes and no. I felt like I was a top-rated anchor. I felt beloved by my peers and my viewers. Then COVID happened and I got really sick in April of 2000. I was crazy. Like I became the national news. And I remember my boss called me at home every single day and I was kind of like, huh, okay… I'm at home. It's interesting. And, then I came back, and it was just such an odd time for everyone. And then, I think I sent, I think overall, when you're in a big network and you can feel change is coming. Like they're gonna change the lineup or the anchors or what have you, and somewhere in there, he had taken an hour away from me, so I was hosting a one-hour show. Yeah. I really never got an explanation as to why, even though I asked, I got crickets.
[00:20:20] Lindsay: I, by the way, not to interrupt you. I do think that's something oftentimes I wonder if that's a female thing, or maybe it's not just an every-person thing. But I really do believe that is like instinct. It's just, or intuition. Yeah, it's this intuition. 'cause I also had that experience and it's just wild how sometimes you're like, wait a minute, I can't be right. What? Yes. Okay, keep going. Sorry.
[00:20:42] Brooke: Yes. No intuition, our knowing is a powerful thing and I've felt mine and I've heard mine ever since I was a little girl. But it's so easy to cover it with muck in the mud and ego and whatever. But I felt something was off. But did I think I would be out? No. I didn't see that coming. I was like, okay, maybe after 10 years, I'm just gonna have a one-hour show, in the afternoon. But then, no, I was literally sitting in Connecticut at a diner eating an omelet. And I got this phone call from my agent.
[00:21:19] It wasn't even my boss, and she was just like, I don't have good news. And I remember putting my fork down and I was looking at my husband at the time and just thumbs down. I listened to her. And there wasn't really an explanation, and it was this out of body experience, like the cartoons when they see stars, it's just…I didn't really totally understand what was happening.
[00:21:47] And there was discussion about, “but you choose when you wanna leave and let's figure out the financial.” But it just didn't, none of it made sense. And the crazy part, I've actually never said this before, but I can't remember how old I was at the time, like early forties, I was about to buy my very first apartment in New York City. My first phone call wasn't to like my mom or my best friend, it was to my broker in Manhattan. And I was like, I'm so sorry, I, we can't buy this apartment. I can't finally have a home. I had never owned a home in my whole life. That was my call. We're literally about to transfer a chunk of money the next day and I had to call all of that off, pull it all back. And then start calling people who I could trust to just tell them what was happening in my life. It was terrible.
[00:22:41] Lindsay: And were you, was there a part of you that was, in any shape or form, relieved because maybe there was something underneath? Or were you just shellshocked?
[00:22:51] Brooke: I'm a journaler. I've been journaling since I was 18 and for, I would say probably like two, three years leading up to the phone call over the omelet, I was definitely unhappy. I didn't like how we were covering what we were covering. I didn't like how I was being told to cover certain things. I felt like I didn't have as much of a voice as I used to on my show, all of those things. But also, I just didn't wanna disappoint that little girl who like lived in rural West Virginia in her twenties and anchored a show with a man three times her age, while Dr. Four, I wasn't gonna quit.
[00:23:26] Lindsay: And that was your, by the way, was that the dream? Like the dream? 'cause when we were talking about where we start with this, I was wondering as a kid.
[00:23:34] Brooke: Oh my God.
[00:23:35] Lindsay: What did you expect and hope that your career would be?
[00:23:37] Brooke: I was from Atlanta. Like I grew up going to Braves games. Literally bringing binoculars to Fulton County Stadium. That was the stadium. And we were huge baseball fans. And I remember we would bring the binoculars to try to find like Jane Fonda and Ted Turner would often be somewhere on the field before the game. It's and I would be like, oh my God, it's Ted Turner, the kit, cable News, pioneer founder of CNN. I mean, I was literally born Lindsay, like a mile down the road a year before CNN was born. And so, I was always very aware of CNN. So, it was either like, I wanna go work at CNN or I wanna go work at the Today Show. It was like the Today Show or CNN or bust. And, you know, I got there.
[00:24:22] Lindsay: Which is so amazing. The whole thing is amazing. And it's funny because, my dream actually, I really wanted to be on MTV. MTV was like hands down, the dream. Or Martha Quinn. I wanted Martha Quinn's job, the VJ. Or I wanted to do the Today Show, which is ironic now that I am married to a man that does The Today Show. One of my best friends when I was shortly out of college once was like, maybe it'll be your husband on the Today Show. And I was like, that feels weird.
[00:24:28] Brooke: That is wild. Wild.
[00:24:30] Lindsay: So, I know, and it's funny though, when you talked about the Post-It that you put up. My very first job out of college was as a video journalist at CNN 'cause I sent my stuff everywhere. I really was a VJ. I really wanted to go. Wait, I didn't even think about that. I was a VJ, but I was a VJ at CNN, not at MTV. It's so funny, because that was a program,
[00:25:22] Brooke: But very cool. That's a very cool out of college position to get.
[00:25:34] Lindsey: It was amazing. But what was my lesson in that was I really was like doing everything I could to try to go to New York. 'cause I just had such stars in my eyes about New York and then I found that program and I was like, oh my God, this is amazing. But they're not so many spots. I kept calling. And one of these days and it says don't call. And this is one of my true beliefs.
[00:25:52] Like really like for people that are in the job seeking stage or about to be, I really think sometimes if it says don't call, you call like you politely. But I think that's how you know you have to go for it. And so, I remember calling and I got a man's voice on the other line and I was like, I was just calling to make sure that you guys have my resume. And he was like, “Oh.” He asked my name. He said, “Actually, it's here in the stack.” And my, had I not called? Like it wasn't at the top of that stack, yeah. Like he actually looked through and because it was maybe one of number 12 down for whatever reason. He pulled it out and talked to me for a few minutes. And I really believe that's how that worked.
[00:26:40] Lindsey: And so, it's really funny because I think hearing about you putting Post-Its and just not refusing to go away, gosh.
[00:26:43] Brooke: We have to be. I was rejected from my CNN internship, similar story to yours. And I was like, Oh, wow. I called. You called? I called. I talked to a man named Willie. And I was like, Willie, this is Brooke Baldwin, and I will literally do anything in the building. Just throw me a bone. And he did. You have to just… there's like this fine line. And again, I'm… where are you from?
[00:27:08] Lindsay: Virginia? I'm from Northern Virginia. It’s where I grew up.
[00:27:11] Brooke: And I'm from Atlanta. Being from the south, I feel like it's like in us to go, “Ooh, don't push.” Or don't do too much, but there's this, and you don't wanna be too aggressive. It's this fine, Have grace, little bit of pushiness, and obviously we had it in the workforce.
[00:27:31] Lindsay: Yeah. Which, yes. and, but it's also funny because, one of the things that I really, that really resonated with me was in, and by the way do I call it like, I know unraveling is your platform. Do I call it the Substack? Like the sub?
[00:27:49] Brooke: Yeah, I call it my Substack or my Unraveling, either way.
[00:27:55] Lindsay: I know that this has been around for a bit, but I just found the whole platform. I think it is amazing and fascinating.
[00:28:02] Brooke: Tell me why. Tell me why.
[00:28:04] Lindsay: Because I think it's very, I think you're so honest and I think you're so vulnerable, but in a really relatable and not cheesy way. Just hearing your experiences, it is almost like you're taking people in real time along with you on this journey of just your life and what you're doing. And how some of the questions that I was like, I really wanna find out what your relationship is like now with your cell phone. I know that sounds stupid, but how that stuff has changed. Yes. Do you feel that your identity has shifted, for yourself, the way you view yourself, like your relationships?
[00:28:44] I know you were married and that ended and so I'm curious, there are all these things. Where do you wanna start? I think we should start with you leaving CNN and now you're in it and like you're figuring out what's next so that you can bridge us to Unraveling however. Yeah, succinct. You wanna share that?
[00:29:04] Brooke: Yeah. I would say I remember exactly the moment when, I think I was maybe not even out of CNN just yet. I left in April of 2021 and somewhere in there I remember having a phone call with a really powerful woman and I said to her, I could have stayed in news.
[00:29:21] Lemme say that, yeah, I think I could have stayed in and done some sort of special correspondent work or maybe become an anchor elsewhere. And I just decided. I was like, I wanna be in longer form storytelling. I've been doing this for 20 years. I've gotten to one of the highest positions in the game. I wanna try something else.
[00:29:43] And so I really totally bet on myself. But if you had told me four years ago how hard that road would be, and just how hard it would be to turn the ship. I'm glad I didn't know. I'm also glad that was the choice I made. And so, over the course of those four years, I did various things. Like I got a pretty cool phone call from Netflix about hosting a social experiment show. And I've done a lot of public speaking around my book, Huddle. But, when you are in a machine for 20 years, whether it was local news or, for them, for CNN for me, you're just used to being part of a machine.
[00:30:26] And I think the biggest adjustment in what really what kicked off my unraveling was being dropkicked out of my dream job, but then also this wait, who am I if I don't have this container, this fancy container that is CNN around me? Wait, who am I if I don't, if I'm not CNN's Brooke Baldwin, and I'm just Brooke.
[00:30:44] It was a lot, Lindsay, in the beginning of just who actually am I? That was my first, biggest…just working to figure that out. And then once I have figured that out, then I started really writing this unraveling Substack in hopes of sharing parts of my life and my truth with others and walking this road together.
[00:31:10] Lindsay: I also think you're obviously a tremendous writer and that's a big part of why I am also… oh, but a couple things there. There's something really that I am unpacking that I've been thinking about a lot about our childhoods and I had an extremely wonderful childhood. I think at some point, and I don't know. You have this dream to do this thing. And it becomes what happens if that doesn't, if that's not the thing or if you're not doing that. And I think there's some level of value that we either don't put on ourselves or that I don't know. Now I'm talking in circles, but I really think it's interesting when you think about what the expectations were.
[00:31:59] And I'm not saying anyone else does this, but I've just, I don't know. I think it's really just a curious thing about how we move through life. And I was so driven, and I'm still very driven, but like at some point I was like, my first time at ESPN I realized, whoa, I really haven't worked with a lot of other women in sports.
[00:32:19] Because if you're at local, usually there's one token female sportscaster in the department. And that was a great experience to be around a lot of women. But it also at times felt really competitive. And I think I at times had tunnel vision and. In hindsight, maybe I would have checked that a little bit and been like, let me like, just try to nurture connections and like relationships. But I think I was just like, oh my gosh, I wanna be the best. And that's a weird thing to say, but it's kind of…
[00:32:54] Brooke: Why?
[00:32:55] Lindsay: Because you just realize… I guess I didn't wanna fail, but I never thought about failure. But I was just… maybe it's also the journalistic bug. Like part of what really fuels me, I love old school, just you're trying to, talk to sources. You're doing the thing. That’s real. I love that. And in like access, like that's also, the crickets thing. So one other thing I've been thinking about a lot is and I was actually talking to two girlfriends that are in sports television last night and we were talking about experiences where there's been a no, but no one's explained the No.
[00:33:32] Oh my gosh. Or you don't hear from anyone. And I found myself saying no, if so and so could have just said, we went another direction. We're not doing that. But I'm like, why? If there's a big opportunity and if you're maybe in the running for it. Why does maybe sometimes someone say, we're gonna call her, and then they just don't ever call.
[00:33:54] Yeah. I'm like, isn't that confusing? Or wouldn't it be better to just hear someone say, sorry, you're not the one we chose, but, and they were all like, Lindsay, get over yourself. Like none of us. And they were, then they started sharing their experiences with it and my friend was like, oh, you'll like this one. And I was like, whoa, okay. Yeah, you're right.
[00:34:13] Brooke: Right Wow. So, you guys were like doing the one-upping cricket stories. We've all gotten the crickets and don't even get me going. Here's like crickets in the personal life, but then crickets when it comes to work. I think a lot of it is these people in positions of power probably just don't wanna deal.
[00:34:29] And because they have this power, they don't feel that they owe us an explanation, which by the way, I'm calling bullshit on that. I think that looking back at the moment when I, after 10 years, was hosting this two-hour show and then one day. I'm hosting a one-hour show, and I remember emailing my boss and got crickets and just decided to like, accept it because there was this other change that had happened that I was grateful for.
[00:34:54] And I, again, as a woman, I'm like, oh, I'm just so grateful for this one thing. I'm not gonna bother to understand why, my job has totally changed and that's on me. I actually am gonna own that. I, looking back, I probably should have, and had it not been COVID, that was an extenuating circumstance, but if my boss had been in his office, or, you know what, like he has a cell phone, I had a cell phone number, like I could have called and I didn't.
[00:35:18] And I think, that's on me to demand, kindly demand, the explanation because I'd earned what I had, every day, for a really long time. And I think it's okay to make people feel uncomfortable. And if they're in a position of power, and there is an explanation, we can take it. We can take it.
[00:35:40] Lindsay: Yeah.
[00:35:41] Brooke: And you're right.
[00:35:41] Lindsay: And no one writes those rules. Don't do ha. It’s not appropriate to follow up and ask. Yeah. They don't exist.
[00:35:49] Brooke: And we need… we make them up. We make them up. Yeah. We don't want to go around. I just feel like that needs to change the culture, like a workplace environment, especially among women where we do tiptoe, we do talk to our girlfriends.
[00:36:01] I can't tell you how many times I sat in my office and I'm like, somebody would click the blinds close and we would fill the tea and somebody would weep and I'd give advice, but you gotta take it two steps further and demand or ask for or get curious about the why, and that's okay.
[00:36:23] Lindsay: Yeah. And there's a way to do it, to your point. It's like you do it kindly, you do it respectfully. One other thing I do still believe in is the power of the written thank you. And that can be in an email, but it also goes even farther if you can do a handwritten note. I've had people, if I've done that… There was one NFL coach who was like, I've never, I don't remember the last time I got a handwritten, whatever. And I was like, that's awesome. So I think it's rarer, especially now.
[00:36:55] Brooke: Emails are still great but, totally agree. I totally agree. Your mom raised you right.
[00:37:01] Lindsay: Thank you. When you started on this quest to do the Substack and started really focusing on that, what were your revelations that surprised you?
[00:37:17] Brooke: I think what set me up for it was I did write that bombshell piece in Vanity Fair. And I remember before that piece came out, I was on my hands and knees in my bathroom, like snot pouring outta my face. I was terrified.
[00:37:29] Lindsay: When you had written it, but it hadn't been published.
[00:37:32] Brooke: Exactly. Yeah. I was just like, I was telling the truth, and it was terrifying for me. And once I was able to rip that really big Band-Aid off, I was like, “Huh, okay. Nobody came after me because everybody knows I was actually telling the truth.” And I felt really supported and really seen, and I heard from a lot of people I've never even met in my life.
[00:37:52] Okay. I think I'm gonna follow my nose on this and I'm gonna start this Substack. I love Liz Gilbert, I love her Letters From Love. And she had asked me to participate in one and I just got introduced to Substack, which is basically an analog newsletter. And one night I remember my partner was away for the evening. I had the house to myself, might've poured a glass or two of wine and might've had a little chocolate.
[00:38:12] I'm not saying that I needed to be not fully present to continue telling my truth, but I'm just being super real and honest with you right now. I was like, if I'm committing, I don't know how to. If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do it. And so between my sips of wine, I'm sitting in our backyard under this beautiful cotton candy sunset here in Southern California. And I start writing just here's who I am. This is who I have been. This is probably how many of you have known me. This is who I am now. And these are the things that are on my heart.
[00:38:53] These are the things that I'm curious about. And I'm gonna tell a lot of truths. And it may make some people in my life, including my own self or my family, or whomever, uncomfortable. But, then, it's the truth that has legs. And that was how I started. And I literally just didn't even map it out.
[00:39:13] I wrote this first one, and then each and every week I just feel as we talk about, intuition or that knowing I feel in my body. What's the thing that's on my mind, in my body, on my heart this week that feels like I really need to talk about? And there are some weeks that some things are just too personal to share, but that's very rare. I have shared a lot of things, and it's been such a blessing. Such a blessing.
[00:39:38] Lindsay: I loved the writing that you did about the Goo and then talking about also the question of what do you do now? Or something like that. And you were also sharing about the Netflix job and how it took a year, right?
[00:39:56] Brooke: Crickets.
[00:39:57] Lindsay: Yeah.
[00:39:58] Brooke: Yes, I was talking about, in these moments of our unraveling, there's so much that we don't know. We are the goo, we are the imaginal cells. We are the, we are that, being that is inside the chrysalis free butterfly. And I am so blown away by that metaphor. And so I was making, in one of my writings recently, I was making this point that, when you are the goo and I was at a wedding and everyone was asking, the dreaded question of what are you up to? And I was like, how do I answer? I feel like I'm doing everything, but nothing also feels like everything. And then I was telling the story of…
[00:40:49] I remember when I had left CNN and then a couple months later, I bought myself a one one-way ticket to Los Angeles because I was betting on myself and betting on, working in longer form storytelling. And I just took a bunch of meetings. It's what they say in LA. You take a meeting, it's lunch. And I met this guy Rich, at a coffee shop on Sunset for, he works at Netflix. He's like a casting guy. And I met him, we had a whole conversation for an hour. He bounced. And I literally remember sitting there in the booth being like, did he even like me? I literally had no idea. I just couldn't tell, didn't know. And I didn't hear from him or anyone from Netflix for, I wanna say it was a year and a half. And then …
[00:41:28] Lindsay: Wow. But you assumed what?
[00:41:29] Brooke: Netflix isn't in the cards. And then I remember I was ringing in, I forget which year, but it was… it was January of 2022. Because I was sitting in a hotel room in San Francisco about to go into the Hoffman Institute and it changed my life. Little did I know.
[00:41:48] Lindsay: Whole different sidebar of convo. I was totally trying to hear about this one.
[00:41:53] Brooke: I swear to God, it was like the universe. It was such a blessing to get this piece of information before going into Hoffman. It was two days before, and I get this phone call from my team and they were like, Netflix is interested in having you to host this reality show. I had gone through a couple rounds of Zoom interviews and again, had no idea if they thanked me or not. I just showed up as myself and I got the job and it was just like a total… Lindsay, coming from interviewing politicians and world leaders in science to standing on a cliff and talking to reality show contestants.
[00:42:28] And I would have the producers come in every day to brief me and they'd be like, okay Brooke, we're gonna pull out candles today. And this is the order of things. And I'd be like, “Okay. Okay. I got this, guys, I got this.” But it was so fun. It was like the professional amuse-bouche I needed from my CNN super serious world into whatever I'm up to today. And the storytelling is like the thread. It's still awesome. It's not that different when you slice it down the middle.
[00:43:45] Lindsay: And you're telling people's stories.
[00:43:48] That’s right. No. I absolutely am at the end of the day. I'm a student of humanity. And to be able to talk to all these extraordinary ordinary humans in the Dominican Republic living their lives and hoping to win money and getting to ask them questions about themselves and their childhood and why they're making the choices they're making on this show. Yeah, it was incredible. And I forgot that detail again, like post-its play a very big role in my life.
[00:43:31] Lindsay: I'm so glad you just said this because I was gonna point that out for you. Keep going. Yes.
[00:43:34] Brooke: So, between the Post-It that I stuck outside my office at CNN, basically like squatting and waiting for someone to hire me to then the guy who I met for the coffee at Netflix. He later told me he put a post-it of my name in his office, and so he stared at it for a year and a half. And then that's when I finally got the phone call to host this reality show on Netflix. So, you never know.
[00:43:59] Lindsay: That just gave me chills.
[00:44:02] Brooke: This podcast brought to you by Post-Its.
[00:44:04] Lindsay: I was just gonna say that. And I know you're working on a podcast.
[00:44:08] Brooke: Yes. I am. I'm developing one.
[00:44:12] Lindsay: Yes. I love this, but I really was gonna say.
[00:44:14] Brooke: Yeah, we'll pause it.
[00:44:15] Lindsay: You absolutely should. What a freaking awesome story. Wait. And along the way I did wanna fill in the gap. You ended one relationship and then you started another one? So, what happened?
[00:44:28] Brooke: Yes. I was married for four years.
[00:44:33] Lindsay: Okay.
[00:44:34] Brooke: We had actually moved out of the city. I was still working in CNN. He just really wanted to be rural. We moved to Connecticut, and it was beautiful. It was beautiful. But then I was like, when you're suddenly not working and all your friends are nowhere near you and you're like living in a beautiful place surrounded by trees in a river, but it was, what's happened in my life? Like everything has changed and I just felt so disconnected. But anyway, we ran out. I loved this man. I would not change a thing. We had the most beautiful wedding in upstate New York. My dog was our ring bearer. His mother is, I think of her a lot. But in the end, I think as it happens, you evolve separately.
[00:45:30] I think that what happened with me in CNN and the start of my unraveling took me in a whole other direction from the person that he married. And I tried. I was doing all the reading and doing the work. Doing the therapy and going on the retreats and deepening my spiritual practices. And he was a Brit who was not interested in any of those things. And I wished him well. I asked him for a divorce. I went to Hoffman. I had a giant spiritual aha.
[00:46:03] Lindsay: And for people that don't know what Hoffman is, and it's funny because I really only got in the weeds with this because I ran into a really good girlfriend out on the train two weeks ago who said she just got back from Hoffman. And I thought of you, because I knew that you had said you went, but I didn't know anything about it. Can you give us a little snippet of what it is for those who’ve never heard of the Hoffman Institute?
[00:46:20] Brooke: I had never heard of The Hoffman Institute. The Hoffman Institute is based in Northern California and it's been in existence, I wanna say for 50 plus years, was started by Bob Hoffman. And it's a retreat where you go away for six or seven days, they take away all of your electronics. You can't read books, you hand in your magazines. You don't talk about what you do for a living. Wow. You use only your first name and you go deep into your childhood patterns. Even if you have an amazing childhood. You do all of these exercises. It's a lot of writing. It's a lot of writing before you even get there.
[00:46:40] Lindsay: Wow, I didn't know that part of it.
[00:47:03] Brooke: Oh yeah. And you just really look at who you were and your childhood, what patterns you learned or adapted from either of your parents, and how those patterns manifest in your current life today. That's just like the sort of tip of the iceberg of what it is. But it is deep work and either you take it with you when you leave and it changes you, or revert back to the way you were. But I had no idea what I was getting into. I just knew that I wasn't feeling integrated in my life. I wasn't feeling whole, I was feeling pulled in all these different parts between my unhappiness and my marriage, not knowing what I was doing with my life professionally. I had lost my furry best friend of 19 years. I had moved away from the city that I knew had loved and away from my friends.
[00:47:50] It was just like lots was happening and I wasn't feeling whole. It's as simple as that. And I had two friends, literally in the course of a week in two different states, say to me, have you considered the Hoffman Institute? I was like, what is that? By the second person, I was like, I just signed up. You go to the website and it's We Believe In Change and you're just like, I don't really know what that means, but I put it off once. I signed up and I knew I wasn't ready yet for what I had a feeling would happen. And then I showed up the first week of the year. It was like a present to myself. And yeah, it was a Wowzah.
[00:48:34] Lindsay: Then what?
[00:48:35] Brooke: Then you're staying in like a trailer in a single bed, like you're in summer camp and you're looking around at people like, what are you in for? What are you in for? What are, Yeah. And, it's, they don't let you, it's, part of it is a quiet retreat in the beginning, so you're stuck in your thoughts, dammit. it really is the level of intentionality from these people there. It's Jedi level shit and There was this one day that changed my life and I don't leave my, I can't even go into the details in case someone's listening and might do it, but suffice to say, I had this experience involving, like my own imagined death, and they talk a lot. I will, I'll say this, they talk a lot at Hoffman about the left road and the right road.
[00:49:31] Like your left road in life is ego led, where you are not making the decisions that are in full alignment with who you are and you're just like, cruising along. You probably lose some friends along the way, maybe lose some respect, but that's the life you choose. And then there's the right road, which is, as we know, is a bit uphill.
[00:49:51] But it's the road you choose when you do feel in alignment, when you are in truth and integrity. and as I learned later, like I really, you gotta figure out how to merge the two roads, but I thought it was, had to do with my right road. And, there was this one day where they have you do this exercise outside and it was pouring rain, and I imagine like a version of my death on the right road.
[00:50:19] And it was profound, and my eyes were closed. And I'm standing in the pouring rain and I'm imagining what that would look like, that life. And I imagine this rainbow over the Caribbean sea and lots of pug puppies. I had just lost my pug, and I opened my eyes standing and it’s pouring in Petaluma, California and the rain stopped. And I literally see a rainbow form in front of me. Like I see it in the sky. In the sky.
[00:51:06] And there was a part of my before. I'd opened my eyes where I imagined my husband with someone else. I imagined me on my own or potentially partnered later. It was like I just had this hit again, our intuition. I just felt this knowing like I wasn't meant to be with this person for the rest of my life. And when I saw that rainbow form, I dropped my knees in tears in the mud and realized that I was worthy of the rainbow all to myself.
[00:51:31] Meaning I was fully supported by, I believe in God, I believe in… it just felt like a really sacred moment. It felt like a divine wink. And that saying, I'm worthy of the rainbow all to myself means a lot to me in a lot of different ways. And I have it engraved in this ring that I wear.
[00:51:50] Lindsay: Wow.
[00:51:50] Brooke: And I literally saw it out loud as I put this ring on me every single day to always remember that moment. And that's when I knew that I would be okay. And that's when I knew I needed to like love, but let my husband go.
[00:52:04] Lindsay: That is such powerful stuff.
[00:52:08] Brooke: I still feel it. Wow. Yeah. That's what Hoffman is. That's what Hoffman is, but that's what you bring Hoffman.
[00:52:19] Lindsay: Yeah. You're just, it's like it is. You're finding your true self and the tools to get back there. So then what was that, after you implement that and make that change, what was the next change? Making that change?
[00:52:43] Brooke: That was the beginning domino of the rest of the changes. It's like when you, when I left that place and I can, and I was like leaping home to myself. I realized I really became allergic to hanging out with anyone who was anywhere shy of in full authenticity and in full integrity.
[00:53:06] I'm just gonna be like, I just couldn't do it. And that included one of my parents who I made the very conscious choice to finally let go of, and that was incredibly painful and also necessary. And there's not a day that goes by that I don't send him love, but I have an incredible group of friends and incredible group of women who, you know, nurture those friendships and they nurture who I am. And I also didn't see this coming, I met Peter at Hoffman, who is the reason I am living in Los Angeles. And, that happened. And let me tell you, like when people always ask me, they're like, oh, you met Peter at Hoff. Hoffman is the least sexy place you can ever possibly imagine.
[00:54:04] You do not go there looking for partnership. You go there looking for yourself. And I really believe he was placed there for me halfway through the week. I was like, who is this tall New Yorker? I didn't know who he was, what he really did. I just knew that we had a lot of shared commonality of life experiences that we had shared.
[00:54:28] And I knew that I just kept wanting to talk to him, but I also knew I was married. And I didn't know if he was someone that I was just gonna meet that week and would show me like, what else existed when I ever dipped my toe into the pond because I knew Yeah. Leaving my husband. and that also was a, oh, holy shit, there's this person here who is gonna change your life. So, I changed my life. I had that agency when I was there and I really believe he then was my gift.
[00:55:02] Lindsay: That is, wow. Yeah. What are things that you've experienced that are different ways than you lived your life before that you could share that looking back you think have been important lessons. Like when I mentioned before, how you view yourself, your identity, or also legit, I'm really curious because we talk about cell phones all the time. I think it's hard to be present. I think it shouldn't be as hard as sometimes it feels right. But I really think that being present is one of the greatest gifts and the things that are most important. But like what is your, you bring up cell phones, like that is, working in
[00:55:45] Brooke: Yeah. An environment where I had two cell phones. They were like tethered to my body, and yeah, when I woke up at whatever hour when I was working at CNN, I wouldn't even smooch my husband. He would be asleep. I would go to my phones, I would start emailing my executive producer and we'd be, I'd be off to, or I'd be reading tweets or whatever and, I'd be on vacation and even had been yanked off vacation and had to be on my cell phone. I'll be honest, I still am not in a super healthy place with cell phones because I start twitching a little bit without it.
[00:56:20] And I have a hard boundary with my man. I'm like, no cell phones in bed. And he has two kids. And he is but I need to know where they are. And I'm like, that is the exception. But no news in bed? No taking phone calls, like he's about to gear up to make this movie. I'm like, take the calls. Take the phone downstairs. I cannot, I can feel it in my body. I cannot have phones anywhere near the bed. If it were up to me, there would be no phones in the bedroom.
[00:56:48] Lindsay: Yeah.
[00:56:49] Brooke: I'm no longer living that existence where somebody may call me and need me to run to Nice, France to cover some story. So, cell phones for sure. Living in Los Angeles. I didn't see this coming. Maybe I did. I was flirting with LA in taking those meetings. But it's been a really big surprise. Like I'm an east coast girl, I'm a southerner, but then I lived in here the last 10 years and living out here, there's a lot to be said about exhaling and I think when you're living in New York City and you get so used to living in those smaller containers, and I love New York, like it will always be my home.
[00:57:28] But at the same time, you live in Connecticut, right? Yeah. it's just not by a river. being in nature is, Yeah. Yeah. Palm dos is right. go hug a tree. There is something about it. I have a palm tree, I've named it Palmy in my front yard. I drink my unicorn cup of coffee under this palm tree every morning.
[00:57:51] And that may sound so silly to people, but it is just like I have come into appreciating little things like this and being in nature and driving when we could pre-fire, like up the Pacific Coast Highway into Malibu and getting in the Pacific Ocean and taking surf lessons. These are all things that are just good for the soul. Yes. As we are unraveling, as we are, building back up to do, doing something anew. So, nature is a huge piece of that. And I always knew my girlfriends were everything to me.
[00:58:25] Lindsay: Yeah. The thing that strikes you first when you think: the thing that no one tells you is…
[00:58:33] Brooke: Can I say that sex is better in your forties?
[00:58:38] Lindsay: Love that. Let's just drop it. I love it.
[00:58:44] Brooke: Let's just go there as we are, as I've been, yeah, going home to myself and learning about myself and going on various journeys. Lindsay, like for me, I've always enjoyed it. I've always had a sort of a, an appetite in the ledge department, this has been one of the choices I have made in my, in this journey has also been like, okay, what don't I know about myself and what parts of me that were so like in news all those years, like clinched, like waiting for the phone call. Yes. And now it, thanks to palm trees and sky and trees and exhaling like it does something. To the body. And I think as we get older and we've done it enough times…
[00:59:33] Lindsay: It makes you wanna go have sex on a washing machine.
[00:59:37] Brooke: And the grass, like what? Whatever. I'm just like, let's go.
[00:59:44] Lindsay: I love it. And I think it's… Praise God. That's just amazing.
[00:59:51] Brooke: Because I would say that, I would say that, and I would also say, we have the answers in us. And I'll put myself in this camp, we take these retreats, we go places, we're searching for the sacred thing that's external.
[01:00:06] When it's within us all along. We just have to get really quiet. And whether you're a meditator or you just do this thing called breathing, and sit still, that's where the answers lie. That is something I didn't realize. I just have one question and then I know I need to let you go live this beautiful California day.
[01:00:28] Lindsay: When you came back from Hoffman, 'cause this just popped in my mind, and when you had made that decision and then you shared it with your husband, was that what you expected it to be like? Oof, is that too personal?
[01:00:49] Brooke: No, it's just a complicated answer. So, I was clear with him about why I wanted to go to Hoffman. I had been very clear with him for many months, if not years, on how I was feeling in the marriage. We had done couples therapy for a few sessions, but it just wasn't. And he knew why I was curious about things and going to Hoffman. And we actually had on the other side, I told him the whole story, and he had a beautiful response to it.
[01:01:14] And we had a beautiful weekend until we didn't. Until very soon after. which I will never know exactly what he did or how he, I have my guesses and some, but like he found out about Peter and I think sometimes with men or just humans in general, it's easier to point fingers and assume things and blame versus actually sit in the truth and sit in the sadness.
[01:01:46] And so very quickly that relationship ended. There were no questions asked of me, which felt very violent at the time, but was actually a gift because I think had he not done that, I would not have moved on quite the way I did. And so I haven't been in touch with my ex-husband since the very beginning of the end.
[01:02:11] Lindsay: Wow. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. Yeah. Yeah, there's, you just bring up so many things that I think are, that I know are helpful for people that are going through a lot of different pieces of what, things that are similar to what you've experienced in your journey. As we wrap up, what are three things that no one knows about you that you would like to share?
[01:02:32] Brooke: I'm really actually kinda funny. My man says to me all the time. He's like, people have no idea, from watching you do stand-up or try and do improv. Do you do improv? I'm obsessed with Kristen Wiig, so I basically wanna like single white female her. And, yeah, no, I've thought about doing UCB, so I'm amazing. I love making people laugh and laughing.
[01:02:51] What else do people not know about me? Actually, the one thing I have not written about on my Substack. I've been hyper private about this, but it's her graduation this weekend. I'm becoming a stepmother. I have a 17-year-old in my home.
[01:03:07] Lindsay: Congratulations.
[01:03:08] Brooke: Thank you. Of all of the adjustments in my life of moving west, that has been the biggest one. That was very messy. And we are now on the other side where I love her to bits and sat with her mother at an event last night where she got an award ahead of graduation. But it has been a journey. So that's something I look forward to writing more about. So, shout out to all the stepmom's out there. And, a third thing people wouldn't know about me is…I still have frozen eggs. They are like 13 years old this October. It is still a conversation I'm having and that's what I'll say about that.
[01:03:56] Lindsay: Brooke, do it. Yeah. Good luck on whenever you decide, but thank you for sharing that. That baby or babies would be lucky. And that's amazing. That is amazing.
[01:04:10] Brooke: Life is wild. You just never know.
[01:04:12] Lindsay: Isn't that the truth? Thank you so much. People can find you on your Substack. What they need to go subscribe and tell me what
[01:04:20] Brooke: Yeah, so you can subscribe to Read the Full thing, but you can just go to unraveling with brooke.substack.com to find me and read my newsletter every week. And you can follow me on Instagram at @Brooke_Baldwin. Those are really the two places I play.
[01:04:37] Lindsay: I love it. You're the best. This has been so much fun. Thank you. I can't wait to hang out at some juncture.
[01:04:44] Brooke: Cannot wait. Yeah. I’ve been such a fan of yours for such a long time.
[01:04:48] Lindsay: Oh, thank you. Likewise. Thank you. Likewise. Thank you for joining me and yeah, have a great rest of your day.
[01:05:00] I just wanna say that I love Brooke Baldwin's honesty, and I love that she is really living in her truth, that she is taking the time to figure out what that is, that she has made the commitment to do that, even though at times, as she said, it feels hard.
[01:05:13] I also love her sharing the Thing That No One Tells You: that sex is better in your forties. We should have a whole podcast episode about that. Stay tuned. But anyway, also my thought, when she was sharing her story about signs, I don't know about you guys, but I am also a big believer in that, and I just think it, for me, sometimes it comes down to stillness.
[01:05:36] And it's so hard to be still, but just when you let yourself just take time and really understand that certain things will speak to you, I thought that was really cool about her story, about the rainbow and of course I was gonna point this out before she said it. She beat me to it. But those post-its coming back into her life.
[01:05:57] That's pretty powerful really. Honestly. She didn't say that, but I'm like… the power of the Post-It story. I don't think that's an accident and I think that's just really cool. That really resonated with me when she talked about the opportunity that she had. That came into play a year after she had the meeting about the Netflix series and how she just thought that they had moved on.
[01:06:18] But, you never know. And we try to speed up our own journeys a lot of times because we think that we know the path that we should be on or what should be happening. And I know for me it's like expectations that I put on myself, but also that have allowed others to have their voices creep into what I think I've really had to wrestle with that.
[01:06:40] And I think that all of us could learn from just sloughing off the expectations as best you can. Much easier said than done. But anyway, Brooke Baldwin, thank you so much for sharing your story. I also love that she shared that the Vanity Fair article was the opening for her, opening the door to do her Substack, which is Unraveling with Brooke Baldwin.
[01:07:03] You can follow her, and I strongly encourage it. It's at unravelingwithbrooke.substack.com. You can find that also in our show notes, links to everything in the show notes if you wanna subscribe. So, thank you so much for being here on Things No One Tells You. We will see you next Thursday. Thanks so much for joining me. I can't wait to see you back here next week. Please don't forget, follow and subscribe to Things No One Tells You. And of course, if you're listening on Apple Podcasts, don't forget to leave a five star review because that's really what helps people get more. Listeners, we would love to grow this community. We are so grateful that you're a part of it. See you next time.