Alec Baldwin: There Aren't Enough Seats In Business Class 58:53

The Alzheimer's Association Walk to End Alzheimer's is fighting for a different future. This is near and dear to us, right, Albert? Yes. My father recently passed away from Alzheimer's after a long, long battle, and we wished that he would have gone for testing way earlier on, and early testing definitely will help.

Walk side by side with your family, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers. In the world's largest fundraiser to fight the disease, we're closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. But to get there, we need you. There's a walk in your community. Find yours at alz.org slash walk.

Guys, you know how I shared my lip lining trick on Instagram? Well, Thrive Cosmetics has a new Empower Matte Precision Lipstick Crayon and I can't wait to try it. It's a two-in-one lipstick and liner and I think I'm gonna love it. You can take their lip style quiz and find your perfect shade. Mine is Jessie. It's waterproof, sweatproof, and lasts up to 12 hours. Refresh your everyday look

with Thrive Cosmetics, beauty that gives back. Right now, you can get an exclusive 10% off your first order at thrivecosmetics.com slash off camera. That's Thrive Cosmetics, C-A-U-S-E-M-E-T-I-C-S dot com slash off camera for 10% off your first order.

Hey, everybody. I hope you enjoy your 4th of July weekend. While you're enjoying the fireworks, parades, and potentially the beach, I'm bringing you back one of our most talked about episodes. Speaking of firecrackers, Alec Baldwin is here. I like to think that this episode is

what spoke to the universe and helped seal the deal for Alec and the entire Baldwin family's upcoming reality show. I'm just saying, this is an old episode. Listen for yourself as we discuss Alec being a dad to eight, yes, eight kids. Happy 4th of July and happy listening.

Once we had five and then six and then seven kids, it's like, I can't go anywhere for any length of time. I need 12 plane tickets. Right. You know, nannies, kids, my wife. There's not a budget big enough. Somebody got to cue me or do I cue myself? Cue yourself. Okay. Okay, everybody, we're back with another episode of Let's Talk Off Camera. So let's get talking. This is...

Truly experimental. I'm trying this fully remote. I'm flying solo in a hotel room in Los Angeles, California. So far, so good, right? It seems like it's working. Yes. The tech is working. Impressive. This is all me. So I just want to take full credit for myself. Joining me, of course, on the East Coast, Jan Shillay and Albert Bianchini. Guys, what time did you wake up this morning? Ah.

I woke up at 7 a.m. You woke up at 7 a.m. Decadent. I woke up at 3.30 in the morning and then couldn't get back to bed for an hour. I woke up at 2 a.m. and I've been awake ever since. But 2 a.m. is really 5 a.m. Brutal. I want to talk to Alec Baldwin, who's going to be joining us in just a couple of seconds. But I want to talk to him about, you know, he lived here for a while. And there are two people in my...

that I can't ever imagine living in California. One of them is me, and the other one is Alec Baldwin. And so I'm curious how he survived out here. Like, what were the thought bubbles in his head when he was living out here? You know, it's hard to be... Oh, there he is. Look, he just popped onto our screen. Handsome.

Oh my God, look at you. It's you. Jesus. I feel so virile. In case you don't already recognize the voice, Alec, as you know, we are a completely off-camera podcast. This man is a three-time Emmy Award winner. He's a three-time Golden Globe Award winner. I hate when people do this, but go ahead. No, you're going to have to listen to it. You sit there and listen. He's the winner of eight Screen Actors Guild Awards awards.

He's been nominated for an Oscar and a Tony. He's an actor. He's a producer. He's a producer of children. His sperm, they say...

He's made of plutonium. Plutonium. Father of eight children. He's got a burrito named after him in Sag Harbor, for Christ's sakes. Big Al's Burrito. If he can't get behind that, then I don't think you're a human being. But keep in mind, it was called Al's Burrito. Then I ate so many of them, they changed it to Big Al's Burrito. Big Al's Burrito. Just so you know, Albert Bianchini, my producer in life, my gay husband, my...

Your husband. The other voice that you can hear on this podcast. I don't know. Their faces disappeared from the screen. I see them. I see them. Oh, you can see them. I can't see them. They're gone from my screen. Maybe swipe? Swipe?

That'll help. Ah, they're back. Okay. There you go. Okay. What is this, Kelly? Episode 500 and you just learned to swipe? Yes. Guess what? Normally we're always in the same room together and I'm in Los Angeles today. I know you lived there for a long time, right? Right. How did you do it? Well, I always tell people that when I lived in LA, what was tricky was...

The car thing, because I said I was alone in a car with the person I hated the most. Me driving around by myself. I said, I'm alone with that guy that I hate the most. And that was tedious and tough.

I'm not a driving person. I like to be driven or I like to, yeah, I like New York. - Me too. - I like New York works for me. - Yeah, foot or driven around. I want a cab driver, I want an Uber driver, or I wanna walk by myself. You're even braver than I am 'cause you'll ride a bicycle around. I cannot do that. I won't do it. Anyway, Alec Baldwin is joining us today. And first of all, let's just start by asking you, how is it possible

You know where I'm going. Here we go. How is it possible that you are still having children? What? Now, I understand. Listen, I've seen Ilaria. I know Ilaria. And I am a fan. You've had seven children together. You have eight in total. Are you done? Are you thinking you're done now? I'm done. I'm done. You're totally done. How do you know that? I went to have my hip surgery. This was the first time I had both done five years apart.

I had one done this year and five years ago I had it done and I'm there with the doctor and he's saying to me, well, you know, when we do the anterior procedure where we go in the front, it's the most, it heals the quickest, but there's also the risk of

of arterial or cutting a nerve. It's like a 0.01% chance, but there is a chance that this could happen. And I said, "What nerve?" And he held up his finger like this and he goes like this and makes his finger kind of erect, if you will. And I looked at him in front of all of his staff who were like giggling and I go, "Oh, you can just rip that out if you want. "Take that nerve, get a pair of pliers "and just pull it out during the surgery, "'cause I don't need that anymore." - I doubt it would work for you. I'm gonna tell you something.

When I've seen you go in the ocean, Alec Baldwin, I get out. Because, you know, I've gone through menopause, but I still, I don't trust your sperm. Your sperm specifically, I don't trust. Well, but I think I got to the point where if I just say the word baby, any woman within 50 or 100 feet of me is likely to get pregnant. Jan just put a cinder block in between her legs. Okay.

She needs to put kryptonite. Kryptonite. She has to have a kryptonite chastity belt. Did you always know that you wanted a big family? No. I had one child. My first marriage, I had Ireland. And then I was single for like 11 years. And when I met Hilaria and we contemplated getting married and being together and everything, we talked about kids. And, you know, we had a girl and a boy, and that was great. And then...

the baby would start climbing, walking. You know, it was just, it was a baby, but, you know, because it couldn't really talk. But the point is we'd look at each other and go, wouldn't it be nice to have another baby? Like we were baby crazy. Let's just have one more baby. I get it. This one's not a baby anymore. It's a toddler. Let's just have one last. Let's call this baby Ultimo. Ultimo. Ultimo. Yeah. They're all so cute. But after like the fourth, fifth, you know.

Enough already? No, I'm not saying enough already. I'm just saying at a certain point, did you say, you know what? We're minivan people. We are. Yeah. Yeah. We're Dodge Caravan people. But the thing that I find interesting to me was that, you know, I'm the guy that takes four kids to school in the morning. I still have three at home when I come home.

And the three little ones, the two toddlers and the baby, you know, they're, you know, which one will we send back, you know? Right. And although I have some ideas now that the other ones are getting older, I think I know who I'd send back. But anyway. Well, you always, you know, whenever people ask me who my favorite child is, I go, I can tell you who my least favorite is right now in this moment.

That's really funny. But when you have seven little ones at home, you've got to have at least four least favorites at any one time. Well, you have to learn to just ignore what they say, which I don't really like doing. I mean, my wife always says I'm the eighth child, you know, because they'll say things to me. Because when my father, when I was a kid, which is obviously a million years ago, I'm like four generations ago now or something.

My dad, you know, he didn't have anything to withhold from us, to control us. My friends had houses with swimming pools and finished basements with pool tables and weekend homes in Connecticut and boats and all this other stuff. And the parents would threaten them and say, if you don't come home by 1030, you know, blah, blah, blah. And my father, we didn't have any of that. My father just said, if you don't come home by 1030, I'm going to break every bone in your mouth. Right.

He just looked at you that way. He didn't say that. Right, you just knew. And my father was a very tough guy. Yeah, you knew. And there were things my kids say to me. We can't curse on this podcast. Yeah, we sure as fuck can. Yeah, we do. Okay. So, like, my son, Raph...

He has what I call like the Olivier school, where when he says foul language or something and he says it to me, he kind of floats it over his shoulder where I can barely hear it. It's almost like I'm going, what did you say? Right. So as he walks away, I'll go, you get in there and you put those toys away. Right. And as he walks away, he kind of turns his shoulder and he's like, what the fuck? He floats it. What the fuck? And I'll go, I'm sorry, what'd you say? And he's like, nothing, nothing. And I can't swear that he said what the fuck. Right. Right.

But now with the three boys, the three, we call the boys or the three because Eduardo was twins, so to speak, with Lulu. Right. The three boys, I said to my wife, I go, why don't you tell me that you had children with Joe Pesci? They're all like Joe Pesci. You know, they drop the F-bomb every now and then. I'm like, Jesus God. Don't worry. It'll come for the girls. It comes for the girls later. I'm assuming that you...

And Mark, you will have the dirtier mouth between you and Mark. Yours is worse. A hundred percent. Yeah. You're probably dropping the F. But the kids get it from you, basically. I just not too long ago interviewed Jada Pinkett Smith. And she said that when she and Will would fight, they couldn't fight and use foul language. And I looked at her and I said, if Mark made that agreement with me, I would sit there and go.

Right. Because I don't, I wouldn't be able to. You're from New Jersey. I'm from New Jersey. I'm from Long Island. Exactly. We are the same person. Like my, I feel like we grew up similarly. It's not like put your toys away. It's like put that toy away before your dad runs over it. Before I beep you in the beep. Right. And my dad did this thing. I don't know if you had friends like this. My friends would come over on their bicycles.

And they would just like leave them in the driveway. You know, they just put them down in the driveway and they would run into the house, whatever. My dad would come home from driving the bus, drove double shift every day for New Jersey transit. He would come home tired. And if those bicycles, because he would call us pigs, he would say use kids as pigs. And so if we didn't tell our friends to move their bicycles, he would just run them over with his car.

I do not care. That's tough. Yeah. So that's tough. It was fun. It was fun going to school the next day with like everybody. Oh my God. And your friends were there. Yeah.

And they'd be like, here's Kelly. Her dad's a psycho. Exactly. My friends were scared of my father. My father, who was in the Marine Corps, would get a buzz cut in the summertime. He wore his hair, you know, always short. But then he'd get a brush cut in the summertime. And my neighbors and my friends, when I was a kid, this is when I was like 12 and 13. Yeah.

My father, they said his head looked like a cinder block. So his nickname was Cinder. So when my dad came driving up, these guys would be smoking cigarettes. They go, ditch the smokes. It's Cinder. Cinder was coming. We're talking about our dads and my dad, who is now a local politician in South Jersey. He's the county clerk of New Jersey.

And he has a picture of you and him together at a fundraiser many years ago. It sits on his desk. It's his proudest photo. He always says that the best political conversation he ever had and the best speaker they had ever had at one of their fundraisers was you. Oh, God. And I think about conversations I've had with you where you are just the most practical, pragmatic person.

person when it comes to politics. You really understand this stuff internally. Would you ever consider running for higher office? Even now I think about it, but the person you're running against, like for example, if you live in New York-

And I am a New Yorker in the sense that I don't want to leave New York State. You're in a pretty wall-to-wall Democratic state. You'd be running to unseat a Democrat. Right. So who are you going to run against? Gillibrand? Schumer? Hochul? You know, all the statewide seats. Congress, I don't think I'd want to be in that crowd because it seems like it's a loony bin. But I think that what I would run for, obviously, mayor, governor, or the two senates, something statewide, if I did that, you'd have to be getting rid of a...

Adam is the mayor as a Republican. So he is 100 percent. But I don't I don't think the answer is no, though. My hope is, as anybody's listening to this podcast, is that you will consider eventually running for higher office.

office of some kind and save our city. S O S S O C. I think the S O C S O S. Save our city. Save our city. S O S. Save our city. I spell city with an S. I do. I'm going to change. When I become mayor, I will change the spelling of the word city. S I T Y. So you never thought about, um, cause obviously your career, uh,

a bit winding in the beginning with the soap and then the TV series, the comedy, which I thought was a funny show, by the way. Thank you. We wanted you on that show, if you recall. Now you're doing it with your husband now. Yes. Does he enjoy it? Does he enjoy doing that? He actually loves it. Alec, I got to tell you, I really tried to talk him out of it.

And we both were like not on board with the idea. ABC came to us and they were like, you know, they were showing us this data. Every time Mark hosts, we see a bump in the numbers. Awesome. Every time Mark hosts, we see this and we see that. So when they came to us, we thought it was kind of a terrible idea. We thought a married couple on TV, nothing good could come from this. It'll probably be the, you know, it'll lead to divorce. Yeah. Yeah.

They said, well, you guys have already done it, you know, over a hundred times together. You've done it so many times together. We don't really think you realize how often you've done it together.

And they were right. Like when they pulled it up, we did have fun together. We do have fun together. And we do have outside of that one thing, such separate lives, which leads me back to you. Okay. When I think about you and Ilaria and your seven young kids, now I know what you're going to say, but just go with me. Okay.

- I'll try. - This has reality TV written all over it. This has- - We thought about that a lot. Yeah, a lot. - Really? And do you think maybe you'll do it? 'Cause that is a show I would watch. - Well, I mean, I'm sure you recognize, I mean, you have one of the great jobs in daytime TV and I'm not just saying this to be, I mean, Kelly, I would never BS you about this. You know, your husband comes on. What I loved about Mark was he understood you were the star of the show. - I don't know about that. - You know, for me, everything's about my family.

I have really tried in the last several years. Once we had five and then six and then seven kids, it's like I can't go anywhere for any length of time. You know, in the old days, I'd jump on a plane and go to L.A. and do a

a movie here, a few episodes of Will and Grace I did for a while, you know, different things like that. And it was easy to pick up and go. They don't even have, I need 12 plane tickets. You know, nannies, kids, my wife, I need like 11. They don't even have 11 seats in the business class section of the plane. There's not a budget big enough. We go to Los Angeles years ago, like four or five years ago.

and the kids would be asleep, we'd be in a hotel. And we always stayed in the same hotel 'cause it was the only hotel that could put four suites together so we could all live together. And I look at my wife and I go, "You realize we're not gonna make a dime, don't you? "We're not gonna make one cent." Here we are, mashed potatoes, $20. I said at the room service.

I said, a Diet Coke is $11. I said, you realize we're not going to make a penny. The private plane, the hotel, the room service, we're going to break you on this job I'm doing. And my wife would just look at me like, you know, what do you want me to do about it? Okay, okay, so bummer.

And we had a ball and we had fun. We loved to travel. Like everything I do is filtered through the idea of my family. - Yeah. - So jobs I take, jobs I don't take. Somebody said, "Come to a famous TV producer who I won't name." Said to me, "Come do a series with me in Vancouver." And I was like, "I'm not going to Vancouver for five months. That's not happening." So everything we did and then shows we have considered and pitches we've heard and even one or two pitches we've made

about our family and that reality show has all been so we could stay home and just work from home. I'm desperate to try to work from home. - I think it's the smartest thing. It's a show I would so watch because you're very ensconced in the Hollywood world. You're a world renowned actor.

She is a yoga, I don't even know what it's called, yoga master, yogini. She's like a health, she's like a wellness expert. Health and wellness expert. Yes. As evidenced by her, not just her body of work, but her incredible body, which I talked to you about numerous times. And yet there is a relatability factor. There's like a hominess to you both.

with your kids, like you let them be kids. They seem to run around wild in the house. Like we only had three, but it was like in our house, it was wild. It was like living inside a zoo. And so I multiply that by two and then add one and your house has to be a complete fucking chaos machine.

Well, I think that she and I have a system that has evolved, obviously. And you have two kids, you have three kids, you have four kids. Once you cross the four number, it gets a little crazy. But the bottom line is that we don't do a lot of what we used to do. I mean, putting on a black tie and a gown and going to this event and this red carpet and this screening and this festival and so forth and this opening and the things which I did when I was single. But when I got married, we...

we would go to can we did different things together i went to shoot woody's movie shooting mission with tom and going to london with her you know we we'd made our trips and had fun but now we don't do very much of that we decided to stay home with our kids we put our kids to bed every night my wife bathes with somebody helping us we bathe and and and dress and have dinner and read books and put them to bed every night unless there's some

huge obligation that we can't say no to. So we don't, the other day for the first time, and I really mean this because it's so simple. We both laid in bed and we were like laying there staring at the ceiling and none of us was talking like 10:30 at night. We had our phones and I kind of just tilted my head toward her and I said, "These children have taken over every aspect of our lives." It was like, it was me turning to going, "I'm gonna die in six months."

It was like just the inevitability of it. It was like, we don't do a fucking thing anymore. We don't go anywhere. We don't do anything. Our whole life is about our kids, which, I mean, there's great things about that too. So here's what I will tell you flashing forward, because in, I can't believe I'm about to say this, in 18 to 20 years, you're going to be where we are. So you've only got 18 to 20 more years before your life will be your lives again. But flashing forward,

I will tell you that- So 20 years from now, I'm 85. Yes, you're 85. I get what you're saying, Kelly. Sure, go ahead. You're a young 85. We'll say you're a young 85. So the thing is, is that the work you put into them now pays off in dividends later on.

So that's the thing. Because at the time, like Mark and I missed everything. When people were going to parties and when our friends were like out all night and doing things, we were home with the kids. And, you know, when Mark would go, like he went to Vancouver, he went for five years. And it was like when he was gone and he would come home intermittently, the last thing he wanted to do was to go to anything. He just wanted to be home with me and the kids. Yeah.

And so that's how we lived. We lived that way for decades. And then they leave, they fly the nest and you get your life back. Now, you know, if you eat well and you keep replacing the body parts that are breaking down, you could be a very young 85. Yeah. Well, the good news is, as my friend said to me, who, so this is 15 years ago, he was 60 and I was 50.

He was 10 years older than me, and I was single. And I said, you know, I hadn't met Ilaria yet. I was divorced from Ireland's mother. And I was sitting there going, yeah, I'd like to have more kids one day. And he was having a son. And he was having a son, and he was 60. And I was like, wow, that's really amazing. I wonder if I could do that. He goes, oh, yeah, it's great. He says, just remember, by the time they're saying things you don't approve of, you'll be deaf anyway, so it won't matter.

- That's so true. - And I'm like, wow, that's true. I'm gonna be 85 years old. I'm gonna be like, at Carmen's graduation, I'm gonna be like, did they call her name? What? What did they say?

Do they say coming? I mean, like an old man, an old man. No, but there's something I think that the older you are as a parent, and I say this to Anderson and Andy because they're in their 50s having babies and young kids. And I keep saying, like, when Mark and I had Michael, we were 26 years old.

- Jesus. - We were like babies ourselves. We were like lunatics. Then we had Lola when we were 31. And then we had Joaquin when we were 33. But when we were 33, which is still young, we were 10 times the parents we were when we were 26. - How old were you when you started the talk show? - 31. - The morning show. - 30, 30 years old. - Really? - Yeah. - So you've been doing the other stuff up to then? - Yeah. And I was doing both for a while. It was crazy. It was like not pleasant.

But I want to talk about your acting career because you're brilliant in everything. I've never seen you in a role that I don't fully believe. I have some DVDs for you I can send to you. I'll send you some DVDs. You know what? Send me some because I- Of my really shitty movies and my shit performances. I've got a fun DVD. I've never seen a shit performance ever, ever. I can't think of one.

You're a goddamn liar. I'm not a goddamn liar. I'm actually a truth teller and I can't think of one. But my favorite role, I think, of recent years would be you playing Donald Trump. Now, you posted SNL, what, 17 times?

A lot, yeah. You are far and away. Like you hold the record. I think I'm one above Steve Martin. Steve did a lot too. Yeah. People don't understand like when you do that show, I mean, when you think about all the famous people that have come through your door and sat on the couch or the chair or whatever, it's like a billion people. You've had like a billion of the most famous people in the world on your show. And, you know, sometimes what you do in this business is you just want to have a good time.

It's not about I want to score an Oscar or it's not always about another paycheck or this or that. I mean, all that stuff is normal. I'm all for people making money and sharing in the successes of the films they make. But for me with SNL is I just needed a place to go and I went there again and again and again to just let my hair down and have fun. Because when you make movies-

Movies are not always fun. They're challenging, but the work is intense. If you're doing a drama, you're sitting there in a chair, maybe you're gonna bite your fingernails off, worried that you're gonna get it right. 'Cause we're gonna get it right today. We're not coming back. You remember when I was taught

film acting, not just regular acting. When I was mentored by people about movies, they were like, "Save your energy. Don't talk on the phone. Don't go in your room and watch, you know, movies. Stay on the set. Keep engaged with the material. Keep engaged with the shot. Stay engaged on the set because we're not coming back here. You're going to get this right. Every scene is an opportunity. Every line is an opportunity." And you go in there and filmmaking could be very intense and very challenging.

The TV I did was challenging as well and interesting, but fun. When we did 30 Rock, that was fun. And then when you do plays, that's a joy because there's something weird about coming on stage and I know exactly what I'm going to say. I know exactly what you're going to say. I know exactly how they're going to react for the next two and a half hours. It's kind of bliss for control freaks like me. I mean, I know how the whole evening is going to unwind. But I want to have fun. So SNL was the place I would go to

I mean, I could name countless sketches, which I just couldn't believe we were going to do that. And I had a ball. I loved it. When you signed on to play Donald Trump, I mean, you knew Trump, right? Everybody knew him. I'd met him a couple of times, yeah. I'd met him a couple of times. So you had like this, I feel like you had a very spot on interpretation of him. You had a real ability to transform yourself into Donald Trump. Where does it begin? ♪

You've heard all the buzz about micro laser fat removal at Sono Bello, right? It's remarkable how in just one visit, your stubborn fat is gone permanently. Once a year, Sono Bello invites listeners to their exclusive summer savings event featuring their best pricing of the year for a limited time only. A

Appointments are limited, so you need to hurry. Sonobello doctors are masters in micro laser fat removal using a brilliant technique that removes stubborn fat permanently wherever your problem areas are. Tummy, sides, thighs, arms, or even saggy loose skin. Chan!

It's gone in one comfortable visit. Jan! We're signing up. We are signing up. You didn't tell me about the saggy loose skin. We may be halfway through the summer, but there's still time for a full body reset. And with the CareCredit credit card, you'll enjoy flexible financing and convenient monthly payments. Subject to credit approval. See website for details. Visit sonobello.com slash summer. That's sonobello, B-E-L-L-O dot com slash summer.

Are you the type of person that feels like you waste hours a week searching grocery aisles for the freshest fruits, veggies, and meats, but yet you're still left disappointed? Then you must try Fresh Direct. Fresh Direct is a farm-to-kitchen food source directly from farmers, fishermen, and ranchers and delivered straight to your door.

And the convenience is unbeatable. You can grocery shop from your office or couch anytime you want. I order all the time because of the convenience of it being delivered right to my door. They also have amazing prepared foods when I'm in a time crunch.

I'm currently obsessed with their harvest vegetables and goat cheese salad. It's my go-to for a quick and delicious lunch. For over 20 years, Fresh Direct has been delivering the freshest fruits, vegetables, and meats to the tri-state area. Don't take my word for it. Try it to believe it with $50 off your first order. Go to freshdirect.com and use code OFFCAMERA. That's freshdirect.com, code OFFCAMERA.

Off camera, for new customers to save $50 on their first order, terms and restrictions apply. Seaside for details. When you signed on to play Donald Trump, I feel like you had a very spot-on interpretation of him. You had a real ability to transform yourself into Donald Trump. Where does it begin? Well, I think that, like, here's a good example, a good counterpoint is if you watch TV,

Jeff Daniels in the Comey film, the Comey production they did for HBO with Brendan Gleeson as Trump. Now that's someone who's trying to do something more naturalistic and real. Gleeson was very good. And what I loved about his Trump impersonation was it wasn't so much on an acoustic level, like the sound of Trump, but it was Trump's behavior in terms of everything is about him.

He always changes the subject to him. And when he's talking about him, he wants to talk to you about how he'd like to stick a knife in this person and everybody that screwed him over. He's filled with vengeance. Right. He's controlled by vengeance. He's filled with hatred for all his enemies. So that's...

a movie, that's someone taking a longer, they've got two hours to lay out and lay the tracks for their rendering of that character. Trump is a character in a drama. With me, it was the first five minutes of a live comedy show. You had to come up with something that was brassy and quick and easy. And I just remember, you know, stick your mouth out like you're gonna suck the windshield out of a car. You stick your teeth out like this. Okay.

And then take your hands, a lot of hands. Okay, a lot of hands, even hands down here. And it was all just like, I thought, he's very two-dimensional, so make him two-dimensional. It's not something that's that complicated. And I mean, I had a lot of people write, I mean, especially like really more contemporary, you know, I don't want to name names, but there's all these websites that hate me. I mean, they hate me because to them, I'm like Bob Hope to them. I'm like some old, faded...

TV actor, and they would write the most horrible things about me doing Trump. But I really didn't think about any other way to do him. But the thing is, is that it also works because the lines work. You know, when we were there and Putin comes down the chimney during Christmas and he comes out, Beck Bennett comes out with his shirt off. And then Melania says, Donald!

Could I speak to you for a moment? And she takes me aside. She goes, Donald, I don't know about this man. What would you do if somebody came from a foreign country and flattered you all the time and you didn't really know them? And Trump goes, marry them. I would just...

We just had so much fun doing it, whether it was... I wasn't doing it to impress people. I wasn't doing it for people to say, oh, you're the greatest. That's the other thing. You know as well as I do that when you do any shows, movies, plays, TV, it's who you're working with. It's who you're working with. I went to go do 30 Rock, and knowing that Tina Fey was writing or supervising the writing of all this stuff, it was like, what a...

What a great opportunity that was to know that the best writers in TV were writing the show you were doing. So it's all about who you work with.

And when I did SNL to work with Beck and Kate McKinnon, oh, she played Hillary in those debates. I got to work with people who were the greatest people. So that's always a joy. You always do, though. I mean, I think back to, you know what, I just, the movie that I always watch over and over and over again. And you're so good in this movie, The Aviator. The Aviator. I mean, you are just brilliant. You play Juan Tripp.

Juan Tripp, that's interesting because I got to meet his daughter, Betsy DeVecchi, who passed away. Betsy was a neighbor of mine. And Juan Tripp was the president of the Maidstone Club out there for years. And his whole family is entrenched out there. And friends of mine out there introduced me to her. And I went to her house and had tea and hung out with her. And she was lovely. And I was so thrilled to be able to have that opportunity.

have that experience. But she said to me, she said, "Do you think Martin Scorsese would like to have dad's luggage to use in the picture?" And I said, "What?" She goes, "And he had the most beautiful set and was older." - Yeah. - With a Halliburton aluminum or steel, you know, whatever some, I think it's aluminum luggage. And it was, and nothing with any ink, but stamped into the metal was the Pan Am logo and his name, Tripp.

And she said, do you think you could use dad's luggage for the film? So right away I called Marnie. I'm like, we got to get this luggage into the movie, which they never did. I mean, did you- Every movie is a chance to learn. Did you get to keep the luggage? Oh God, no. It's worth-

I don't know, it's probably worth $100,000 by now. I wish she had given you a train case or something as a gift. Yeah, adopt kit with your father's name on it. But the thing is that every movie often is a chance to learn. And you do the research. I do Pearl Harbor and I research about Jimmy Doolittle. Any film I do that has that research component to it, that's always one of the most thrilling aspects is they give you books to read.

When I did Pearl Harbor, Jerry Bruckheimer was the producer. He didn't waste any time. He sent a box to my house. He was like, okay, read this, read this, read this, read this, watch this, watch this clip. And he was very, very helpful.

Yeah. Pearl Harbor. And by the way, Jan, write that one down. Another movie I screen tested for and didn't get. We've been over the course of this podcast, when we talk to actors, we bring up all of the roles that I auditioned for and just never got. And there's a couple that I got close on.

But as you know, close doesn't really count in films. No, no. Oh, tell me about it. Yeah. Are there roles that you...

didn't get that you were close to getting that should have been yours or you look back and could have been yours? I look back on films I was going to do and then I didn't do it. And, you know, I don't really... I mean, obviously I was going to do the sequels to Hunt for Red October and I signed a three-picture deal to do that with them. And then they found themselves in a situation where another actor that they had a relationship with, they viewed him as...

more of a hedge against any kind of risk at the box office. 'Cause when I did "Hunt," you know, Sean was really the star of the film. So they gave me the heave-ho, if you will, and hired Harrison Ford to do those movies. You know, I look back on it and I go, as much as that was tough, 'cause it taught me something.

It taught me something about the business, which is if you're one of those people who has that rarefied place like Cruise and Hanks and where you go, that's a great place to be. That's a really great place to be, to have that kind of the faith of the industry.

and people behind you like look at leo leo is uh he's marty's uh muse now like bob was like de niro was and now here's uh leo doing all these great films with marty and what a what a blessed place to be in your career and everybody else you finish your job and you got to go out there you got to prove yourself all over again people are right i should hire you why

Even you. You're like, oh, yeah, you go back to zero every time. You go back to zero every time. I can't believe it. Now, again, with other people, it's different. I can't believe that because when I think of you, I think of you as a Leo, as a Tom Hanks. I do. I really do. No, that's very kind of you. But the thing is, is that you said were there movies I wanted to do, you know, for me, I

I did, you know, we did 30 Rock. We had a lot of fun and we all, everybody got paid. It was a good job and it was a joy. And we won every award like three times. It was really great. And, um,

You have some, nothing that, you know, the Tom Clancy thing, that seemed difficult at the time. But I went on to go to Streetcar on Broadway instead, which was a great, which changed my life. You were brilliant. Oh, no, no. That's very kind of you. Brilliant. But for me, but in that way we do these things for ourselves, that changed my life. That made me realize not what I was and what I was capable of. It made me realize what I wanted to do. And it made me, and it freed me to begin the process of kind of letting go of mentalities

making movies I didn't really believe in for the money. Because I've been offered, it's not about, like you said, movies, what did I want to do that I didn't get? What was I offered that I didn't do that went on to make a lot of money? Yeah, what's that? What are those? I don't want to name those because I don't want to. I don't like when people say I was going to do this movie because that's kind of a kick at the person that did the movie. Right. Like what you're really saying is, well, they wanted me before they hired you. Okay, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. What movie that...

that made a lot of money. Did I see myself then? Are you sorry that you did not get some of that money? No, but let me tell you a funny story. Let me tell you a funny story. Yeah, Harry Potter. They wanted me to play Harry Potter. And I'm sitting in a chair and I flashback. I'm like, you know, I remember when I was young. I'm like sitting with a blanket on my lap by the fire. I remember the old days with me at Gryffindor. Gryffindor. Hogwarts, whatever the fuck it's called.

And I'm there, I'm drinking, I was at Hogwarts myself once. And I'm older Harry Potter flashing back. That would have been great. Don't you think it would have been? You would have been amazing. They really would have made a lot of money if they did that, right? You would have been amazing. You know what? I could see you as Harry Potter.

But I'll tell you one quick funny story, and that is that my agent says to me, he goes, it's a Saturday, and I was, this is Ronnie Meyer. I'm going to say, I'm going to call it. It's Ronnie Meyer. It's the Ronnie Meyer. I mean, Ron Meyer, to those of us who don't know him personally, Ronnie Meyer, if you're Alec Baldwin. Yeah, Ron Meyer, the founder, one of the three founders of CAA. So Ron Meyer, who then went on for 25 years to run Universal. Ron Meyer, he's my agent. I call him on the phone and I go,

He says to me, come see me. I go, okay. And I go to his house in Malibu and I go, who's going to do my day-to-day? And he goes, me. And I go, that's funny. I said, who's going to do my day-to-day? Who am I going to get on the phone with every day? He goes, me. I'm going to do your day-to-day. I go, cut the shit. I mean, you run the company. You own the company. What the fuck do you want to talk to me about this and that? He goes, listen, I'm going to do your day-to-day. He would be on a bike tour in like Turkey and he'd take my phone call. He was the greatest of all time. Now,

Because he believed in you because he knew you had talent. He was very kind to me and very sweet to me. So he sends me a script. It's Saturday. I'm in L.A., living in L.A. And he says, what are you doing right now? I go, nothing. He goes, I'm going to send you a script. I go, uh-huh. He goes, I want you to read it right now.

They want an answer right now before they move on to another guy. And I go, okay, great. He goes, they're going to pay you blank, which was the most money I was ever paid in a movie to do this like crazy futuristic thriller. And I go, oh my God, you're kidding. He goes, yeah, they're going to pay you the most you've ever been paid. And I was like, I said, let's go. Bing bong. The script shows up. The messenger gives it to me. I go into a little reading room we had, like a little office. I'm sitting there and I read it right away. And I read it. I'm like,

It's not that great. You know, and my part is really just like, it's like a techno thriller. It's all like CGI and techno shit. And there's really not a lot of acting. It's more like scenes of me going, "Watch out!" You know what I mean? And stuff like that. So the next thing you know, I call him and I go, "Ah, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Ronnie. I just, I don't know, man. I'm not feeling it." And he goes, "Do me a favor." I go, "Yeah." He goes, "Get in your car and come to my office. And I want you to read the script again."

I go, "Really?" He goes, "Yeah. And I want you to read it using a light that we have, a special light here in my office." And that light projects the amount of fucking money they're gonna pay you onto the fucking page while you're reading the script, you fucking moron. And I'm like, "Oh, okay." It was like, "What business are you in?" Like, you do this, and that's where I wanted to just end this. - That's what I was truly about to say to you.

I wouldn't have needed, I would have said, save the messenger fee, I'll do it. Like if they had presented me. What I realized back then is that you're either in the movie business or you're not. The movie business and acting and films are two separate things. If you want to be in the movie business, you got to come, they're in charge and they dictate what you do. And they're like, you don't sit there and say, well, you think maybe my character could be...

Rather than being a bicycle messenger, could I be like a Shakespearean actor in a company? Oh, God. See, I would have been great in the movie business, guys. I really missed out because I don't care.

I wouldn't have needed to read the script. I'll read the lines when I get there. - Nothing's stopping you. - You know, I wanna really quickly ask you about the incident in New Mexico, how you are doing. You and I talked about this privately at that dinner.

I was the most worried. No place like Indochine to have an intimate conversation. I know, but I was shouting into your ear, the two of us, like two of us deaf people screaming into each other. How are you, Kelly? I, you know, because I've worked on sets, not to the level that you have, as has Mark, and because we know the business the way we do,

We were shocked, horrified, terrified, as I know you were. How are you doing? Don't let the back-to-school season set back your nutrition. Green Chef is making it easy to stick to your healthy eating habits with a new, more flexible menu featuring over 35 customizable recipe options every week. And if you're in a time crunch, you'll also find over 15 weekly recipes that are ready in 25 minutes or less.

This weekend, I made their prosciutto and fresh mozzarella wraps and salad with pine nuts and balsamic glaze. Everything was delicious and took only 10 minutes to make. And now you can take your clean routine further with two times the support. Green Chef's healthiest menu ever and access to thousands of top-rated gyms and fitness studios worldwide from ClassPass. For a limited time, new Green Chef subscribers will also receive 50 free credits to use at

ClassPass, about a month's worth of membership. That's such a great deal. Go to greenchef.com slash off-camera class for 50% off your first box plus 50 free credits with ClassPass. That's code off-camera class at greenchef.com slash off-camera class to get 50% off your first box plus 50 free ClassPass credits.

Shifting your wardrobe from summer to fall is always a challenge. Good thing Quince offers timeless, high-quality items you'll adore and will ensure your wardrobe stays fresh without blowing your budget, like their cashmere sweaters, washable silk tops, amazing leather products, and so much more. And the best part?

All Quince items are priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands. I just love how easy it is to shop. Their website is so convenient to navigate. They have everything from clothing to accessories to travel items and even home goods. And don't forget, they have a baby and kid section too. It's one-stop shopping from my laptop.

Make switching seasons a breeze with Quince high-quality closet essentials. Go to quince.com slash off-camera for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash off-camera to get free shipping and 365-day returns. quince.com slash off-camera.

Staying hydrated is so important. It helps me with my energy, my sleep, my skin, and my mood. Keep yourself hydrated and refreshed the way I do with Fiji water. Did you know that Fiji water really is from the islands of Fiji? It's true. Unlike some other top premium bottled waters,

Fiji water's electrolytes are 100% naturally occurring. Visit your local retailer to pick up some today for your next backyard party, beach or pool day, hike or even your home office. It's not just water. It's Fiji water. You know, I want to really quickly ask you about the incident in New Mexico. We were...

shocked, horrified, terrified as I know you were. How are you doing? And I don't know what level of... I don't know...

where it stands? No, no. I'll tell you what I can, which is that I have right now dismissal without prejudice, which means they are authorized and they are obviously free to go and investigate further and bring other charges against me. And the next phase would be dismissal with prejudice, which is the legal term for it's over. They're done. They haven't found anything. So we're waiting for the dismissal with prejudice.

In terms of my feelings and my whole zeitgeist of that, it's like...

It's difficult to say in a brief and kind of pithy way, it's changed my life in every way. It's changed my life in every way. I mean, the idea that this business, the winds blow and sometimes very violently and everything can be okay. And you wake up every day and you found your niche. I've been doing this a long time. I'm 65 years old.

blah, blah, blah. And then something happens regardless of what it is. And if something goes wrong for you now, you can be done globally in a day. The story goes around the world and then it impacts you. And this certainly impacted me. It affected me work-wise profoundly, profoundly. And rather than getting into details about that, it's just...

What it's made me do is work and putting my emotional eggs in that basket and allowing myself to be controlled by what the public thinks of me. I found that it's really a huge mistake you make. It's just a huge mistake.

And I played Trump on TV and I would always see the people that attacked me about the New Mexico thing. I look at their profile and they were all MAGA, Trumpsters. There was an element of people who were out for me and who wanted to assign the blame to me who was political. And I found that really unsettling. But what's happened is I...

I mean, I kind of crave a private life now. I don't want my kids to deal with that. I always say that Mark said to me, Kelly, what other people think of you is none of your business. Right, right. And it was the best advice I had ever been given because I really did sort of keep my head down, keep my focus on my work, and I just moved forward.

But, you know, I've got to tell you, I think that what happened to you has made the entire industry pay attention because sometimes, you know, you chug along in an industry for such a long time and we have all, I've worked with firearms. I, Kelly Ripa on a sitcom, I've worked with firearms. Mark on Riverdale worked with firearms constantly. We all have.

And we take for granted that the weapon we are being handed is unloaded and safe to use in the scene. We have people who are, I mean, I always tell people, there are three instances that come to mind where the safety protocols of weapons are assigned to one individual or group of individuals.

So for example, like in recreation, hunting, you go off and you're shooting, whatever thing you're doing, they're absolutely right when they say the onus is on you. The burden is on you to make sure the gun isn't loaded. The safety thing is on you as an individual and the gun owner. Now that changes when you are at a police academy.

and you're training young recruits to shoot firearms, many of whom have never fired a gun before. You don't want your inductees in the police department shooting each other. So the safety protocol is invested in one person. In the military, my father was a drill instructor in the Marine Corps. He was an expert marksman with a gun.

He told me he would walk up and down the firing line in Parris Island, South Carolina, screaming at people saying, open bolts, open bolts, open bolts. Because the minute you pull the trigger and you fire the gun, you had to open the bolt and eject the casing and show my father that the bolt, that the gun was empty. And those guys that didn't open the bolt, if they forgot, they put the backpack on filled with bricks and they made them run around in the South Carolina heat for an hour.

And the third location is on the set of a film. On the set of a film or a TV show, we invest the responsibility for firearm safety in an armorer.

On the show, on the film where this happened, where Helena Hutchins was killed, I like to say her name because I don't want to lose sight of that, where Helena was killed, everybody knows what happened. The day that we all had to go through that and it all unraveled during a day. Everybody knows who's responsible. Everybody on the film knew who was responsible. And it's all been distorted by the media and by certain people in the criminal justice system and so forth.

The bottom line is, if you take away, in the research I've done, and I've done quite a bit since then, if you take away ammunition, the problem is solved. Meaning you can have a gun, you can have a real gun. The gun has to be soldered, but it can be a real gun. It doesn't need to be a plastic gun or a rubber gun. You can have a real gun that's neutralized that way. It doesn't really fire. You fill up the barrel with lead or with some kind of substance. And then you have no bullets anymore.

If there's no bullets, nobody gets hurt. No blanks, no dummies, and of course no live rounds. That goes without saying, or I thought it did. And you have no ammunition on the set of any production, then nobody can get shot. So that's what I'm hoping is going to happen, is they're going to eliminate ammunition, any kind of ammunition on the set of TV and film.

Yeah, I think that that would be the positive to come out of all of this. Something's got to come out of it. Yeah, it would be. It's unthinkable. It woke the industry up because I think that any-

Oh, they were still using? Oh, yeah. A lot still did, yeah. Yeah. I'm actually frankly surprised to hear that because every person I know, working actor, was like shook to their core that something like that could happen. But the other thing is when you get to be my age, because it's a combination of

of when you are older and you have a different perspective and something radical like that happens. And what occurs to you is you never were able to effectively contemplate not working in the business and retiring from the business. People, you talked about it, you flirted with it, you got frustrated and spit that out of your mouth, blah, blah, blah.

But it wasn't real. And now at my age, and that happened, I really do think about, you know, I've kind of had enough. I mean, I've done this for a long time and I want to have a private life. I don't want my kids to be influenced by any of that or spattered by any of that. And so not working, I've been working less and less and less.

And I'm home. And my wife and I, we want to travel the world with the kids. I mean, I want to show seven kids Rome and London and Paris and Madrid and blah, blah, blah. And we're thinking about that now where we have a different life in terms of work becomes almost normal.

you know, nothing. But anyway, before we go, I'm going to flip it on you again. I'm going to flip on you and ask you a question. Why have you done the show? What's the thing that keeps you staying and doing that show? What about it do you love or what about it speaks to you? You know, I think I'm very risk-averse. Other than the $900 million they've paid you so far. Other than the $900 million. Not a billion, by the way. Not a billion, but $900 million. No, but every year...

I save it. I squirrel it away hoping, no. I think it's, I'm very risk averse. You know, Gelman, Jan, Albert, we all work together there and it's very much

We always say we're like a family. We're a family at work. And we are like a family. We are literally, we are in each other's rooms when a baby's delivered. But now that your goddamn husband is there, yeah, that's a family. I mean, now it's really, like now we've taken family to a whole other level. Now like, you know. Jesus. And I just read this very funny article that that's like a,

red flag. Like if your job environment is the people there say, oh, we're like a family. That's apparently a red flag. So we're all working in a red flag environment.

All the times I've done the show, my favorite thing was Gelman. All the biggest producers. Like whether it's Lorne or people who are just at the top of the business. Gelman was no different. Gelman would walk in. He'd come into my room. I'm wanting to prep for the segments or whatever. And Gelman would walk in and go, you good? Everything's good? Did you see Joey out there? What'd you do? Did you play tennis? What'd you do? Did you eat at that place? Did you hear about that new place? And then what'd you do? No. Did you? Did you go to that screening? No? Okay. Everything's good? Everything's good? Boom. He's out the door. I never talked to him.

Jan, how many years has he been there? He's given up any hope or dream he's ever had. I think he's at 40-something years now. 40-some-odd. That's wrong. They gave him a golden. Get him on the mountain with Mark, the two of them. We're going to go mountain climbing with Mark. If you're there for 40 years, you get a golden, what is it, sneezy? Sneezy the dwarf? Sneezy. You get sneezy from the seven dwarfs. That's like your trophy. Through ABC? Yes.

Yeah. The Disney family? All these bronze trophies for, you know, the amounts of... But they're always like these weird... It's like Tinkerbell, Jiminy Cricket, Sneezy. You pass this message on to the higher-ups there at Disney ABC, and that is, when I get rid of Mark and Gelman, then I do both jobs. I'm going to co-star with you and produce the show. One paycheck, fold it, a twofer, I fold it together, and I'm going to do the show. The next time Mark goes away...

Scuba diving. Scuba diving. Will you come and co-host with me? I'd love to. They came to me.

And to do the co-host thing with you in recent years, like before my misfortunes. But they came to me and it was just a scheduling thing. I love doing it. I love doing it. I know. We've tried to get, yeah. Like you make a joke, but we've tried to get Alec many times. Give me some time. I'm waiting for this other thing, the final shoe to drop when that does. But call me and- Let me tell you something. Here's the show, okay? It's a Disney Plus show.

Okay, because you want to be in the Disney family if you got seven kids. Disney Plus show, the Baldwinitos go abroad. And it is your travails, your triumphs, traveling with seven kids, teaching them about different cultures,

Let's say homeschooling them because let's just face it, if you want to have any sort of life and have seven kids, you're going to have to at some point homeschool them. I just think that that's the show for you. We actually pitched a show where we go to Europe. We were going to go like to Italy and we rented a house for like six months and we lived there. And all I was afraid of was they'd be like, you know, we're near like a horse farm.

And Carlo, the equestrian who's in charge of the horses is there. And he says, ba-da-ba-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da

I will. We should also mention Alec has his own podcast, you know. It's called Here's the Thing with Alec Baldwin. It's available everywhere you get your podcasts. Alec, you are delightful. Kelly, the reason I know why...

I'm not co-hosting that show with you because you know exactly what would happen. And that is we would be at Wu Liang Yi, my favorite Chinese restaurant. Uh-huh. Wu Liang Yi on 48th Street. You wouldn't be gorgeous, little nymphette.

Kelly Ripa anymore. You'd be like Mama Cass if I was working with you. You'd be as round. I gotta tell you, Alec, I'm nervous that Alec has lost his vision. This is the first stage. Yeah. You would be Mama Cass. We'd be eating dumplings and lo mein at Wuliangyi for lunch every day. Okay? That sounds like a good, that sounds like fun. The best Chinese food, Wuliangyi.

All right. My love to you. My love, my love, my love. My love to you. Yeah. And to your family. Thank you. All the best. Thanks, Alec. Okay. I will. Bye. Bye. Guys, come on. Alec Baldwin. Nice job, Kelly. Wow. Guys, that was great. I would like to see a TV show about them traveling across the globe. It's a brilliant idea. Or at least having them at Epcot.

Epcot and Disney, which is probably more in terms of I was actually shocked when you asked him if he'd be open to reality show that they were already pitching it. Like, I didn't see that as his answer. I agree. I think it would like either get Ilaria Baldwin on The Real Housewives or which I don't think is the right format because that's like more of an ensemble cast. And I feel like this is a cast of specifically nine people.

Alec, Ilaria, and the seven kids. Oh my God. It's got to be a shit show over there.

All right. We have some quick Ask Kellys for you. Let's do them. Okay. It's time for Ask Kelly. Okay. Let's do it. You guys do your thing. Okay. From N. Perez. On the Maria Menounos episode, you asked her if she was wearing her matis. Can you explain what those are? Yeah. So a mati is, I don't know religiously where it comes from, but it's the evil eye. It's like a

A bracelet, sometimes they're necklaces. I have like a little mati that I wear every day. It's to ward off like evil spirits and bad energy. And I just, there was a point in my life where something really traumatic happened to me. I won't get into it, but my girlfriend sent me a mati.

From London Jewelers. It was like a fancy mati. Wow. And I wore that thing. I still have it. It's broken. I have to get it fixed. But I wore that thing every day for years. And then...

A couple of things happened to friends of mine that were also very unpleasant. My girlfriend lost her husband. Another girlfriend went through a divorce and I got them Matis. You see them in Greece everywhere. It looks like the evil eye. It's like the eye. And that eye is supposed to ward off bad energy, bad spirits, and people wishing you harm.

So it's like a superstitious thing, but I don't know. My life has been pretty good. I don't want to credit too much to like the evil eye, but, you know, because God forbid I go somewhere without it and then my life falls apart. I don't know. I like it. All right. The next question is from Ronnie.

When is the right time to give your children the freedom to choose between attending a family event or attending a friend's event? I have high schoolers and it's becoming frustrating because they want to do more things with their friends. Yeah. I mean, Ronnie, here's the thing. For me, I think it depends on the event. There are some things that are like expected, right? The big holidays, you

Father's Day, Mother's Day, you know, if it's a grandparent's birthday and they're getting up there in years, I would say those are like the mandatory things. But when it's like, oh, you know,

your aunt so-and-so is coming over for dinner, but your kids want to go to the big game with their friends. I think it's good to give them the freedom to have that time with their friends because sometimes it's really just about the belonging and the fitting in. That's just how we sort of parceled it out. There were like things that were mandatory and they knew like going in, like these are the mandatory events coming up.

And anything else is your time to spend with your friends. Got it. Okay, we have an update for you, Kelly. This was from Holly D. She says, you responded to my question on the Anderson Cooper episode. I'm the one with the three kids that have flown the coop and I was really feeling it.

I'm really happy to report that we took your advice. The last few weekends, we've spent hiking and swimming alone, and you are absolutely right. We are enjoying ourselves and getting to know each other again without any distraction. Thanks for the advice. And one more thing. How about that sex when the kids leave? We're doing it everywhere now. Yeah, you can do it wherever you want. It's like fascinating. I'm so happy for you, Holly. See, I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so.

But it really is interesting. Like you can do it. Like you can leave the door open. I mean, we still can't because once in a while somebody will come home and just like barge in the house. Yeah, barge in. But it really is kind of remarkable when you rediscover each other on your own terms without like the like without that worry of, oh, my gosh, it's going to be a risk. Yeah.

you know, so yeah, good for you. Very proud of you, Holly D. And that's it. That's all we have for today. Be sure to tell all of your friends about us. And I can't wait to talk off camera with y'all next week. Bye, everybody. Let's Talk Off Camera with Kelly Ripa is a production of Melojo Productions with help from Goat Rodeo. Our theme song is Follow Me from APM Music.

From Melojo, our team is Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos, Albert Bianchini, Jan Chalet, Devin Schneider, Michael Halpern, Jacob Small, Roz Therrien, Seth Gronquist, and Julia Desch from Goat Rodeo. Our team is Cara Shillen, Megan Nadolski, Max Johnston, Isabel Kirby McGowan, and Rebecca Seidel. Additional sound design by Terrence Bernardo.

This show is powered by Stitcher. NetCredit is here to say yes to a personal loan or line of credit when other lenders say no. Apply in minutes and get a decision as soon as the same day. If approved, applications are typically funded the next business day or sooner. Loans offered by NetCredit or lending partner banks and serviced by NetCredit. Applications subject to review and approval. Learn more at netcredit.com slash partner. NetCredit. Credit to the people. When you say yes.

Everyone loves to share their skincare routine and the various products and serums they use and their exhaustive step-by-step process. But did you know that skincare can actually start in the laundry room? I'm partnering with our sponsor, All Free Clear Laundry Detergent, and tried it out. It's no surprise to me that All Free Clear is the number one laundry detergent brand recommended by dermatologists,

allergists, and pediatricians for sensitive skin. It provides an effective clean that's gentle on the skin while removing impurities like dirt and body oil without leaving irritating residues. For me, it's the best way to start my skincare routine. I also love that it's perfect to use for everyone in your household, from babies to those loved ones with sensitive skin or allergies to dyes. I suffer from seasonal allergies every

and All Free Clear removes 99% of everyday and seasonal allergens like dog and cat dander, dust mite matter, ragweed pollen, and grass tree pollen. All Free Clear is 100% free of dyes and perfumes. Plus, All Free Clear liquid is Safer Choice certified by the US EPA. For a clean you can feel good about, all you need is All Free Clear. All Free Clear is not intended to treat or prevent allergies.