Marilyn Denis: The Radio, The Gummies, and The Love of Her Life

Unknown Speaker  0:00  
Music.

Jann Arden  0:08  
Well, great day, great day. And welcome to the Jann Arden podcast and show. I am here, as always, with Caitlin green, Sarah Burke. They are in their Toronto abodes, and we have a very special guest today. And I feel like I want to launch into a very, very long intro, but I'm not going to Canadian icon broadcasting Hall of Fame, a myriad of awards. She has talked to everybody that you can possibly think of speaking with over the course of I'm going to say closing in on 40 years you got it. Marilyn Denis, good morning, and welcome to what we call a show.

Marilyn Denis  0:38  
It's a great show. I'm very honored to be here. I know we had a couple of dates set, and things got a little busy for both of us, but we're here, and during the holiday season, that makes me happy,

Jann Arden  0:49  
completely grateful. So the holidays for you, it's a different vibe. You've been married several years now, so that's different. You're not spending the holidays alone like me.

Unknown Speaker  0:59  
Oh dear, no, it's

Speaker 1  1:00  
fine. And saw the tears the only game in town and every road

Jann Arden  1:05  
that normally I'm paid for my singing, but I'm gonna stop. But also, you are also a grandma. I'm

Unknown Speaker  1:10  
a grandma of a five year old,

Jann Arden  1:11  
so let's just talk about that right away. Let's talk about family Christmas. What does that mean to you, and how has that changed your professional life and how you view your work?

Speaker 1  1:21  
Well, I'll tell you this, Christmas every Christmas has become a tradition now that Adam and his wife, Natalie and Everly spent Christmas Eve with us, and then we open up our gifts on Christmas Day. And you're right, there have been many, many years where I said I'm going to Calgary for Christmas, or I'm going here, when actually I was having plastic surgery. But now I don't need to do that anymore. I don't need to do I don't need to lie to the people anymore. But we are so excited that house is all decked out with Christmas stuff. Because when you have a kid, you know, it just brings a Christmas vibe right back in. I mean, you you can't help it. No, you get it again. I get it again. And it feels so good, because you're right, there's been a couple of really, you know, empty Christmases, Christmases alone. Very much a TCM Christmas watching every Christmas movie and being alone and having Doritos in bed. But I had a fun time. But now I have opened up my heart, because I have a great husband, and my son's doing great, and his wife is lovely, and Everly is a piece of work, piece of work like I'm just

Jann Arden  2:25  
picturing you sitting in your beautiful home that you worked so freaking hard on. There was a lot of Reno so if people think that Marilyn Dennis has just walked into a you know, the key goes in the door, and you worked your ass off on making that a place that you wanted to land, because when you are are working 14 hour days, I gotta go back to many, many dinners ago, old boyfriends ago, when we're sitting at a table, drinking lots of wine, eating things, and I cannot believe the passage of time and how much it has changed your life, your life, your Life. I'm pointing at Caitlin, and I'm pointing at Sarah, like, the passage of time, it really does catapult us into completely different versions of ourselves,

Speaker 1  3:09  
big time, really big time. And it's interesting, because that house, when I was building that house, and it's, I think 17 years I've been in it, it's the house that chum built, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the house that John built, and I took my time with it, and I had great people helping me with it, like Brian Gluckstein and Ramson Caci, and I had people contributing to it, but I never rushed into that house. You know, when you're on tour, you come home, you want to be at home. You want to have the comfort around you, like I know that you've got beautiful vistas where you are. I'm in the city, which is great. You know why I moved where I moved was I lived outside the city, and I moved closer and in into the city. This is an interesting story, because my sister, who you never met, my older sister, Miriam, who passed away many, many years ago, she used to have to go for cancer treatments, and she had to go into Philadelphia. She lived in a beautiful neighborhood, and I thought, Gee, I think I need to live closer to a hospital. So that was my thought pattern. Little did I know, and I live 15 minutes away, 10 minutes away from hospitals. Little did I know I was going to marry a doctor who was going to be at one of those hospitals, but I wanted to be in the city. I didn't want to spend my time on the road, and I want to make sure that the house was because you change your taste, right? You You collect things, and you then you start cleaning things. And I just said, I'm just going to take baby steps to make this house a home. And little did I think that I was going to get married again and and have this man come in, and he said to me, Jim, is there anything I can contribute from the house in Seattle? I said, Please don't just

Unknown Speaker  4:47  
leave your

Speaker 1  4:48  
stuff. Bring your books. Bring all that kind of stuff. But you don't need to, because it's all done. If you

Jann Arden  4:53  
ever want to see me nude again, don't you know,

Speaker 1  4:57  
I don't like a lot of clutter anyway, but we're both. Minimalist, so it's good. So the house is every time I pull up in front of the house, I'm very grateful. And I remember every brick, every step. I remember my parents

Jann Arden  5:10  
talking to me. I was there when you were renovating. You came to the house before, and it gave me anxiety, I know, because I'm going, oh my god, Marilyn, this is so much freaking work. It's

Speaker 1  5:20  
so much work. You sat on the front porch of the old house that was built in 1926 and I had you walk into the house, and you said to me, this has got such a great vibe to it. Are you just going to renovate? I said, I'm going to knock it down. But you said to me, this has got a great vibe to it. There's something about this house, I'm frightened for you, because it's a big job, because I was doing it all myself, you know, and but I at the same time, you said, No, there's something good about it. The reason why I got that house, there was a bidding war for that house, oh, I'm sure, Toronto. And it was two developers, right? They were fighting over what developer was going to get it. But the woman who lived there used to watch city line all the time. Oh, thank

Jann Arden  6:06  
god.

Speaker 1  6:07  
Thank god. So she said, I want to give it to that woman, because I used to have my tea with her. I want, I want to sell it to her. So that's why I got the house. Yeah,

Caitlin Green  6:14  
that's so nice that the property too, like the corner, it's almost a nice corner unit. It's very, very homey and great. And I think because you're also you're such a cancer like you're such a Cancerian, you love your home, and you love it being COVID. And

Speaker 1  6:28  
if I have to go out in the sun, I do, but only for a couple of seconds, and I go back and again. Retreat, retreat. Yeah, as a

Jann Arden  6:35  
lot of you listeners know, Caitlin and Marilyn worked together for many years on the chum morning radio show, and I'm sure you guys have got some freaking tales to tell, even that is so the people that we cross paths with. So it always would behoove us to kind of behave in life and to nurture relationships and to nurture friendships, and, you know, to support people that you work with, because you cross their paths again.

Speaker 1  7:01  
It's a small, small world, right? Caitlin broadcasting is a small world here. Sarah knows that too, yeah. Oh, it's

Caitlin Green  7:08  
tiny. And like, Marilyn, one of the things she always said, I think, from like, the time I first started at chum, was you got to be good in the halls, yeah. I mean, it's just something you said that to everybody repeat that you've got to be good in the halls,

Jann Arden  7:20  
good, in the halls, yeah, in

Caitlin Green  7:25  
a such a small industry, really think about and take to heart, because it's so true.

Speaker 1  7:28  
Yeah, always be connecting with people in the hallways. There's no one in the hallways now because people don't work Mondays and Fridays, but for the few that do pass my way, yeah, you go, Hi, how you doing? What's going on, and you learn a little bit about them, because you are kind of locked and loaded in your job and in that control room, and that kind of isolates you a little bit. Yes, yeah, small world. So

Jann Arden  7:49  
when you look back over the past 40 years of being in broadcasting and folks, let's just remind everybody, Marilyn did morning television and morning radio for decades. So I don't know when you slept, but you would you say the word sacrifice in there, anywhere? Or is that not applicable when it comes to women and work?

Speaker 1  8:13  
The reason why, and I was lucky to have two jobs, was I was raising a son, and I thought, if I ever got fired from one job, I need to know that I have another job so that I can make sure that we can pay the bills and feed him and do what I need to do. So that's why I always had, never had an issue with having two jobs. And in this business, you don't know when there's going to be a problem or when they don't like what you do, or your ratings are not good, or there's layoffs, or whatever that is. So I always wanted to have two jobs to anchor that so that I could sleep at night. So yeah, there were sacrifices. Because when Adam was a little one, and my ex and I had split, Adam was with me in the morning, and I would wake him up at 530 in the morning and put his little jammies, jammies, wrap him a little blankie. And we used to go over to the daycare lady's house. I used to hug him in the car, and then I used to drop him off at the house. Again, chum was good enough to say, you don't have to start the show till six, and that's what I would do every morning. And in the afternoon, I would come and pick him up. He was just he was preschool at that point. That was a sacrifice, but worth making, because I really loved doing the morning show with Roger Ashby and Rick Hodge. And I thought, boy, I'm lucky. I mean, I may not be married, and I may be struggling a little bit with finances, because, you know, women don't make as much as men, at least back in the day, but I have a good crew of people that I work with, and they're like family. And then the introduction to television, which was great, because that kept me busy. Adam was already at preschool or school, and I was okay with that, because I knew he was going to be okay. The only problem was, when he got sick, his father and I kind of shared that responsibility, but the word sacrifice is in there. Sometimes, I sometimes think Jan, I missed out. And I think you could all relate to this. You know, I'm always, constantly turning people down when they invite me out for dinner. I. Especially

Jann Arden  10:00  
back in the day, oh, back in the day, I'm like, you couldn't do it. I'd fall

Speaker 1  10:04  
asleep at 630 How are you clunk in the salad? You know, can't i? I And even more, so I'm pretty strong on that now, but you know, functions like, you know, theater and the opening of this, and people say, Oh, it's so great. This is before social media. I sorry. I If I want to perform well and doing two shows, that's not going to happen. And plus, I want to be with my son. Well, you can't make yourself sick, and everyone loses No, no, it's not worth it. It's not worth it. Where did

Jann Arden  10:31  
television start? Mayor, like when you said the introduction of television, where did this begin?

Unknown Speaker  10:38  
CJ, 92 cfcn,

Jann Arden  10:41  
no, yes,

Speaker 1  10:42  
Calgary is where it started. So there was an opportunity to do new music for much music. CFA, see held the rights to that, and they had me do what was new in Western Canada, and I don't even know what year that was, and then I did that. That was kind of like an audition, whereas when I was working at CJ, they said, Hey, you do television. Would you like to do some feature stories for us, for sports? Okay, would you like to do weather for noon? Okay, you know? I mean, sure, I'll do anything. So I started doing the new news for two and a half minutes every day, and I was on a computer at the Doppler radar system, I could tell you stories about that Calgary weather is interesting because there's always a news story. And then TSN started, and TSN said, Would you like to do feature stories for us? Because the Calgary Olympics are coming, so instead of doing covering a football game, I would go go out to Mount Norway, or I would go talk to skaters, or I go talk to hockey players or whatever, as we were leading up, and I knew nothing. I knew nothing about sports. This

Jann Arden  11:54  
makes me laugh. The sports thing does make me laugh,

Speaker 1  11:57  
I know, but they were feature stories. No,

Jann Arden  12:00  
I get it, but, I mean, I would have been absolutely panic stricken. What

Speaker 1  12:03  
am I doing here? Panic. They're in a press conference, and I'm the only woman. There they go, you have a question? I go, not really. And then the other thing was that got me into sports was when I was at CJ 92 Don Stevens, who was the morning man. Do you remember Don Stevens? Yes. Don Stevens challenged me to try out for the Calgary stamp theater cheerleaders. Oh, Jesus. And I thought, I'll do that. I'll be the oldest cheerleader if I make it, but then I won't have to buy tickets to go watch the football game. You

Jann Arden  12:32  
were probably in your 20s, 28 that's But you think about how young that is, yeah, and we think that's aged out to be a cheerleader.

Speaker 1  12:40  
That's, well, pretty, pretty much, because it couldn't do the splits anymore. But I was, I was there, and I wasn't very good, because I kept getting in trouble for watching the game. So the TV thing was through, through really sports and sports features, because the sports I knew just wanted to do the game, and they wanted to cover that, and I wanted to talk to the wives, and I wanted to talk to the families, and I wanted to talk, of course. So that's how that happened, yeah, yeah, lucky. Very lucky. I

Jann Arden  13:07  
mean, very lucky. It's hard to imagine. Whenever I think about the beginnings of careers, people are always like, oh, you know, you doing something that you really love, which is all fine, but I always there's a caveat to that. I always say I wouldn't do it again. No, it's exhausting. Marilyn, I'm so quick to say that, Oh my God, no, I wouldn't do it again. I'd be an educator. I don't know what I would do, but when I think about the travel, the being away from home, the hangovers, the bus, my periods like all over the world, and how challenging they were just to find tampons. And I know people are laughing at this, but I'm telling you, you try finding a tampon and a pad in Finland at three o'clock in the morning and going to the front desk and trying to explain to them I am bleeding out. I need and so I'm just going to use your towels. Do you understand? Do

Speaker 1  13:57  
you know what I think about for you? I think about the dives that you played in. Oh God, when I think about that, I think about because we wanted something so badly, or we needed something like, you know, sent on stories. You're sent all over the world. I'm sent doing stories I don't want to do, and it's going to take me an hour and a half to get there. And I don't even know what the hell I'm talking about, but I'm going to do it, and I'm gonna file that story and come back and do it, but I don't know why. Why did we do that? Why?

Jann Arden  14:25  
Well, you have, you have a different I mean, I could probably ask this question to you two young women. I mean, you were motivated by different things in your bag of tricks. I mean, here Caitlin is with a two year old. And, you know, Sarah's launched this women in media Podcast Network, and so I've often said to both of them, I hope I'm alive to talk to you in 20 years, to ask you how things are different in your lives and and if what you were chasing is what you thought it would be. And. And you know how? I mean, I'm gonna try and stay alive, so I can ask them that

Speaker 1  15:04  
you do that you're very healthy, you will be alive. You know what we'll do? We'll just kind of, we'll take our walkers, and we'll approach the stage, because they'll be like mega stars by that point, and we'll go, remember us. Sorry we can't hear you because we got a hearing aid in. But good for you. What are their names again? Yeah, that's what we'll do. Thoughts Caitlin,

Caitlin Green  15:24  
I can only remember, like, just not really thinking that I wanted to necessarily do anything on the air, and kind of coming in and accidentally winding up in the same room as Marilyn, because there was a woman who was on maternity leave and then and she didn't come back. She decided to stay in another province where her husband was living, and then her Matt leaf fill in cut out halfway through, because he was going to go take a position to be a segment producer on Maryland's newly launched the Maryland I forgot about that. Oh my god. So they're sitting here saying we need someone, like, we need a body in this chair, because, like, we're high and dry, and we only have six months on this contract, and I had worked in many forms of media, and then sort of took this gig and I and I went in for an interview, and I interviewed with our former producer, Tom, and we just, we mostly just talked about pop culture and like, got along well. So I went in and just thought, I'll do this for six months, and then, like, I'll probably go back to working in television in some capacity or doing something else, and then it was 13 years like, I always felt terrible whenever we would have, you know, the like Humber radio students or Ryerson students would reach out and say, Hey, I'd love to do an, you know, an interview with you and talk to you about how you got started. And they'd have all these questions. And I was like, I have a very inelegant answer for you. I just got in the room and didn't freaking leave, like, it just, it was fun. It was like, you, you were saying, Marilyn, when you were going through, you know, dropping off Adam with a stranger before dawn. And you're like, why am I doing this? Oh, because when you get there, it's a really good time. And it was a really great room to be in. I mean, when it was Roger and Marilyn Taylor and Tom and I it's magic. And you're you're like, This isn't work. Like the show just went like that, like, and, and anytime something's happening in the world, you get to talk about it right away. And Marilyn was so important in identifying that she's like, Kayla never shuts up over there. But like, whatever is happening in the world, and I was always like, talking about a million things. And she's like, You should talk about the things that you're always talking about with us, like on the air, on the air, yeah, and had this great idea to do trending, and it just started off as, you know, I think we did it at like, 615 and maybe eight, or it was once a show, or twice a show, and then it turns into every hour, and kind of snowballs from there. But there was the first station that did a trending report,

Speaker 1  17:39  
you know, the idea that was, it was my son's, he goes, you know, she's on sporadically. You should put her in every hour. And call it the trending with Caitlin

Caitlin Green  17:50  
green, yeah. And, I mean, that guy knows a thing or two about media himself. Because you

Speaker 1  17:54  
brought in a different, a younger generation, a different aspect on how you saw the world, you know, and the generations are quite different, because Roger is about 10 years older than I am, and then, then there is me, and then, you know, Haji would come in and out, whatever. And then we had a young person, you and in between all that was producer, Tom, a great because that's those are the people who are listening to the radio station. And it worked. It worked beautifully. So,

Jann Arden  18:26  
if we landed chum for a press junket, if there was something happening in my life records, or whatever it was, people were cheering. The record company was cheering. My management was cheering. The agents were cheering if there was anything to sell, a show, a book, to be on that I mean, the show in general, but that time, that period of time, was so golden. But the thing that is, you guys knew that, you knew that Marilyn, you knew how special it was, and the ratings told you that year after year after year.

Speaker 1  19:01  
Yeah, and it's not just your, your, your, you know, cut out interview. It's like Jan's here and she's going to be for here for a couple of segments. Unlike many other musicians, you have more to contribute than just the thing that you are promoting. And you're always such Can you come on my show next time you're in town? Me, yeah, of course, then come in. Let's talk, because we could do that. Now I was looking

Jann Arden  19:25  
behind me like, Who

Unknown Speaker  19:26  
is she talking to?

Unknown Speaker  19:29  
Looking around, anytime,

Jann Arden  19:30  
anytime.

Speaker 1  19:32  
Yeah, well, I invite you now anytime. But the thing is, it adds to the flavor and the theme of the show. People I mentioned today to David Corey, who's my co host. I said to him, I'm going to be on the Gen R and podcast, and people were texting, oh my gosh. When's it going to air? This is so exciting because you're loved, and the chemistry is there and the connection is there because it's real between you and I. This is the real deal, right? Caitlin, that you know that? Oh yeah, Sarah knows that too.

Jann Arden  19:58  
We also have a very long frame. Yes, which helps a lot, but it is based on mutual respect and never overstepping those boundaries. You have never asked of me. You've asked less of me than my someone I've known since freaking kindergarten, because you and I both know like, I'm not going to say, Hey, can you come down and do a 400 person Meet and Greet to save the the nuns from, you know, from church, because we're doing a thing for them. Be right there, if you wouldn't mind coming. You've never done that to me, and I've never

Unknown Speaker  20:38  
No no, no, no, absolutely not. And for any

Jann Arden  20:41  
nuns listening, you don't need saving, and I'm sorry it's a bad time of year to make any kind of crack about nuns.

Caitlin Green  20:50  
But also, you're both very funny, like you are both very, very funny. And I think your sense of humor matches, oh, I found out that. Fact, yeah, like, your sense of humor matches really well. And you guys kind of like to, like, roast each other, like, in a way. And I like that also, like, I think it's a form of affection. It's like a love language, kind of like poking fun at

Speaker 1  21:10  
ease. Well, it's, it's also, for me, with Janice, she says things that I I can't Is

Jann Arden  21:15  
it because of Big Brother? Is because of the the corporation? No, I'm just saying that because we've never said the the F word so much is when we left Bell, like it's just yeah, this gate opened and the swearing in me just came out, and my mother would be mortified.

Speaker 1  21:30  
Yes, my mother used to say, you used to have a clean mouth until you started working at chum FM. And I said, Well, that's because, during the show, was working with a bunch of boys who swore a lot, but on air, you'd have to clean up your eye. But, yeah, no, I can't. I keep my commentary to myself. You don't see it on social media. Yeah, I'm kind of private with that stuff, and I work for a company, and I like the paycheck, so yeah, so I do that, but I've been used to that for a long time. There's that editing. Sarah, you know about the editing? You cannot say certain things for you do not want to get fired.

Jann Arden  22:04  
Absolutely no. And I agree with that. I haven't sworn one time on this Christmas run that I'm in the middle of a tour right now. I'm just over the halfway mark. But Chris noticed he's like, You haven't said fuck once. And I said it's Christmas. Unheard of. Sometimes it'll just slip out, and it's always in context. Like, I don't just throw it out there to be a ding dong, and I have not said it, you know, I look out and there's kids there, and there's older people, and then there's, like, literally, ages six to 90 in these shows. So I just, and I'm really glad that I have, and I think you have to pick your spots. Just going back a bit about the social media Caitlin and I were when we were when I found out that we would have you on the show, we were just talking about things that we wanted to hit upon, and one of them was the social media aspect of this place that we're living in, this big media house that we're living in. Can you comment to social media, what your thoughts about it? What? Well, I,

Speaker 1  23:04  
first of all, I'm very bad at it. I know that I have hired, as you know, Kaylee, you know, Azalea, hard. She does all my posts. I take the pictures. I tell what the content is. She posted. I don't even know how to do that anymore. I don't know whether to leave x or not. I want to, but where do I go? Threads, threads, threads. Okay, okay,

Jann Arden  23:24  
I'm this close to leaving Twitter myself.

Speaker 1  23:26  
What about that other one that that Jack guy came up with blue sky? What are you gonna do? I like blue

Caitlin Green  23:31  
sky too. It's just hard to be everywhere. And because Marilyn, you'll appreciate this the ease of you are on Instagram, and you can automatically make it so that your Instagram posts, then just naturally post as well on threads. So it's like, yeah, there's some, there's some communication there. But you're, you're better on social than you think. I mean, I do believe,

Speaker 1  23:48  
I often think of this, if I didn't have the show, I don't know that I'd have much to post. And I think to myself, if once this is over, and I don't know when it's going to be over. But once it's like, no more morning shower, it's never over. As Billy Joel said, what else am I going to do? That's what he said the other day. I thought, am I going to am I going to take, take a hike and say, That's it? I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure. You don't have to know. Yeah, yeah. That's thank you for that. See, that's a nice thing to say. I think about every once in a while, and then I compartmentalize, and I put it over there, and then don't worry about it right now, let's just keep it as you know, I'm doing the best that I can. I do get locked in Tiktok sometimes, and I watch things, and I am vulnerable, and I believe on some stuff that happens. And I went, then I have to come into the room, and I go, guys, have you seen such and such is that to be believed? And they go, No, that's fake. It's AI. AI. I've got to learn how to embrace that so I know how to navigate that. Have you done that? Have you done that? Have you embraced

Unknown Speaker  24:50  
it? Yet? Jan planned an entire vacation with AI. Well,

Jann Arden  24:53  
yeah. I mean, there's things that are it's very useful. I don't think I want Elon Musk. This robot wandering my house, bringing me a piece of toast, like I'm not there yet. I don't want to be in a self driving car. Not there yet,

Unknown Speaker  25:11  
not there yet.

Jann Arden  25:12  
I like driving. I don't know if I ever will, but much like every generation that comes along, people are very reluctant to embrace you know, they say that we're the only generation left that lived with the absence of computers and hand held true phones and this so we know what it's like the kids now know internet. They can't even fathom not having those bars show up, and they base holidays on it, like now if you want an Airbnb or VRBO, internet is the number one requested thing when people rent vacation homes internet. You know what it is for me, Mayor, I'm a fucking washer and dryer.

Caitlin Green  25:52  
There you have it. But I do think Marilyn, one of the things that you were early on astute in observing is that social media is you would always say it's my third show, like it's the third show,

Speaker 1  26:03  
the expectation of us to to post and to post for what's happening on the show and what's happening in our personal life. And can you collaborate from your personal Entrepreneur on chum? I'm like, no, no, not always, but sometimes I will. But it is a job. Roger Ashley said to me, you know, he left after 50 years being in broadcasting. He said, I'm glad I'm leaving right now, because that is something I cannot embrace. And I get that, you know, I never, I never embraced the VCR. I still don't know how to take care of that thing, and I never embraced Facebook. So there was a couple like, you can't have everything. You can't know everything. But what one thing I do know is that I have to monitor what little I have and to take care of what I am my image. I've been part of a scam selling. It's terrible. It's happened a couple of times. It's like playing Whack a Mole. You cannot find these people. You cannot end it. You know, the story is, there was a guy, and I'm so sorry I forgot your name, because he was so great. His first name was Craig. He did an investigative report on using my image, you know, to sell product, like creams, you know, that weren't great, edibles, that weren't great. That's the newest the newest one. Yeah, yeah, edibles, edibles, yeah,

Caitlin Green  27:25  
these CBD gummies. People write to me asking about

Speaker 1  27:27  
it. What I've always said is, if I don't endorse it on my page, then forget it. But people don't read. That's the other problem. People do not read. They look at a picture, they don't read the content underneath the picture. So anyway, this guy did this investigative report, and he it took him to San Francisco, and he went in with a briefcase with a camera to see where it is this cream was made and how people were making these orders. Marilyn Dennis endorses this cream, this face cream, and people were losing 1000s of dollars, because if you didn't come back after 10 days with a trial, they would start charging your credit card. And every month people don't check their credit card statements. One month, it would be 30 the next one would be $300 people were angry with me. How dare you. My mom wants her money back. So having said that, this guy goes in to the San Francisco building and he sees all these people working. They think it's a legit thing, these people that are working it, but he finds out that it's not, and the people that are ahead of it. One guy is from Calgary, and when they were looking at all the people that they could use in Canada to endorse a product that is not good and really does not really exist. They picked me, and she said, we picked Marilyn Dennis, because she's red hot. Everybody believes her, yeah, so he went in, got everyone's names. They go to jail. They only go to jail for about 18 months, and they're back at it again, because they don't stop because they're making so much money, but even the company looks at it goes, you know, we can only do so much. We can ask Facebook not to do it, and we can ask, you know, because what they do is they buy a whole bunch of advertising, and then they just put it on. And then I get friends that take listen, if you're listening right now, and you see something like that, please take a spring grab, send it to me, send it to Caitlin, send it to Jan, and then I'll forward it, but there's nothing I can do. So if you've lost money, I'm sorry, but please understand you must check your credit cards. And you know who's getting scammed the most, the baby boomers. The baby boomers really Yes, because they they like I do. Sometimes, when I see something on social media, I believe it. I go, okay, and then you get sucked into that, and then you give your credit card information, and that's when the whole mess happens. It makes me sick. I was never how upset I was. Caitlin, I was almost upset.

Caitlin Green  29:49  
It's terrible. And because, like, people do really get, like, angry with Marilyn, and in my DMs, people would write to me and say, I bought this skin cream, and it turns out to be a fraud. Or, like, recently. I had someone DM me and say, do you think Marilyn really uses these gummies? I was like, first of all, I don't even know what you're talking about. Absolutely not. And I was like, you know, media literacy is an ever changing thing, because, like, to the point of AI, right? Soon, if you're a public figure, and there's enough video footage and enough audio that exists, you know, in the digital world, somebody can just put together a video. It's like, I'm Marilyn Dennis, and I'm running Dennis and I'm running for president. Exactly. It can just happen like that. It kept Marilyn up at night like because she's like, this is a reputation and a heritage and a connection with my listeners and followers that I've built over years, and because they trust me now they're having their money taken. But you know, these scammers like, it truly never ends. There's so many of them out there.

Speaker 1  30:41  
On the funny side, all of you, I have to tell you this story. I was selling some product. Who knows what it was, probably gummies, probably vitamins, and they took one of my pictures, photos from the Marilyn Dennis show, and they made my nose longer. Oh, and I said, seriously, the picture's right there. Did you have to adjust the picture so my nails was like, I'll get you my pretty it was awful. So they're not very good at what they do, but they're very good at taking your money. So lesson to be learned, please check your credit card numbers. And also, I don't endorse anything, and when I do, you'll hear about it.

Jann Arden  31:19  
If it sounds too good to be true. I hate to be, you know, the person bringing up that slogan, but if it does, it is nothing's gonna make you lose weight in four days, like none of that.

Speaker 1  31:30  
No, you know what I want. I want those little pieces of rubber that heat and they, they kind of defrost your sidewalk.

Jann Arden  31:38  
Oh, yeah, but I have looked at those and well, they have to plug in, for one thing,

Unknown Speaker  31:45  
I know, but we don't want to fall at our age, because I

Jann Arden  31:48  
have to dig my gate out. I have to dig my freaking gate out. But I was almost going to do it, and Chris said, Don't you dare. Why? Because we were sitting in the green room. This is like three weeks ago when my bird feeder girl that comes here, she's wonderful, Katie, she's got kids, she works at the hospital. Like, that's the last thing she needs to do. I really like going to your house and feeding the birds, but she's like, you're I can't open your gate. I'm like, I gotta get those pads. I can't even believe you're bringing this up. Marilyn Dennis,

Speaker 1  32:16  
that's because you and I are the same age. These things are important to us. You know, if you fall after 65 your chances of living past 18 months are in muerto. So I don't want to fall. Yeah, I don't want to fall. I saw that on tick tock.

Jann Arden  32:29  
But apparently you can do something with an Apple

Caitlin Green  32:32  
Watch. Yeah, your Apple Watch will notify you if you wipe out, or you can hit a button

Jann Arden  32:36  
and listen, I'm not. I've already fallen. I fell through four years ago, yeah, I was out. I wasn't even 60 yet. I'll be 63 in March, but I was feed the girls. Know this. I was feeding the birds pajamas on rubber boots with bare feet. My bucket of my bucket of seeds, which

Unknown Speaker  32:53  
I've witnessed you do,

Jann Arden  32:54  
my glasses, oh boy, which instantly fog out. So I get out there. I'm going through the snow. I lose one of my boots in the snow, so I back up to replace my bare leg, back in the boot, to get it out of the snow and move. And I can literally hear, I can barely see where the bird feeders are, and I've got my bucket, and I can see deer coming through the haze towards me. My boot dislodges again. I go flying backwards, and I in under the snow, is a like a stump, and I crack that and I cracked three ribs, and I hit that much, and I'm lying, and the seeds they spread everywhere they're the bucket goes flying and and I'm trying to

Speaker 2  33:40  
breed the deer coming over and eating off of you. And

Jann Arden  33:44  
I'm thinking, they're trying to save me. The deer. Nature is so wonderful, the deer trying to get me up to get into the house. And then I realized, no, they're just eating the seeds that I've thrown around my hand. But I did get into the house. I was so goddamn cold, and I sat on the edge of a chair, and I never again. I don't go out pajamas. I go out in proper laced up footwear. I have a coat on. I don't wear glasses. That day changed me because I thought you could have died on that stump was a big branch coming out that had been cut off on an angle, like a shiv in a prison. And Had I fallen two inches further to the right, that branch would have gone through my torso. Get out. Not kidding you. Wow, when I think about and learned, yeah, and I am really spiritual, I'm like, it wasn't my day. It literally wasn't my day. And my dad probably pushed me to the side a bit, so I didn't hit it. But yeah,

Unknown Speaker  34:48  
I believe in that stuff. Getting back, ladies and gentlemen,

Jann Arden  34:50  
to what we were talking about, the pads that melt. Great idea.

Sarah Burke  34:56  
Full Circle, mother. I'm sorry, but we like. Caitlin and I already made eye contact on this. You just told a little fib, because you've been talking about your crocs in sport mode, so so she's not wearing laced up footwear outside. But hopefully we can reconsider this so you can stay safe, please. I want to tell you how similar Jan and I are the crocs now. Well, the crocs are, yes, I've got three pairs. One of the says Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm very proud of those crocs because they don't make them anymore.

Jann Arden  35:23  
I have to say this one thing, my brother calls it a crock block, like, when you want to get laid, he's like, Oh, that was a real crock. These women that have their shoes on anyway, carry on. That's

Unknown Speaker  35:35  
great. Okay, great. It's

Jann Arden  35:36  
a cute way of saying it. It's

Speaker 1  35:38  
very funny. This morning, I woke up at 245 because it's cold and windy. And Alberta Clipper came in, hello, and I went outside, and I what I do is I park my husband, parks his car in front of my car, because my car was stolen a couple of years ago off the driveway. I'm one of those people, so I go and I'm in my pajamas, in my boots. I've got an eye patch that I wear when I'm sleeping at night. It's up on my head, and I've got two sets of keys, and I am walking very carefully, and I am going to move his car, warm up my car, so that I have to actually go in an hour from now, it will be ready to go. Now, I often think, what's going to happen if I fall on my ass, and there's no one there, and that's what I maybe I should wear a coat. Maybe I should wear a coat. Marilyn,

Jann Arden  36:28  
we can't we've got to stop. We got to stop doing that. We're in our 60s. We've got to stop. You'd

Caitlin Green  36:33  
have to bring your phones. That's what you have to do. Listen,

Speaker 1  36:35  
I have a story I have to tell you, because it's been I said to my husband, I have to tell Jan and the gang the story, because it has something to do with a friend of ours. We're in Barbados. We're coming home from breakfast and Barbados, this is last week my husband buys a platinum plan to get into the lounge. And I'd say, Thank you, honey. That's really nice. And they pre seat you where you're going to sit. You can't just sit anywhere, so I sit down, and this sort of young woman behind me, and she's got her chair out a little bit, and she said, Oh, I said, Excuse me, I'm just going to sneak in like this. And I sneak in and I'm talking to my husband, and I recognize the voice behind me, not the woman. The woman's talking to a man. Now I've got frizzy hair to from from the humidity, I've got a zit on my nose. I have no makeup on, and I've got these glasses on. I'm not looking my best. I just finished a week of broadcasting, and I'm thinking, This man sounds familiar. He's mentioning some names. He's definitely an artist. I know this voice, Jan Arden. Who do you think was sitting behind me in the platinum lounge in Barbados? Was it bubly? No,

Unknown Speaker  37:48  
that's where I was gonna go to Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker  37:50  
thought that too. Elton, John.

Unknown Speaker  37:53  
He's Canadian Drake. No, no,

Caitlin Green  37:56  
I'm trying to think of who has a connection to Barbados in some way. It wears black a lot. Oh, uh oh, the name is

Unknown Speaker  38:05  
you, and I've talked about him many times.

Jann Arden  38:09  
Why am I going playing? Does

Caitlin Green  38:11  
he have super black hair? No,

Speaker 1  38:13  
he's 63, years old. Oh, George. No, no. He's a singer. George

Caitlin Green  38:21  
is going to be so bad that he thought that's how old he was. He's

Unknown Speaker  38:23  
not that far off.

Unknown Speaker  38:24  
He's a singer. He's a photographer.

Jann Arden  38:28  
He was with universal Brian. Yes, Brian. Adams, Brian. Adams.

Unknown Speaker  38:36  
Oh,

Speaker 1  38:37  
so Brian is behind me, and I thought, oh my gosh, it's Brian. Do? I scoop over and say hello to him. And I go, No, he wants to be private. And he was very affable to people that walked over to him for an autograph. I looked at my husband. I go, I can't say hi to him. I don't like this is not going to be great. And he goes, what? I go, because I, you know, I'm media, so it's different. And the last time Brian I talked was fantastic. Probably

Jann Arden  39:04  
looks like you've walked off of Vogue magazine when he talks to you, you have the glam squad, right? Your television, your Yeah, but not in

Speaker 1  39:12  
Barbados, because humidity takes over. I am like, you know, blocking out the sun with the hair. So I decide that I can hear what he's saying, so I put my air pods on so I cannot hear what he's saying. And if he happens to notice me, I'll say Brian, but if he doesn't, I'm moving on, because I did not want to be on that plane going. Why did I say hello to him? What did I say to him? Why am I talking to what he doesn't want to talk that's what happened. I said I can't wait to tell Jen that story. And so if you're listening, Brian, I was going to say hello to you, but I felt that you wanted your privacy, and I thought I didn't have I didn't want any flop sweats on the way home. Had for five and a half hours going but it dawned on me, dawned on me that Brian. Ryan was our first breakfast in Barbados. Musical guest, Jan, you were there one year with Bucha. He was our first one. And I thought I could connect that way. But then, you know, you're different. I'd come up to you immediately. No, no.

Jann Arden  40:11  
I think, I think you called it. I think you did the right thing. If I had air

Caitlin Green  40:15  
pods, Marilyn, I would have plop them in and been like, I don't need to say hi to anyone right now, but

Speaker 1  40:19  
I didn't want him to think that I was listening to this conversation. Should he walk by? But

Jann Arden  40:24  
we all do it. We all do it. I mean, I have literally hit the deck in like Safeway and crawled past the asparagus to avoid someone like I've literally seen them and gone down and held up a package of bananas in front of my face. It literally looks like an SNL skit to like, get my way out. And then the one time I did this and I bought my stuff, I went way to the end of the checkout and and I got out to my car, and Jesus H if they weren't there, Jan, oh my god. I thought that was you. I'm like, Oh God, I just don't, yeah. I mean, why even bother? Sometimes it's worth just going, hi, hey, how you doing? But I, I was at real food daily in Los Angeles, heard a voice who's behind me, Marilyn Bryan Adams,

Unknown Speaker  41:20  
no way. He

Jann Arden  41:21  
was with a supermodel. They had two dogs tied to the railing. It was such a weird patio experience. I was with Chris. Chris is like, oh my god, don't look now. And I said, I know I saw him. It's Brian Adams. He goes, No, no, it's crisp and Glover. He's behind Brian Adams, so how different we were. He's like, I don't care about Brian Adams. It's crisp and Glover crisp and Glover Brandon like, from from Back to the Future, right? Yeah.

Caitlin Green  41:51  
And from Charlie's Angels, yeah. And he was so crisp

Jann Arden  41:53  
and Glover like, but Chris and I were having two very different experiences on that patio. I

Speaker 1  42:07  
anyway, I said to Jim, I'm telling you tip. And he goes, Well, I might like to meet him. I go, not today, not today.

Caitlin Green  42:14  
Every story about Jim just makes me love him even more. He's the best.

Unknown Speaker  42:17  
It's true. I'm so I'm so blessed

Jann Arden  42:19  
and a high school sweetheart. For those of you who don't know the story, a high school sweetheart. Recap

Speaker 1  42:24  
this story. I love this story. Well, the story is that he moved into the neighborhood, and he was introduced to the class, the homeroom class, and I think I lost my breath when that happened, and went, Oh, I have feelings I've never had before. And then I found out that he was living down the street from us, and he was in the neighborhood for two years, and he was a guy's guy, playing with the guys, and they showed me how to throw football. And I had a friend named Lisa, and she had boobs, and I didn't, and he was attracted to her. And so the story of my life. But anyway, he moved away two years later without telling anybody, and we got on the bus. I can just see the for sale sign as we're going by the House January, 1974 and I thought, where's Jim? They go. I think he moved I went, Well, why did he tell us? And that was it. We moved on. And then a year later, I got a call in 1975 and he it's January, and he said, Hey, it's me. I live in Tennessee. Now I know the prom is coming up. Would you like to go the junior prom? I went, sure, because I didn't think I was going to be asked anyway. At that time, I said to my mom, you know, he probably wants to. He misses all the friends. And I said, so we did that. And I said, Oh, by the way, can he stay at the house? Sure. So we go to the prom. No drama. We go to the airport. That's it. 42 years later, he goes back to Pennsylvania to visit his folks. He is thinking all of a sudden about me, because apparently he said, I've never thought about you for 42 years, which I think is one of the most romantic.

Jann Arden  43:54  
You haven't crossed my mind in four decades.

Speaker 1  43:58  
But hey, how you doing? And he looks he looks the obvious. Wow, that's great. So he sends me a Facebook post, which I don't I'm not on, and dear Kathy attitude, he was my floor director for over 30 years, finds it, sends it to me. And she said, Do you know this guy? I go, Oh, yeah, but I never looked him up. I never Googled him. I thought, that's great. So I wrote back to him a couple weeks later. I told him, I said, that's great. So whatever. And back and forth. Were emails started happening. And then he said, Can I call you? And I said, Sure. And we were on the phone for about 20 minutes and that. And then he was asking about high school and everything like that. I said, well, listen, it was great hearing from you. Thanks for calling. We're done. And he goes, No, no, I don't want it to end. I want to talk to you again. So eventually more emails came, and then he said to me, I'd really like to take you out for lunch or dinner. I'm going to be in Chicago for a anesthesiology conference, and. And so what happened was he said, You picked the restaurant and what have you I arrive in Chicago. You went you flew to Chicago. I flew to Chicago full hair and makeup, and he stayed at the Hilton. I was staying at the Thompson, so I don't want to stay at the same hotel. And I come down the stair, I come down the elevator because he texts me, we're about to go up for dinner, and this is just a friend thing. I haven't seen him since, you know he was like we were 16. And I come down the stairs at the elevator, and I see a man pacing back and forth and in the lobby, and I know it's him, and I walk over to him, and he had just texted me and said, Are you as nervous as I am? And I said, I am, and I'm very hungry. So anyway, I see him. I introduce myself to him. He shakes my hand. He goes, I'm giving you a hug. And from then, we had a couple of drinks at the bar. We had a beautiful dinner. We say good night to each other. The next morning, we had breakfast. And Breakfast was interesting because it was it separate. Yes, it was separate. It was separate. It was separate because, you know, I, you remember my bad breakup from the guy before, so I was really sensitive on that one, absolutely, yeah, yeah. But the fun and and the wonderful story was that when we had breakfast, and I had a wingman, by the way, who lived in Chicago, a good friend of mine, and just in case things went awry. But anyway, John, I had this breakfast, and we go for a walk around Lake Michigan, and he's having a conversation to himself. He goes, Well, I guess I'm not going to buy the boat. I'm gonna do this, and I guess I have to move whatever. I said, Are you talking to me? And he said, not really, but I'm talking about you. He said, Because you and I are going to be together for the rest of our lives, if you'll have me. I mean, by the end of that weekend, by the end of the weekend, I said, and so I said, Okay. He said, but let's work on it. I said, Okay. So we I said goodbye to him. I get on the plane. He said, let me call you next week. And let's, I want to touch base with you next week. So he says, I'm going to call you next Saturday at 9am he's very from military. 9am calls me. He said, What are you doing on this weekend? Whatever the weekend was. And I said, Actually, I'm not doing anything. He said, can you come and visit me at the city? It was Vancouver. I flew out. We never saw Vancouver, Vancouver, and that's when we began our journey. And it was so real, so comfortable, so like I you know, and I remember him saying to me at one point, don't ever doubt how much I care and don't ever doubt how much I want to build a relationship with you. Please don't doubt that. I know we've both been through some bad stuff, but I'm telling you I really mean it, and I believed him, and I didn't feel vulnerable. I felt Yeah, I got it so that was the kid that taught me how to throw football to, you know, this relationship now, marriage has been something I never expected in Jan, you and I have been through a lot of stuff together, and that was not on my bingo card.

Jann Arden  48:18  
No, no. And I think, I think the the bright spot here is that as quickly as things can go badly, yes, in our lives, that's how quickly they can go goodly. That's it. That's it. And on a dime, you meet people that shift the direction that you're going. And we have to, we're so quick to believe the bad stuff. We're so quick to accept when we get bad news. It. Human beings have a very difficult time believing in those good things. And so it is possible. I mean, we're always talking about the show, the various relationships that the three of us are in. And, you know, Sarah's single, it's

Unknown Speaker  49:00  
like Caitlin's, yeah, but,

Jann Arden  49:03  
I mean, I haven't written it off completely, but I'm very you know, I am where I am. But when I heard about Jim, like I really it was a head shaker, I was like, wow. Because I know your steadfastness. I know what level the bar is set at because you were able to provide for your own life. You had your own home, you have your job, you had everything. You didn't need anyone walking in and giving you stuff, right? You needed a partner. You wanted someone. This is we're on equal ground here. And honey, I ain't sending you money every second Friday, exactly, the fact that he's a completely wonderful, funny, handsome, upright human being that is, it just is a perfect fit, like it's so, so good for you.

Speaker 1  49:53  
Thank you. You know, I remember when I went to Chicago, of course, I talked to my therapist, Joe Rich, who's a great friend. He goes, remember, no matter. What happens? You have a good life in Toronto, you have a good life, you have a good life. And I had a great life, like, I was like, Okay, it's over. I'm going to do this. I'm going to travel. I'm going to do Yeah, and Jim said to me, I'm going to disrupt your life. I want you to know that. And there's going to be people that you're going to lose along the way, because they like you single and planning things, whatever it is. And that's true, that did happen. Of course, the pandemic shifted a lot of things, but that's okay. I mean, they're happy for us, but you relationships come and go, but never lose out hope. I just remember thinking to myself, my parents would approve. My parents would approve because they knew young Jim, and they really liked him a lot. So, and I was lucky enough to meet his parents. His mother's still alive, but I met both of his parents, and they were so happy. So it was really great. And he is the best grandfather ever. He is the best. Do

Caitlin Green  50:52  
you always tell me that you're like, Everly is like, No papa now, like, she, like, she, like, requests her time with Papa, and then, like, Maryland's like, intruding on their time together.

Speaker 1  51:00  
I'm not allowed to play with them. That's it. They're down in the base. I go, does anybody want me to play? Because I'm really good at it. They go, no, no, it's okay. We're good. But she does call on me overnight. She She a couple of weeks ago, she was staying overnight, and she can get out of bed now. So she comes in and I have to go back to bed with her. And I go, it's 330 I go, why? Why? Because Adam goes, because she's excited to be at the house ready to start the day. So we go back to bed, and I lay into bed with her, and I've got that. I do you still use the mask that I gave you because I gave you a mouth. So I mask and she and I said, I got it. Got it. I said, She's I got she's downloading all the information from unicorns to chocolate chip cookies. She's telling me everything she needs to tell me. And I go, Ev, it's 330 we need to go to sleep, and we're going to get up in about an hour and a half or two hours, and then we're going to start the day. I put the mask back on. She's sleeping next to me, which is adorable, the little breathing and all of a sudden, the hand picks up one side of the mask and said, new news, what's that, honey, I like scrambled eggs, but not with salt and pepper and a little bit of ketchup on the side. Okay,

Unknown Speaker  52:08  
that's it. That's it. Closes it again.

Speaker 1  52:11  
New news so far. New so I mean, that's joy. You want to stay up. I'm

Jann Arden  52:14  
going to start using that I have new news.

Caitlin Green  52:18  
I like scrambled eggs and sweet mass back down,

Jann Arden  52:21  
darling. We've been talking to you for an hour, and I'm not gonna do any longer.

Unknown Speaker  52:25  
Oh my gosh. We could talk for more, I

Jann Arden  52:26  
know, but you got stuff to do, and this is this has just been so fun. I wish we could have you on like, nine times a year, but always. Thank you for your generosity and thank you for your willingness to just talk about your life and be real. And that's why they buy your gummies. That is why they buy

Speaker 1  52:49  
and it's been a joy listen. I'm going to say something to you. Not many podcasts last very long because of funding and all sorts of stuff, and yours is strong. It's because it's real. It's real, and that's what's so great. And you're all of your relationships are good. It's it's a strong it's great to see women surviving the podcast landscape and doing well by it. People want to be on this podcast because it's a great conversation, and I saw the sun come up behind you in your beautiful forest, true. And I can't wait to come and visit you again, because I'm not staying at another hotel ever again. Encounter. Oh

Jann Arden  53:24  
my god, you you're welcome here, you're the the room awaits. It was so great having you and Alex here. I felt it made me feel really proud. I don't know what other word there is, because I know that you stay at hotels. You and I are the same that way too. Listen, if someone invites me to their house, I'm like, I'm gonna probably grab a hotel, but I love that you guys felt comfortable enough that you had the space downstairs and the bathrooms and and just that we could be in the house we had. That was a wonderful, quick visit, but I just loved every minute of it. So thanks.

Speaker 1  53:53  
Well, I miss you, and I hope to see you all soon, and thanks for having me on. I'm

Jann Arden  53:56  
coming to do the show. Yeah, you

Unknown Speaker  53:57  
come tell me when text me happy holidays. I love you dearly. Love

Jann Arden  54:05  
you dearly too. This has been the Jan Arden podcast and show, Caitlin green, Sarah Burke and a very, very, very special guest, Marilyn Dennis, your melting pads are in the mail. I'm sending them to you, but we'll see you next time. Everybody, thanks for listening. Stick around for bonus material, as always, our only Jans and our Patreon people. We thank you. Give us a review. Give us some stars that helps everybody find us on the podcasting horizon, which you know there's, there's only 117,000 podcasts out there right now, so and we are in the top 50,000 so put that in your pipe and smoke it. Okay. We'll see you next time. Totally. Do you?

Transcribed by https://otter.ai