Bigger, Better, Faster, Stronger

Transcript

Speaker: I'm Annie Tevlin.

Speaker: Welcome to Off the Record, the podcast.

Speaker: Now it's just you and me.

Speaker: I respect your privacy.

Speaker: What happens here?

Speaker: We'll never leave this room.

Speaker: So lock the door, put me in, put a finger to my lips.

Speaker: Cause I can't say I've got what I would do.

Speaker: Off the Record with you.

Speaker: Off the record with you.

Speaker: Okay, let's get one thing out of the way.

Speaker: And by one thing, I mean four and a half things.

Speaker: One, I'm nervous.

Speaker: Two, the font on my computer is set to 24 because when I'm nervous, 12-point font just won't do.

Speaker: Three, the backs of my knees are sweating, and four and a half, I just realized I have to pee twice.

Speaker: But this podcast isn't about the things that my body begins to do when I get bulldozed by emotions and excitement.

Speaker: This podcast is about one of the most exuberant, sensitive, joyful, motivating men I've ever had the honor of sitting across from.

Speaker: You guys know him as Eric Bigger, who rose to fame competing on the 13th season of The Bachelorette and most recently Bachelor in Paradise.

Speaker: He appeared on the show competing for the heart of former Bachelor star Rachel Lindsay, working as the CEO of personal training outfit E-Bigsway, before making his reality debut.

Speaker: And if you know this guy, like I don't know this guy, but I think I do, he's the one with the most brilliant smile, most open heart, he's smiling right now, and most infectious, I'm so happy to see you dance, Denmark and the world has ever seen.

Speaker: Now, in interviewing Eric, I kept coming to the realization that interviewing this guy solely on his Bachelorette experience is basic.

Speaker: This guy is so much more than that.

Speaker: And in researching and voyeuring Eric, I get the impression that this guy is so much more than the show portrayed him as.

Speaker: This is a guy that is not going to waste his time in matters of love, in interviews.

Speaker: He takes the long view on life and knows what and won't fulfill him.

Speaker: He will tell someone something they might not want to hear in the short run if it means they will get what they need in the long run.

Speaker: You can see things from very far away, Eric, because you're astute, you're sensitive, and from my vantage point, Eric desperately doesn't want to be the reason that anyone hurts.

Speaker: He also wants what is hard to sometimes access, be it love or the cold hard truth.

Speaker: It is because of these character traits and more that I jumped at the chance to have the force that is Eric in the studio today.

Speaker: And I'm so honored he took a moment to take a break from his own podcast, Bigger Talks, to connect with me today.

Speaker: So without further ado, I'd like to welcome Mr. Eric Bigger to the studio.

Speaker: Wow.

Speaker: Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow.

Speaker: I could cry.

Speaker: How did you discover all of that?

Speaker: That was so powerful.

Speaker: Phenomenal.

Speaker: Are you lying?

Speaker: Inspirational.

Speaker: No, I'm not lying.

Speaker: I could like, if I really would have just really sat here and like let you go, I probably would have cried.

Speaker: Oh my God.

Speaker: Wow.

Speaker: So before we start, let's be honest.

Speaker: Growing up, I didn't get feedback in life.

Speaker: Good or bad.

Speaker: So when I hear things, I'm like very like, really?

Speaker: Really?

Speaker: Imagine I get no feedback as a child, good or bad.

Speaker: Like I did good in school, you know, I was a leader, I was positive, I was a good kid, I didn't get in trouble.

Speaker: But no one told me like, Eric, you're doing good, you're doing great.

Speaker: And I didn't get bad feedback.

Speaker: Oh, you jumped shot.

Speaker: That's no, I don't like that.

Speaker: Or you need to work harder.

Speaker: I didn't get that.

Speaker: So I guess that's why I'm so good at giving feedback because I need it and I want it.

Speaker: So someone gives me something, I take it and I kind of analyze it.

Speaker: Maybe sometimes to a fault, but that was powerful.

Speaker: I felt like I was coming up to get an award or something.

Speaker: Jesus.

Speaker: Must be the Aquarius in you.

Speaker: Is anything that I said, is that accurate?

Speaker: Are these things that you've heard about yourself before?

Speaker: I mean, I just feel like you really did your research and really picked the way through the lens of what the world sees.

Speaker: Like, you see through everything that others don't see.

Speaker: And it was just, wow, you're very, like...

Speaker: I was powerful.

Speaker: That makes me feel really good.

Speaker: I have to say you, you know, obviously we're, we all watch reality TV.

Speaker: We all know that this is a snapshot of someone's life.

Speaker: That's not who you are.

Speaker: big time edited.

Speaker: There's so much other, you know, B-roll that people don't get to see.

Speaker: But there's always this part of you that comes through, and it's no offense to the television show that you were on, but I just always got the impression that you were like too sensitive, too real, too authentic, too...

Speaker: passionate, I don't know what it is, but there was just that show in a way I saw you being pigeonholed and it's almost like I felt like in real time you maybe thought that you were being misunderstood.

Speaker: That's how it came across.

Speaker: There was a frustrating aspect for me watching you on Bachelor in Paradise specifically recently.

Speaker: And it was like, oh my God, this is like a misunderstanding.

Speaker: Someone needs to go in there and show the real Eric.

Speaker: That was the vibe that I got.

Speaker: Yeah, I think the thing is, I think that definitely is very accurate.

Speaker: Definitely misunderstood.

Speaker: I felt that way my whole life because I knew I had this energy about me and this curiosity about me that

Speaker: didn't make sense to the norm or to the environment I was in.

Speaker: So subconsciously, I think I always tried to fit in because I didn't want to stand out because I wanted to be part of the belonging and not the becoming.

Speaker: So what happens sometimes when you're in this environment of people, you have to adjust, right?

Speaker: And when I mean adjust,

Speaker: You got to converse.

Speaker: You got to talk.

Speaker: You got to, you know, be present because this is what you signed up for.

Speaker: This is your classroom.

Speaker: And Bachelor in Paradise was one of those shows where I'm glad I did it because I learned a lot about myself and others.

Speaker: And I realized I'm just tired of trying to fit in.

Speaker: I can't.

Speaker: Like, I can't.

Speaker: Is that something that you felt on the show because of your psychology?

Speaker: Yes, my psychology, my awareness, my insight.

Speaker: And this is the thing.

Speaker: And people take this.

Speaker: In life, when you have more information and more awareness, I don't care who the person is, the director, the head of the show, if you have more insight, more awareness, or just in whatever you do, you have to always take responsibility.

Speaker: So if you're dealing with someone, if I'm on a show and I'm dealing with a person, and it looks like it's all me, it's all of me, I made a mistake, which I did, I made several mistakes, but it's hard to hold someone accountable for something they can't be accountable for.

Speaker: So you have to always be responsible and you have to always, I don't want to say take the L, but it might seem like that because you're responsible.

Speaker: The more information you have in life, the more responsible you have to.

Speaker: So I have more information than some people, not because I'm smarter than better, just because I'm well read and I read a lot of books and I'm curious about people and the mind and the body.

Speaker: So there's certain things I can tell.

Speaker: without really spending too much time with a person.

Speaker: Body language, energy, behavior, feeling, intuition.

Speaker: And these things you don't see on the show because they're intangible.

Speaker: But it's hard.

Speaker: Did you watch your season?

Speaker: Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker: You watch it back?

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker: Is it something where, you know, if there was one lesson that came from that, because I really do want to get to the other sides of you, but we got to do what we got to do because the people want the Bachelor information, but we're just going to do a tiny bit of it.

Speaker: You know, when you watch that season and you came out of that for Bachelor in Paradise, what was your takeaway from that experience?

Speaker: Well, one takeaway was my intuition never lied to me the whole time.

Speaker: So my intuition was on about everything, on and off camera.

Speaker: Everything was accurate.

Speaker: But I think the lesson I had to learn because I'm so good at fixing things and getting out of things, the lesson was...

Speaker: I have to learn how to trust people, right?

Speaker: Because how I grew up, I didn't trust people that much because it just didn't.

Speaker: So what happens when you trust people and they do a disservice or they disappoint you or let you down, there's a perspective in that.

Speaker: So I never really got that perspective because I never allowed myself to be in that space because I knew how to get out of it.

Speaker: And the last time I did that was when I was a kid with my mom.

Speaker: And it really felt very uncomfortable.

Speaker: And so I was like, from that day forward, I'm like, I'm not trusting people.

Speaker: You know, my mom would tell me things and wouldn't do it.

Speaker: Or she would let me down.

Speaker: So it's a perspective in being, quote unquote, the dark space, the villain.

Speaker: It's a perspective with that and also gives you insight and is a different type of motivation opposed to, oh, you're such a good guy.

Speaker: You're nice.

Speaker: You're sweet.

Speaker: It is squeaky clean.

Speaker: You're perfect.

Speaker: No, I'm not perfect.

Speaker: No, I never said I was perfect, but I learned was it's okay.

Speaker: It's okay to be in a space.

Speaker: It's okay for it to be misunderstood.

Speaker: It's okay to be misunderstood.

Speaker: for why now, why is this happening?

Speaker: It's okay.

Speaker: And you're not the first person to go through that.

Speaker: I mean, if stardom and fame and being on a television show has taught us anything, it doesn't matter.

Speaker: You can be Angelina Jolie and saving all the people in the world and you'll still screw up something somewhere along the way and people will have something to say about it.

Speaker: So it's almost permission to just do you.

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: However you get misinterpreted, you know what I mean?

Speaker: You're out there doing the best that you can based on the level of awareness that you have.

Speaker: And, you know, it's an easy thing to forgive.

Speaker: Yeah, it is.

Speaker: But I think what I think I really like, because when I got to Paradise and you start forming like little relationships with things, what I really noticed, I said, you know what?

Speaker: I like to see how people are when things are different.

Speaker: So when I made my decision, that was the route, like why I made the decision, because I was feeling something different from what people were seeing.

Speaker: How so?

Speaker: It just wasn't there.

Speaker: Like I was all the way there, but I don't think she was all the way there.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: Emotionally.

Speaker: I think maybe her love language was words and mine's the most act of service because I was getting the words.

Speaker: I just wasn't getting the feeling.

Speaker: I wasn't getting the emotions.

Speaker: I wasn't getting the actions behind the words that was given to me.

Speaker: So is it fair to say that you kind of took yourself out of that relationship because you didn't feel like— Well, the thing is, it was never really a relationship.

Speaker: It was just like we were dealing with each other.

Speaker: We never said we were in anything.

Speaker: I mean, there were certain moments on the show where we had an opportunity.

Speaker: We went on a date at, you know, at the hotel, and there were certain things that happened there.

Speaker: It would just kind of make me question, like, okay.

Speaker: Why are you bringing up this third party in the middle of a massage?

Speaker: We had a chance to, you know, stay at the hotel with no cameras and talk about these things.

Speaker: We didn't.

Speaker: So those things, and a lot of people say, well, you know, it could be like a sex thing.

Speaker: You want to do like, no, like, no, it's never that.

Speaker: It's like, I'm grown.

Speaker: Like, I don't need to have sex to validate how I feel about you.

Speaker: It was never that.

Speaker: So I was just trying to figure out where are you really at?

Speaker: And I know this is your first rodeo.

Speaker: You're on TV.

Speaker: So it's different.

Speaker: Just let me know.

Speaker: But when we had the opportunity to do that, there was no, we're fine.

Speaker: We're good.

Speaker: And I think my what I didn't do was really address how I really, really felt.

Speaker: I just kind of like, you know what time is everything is a time and place for a certain conversation.

Speaker: And I made a mistake.

Speaker: But end of the day, what people didn't see was we talked about all this.

Speaker: I apologize, made it up.

Speaker: We hugged it out.

Speaker: It was actually one of the best moments on the show.

Speaker: They didn't show it.

Speaker: We hugged out on the beach under the stars and we talked about we didn't think we were last on the back end anyway.

Speaker: And when was that?

Speaker: Like how far after the... This was like a day probably before rose ceremony or two days or two... Yeah, like a day before rose ceremony.

Speaker: I remember like it was yesterday.

Speaker: And it was so weird.

Speaker: But both were women.

Speaker: I cleared it up.

Speaker: Why is it that the apology of me cleaning everything up was so much better than being in a relationship with these people or dealing with them?

Speaker: I was like, how is this?

Speaker: And then when I left...

Speaker: The tears were coming from so many different emotions.

Speaker: Misunderstood.

Speaker: What people don't know before the show, every girl that I go hard after, I never get.

Speaker: So there was another sign like, why does this keep happening to me?

Speaker: Then I got love from people that I never think will happen.

Speaker: People were crying when I left.

Speaker: That's the love I wanted the whole time I was on the beach.

Speaker: And I had an out-of-body experience.

Speaker: When I was in the car, when I was in the truck on the way back, my producer was crying.

Speaker: That's how powerful it was.

Speaker: It wasn't like, yes, I was sad about Angela.

Speaker: Yes, I was mad.

Speaker: Yes, it broke me up apart.

Speaker: But it wasn't just completely her while I was crying.

Speaker: It was so many other things.

Speaker: And I'm empath.

Speaker: I feel everything.

Speaker: So I'm feeling this person, her, this person.

Speaker: I'm feeling everything.

Speaker: And it was just like, it was crazy.

Speaker: Did it hit you like a ton of bricks?

Speaker: I remember that scene where you kind of start to, you know what I mean?

Speaker: Like you're going on the fritz on the show, kind of like it's all so overwhelming.

Speaker: You were holding your face in your hands and you were, it was the beginning of something.

Speaker: And I think even as the viewer, we didn't know what that was.

Speaker: Did it, are you someone where it hits like a ton of bricks or it's a slow burn and you were feeling that...

Speaker: I think it was a slow burn.

Speaker: Do you know?

Speaker: I think over time it came and then I was just like, I can't give no more.

Speaker: Like one thing about me, I don't play the middle.

Speaker: It's even black or white.

Speaker: I'm giving all I'm not giving.

Speaker: And that's why I said I'm giving everything to you because you don't see her upset.

Speaker: You don't see her crying.

Speaker: You don't see because she wasn't all in emotionally.

Speaker: It looked that way, but you don't see no emotions from her.

Speaker: And you see her going out on a date, she's crying.

Speaker: But it's not about her.

Speaker: It's not about me.

Speaker: This is about life.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: And it's about people learning.

Speaker: And it's about people growing up.

Speaker: And for me, I'm a vessel for what to do, for what not to do.

Speaker: And I'm willing to take the risk.

Speaker: I'm willing to take the chance.

Speaker: I'm willing to fail in front of everybody to be where I want to be in life.

Speaker: So on the back end of it all, it's part of my story.

Speaker: Absolutely.

Speaker: What was, you know, the great motivator in going on Bachelor in Paradise after your experience with Rachel?

Speaker: Like, what was that?

Speaker: Is it something where you're like, okay, I am so motivated to find love and I think I can find it.

Speaker: Like, was there someone in mind?

Speaker: Was it just kind of another?

Speaker: That's the thing.

Speaker: It was never nobody in mind.

Speaker: Only two girls I really liked.

Speaker: throughout the whole Bachelor thing was Becca Tilly and Vanessa Grimaldi.

Speaker: If they was on it, I'm like, game.

Speaker: Game, game, game, game.

Speaker: Bibiana, you know, we had this friendship and they don't show this either.

Speaker: We had a conversation where I'm like, okay, Bibi, I love you.

Speaker: We're friends.

Speaker: We're great.

Speaker: Let's draw the line.

Speaker: I need to know what really are we?

Speaker: Like, I know we friends, but I kind of feel like I don't want to assume.

Speaker: She's like, no, I think we're friends.

Speaker: We should keep up that.

Speaker: I said, cool.

Speaker: Because I don't want to never miss out on something that could be something because I didn't open my mouth.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: So they don't show that part or clear that up.

Speaker: So outside of that, it was just like, who knows?

Speaker: When I went on The Bachelorette, I wasn't like highly into Rachel.

Speaker: I had signed up prior to her being the person or knowing she was the person.

Speaker: I didn't even know she was the person.

Speaker: So on that show, The Bachelorette,

Speaker: anything could happen, anything did happen, I fell in love.

Speaker: So that's how I felt like Bachelor in Paradise is an opportunity to see who you are, what you are, see what Bachelor in Paradise is all about.

Speaker: Yeah, and there's more women.

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: There's more women, more opportunity.

Speaker: If you don't connect with Rachel, then what happens?

Speaker: Then you're just on the show.

Speaker: Why not?

Speaker: And what people don't know, these TV shows, it's growth.

Speaker: It's kind of like self-therapy.

Speaker: Because when you get on these shows, you're learning about yourself.

Speaker: It's challenging, yes, but it's worth it because it's a sacrifice.

Speaker: You're sacrificing your life, you're remote, you're sacrificing everything.

Speaker: And it's something you get from sacrifice.

Speaker: And that's clarity.

Speaker: And that's more of a lot of other things.

Speaker: But I'm glad I did it.

Speaker: Would you do more?

Speaker: Is there like a Winter Games or would you be the bachelor?

Speaker: Like where are you at with this?

Speaker: They would have to make me the bachelor.

Speaker: I can't mess around.

Speaker: It's like, what are we doing?

Speaker: I can't.

Speaker: I need...

Speaker: I need a strong, powerful, potent individual that just unspokenly gets me or can challenge me and who's not afraid to understand who this guy is.

Speaker: Because I think I'm complex to a lot of people because it doesn't make sense.

Speaker: You have so much energy, you're so positive, but then you're so deep.

Speaker: But you're black and you're African-American and you're like built.

Speaker: I think all these things go on in people's mind.

Speaker: So here's the thing I think people need to know.

Speaker: You know, it's a divide in the world, right?

Speaker: Perception is people's reality.

Speaker: Perception is dangerous.

Speaker: When it comes to a black man in America, and I'm not saying for everybody, but for what I've watched and observed, you even want to know a few things.

Speaker: One, you're an athlete.

Speaker: You know how many people come up to me like, oh, you play ball?

Speaker: And I could lie to them and say, yeah, I play overseas.

Speaker: I play for Turkey.

Speaker: They will believe me.

Speaker: Why?

Speaker: Because I fit the bill, right?

Speaker: No, I'm not that.

Speaker: Or you're an actor.

Speaker: You got the look.

Speaker: You're tall.

Speaker: You're charming.

Speaker: You must be an actor.

Speaker: No, I'm not that.

Speaker: Or you're a singer.

Speaker: Or you're an artist.

Speaker: Or you're a rapper.

Speaker: So look, there we go.

Speaker: Athlete, actor, musician.

Speaker: So those three things, right?

Speaker: All entertaining, using your body to get people to like you, TV personality.

Speaker: Outside of that, for a black man in America, it's negative.

Speaker: You must be a criminal.

Speaker: You must sell drugs.

Speaker: You must sell drugs.

Speaker: You're not, I'm not going to see you as a lawyer.

Speaker: I'm not going to see you as an accountant.

Speaker: I'm not saying they're not out there.

Speaker: Because in D.C., New York, those are those businessmen, those investment bankers that are minority or African-American.

Speaker: But from a general perspective, you don't see that.

Speaker: I won't say his name, but it was a friend on the show.

Speaker: I don't know what guy asked him.

Speaker: Especially Josiah was the guy, but I don't know what guy on Winter Games asked him.

Speaker: He's like, man, I didn't know.

Speaker: Someone asked Joe Sye, telling Joe Sye, I didn't know you were a lawyer.

Speaker: You look like a football player.

Speaker: That's the stereotype.

Speaker: So that's what you're dealing with.

Speaker: Look at LeBron James, you know.

Speaker: So shut up and dribble.

Speaker: Like, no, I don't do more than dribble a ball.

Speaker: And I think people can't put me in a box.

Speaker: And I think that's what throws people off.

Speaker: That's literally my intro.

Speaker: I mean, 100%.

Speaker: I've never seen someone on television, let alone reality television, that seems so whole, that seems so full.

Speaker: It's also mysterious.

Speaker: And I came into this feeling nervous because this whole part in my intro about you're pretty much not going to waste your own time because you have such a high emotional quotient.

Speaker: You've written books.

Speaker: You've written books.

Speaker: been in the throes of reality television, which takes an incredible amount of strength, but at the end of the day, like, you cannot be pigeonholed.

Speaker: And I've seen you on interviews before where people don't come with that energy.

Speaker: They don't come.

Speaker: It's almost like frivolous questions, and you clam up.

Speaker: You're like, no, I don't have time for this.

Speaker: And I'm like, oh, shit.

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: Like, is this just how it's going to be?

Speaker: Like, I got an extra interview or someone's in front.

Speaker: I was asking like, what are you in my head?

Speaker: That was early in the morning.

Speaker: I was like, Dan, this was bad.

Speaker: And I was like, what do you want to know?

Speaker: Just say it.

Speaker: I love that though.

Speaker: Just say it.

Speaker: Stop.

Speaker: Don't.

Speaker: I dislike when people spare me.

Speaker: No, let's get to the root.

Speaker: What do you want?

Speaker: I ask women all the time.

Speaker: Like, what do you want from me?

Speaker: What do you mean?

Speaker: I just think you're cool.

Speaker: What does that mean?

Speaker: Because I don't understand your intentions right now.

Speaker: I just think you're cool.

Speaker: Like, okay, you want to just kick it?

Speaker: Or what's your MO?

Speaker: Let's just get to the root so we can just kind of clear the air.

Speaker: Absolutely.

Speaker: That's why I'm like, why sacrifice this incredible opportunity to get someone who's so open to talk?

Speaker: You know, if you're going to come with the stupid questions, then you're going to get the stupid answers.

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: Okay, so you mentioned Baltimore.

Speaker: I want to go back for a second.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: So before there was ABC inviting you to be on a reality show, before you playing the role of Jay-Z in Durag Intervention, don't worry, I saw that.

Speaker: Did you see the other one?

Speaker: Tyler Perry?

Speaker: All I Want for Kwanzaa?

Speaker: No.

Speaker: Oh, you got to see that one.

Speaker: What is that?

Speaker: Oh, my God.

Speaker: So my uncle was my father.

Speaker: It's a parody of Tyler Perry, All I Want for Kwanzaa.

Speaker: I was a guy who had a wife and you got to see it.

Speaker: It's like hilarious.

Speaker: Where do we find this?

Speaker: I'm telling this to all the, okay.

Speaker: Go on YouTube and type in All I Want for Kwanzaa parody.

Speaker: It's when I was 25 years old and that was my first acting debut.

Speaker: And I didn't know I could act.

Speaker: So I was like, yeah, you're Jamal.

Speaker: And I'm like, Jamal, the first line in the movie, this one I was like, this must be like divine.

Speaker: Um,

Speaker: The guy said something to me, and I said, God knows my heart, and he makes me irresistible to women.

Speaker: You know, it's like, God knows my heart?

Speaker: Like, is this happening?

Speaker: So it was like, but I was the lead in the parent, and I'm like, what?

Speaker: I didn't sign up for this, but I did it.

Speaker: It's funny.

Speaker: You got to watch it.

Speaker: It was amazing.

Speaker: Yeah, I was like, I mean, I went into the rabbit hole.

Speaker: I was like, literally, I was four steps away from your birth certificate.

Speaker: I like people like you.

Speaker: Do you have an intervention?

Speaker: Because it's like, it's stimulating.

Speaker: We can have a real conversation.

Speaker: We can create stuff in the universe.

Speaker: Let's create something.

Speaker: We can do it.

Speaker: Let's meet the people who created astrology and numerology.

Speaker: Maybe we can be those people.

Speaker: We can create our own.

Speaker: We got a TED talk in our future.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Okay, so aside from the masterpiece that is Do-Rag Intervention and All I Want for Kwanzaa, which I will look up, I want to hear more about life in Baltimore.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: I said off the mic, I grew up in D.C.

Speaker: and Northern Virginia, spent a lot of time in Baltimore.

Speaker: Can you kind of watch-

Speaker: Did you say Fairfax?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Did you do some research on me?

Speaker: No.

Speaker: No, I didn't.

Speaker: Of all the places you can mention, why did you say Fairfax?

Speaker: That's the first thing came to my mind.

Speaker: I listened to what comes to me.

Speaker: And I went to Hampton University, so I'm very intuitive.

Speaker: So I just like whatever comes at the top, I just say it.

Speaker: And if it's right, it's right.

Speaker: Whatever.

Speaker: We're best friends now.

Speaker: So, okay.

Speaker: That's crazy that you said Fairfax.

Speaker: Northern Virginia.

Speaker: It's even that Arlington.

Speaker: Like, come on.

Speaker: That's where my parents live now.

Speaker: There we go.

Speaker: I'm from Baltimore.

Speaker: I went to school at Howard Community College and then went to Hampton.

Speaker: People don't know Virginia, though.

Speaker: That Maryland-Virginia line, though.

Speaker: Yeah, EMV, baby.

Speaker: You know, if you're from Virginia, you know Rockville, you know Bethesda, you know Chevy Chase, you know all that.

Speaker: Then you go into Baltimore and that's like Hanksville and Fells Point and all these different, oh my God.

Speaker: Pockets.

Speaker: Camden?

Speaker: What am I thinking of?

Speaker: Yeah, Camden.

Speaker: You got Camden and you got Canton.

Speaker: Camden.

Speaker: Yes, Canton.

Speaker: That's what I'm thinking of.

Speaker: Like, there's such a divide for being so close.

Speaker: I don't know a ton about Baltimore.

Speaker: I just know Little Pockets and I feel like I'm missing out on so much in that city.

Speaker: It's so rich.

Speaker: There's so much going on.

Speaker: It's had a torrid history too.

Speaker: You know, like little Eric, I want to know what you were like in Baltimore.

Speaker: Like, what are you listening to?

Speaker: What are you wearing?

Speaker: What's a day in the life of like 14 year old Eric?

Speaker: 14.

Speaker: Don't hold back.

Speaker: I remember like it was yesterday.

Speaker: My dad was actually incarcerated that year when I was 14.

Speaker: And my cousin, I remember like yesterday he bought me these green, black and green, white, 14 Air Jordans.

Speaker: I never forget those.

Speaker: I'm playing flag football on a blacktop at my middle school, Mount Royal.

Speaker: Shouts out to the Eagles.

Speaker: Yeah, you know, wearing uniforms at school every day.

Speaker: I'm probably listening to...

Speaker: I think Young Buck had his first album out.

Speaker: I think 50 Cent had just hit the scene.

Speaker: I think I'm in like the eighth going to ninth or I'm in the ninth.

Speaker: I'm wearing baggy clothes.

Speaker: I got 4X t-shirts, probably 38 size jeans.

Speaker: I probably got some jerseys or some Nike boots on my feet or some Charles Barkley's.

Speaker: And what do you, are you an athlete at this time?

Speaker: Are you into the arts?

Speaker: In my mind, I'm thinking I'm going pros.

Speaker: I'm going to the NBA.

Speaker: That's my dream.

Speaker: And I'm putting in work.

Speaker: I'm a gym rat.

Speaker: I was in the gym.

Speaker: Daryl Corbett, who coached Carmelo, Dante Green, Malcolm Delaney, all these Baltimoreans good basketball players.

Speaker: I'm throwing a ball off the...

Speaker: off the wall to myself catching and I got to make a hundred before I leave the gym so who were who were you what was your team the Wizards the Wizards the Bullets at the time Washington Bullets no I think they were the Wizards at the time the Wizards I think Vaughn Dixon Rip Hamilton maybe Jordan was on the team at the time when he came back at 40 that was my team that's incredible so are you a good student

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker: I'm a great student.

Speaker: Like, I got all A's.

Speaker: Well, I know you.

Speaker: This is another little thing I found about you.

Speaker: So you graduated magna cum laude?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: I got one C my whole college career, and that was in pre-calc.

Speaker: I got an A in big discount.

Speaker: Entrepreneurship.

Speaker: What?

Speaker: That's awesome.

Speaker: I didn't even know that that was a thing.

Speaker: Yeah, it was.

Speaker: Just like in the business school?

Speaker: Business school.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: That makes sense.

Speaker: I got two AAs from Howard Community College, and then I got a BS from Hampton.

Speaker: So you went on to write two books, correct?

Speaker: They are called 100 Days of Wisdom and Quotes to Shape Your Life.

Speaker: What inspired this?

Speaker: I don't know.

Speaker: Coming to LA, very confused and lost, trying to figure me out in life.

Speaker: What is this about?

Speaker: I'm 22.

Speaker: I'm out here.

Speaker: I think those books are like 23, 24.

Speaker: Before that, I had a mobile app called Eric Bigger's Successful Living that I paid for.

Speaker: No one knew about it.

Speaker: Didn't do anything.

Speaker: But people like Bob Proctor, Tony Robbins, Les Brown, these people inspired me.

Speaker: And

Speaker: Before this whole bachelorette thing, when I left Nicole on the show, I had 3,600 posts.

Speaker: All my posts were quotes and videos.

Speaker: So I had Motivation Monday, Wisdom Wednesday, and What's Positive Friday.

Speaker: And I also had Smile Fridays.

Speaker: So I had a routine.

Speaker: Quotes, videos, quotes, videos, quotes.

Speaker: I smile every week from somebody.

Speaker: I'd write a dope caption about someone smiling.

Speaker: When I came home, man, it's just like, man, you got to delete all of that.

Speaker: So I delete everything.

Speaker: So when people see me now on social media, like, oh, my God, he's attractive.

Speaker: He's handsome.

Speaker: He's this.

Speaker: He's a model.

Speaker: I never thought none of that of myself.

Speaker: Why did you have to delete all of that?

Speaker: Just because it was a new me.

Speaker: Like, I evolved into this new person.

Speaker: I'm in on TV.

Speaker: I got a little bit of fame.

Speaker: got to clean it up.

Speaker: This is what the world is going to.

Speaker: And it makes sense.

Speaker: And it was weird because like, I never really wanted to make, make it about myself because it was never about myself growing up.

Speaker: So I always made it about people.

Speaker: And I think that's been my challenge on some of these dating TV shows is that I don't converse to talk about myself.

Speaker: I converse to talk about the person.

Speaker: So then they never really get to know who I am because I'm so good at understanding and I'm hard at being understood.

Speaker: You know, it's so funny, though, what the things that and this has been a theme over the last few weeks, but the things that we as people feel a lot of shame about or feel like no one's going to accept me if I say that or I'm going to be the weird one if I say this or I don't need anybody to feel sorry for me.

Speaker: Right.

Speaker: Any of these things that happened in our past, that's.

Speaker: and I'm sure you've encountered this as a motivational speaker, like, those are the things that set you free and other people free.

Speaker: When you're able to just say, you know what, I didn't know who I was going to be, what world I was going to be born into, this is the world I was born into.

Speaker: And then you can talk about it and that fearlessness that accompanies that, then it's all good because there's going to be so many people out there that were like, oh, my God, I thought that this guy was just, you know, a hunky personal trainer and didn't get deep.

Speaker: Oh, my God, he's getting deep.

Speaker: And people didn't even know I was from Baltimore.

Speaker: They thought I was just a suburban kid.

Speaker: And I grew up with my mom and dad in life.

Speaker: My mom and dad has never been in my life.

Speaker: I don't know what marriage looks like from my two eyes.

Speaker: Can you, I know you touched upon this a little bit and you people know a little bit of this.

Speaker: Can you touch upon any, what it felt like to grow up in your house with the instability of your parents?

Speaker: Well, the thing is it was always like that.

Speaker: So it wasn't like, what is this?

Speaker: This is weird.

Speaker: I was the man of the house.

Speaker: My dad used to always say, take care of your mom and take care of your sister.

Speaker: You're the man of the house, take the trash out, be there.

Speaker: So I was a man before I was a boy.

Speaker: I, I,

Speaker: emotionally.

Speaker: So I was my mother's son, I was her best friend, I was her boyfriend, and I was her husband.

Speaker: And I think she was going through a lot, just a lot of traumatizing situations in her life, in her life.

Speaker: She had me at 21.

Speaker: When you young, you think 21 is old.

Speaker: My mom said she had the most pain when she had me.

Speaker: What people don't know is she was, she had, I had a twin, and my twin didn't make it.

Speaker: And I was a month early.

Speaker: I was premature.

Speaker: And my mom was like, you're a miracle baby.

Speaker: She said, sometimes your energy, I feel like that's your twin living inside of you.

Speaker: And so it was like, huh?

Speaker: She told me this at 25.

Speaker: I'm like, really?

Speaker: She was like, yeah.

Speaker: And so it was just like being premature.

Speaker: Doctor said, I'm not going to make it.

Speaker: And just all these things that just make up who I am.

Speaker: And I'm like, and I was mad at my mom for so long because I didn't understand why didn't she love me.

Speaker: And then as I get older and I got older, I'm like, you couldn't even love yourself.

Speaker: Look at the stuff you experienced.

Speaker: Look at the stuff you had to deal with.

Speaker: You're the real MVP.

Speaker: And so Tony Robbins has a documentary called I'm Not Your Guru.

Speaker: And there's a segment in there about a little girl.

Speaker: She hates that she loves her dad because her dad wasn't in her life.

Speaker: He said, okay, you hate your dad.

Speaker: I want you to call your dad and tell him everything you hate about him.

Speaker: And after you do that, tell him everything that he made you because of that.

Speaker: I was like, oh, shit.

Speaker: So I had to call my mom like, mom, you didn't do this, you didn't do that.

Speaker: I said, but mom, but you made me a strong man.

Speaker: You didn't make me depend on women.

Speaker: You made me self-efficient.

Speaker: You made me driven.

Speaker: You made me be a man and not depend on women and take care of me.

Speaker: I said, so you're the real MVP.

Speaker: She started giving me more information.

Speaker: I'm just like, wow.

Speaker: And that was like a healing moment for me.

Speaker: And then over the years, I'm just like, my mom's just been through pain and she has an embrace.

Speaker: And I was taking all her burdens as a child, being the only man around.

Speaker: And I really think

Speaker: she didn't love me the way I knew she could because I think she had like real deep resentment, resentment, like about my dad.

Speaker: Like I think they had a lot of love, but there was a lot of pain there.

Speaker: What's the story there?

Speaker: I obviously, I just think, I just, I just think my dad at one point, there wasn't love.

Speaker: It was,

Speaker: Me and my sister.

Speaker: I was March 9th, my sister was March 8th, but she's a year older than me.

Speaker: So we're day and a year apart.

Speaker: And I was supposed to be born April 7th.

Speaker: I came March 9th, and so my dad started getting high.

Speaker: He was doing drugs.

Speaker: And so it was hard, you know, and I think at one point he was abusive and things like that, things that she didn't get in details.

Speaker: And it kind of just, you know, broke apart.

Speaker: This is before you were around.

Speaker: This is like probably when I'm a baby.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: You know, where I'm like just being conceived or whatever.

Speaker: And it's just, that's just what it was with them.

Speaker: And you can still tell to this day, they still got some love there for each other.

Speaker: They joke about it.

Speaker: You know.

Speaker: What's your relationship with them now?

Speaker: Oh, perfect.

Speaker: That's the thing.

Speaker: My relationship with both of them was like great.

Speaker: Like when my dad apologized on TV, that made our relationship even stronger.

Speaker: Like, wow, dad, I didn't even think he would do that.

Speaker: It's so incredible the things that we hold on to and the baggage that we keep.

Speaker: I can, you, I mean, you said it yourself, but that was a healing moment for me being able to tell your mom all of those things.

Speaker: Like as a son, first of all, I would, there's so many emotions that go into that guilt.

Speaker: This person raised me.

Speaker: How am I, why am I allowed to hold up a mirror to this person?

Speaker: Why don't you love me?

Speaker: And that's what I think I was dealing with on the show as well.

Speaker: I was like, I shouldn't have to fight for someone to be into me.

Speaker: My mom barely was that way growing up.

Speaker: So if this is not there, then that's just what it is.

Speaker: So I have to do something.

Speaker: That's going to change or make something happen.

Speaker: And that's hard.

Speaker: And that was my struggle with women.

Speaker: I would never open up to women.

Speaker: I would just provide and guide.

Speaker: Would never receive.

Speaker: I never knew how to ask for help.

Speaker: My boy's like, E, why don't you ask for help?

Speaker: I said, you know what?

Speaker: I don't know how to.

Speaker: What did that look like in a relationship?

Speaker: Can you think of an example where a woman that you've dated has tried to nurture you and you were like, nope.

Speaker: The thing is, my energy wouldn't allow you to nurture me, but my love would want you around.

Speaker: And so what happened was...

Speaker: I remember like two or three women telling me, I don't think you need anything.

Speaker: And I'm like, what are you talking about?

Speaker: She's like, I just don't think you need anything.

Speaker: You know everything and you're so positive and you're spiritual and you're just, so whatever they need, I just took care of.

Speaker: You need something, I'll pick you up.

Speaker: I'll get your Uber, whatever.

Speaker: I never show an insecure side of me where I was lacking.

Speaker: Or even if they saw it, I had an energy where you better not say that to me.

Speaker: I had this know-it-all energy.

Speaker: Because at that time, that's all I had was what I knew.

Speaker: Because nobody was guiding me.

Speaker: My dad and mom didn't tell me to do this and do that.

Speaker: I had to learn everything.

Speaker: I'm self-taught.

Speaker: So I had to do all these things, you know.

Speaker: My mom told me about mannerisms and miss and mister and clean up your room, dad, not hitting your sister, but not like really hands-on, like this is how you do this.

Speaker: This is what you do with your money.

Speaker: This is the Bible.

Speaker: Read these things.

Speaker: So certain things, I just didn't get that guidance.

Speaker: And I had this not all energy.

Speaker: You better not tell me anything.

Speaker: Whereas like...

Speaker: I was so positive.

Speaker: Like my positivity was so good that it shut you down.

Speaker: Yeah, I'm thinking like you didn't receive love from your mom, so you don't know how to receive it.

Speaker: Or do you not want to receive it?

Speaker: Or do you not want to be seen as someone who needs for anything?

Speaker: Does that seem like you're a nuisance?

Speaker: I think it was a need because my mom had that.

Speaker: I don't need it, man.

Speaker: She's always, I don't need it, man.

Speaker: That's all she will always say that.

Speaker: And I think I just didn't know how to because I didn't know what it looked like.

Speaker: I didn't get it from my mom.

Speaker: I don't remember my mom hugging me and kissing me on her forehead, telling me she loved me and you're great, son.

Speaker: It's never that.

Speaker: Did it manifest... Do you have two sisters?

Speaker: Is there Erica and Lacey?

Speaker: And Brittany.

Speaker: And, okay.

Speaker: So, how did it manifest with your siblings?

Speaker: In the same way?

Speaker: Well, so, Erica is my oldest sister.

Speaker: She's by my dad.

Speaker: She has a different mom.

Speaker: Lacey has a different dad.

Speaker: Brittany, her and I had the same mom and dad.

Speaker: I think...

Speaker: My sister, Lacey, she's doing great.

Speaker: She's out in Microsoft.

Speaker: She's got a nice job.

Speaker: She just graduated from college last year.

Speaker: Erica's back in Baltimore working with Under Armour.

Speaker: She just had a son.

Speaker: My sister, Brittany, does hair, and she has three kids.

Speaker: That's amazing.

Speaker: So, I mean, it's still a lot of work and damage there because in my family, there are a lot of women and not a lot of men.

Speaker: And what I mean by that, you got my dad, you got me, you got my cousin.

Speaker: And I think most women in my family are single.

Speaker: And so what I realized is that, and I don't want to say it's black women, but the women in my family had to be so strong for so long that

Speaker: They're always working from a masculine place, more dominant place, where they're receiving and nurturing and the feminine energy space is not really there because they got to be strong all the time.

Speaker: So it's hard for a guy probably wants to date or be around.

Speaker: They don't know how to get in there because they're so strong.

Speaker: And some guys don't can't deal with a dominant woman because it's too much.

Speaker: And I think that's what's been going on the whole time in my family with the women.

Speaker: There's no men.

Speaker: I remember on The Bachelorette, you said that you had never brought a woman home to meet your family.

Speaker: And in listening to all of this, do you think that there was any part of that?

Speaker: Because I think on the show, it came across like I came from this, I had this

Speaker: kind of unstable, torrid background.

Speaker: It almost seemed like there was shame attached to it.

Speaker: But now in listening to this and having more insight.

Speaker: Yeah, there was no home to bring them to.

Speaker: Who are you going to bring her to?

Speaker: Oh, grandma's upstairs.

Speaker: You want to meet my grandmother?

Speaker: Grandma is.

Speaker: Who's that little heifer?

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: Like, I remember one time I had a girl come over.

Speaker: I'll never forget.

Speaker: And I was like, Grandma, you going to make me some eggs?

Speaker: And she was like, have that little such-and-such cook you some eggs.

Speaker: Like, my grandmother is that grandma.

Speaker: She was a teacher for 30 years.

Speaker: She'll lean into you and tell you you messing up.

Speaker: And that's where I come from those type of people.

Speaker: They're straightforward to the point.

Speaker: So it was no one.

Speaker: And then no one really knew about E. No one knew about Eric.

Speaker: No one asked about relationships, sex, money, because I was a good kid.

Speaker: I got good grades.

Speaker: So I was a product of my own madness because in my environment, you got attention from when you did bad.

Speaker: I did good.

Speaker: Oh, he's responsible.

Speaker: He does good at school.

Speaker: He's playing basketball.

Speaker: Always had something going on and I always knew what I wanted.

Speaker: I was a leader since I was a kid.

Speaker: So...

Speaker: And then I build a relationship where I'll get everything out of you.

Speaker: You can't get nothing out of me.

Speaker: As far as emotionally.

Speaker: You won't know what I'm really dealing with because I master with my positivity.

Speaker: So imagine you telling me like, oh man, you know, oh yeah, just be great.

Speaker: You got it.

Speaker: Nothing can stop you.

Speaker: You're amazing.

Speaker: Ma, thank you.

Speaker: Peace and love.

Speaker: Give me a hug.

Speaker: Like this guy coming at you with all this positivity is like, I can't even get in there and give him some.

Speaker: So what have you, I mean, what have you lost as a result of that?

Speaker: This being more vulnerable.

Speaker: What have you, what have you, but I mean,

Speaker: Looking back on all of these years where you had, I do think that you're a half full kind of person.

Speaker: I think that that's a choice people choose to be the victim or people choose to overcome.

Speaker: I think it is your default in meeting you now and talking to you and witnessing you that...

Speaker: you choose to come from a positive place.

Speaker: I don't think it's always like, oh, I'm overcompensating because I'm positive.

Speaker: But in looking back, what do you think maybe you lost as a result of always being the happy, positive guy?

Speaker: I don't think I lost anything.

Speaker: I think I just gained a new perspective.

Speaker: Because when I went on the show, we have a therapist and she was like, the reason she's like, your positivity should cope with mechanism because I had so much pain and anger from growing up in the environment.

Speaker: She said, if you allow those emotions to rise to the top, you would self-destruct.

Speaker: So honestly, she's like, she's like, but you're not in Baltimore anymore.

Speaker: It's okay to just tell a person.

Speaker: And my turning point, honestly, was the show.

Speaker: When I spazzed, I've never, ever, ever in my life done any of that ever in my life.

Speaker: So that was a turn.

Speaker: On Bachelor in Paradise?

Speaker: No, no, no, not Paradise.

Speaker: On Bachelorette.

Speaker: On The Bachelorette.

Speaker: Keep my name out your mouth.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: That was my turning point in my career, in my life, because if I didn't do that, I wouldn't be here.

Speaker: And so that was...

Speaker: accepting my true feelings because I was the guy, you call me anytime you need to ride to the airport, you need some money, I'm doing everything for you.

Speaker: And then I'll see people take advantage of me.

Speaker: And now you know what I'll say?

Speaker: It's cool.

Speaker: It's cool.

Speaker: It's cool.

Speaker: Then it got to a point where, no, it's not cool.

Speaker: Don't do that.

Speaker: And so what happened was, my friend told me this before the show, he's like, E, you think you're going to change the world with positivity?

Speaker: No, that's not your powerful weapon.

Speaker: Your powerful weapon is your shadow side, your real side.

Speaker: People want to see that.

Speaker: He's like, girls want to see it too.

Speaker: I was like, yeah, but that's going to scare them.

Speaker: He's like, no, it's not.

Speaker: That's going to want to be around you more.

Speaker: Oh, and you're teaching people how to have boundaries.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: And so once I, when that moment allowed me to be raw and open, no one said my name.

Speaker: And I got home from the shop.

Speaker: I'm like, okay, it's okay to be real about how you feel.

Speaker: So my patience for stuff, people messing with people around me.

Speaker: I didn't like, I would be just, I wouldn't keep it in.

Speaker: I'd be like, no, what are you doing?

Speaker: We're not doing that.

Speaker: So really, I think I just was a boy before the show, and I became a man.

Speaker: Owning my feelings, that's what happens.

Speaker: So I lost my innocence, I would say, or my being too gullible or naive or nice.

Speaker: I'm still nice, but I'm not letting people get away.

Speaker: Like, nah, you ain't doing that.

Speaker: That's also such an awesome example of forgiveness.

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: That you can be 90% positive all the time.

Speaker: That doesn't mean that 100% of the time you're going to be like that.

Speaker: At some point, people need to flip out and have a moment.

Speaker: And that you allowed yourself that when you came back from the show and you didn't beat yourself up about it and there wasn't shame attached to it.

Speaker: That's a beautiful thing.

Speaker: Because then you're able to be like, yeah, if you push me, this is going to happen.

Speaker: It's not going to happen all the time, but it could happen.

Speaker: So like...

Speaker: Now we know.

Speaker: And then the thing I realized, because the therapist was like, just know when you're telling your truth and you're expressing yourself, just have compassion for people.

Speaker: Because when I first was in that space, it would come off hard and harsh.

Speaker: And some people just can't deal with that, even though it's real.

Speaker: But it's like, just have a little bit more compassion when you're delivering what you're trying to get out to some people, because it'll tear some people up.

Speaker: Of course.

Speaker: But, I mean, it just had to happen that way.

Speaker: And I'm glad it did, and...

Speaker: And honestly, naturally, I have a positive flow to me.

Speaker: That's just my essence is positive.

Speaker: You do my numerology or my birthday.

Speaker: I'm a Pisces, so very emotional and sensitive.

Speaker: My rising is a Libra, so I come off like a Libra, so I'm charming and observing.

Speaker: Then my moon sign is a Sagittarius, then we're happy-go-lucky.

Speaker: And then March 9th is the most positive day in the Pisces horoscope.

Speaker: So it's like positivity is just part of me.

Speaker: I don't have to be positive.

Speaker: Motivation is part of me.

Speaker: I don't have to be motivated.

Speaker: I live in this vibration daily.

Speaker: But I have other sides to me that's like, yeah.

Speaker: Like I said, I don't play the middle.

Speaker: Sometimes people are like, you're too intense.

Speaker: I'm like, what?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Too intense.

Speaker: Maybe you're just insecure about something.

Speaker: I don't know.

Speaker: I'm just me.

Speaker: Totally.

Speaker: But, you know, it was a lot.

Speaker: When I sit back and think about it, I was in Mexico this summer.

Speaker: I was on a beach watching the sunset.

Speaker: I'm thinking like, how did I get here?

Speaker: I remember being in Baltimore City, West Baltimore, shooting a basketball on a basketball court and having guys over there sell drugs, shoot dice, talk crap.

Speaker: But yeah, I'm on ABC talking about love.

Speaker: How is this real?

Speaker: My life has been like a dream.

Speaker: I done been around.

Speaker: killers, drug dealers, rich, wealthy, famous, professional athletes that have been on TV, been in where it's bad at, been where it's great at, I'd have been down, I'd been up.

Speaker: So my perspective is so wide that I can relate damn near to anybody.

Speaker: A hundred percent.

Speaker: That is your power.

Speaker: One of your powers.

Speaker: The fact that you are, I feel like I use this word ad nauseum, but you are so well-rounded.

Speaker: Like it's crazy how well-rounded you are because you've had the Baltimore experience.

Speaker: You've had the LA experience.

Speaker: You've had this alternate reality literally on a reality show.

Speaker: You can relate to anybody.

Speaker: Yeah, the fame, how people perceive you and people think you got all these things and all this money and you this and how people turn it back on you and people talk crap and it's weird.

Speaker: And I understand what people, it's not easy because it's a mental game.

Speaker: It's not the physical stuff.

Speaker: It's the mental and emotional stuff that you got to deal with.

Speaker: And I'm mentally strong.

Speaker: I process everything.

Speaker: I'm like, okay, I see what's going on out here.

Speaker: They don't even know better.

Speaker: When people get thrown off when they seem like, oh my God, I'm like, how you getting like that?

Speaker: I'm just like you.

Speaker: But the perception of something changes people's feeling of it.

Speaker: Oh my God, that's LeBron James right there.

Speaker: LeBron James, LeBron James, LeBron James.

Speaker: You know what I'm saying?

Speaker: But that's just what it is.

Speaker: And that is, you know, people get that sometimes.

Speaker: But I try to be as open and authentic as I can.

Speaker: But sometimes it's hard because people take advantage of you giving them a little bit of energy.

Speaker: They ain't going to be talking your head off and they want to do this.

Speaker: And I'm like, oh, my God.

Speaker: Oh, yeah.

Speaker: They will suck you dry.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: So I have to ask, what does dating in Los Angeles look like now for you?

Speaker: Tough.

Speaker: Are you open to it?

Speaker: It's tough.

Speaker: Good stories.

Speaker: We can have the women remain nameless.

Speaker: Is there, you know, where are you at right now in terms of what you want to give?

Speaker: I'm just focused, man.

Speaker: I'm focused on life.

Speaker: If a woman comes in my life and it's organic and it makes sense, then I'll give it some energy.

Speaker: But right now, I just, there's nothing that's like, oh, yeah.

Speaker: I would like that, but I'm not looking for that because I got so much stuff I just need to focus on and just get done.

Speaker: Is there any part of you that's like, I don't know if these people actually want to know me and like me for me?

Speaker: Is there any part of me that's like, oh, they just want to know me because I'm the cool hot guy from The Bachelorette?

Speaker: Oh, yeah, for sure.

Speaker: It's a lot of that.

Speaker: A lot of the girls that hit me up.

Speaker: I might even entertain.

Speaker: Like, oh, she's cute.

Speaker: I don't already know that there's nothing outside of just this lust or this physical attraction.

Speaker: And then there are some women you meet and I'm like, damn, you're great, but I can't do you like this.

Speaker: You know, I don't want to waste you putting all your eggs of feeling about me a certain way and I know I can't give you what you need.

Speaker: I ever not do that to you.

Speaker: What is it that you want in a partner?

Speaker: Like, what does that look like for you?

Speaker: Which is such a ever changing list.

Speaker: It's just something that is just there.

Speaker: I don't have to think about it.

Speaker: I don't have to question it.

Speaker: It's unspoken.

Speaker: It's like a best friend.

Speaker: It's like someone who understands me for me.

Speaker: And just gets it.

Speaker: I think people got this wrong idea that love is supposed to be hard.

Speaker: Like, I don't think it should be... The relationship could be hard, but not the love.

Speaker: Not knowing me and understanding my ways.

Speaker: I mean, that takes work.

Speaker: But if you love me, you love me.

Speaker: And accepting that... I was reading a book this morning, Power Now talks about relationships.

Speaker: And if people could accept the person for who they really are and not who they want them to be, their relationship would flourish.

Speaker: Because you're not trying to make this person out to be like, you should do this because like, no, let them be where they're at.

Speaker: Love them from that place.

Speaker: And if y'all grow together from that, y'all do.

Speaker: And if y'all don't, that's all right.

Speaker: It's simple.

Speaker: Well, people make it hard.

Speaker: So I want to be in a situation where unspokenly we know each other.

Speaker: I know when you're mad.

Speaker: I know when to leave you alone.

Speaker: Like my grandmother, for instance, when I come home and she's evil or has a certain way,

Speaker: I used to try to go back and forth with her.

Speaker: I just like, let her have it.

Speaker: You got it.

Speaker: If my sister tell me something, I know she ain't telling the truth.

Speaker: I just like, you got it.

Speaker: I don't try to fix it.

Speaker: I don't try to manipulate it.

Speaker: I don't try to let it be.

Speaker: That's, that's who she is.

Speaker: What do you need from a woman?

Speaker: What do you need from a partner?

Speaker: Like going back to, I didn't really put myself out there.

Speaker: I didn't really let that person in.

Speaker: You know, I see someone who's gone through so much.

Speaker: There's,

Speaker: I mean, there's such a story there.

Speaker: What do you feel like you need from a woman?

Speaker: And I don't mean like need as in I'm dependent on you for this, but what do you want to feel?

Speaker: Just nurturing.

Speaker: Just nurturing side.

Speaker: Challenging.

Speaker: Someone who like I can trust.

Speaker: Because I'm a type guy, I'm going to go get it.

Speaker: I'm going to go do it.

Speaker: So I know when I'm looking back behind me, I need to know you got me.

Speaker: Because I'm about to go mess some stuff up and bring back us a lot of things.

Speaker: I need to know you're going to be there.

Speaker: You're going to hold it down.

Speaker: You can do your thing on your own, too.

Speaker: I don't want to hold you back.

Speaker: And you just got to have that soft spot, that love, that nurturing.

Speaker: I just love nurturing, giving, understanding women.

Speaker: Like someone like me.

Speaker: Kind of like acts of service.

Speaker: You think about these things.

Speaker: And you're not all about you all the time.

Speaker: Do you want kids?

Speaker: Yeah, but I think as I got older, this has changed.

Speaker: I see it's a lot harder than I thought, and it's not what I wanted to be.

Speaker: But of course I want kids.

Speaker: My dad worshiped me like a month ago.

Speaker: Hey, now, you need to think about it.

Speaker: You want to keep the DNA going?

Speaker: I'm like, oh, really?

Speaker: That was kind of surprising, Dad.

Speaker: I didn't think you were going to tell me that.

Speaker: yeah you know man you want to keep the dna going i'm like oh really you're like my sisters yeah that kind of surprised me so um yeah i definitely want to have kids that's so definitely a boy and a girl for sure i think that'll come in due time awesome okay i want to change keys here a little bit i want to do some quick fire questions with you let's do it okay so this is just like top of mind don't think about it too much just whatever yeah exactly like yeah gotta be hot um

Speaker: The first part of this is what word do you think of when I say the following words?

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Okay?

Speaker: He's holding very tightly to his chair.

Speaker: His right hand is gripping the glass of water.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: In and out.

Speaker: Burger.

Speaker: Bigger talks.

Speaker: Motivation.

Speaker: Maryland.

Speaker: Baltimore.

Speaker: Love.

Speaker: Lust.

Speaker: Chris Harrison.

Speaker: My guy.

Speaker: Gluteus Maximus.

Speaker: Big booty.

Speaker: Passion.

Speaker: Love.

Speaker: Durag intervention.

Speaker: Waves.

Speaker: What was that?

Speaker: Waves.

Speaker: You know why you ate a durag, right?

Speaker: To get waves.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: In the same breath, Jay-Z.

Speaker: Kanye.

Speaker: Kanye.

Speaker: Kim.

Speaker: I like that.

Speaker: LeBron James.

Speaker: King.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: I want to make a mantra with you.

Speaker: This is something that I did in the beginning of the podcast, like the first few episodes.

Speaker: And it's just a way that you and I can go back and forth and create a mantra for the world.

Speaker: I don't know what you're going to say.

Speaker: You don't know what I'm going to say.

Speaker: It's going to be like, the blank is blank.

Speaker: And we're just going to go back and forth five times.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: We're going to create a mantra.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: You start.

Speaker: Love.

Speaker: Is.

Speaker: Beautiful.

Speaker: And.

Speaker: You.

Speaker: Are.

Speaker: Great.

Speaker: Because.

Speaker: You did it.

Speaker: You.

Speaker: Your way.

Speaker: That's it.

Speaker: There it is.

Speaker: For the record, I got stuck with and and for and the on that exercise.

Speaker: So that was literally your mantra.

Speaker: I was the preposition queen.

Speaker: You did it.

Speaker: Your way.

Speaker: Okay, so if I think about the trajectory of where everything's going, where everything has gone with you and where it is going, is there anything that you feel like...

Speaker: maybe is a little misunderstood about you and if you were like, okay, not that this is getting written on your tombstone or anything, but I want people to know this about me.

Speaker: This is what I don't want to be lost in translation.

Speaker: This is who I am despite all of the television footage and all of that.

Speaker: I think people struggle trying to figure me out and I would just tell people, just don't try to figure me out.

Speaker: Just see it as you see it and you'll learn.

Speaker: Because I can't figure me out.

Speaker: I'm a forever grown human being and I love people.

Speaker: At the end of the day, I love people.

Speaker: I want to see people win and I got a big heart and I want to give.

Speaker: But outside of that, I'm a very indifferent, complex individual.

Speaker: And I think what happens with especially women, they always try to figure me out or try to understand me.

Speaker: And I'm like, you just want you won't it won't make sense to you.

Speaker: So I don't even try to make it make sense.

Speaker: Instead of trying to figure me out, just just enjoy it.

Speaker: Just enjoy my company, enjoy my time.

Speaker: And then eventually you will.

Speaker: Do you feel like it's accurate when they try and figure you out or it's almost like premature?

Speaker: I just think they try too hard and it takes them out of the space of just being present and they're missing.

Speaker: Cause like I used to do that.

Speaker: And I'm always thinking about instead of just being here, cause you miss something when you're not here.

Speaker: You're thinking about what am I going to say next instead of just letting it happen.

Speaker: And, you know, I'm different.

Speaker: And I think it's because I was raised.

Speaker: I became the mom I always wanted for myself.

Speaker: And that's why I think throw women off.

Speaker: And they don't know how to deal with it.

Speaker: You're so giving, you're so loving, you're so nurturing.

Speaker: Oh, my God.

Speaker: Why do you always, why are you so nice to me?

Speaker: Women are not used to that for men.

Speaker: Absolutely.

Speaker: You know how to listen.

Speaker: You're so understanding.

Speaker: Oh, my God.

Speaker: Well, people don't want to let go of that either.

Speaker: Once you've had a taste of that, I can imagine that could be a really difficult ending.

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: Once you have that kind of nurture and then it's not with you anymore, that's tough.

Speaker: And I'm very loyal, loyal to a thought sometimes.

Speaker: And I think once I can tell, like, okay, that's how we're doing, I can easily detach myself and people feel it.

Speaker: Or I'm like, okay.

Speaker: How do you care for yourself?

Speaker: You know, I have a vegan skincare line.

Speaker: I brought you some goodies.

Speaker: It's in the car.

Speaker: I brought you like a whole, I don't know what you're using for your skincare regimen currently, but that's done now.

Speaker: Those days are behind you and now you have a whole new one.

Speaker: And...

Speaker: You know, our tagline is where skincare becomes self-care with the idea that you take a little bit of time to make yourself feel good, make your skin look good, all of these things, then it can be yet bigger moments, more impactful moments in your life where you care for yourself.

Speaker: So one of the big words that's floating around the world now and on Instagram and so on and so on is self-care.

Speaker: How, when you're not doing the podcast, when you're not caring for people, you know what I mean?

Speaker: When it's just you doing your thing, you're home on a Wednesday night, you've got nothing to do, no friends are available.

Speaker: Like, what, how do you care for yourself when life gets to be a little bit too much?

Speaker: So many things.

Speaker: It's not one thing that I do when things are too much.

Speaker: I just sit alone by myself and just appreciate what I have.

Speaker: Thank a lot.

Speaker: Gratitude.

Speaker: Working out for me is great.

Speaker: I get facials once a month.

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: I have an esthetician.

Speaker: Her name is Celeste Rodriguez.

Speaker: She's so great.

Speaker: She helped my skin so much.

Speaker: Okay, then I'm sorry, Celeste.

Speaker: I'm sure the regimen that you put him on is fantastic.

Speaker: Like, I literally had two blackheads in the middle of my foyer for, like, three years, and she got him out.

Speaker: I'm like, you're amazing.

Speaker: I look at my photos, like, damn.

Speaker: I love you.

Speaker: I get massages.

Speaker: I do cryo.

Speaker: I get my hands and feet done.

Speaker: Like, you know, being on TV really changes, like...

Speaker: how you treat yourself, teeth whitening, things like that.

Speaker: But emotionally, I pray a lot.

Speaker: I pray a lot.

Speaker: I meditate.

Speaker: I do affirmations.

Speaker: I watch motivation clips all the time.

Speaker: I'm listening to podcasts.

Speaker: So my thing is 30 minutes a day I read, 30 minutes a day at least a podcast.

Speaker: I always got to pray, meditate, and affirmations.

Speaker: So those things that I must do.

Speaker: Is that stuff that you're just doing like bedside or sitting on a cushion?

Speaker: Like what is that?

Speaker: Yeah, bedside.

Speaker: Like early in the morning, as soon as I get up.

Speaker: Just keeping that spirit like aligned and strong.

Speaker: So when I get out in the battle of the beast, I can deal with anything.

Speaker: Because inside is strong.

Speaker: It's really strong.

Speaker: But, you know, I like laughing, you know, I like comedy.

Speaker: I'm goofy, you know.

Speaker: Hey, you want to date me?

Speaker: What's your name?

Speaker: Call me up right now.

Speaker: It's miracle season.

Speaker: We're moving with the cheese over here.

Speaker: It's bigger talks with E-bigger motivation Monday, but it's Thursday.

Speaker: Yeah, so that's another side.

Speaker: I have so much to my personality, by the way, people who are interpersonality types.

Speaker: I'm an ENFP, so extrovert, intuitive, feeling, projecting.

Speaker: Yes, absolutely.

Speaker: All that.

Speaker: So it's just, I'm everywhere.

Speaker: I'm scattered.

Speaker: And I think people just don't communicate enough.

Speaker: And here's who's to say if I'm out, I have a wife and I'm talking to another girl and I'm flirting and her girlfriend sees me and tell her, oh, I saw Eric cheating and talking.

Speaker: But check this out.

Speaker: You don't know the conversation I have with my wife.

Speaker: We discussed that we can have open relationship and that's not your business.

Speaker: So that's another thing I dislike when people generalize what marriage and commitment is.

Speaker: It's different for everybody.

Speaker: Stop trying to make marriage and commitment what it is to the world.

Speaker: No, I'm not conforming to that.

Speaker: Me and my spouse over here are doing it our way, and it's not your business.

Speaker: So if you see something...

Speaker: More times than not, it's probably true, but for everybody, it's not.

Speaker: And I think people are afraid to create their own rules for their own marriage.

Speaker: Who said we have to get married at an altar?

Speaker: We're spiritually married.

Speaker: But based on how people were raised and what they were taught, they don't know better.

Speaker: So you can't blame them.

Speaker: I'm so curious.

Speaker: I don't want to go against the grain, but I'm like...

Speaker: why do I have to marry you to make you feel like I really love you?

Speaker: Where does that thought come from?

Speaker: I ask women that all the time.

Speaker: I was asking a relationship therapist.

Speaker: I was like, why are you getting married?

Speaker: She's like, well, I think, you know, because, you know, that's what he really wanted.

Speaker: And I was like, but do you really want it?

Speaker: I mean, yeah.

Speaker: And I said, are you doing it for your job purposes?

Speaker: And people don't, and that's why I went on my post every day.

Speaker: Your perspective matters, but only when you understand it.

Speaker: Why are you getting married?

Speaker: Why do you believe in these rights?

Speaker: Do you know why or someone put that in your head based on how you were raised?

Speaker: People are afraid to just be themselves.

Speaker: I've talked to so many women

Speaker: Just in general, I might throw a question out there and it could be like off topic about some women probably want to be more permissuous and be more out there.

Speaker: But the way the world looks at it, they can't do it.

Speaker: So they suppress their sexuality.

Speaker: Well, because I don't want to consider this and that.

Speaker: And I tell guys who kind of like try to shame women or make them feel bad if they do decide that like that's not right.

Speaker: You can't do that.

Speaker: But the world we live in has been putting women down for so long and women have been suppressing their true feelings and feeling oppressed that that's not fair.

Speaker: A man can go out and fornicate and have sex with a bunch of women, but a girl can't do that?

Speaker: And it's wrong?

Speaker: It's not right.

Speaker: And I don't like when people try to make people feel bad about something they truly feel.

Speaker: That's what makes you a good motivational speaker.

Speaker: Because it's not about putting up all the memes and putting up all the quotes.

Speaker: Because sometimes it's too much information.

Speaker: We don't know what to do with it as people.

Speaker: We scan Instagram.

Speaker: We look at Facebook.

Speaker: Do this.

Speaker: The five people you hang most around, you turn most like them.

Speaker: We're getting so much information.

Speaker: But the fact that you're motivating people to just stop and consider how they actually feel about it, you strip away all the...

Speaker: your family of origin, what your parents want you to do, what your friends expect you to do, what might be weird, what your religion wants you to do.

Speaker: And then you say like, I actually don't know if I want to be married or I don't know if I want to have kids or maybe I want an open relationship.

Speaker: It's the same type of consideration, you know, that,

Speaker: I don't know.

Speaker: It's about understanding people.

Speaker: I had a friend who stripped at a nightclub.

Speaker: Did I love her different?

Speaker: No.

Speaker: I have friends that are gay.

Speaker: Do I love them different?

Speaker: No.

Speaker: That's what they want to do.

Speaker: So be it.

Speaker: I got unconditional love for them.

Speaker: Be yourself.

Speaker: Be your authentic self.

Speaker: Resilient, authentic, willing.

Speaker: Raw.

Speaker: Be raw.

Speaker: Just do that.

Speaker: Be that.

Speaker: And life will change.

Speaker: But you're so afraid to be that because you're afraid of being judged.

Speaker: The world going to judge you anyway.

Speaker: Whether it's good or bad, you can get judged.

Speaker: And that's the hard thing because if you're not used to criticism, you don't know how to deal w ith it when it comes.

Speaker: But it's only to make you better for good or bad.

Speaker: It's motivation.

Speaker: It's motivating.

Speaker: I mean, I love that.

Speaker: I could literally talk to you for three more hours.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: I mean, honestly, and I want to.

Speaker: I would love to have you back.

Speaker: Of course.

Speaker: I just, guess how long we've been in here?

Speaker: Huh?

Speaker: Guess.

Speaker: Hour.

Speaker: And 20.

Speaker: Hour 20.

Speaker: We're on the same wavelength, people.

Speaker: What?

Speaker: That's exactly it.

Speaker: Hour 20?

Speaker: Like, to the number on my little timer on my computer.

Speaker: Hour 20?

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: You're locked in.

Speaker: Vortex.

Speaker: You're nuts.

Speaker: It's not a mistake.

Speaker: There's no mistakes in life.

Speaker: Oh.

Speaker: Divine baby.

Speaker: Well, we are like, we're kind of best friends now.

Speaker: We are best friends.

Speaker: I know more about you than I ever would if I had just met you randomly.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: This is what is the greatest gift of a podcast is now when you and I see each other again, when people...

Speaker: unite again after sharing this kind of information, everything goes to a higher wavelength.

Speaker: So all the small talk goes away.

Speaker: Not that there would have been any to begin with because we both hate it.

Speaker: But now it's like we get to come from this really authentic, I want to be seen, see me for who I am place.

Speaker: And that's what this podcast is literally all about is just giving you an opportunity to

Speaker: Talk about who you are down to your core and what you want for the world and the mark you want to leave on it.

Speaker: Yeah, I don't want to be legendary but iconic.

Speaker: I want schools named after me.

Speaker: I want to leave something that people can benefit off for a lifetime, forever.

Speaker: How do you do that?

Speaker: Who knows, but I'm on my way.

Speaker: How can people find you?

Speaker: That's very important.

Speaker: You can find me on Instagram, Eric Bigger, E-R-I-C-B-I-G-G-E-R.

Speaker: I'm on Twitter.

Speaker: Follow me on Twitter.

Speaker: Eric underscore bigger.

Speaker: I am on Snapchat.

Speaker: E-Biggs.

Speaker: E-B-I-G-G-S-S.

Speaker: And I'm also on LinkedIn.

Speaker: LinkedIn, yeah, I'm on that.

Speaker: Facebook as well, just Eric bigger.

Speaker: Yeah, email me, eBigger, you know, bettersyou at gmail.com.

Speaker: It's more personal and for business, eBiggerInquiries at gmail.

Speaker: Oh, you better be careful.

Speaker: Now your inbox is going to go through the roof.

Speaker: That's all I love if it's for the right purpose.

Speaker: But let's not forget, you're powerful, and I wanted to give you a message.

Speaker: If there's anything you ever want to do in life, you can do it.

Speaker: How you do it?

Speaker: By just doing it.

Speaker: That's why I said it in our mantra.

Speaker: You were great because you did it and you can continue to do it.

Speaker: Just own it.

Speaker: Just own it.

Speaker: You have it.

Speaker: Because the way you think, you don't think like a normal person thinks.

Speaker: Not that I know what a normal person thinks like, but you think different.

Speaker: Let's say that.

Speaker: That's the kindest thing I could imagine.

Speaker: So receive it, believe it, achieve it.

Speaker: You will do it because you did it and you're doing it and you're living it and you're loving it and it's miracle season.

Speaker: You're moving with the cheese, baby.

Speaker: What about the olives?

Speaker: Let's go back to the olives.

Speaker: The olive.

Speaker: So this is how you... So the book is called The Aleph.

Speaker: Hopefully I'm pronouncing it right.

Speaker: A-L-E-P-H.

Speaker: Oh, like A-L.

Speaker: Yeah, okay.

Speaker: Like the Hebrew letter.

Speaker: Yep, Hebrew.

Speaker: So Paulio Coelho, who wrote The Alchemist, that's his book.

Speaker: And so basically he talks about when two or more energy comes together in a room, there's like this Aleph in the room that connects those energy and makes it more.

Speaker: So you're tapping into a whole different energy of enlightenment and insight and perceptions and talk.

Speaker: And so the talk becomes more like, I don't want to say spiritual, but more like divine and deep and like, wow, this is how the magic happens.

Speaker: But I guess, you know, you got to be on the same frequency for those things.

Speaker: Like, honestly, when I met you, I was just like, I know her.

Speaker: Like, how?

Speaker: Oh, I know.

Speaker: You came walking through the door and you just had this big smile on.

Speaker: And I know that you smile a lot, but you also, like, don't need to smile a lot.

Speaker: You know what I mean?

Speaker: I think it's very intentional with you.

Speaker: And it was like, you just walked in.

Speaker: I was like, hey, dude, yeah, we're going to sit down and we're going to catch up just like we always do.

Speaker: Like, we went to college together or it was like years ago.

Speaker: Like, what up?

Speaker: But it's energy.

Speaker: Listen, people, energy do not lie.

Speaker: So be aware of your energy, energy you invest in others.

Speaker: Don't invest it everywhere.

Speaker: It was also probably because of that one time that you walked by me at Glendale Galleria.

Speaker: I did?

Speaker: Yes.

Speaker: When was this?

Speaker: You didn't recognize me because you didn't know me, but you did.

Speaker: When was this?

Speaker: This was like probably six or seven months ago, and you were just walking by with a dude, and I was with my husband, and I think it was before Bachelor in Paradise had aired, and I was like, hey, it's that guy.

Speaker: Were we by the restaurants?

Speaker: You were by Sprinkles?

Speaker: Like where the elevators are where you go to your car.

Speaker: Like near Forever 21.

Speaker: Oh, wow.

Speaker: You just walked on by.

Speaker: And now it's like here we are sitting in a podcast studio together and I get to know you better and we get to connect.

Speaker: And it's like the beauty of the world.

Speaker: Manifesting.

Speaker: I love it.

Speaker: It's happening.

Speaker: Do you have a song to go out on?

Speaker: I always like this little aspect.

Speaker: If there's a song that represents your life right now or if there's a song that you want to take us out to, I've got Spotify up and I've got a shit ton of songs for you to choose from.

Speaker: Damn, there's two songs came to mind.

Speaker: No brainer.

Speaker: But the song I really probably was, it's Nas.

Speaker: I know I can.

Speaker: I know I can.

Speaker: That is the best.

Speaker: Be what I want to be.

Speaker: All right.

Speaker: Don't fail me now.

Speaker: Oh.

Speaker: It feels good.

Speaker: It feels good.

Speaker: Is that Tony, Tony, Tony?

Speaker: Yeah, Tony, Tony, Tony.

Speaker: And of course I get a phone call right now.

Speaker: Like, come on, people.

Speaker: We're in the middle of a podcast.

Speaker: The universe is trying to stop us from blessing the universe.

Speaker: I'm going to try and spell this the way it is.

Speaker: I think it's like Tony, Tony.

Speaker: Yeah, there it is.

Speaker: Yeah.

Speaker: Okay.

Speaker: So before we play the song, I just want to say thank you.

Speaker: You're welcome.

Speaker: Thank you for being you.

Speaker: Just your energy for showing up emotionally, physically.

Speaker: Just, I think you're a very special person.

Speaker: And that is my intuitive response to you.

Speaker: I think that you are a good person.

Speaker: I think that you have been places.

Speaker: I also think you're going places.

Speaker: And I'm just, you know, as a spectator in watching you, I'm a fan and I'm proud of you.

Speaker: And I just want the best for you.

Speaker: And I hope our paths cross again.

Speaker: And in the meantime, I wish you the best with your life.

Speaker: And I think amazing things are going to come from it.

Speaker: Amen to that.

Speaker: I receive it all.

Speaker: Thank you.

Speaker: You're welcome.

Speaker: And with that, Tony, Tony, Tony will take us out.

Speaker: Yes, he will.

Speaker: Thank you guys so much for listening to Off the Record, the podcast.

Speaker: Off the record with you.