How Men *NSYNC

of your questions. Last week, it was a lot of questions from listeners that were about fatherhood, and neither Tyler nor I were fathers, so we thought, to serve the mission of the community, we need to bring an out standing father on to answer some of these questions. So we have an amazing guest. Everybody is gonna just fan girl when I say this name. Here at the moment, we have an amazing guest on with us. He is a father, but he has many more things than that

as well. Um. He is a music superstar, a living legend. He's also an actor, host, a Broadway star, a voiceover artist, a dancer, media personality, everything you name it. This man is from the band in Sync. His name is Mr Joey, but tone Joey. What's up, Buddy Man? Doing all right? I'm great, and I guarantee listening in their cars or in their homes, that the ladies are just screaming and going wild. Well, hopefully that screaming to lead in their cars.

I don't want to get the little little deaf there, so make sure it's a a relatively nice scream, but not as loud. I hope that loud. You guys deserve that you deserve that you are a living legend. Dude. I'm like, I'm gonna get any girl in my phone. Any friends of mine are gonna send me text messages as soon as this is over it. I'm here to help anytime. If I'm here to help, if you need anything, don't worry about it. No, it's it's great to be

on man, I really appreciate it. It's interesting, you know, from from different perspectives from different man and it's it's fun to be on something like this to get my perspectives appreciate again. Yeah, and I'm looking forward to getting your perspective as well, because I've said on to show many times, I think the greatest, my ultimate destiny, the greatest thing I could ever do in my life is be a loving husband and a loving father and I'm not yet a father, so I always appreciate when we

have people who are fathers on the show. So I get to ask to ask questions and and sort of just armed myself to become a father and prepared to become a father. But also serves our community amazingly as well. I also just want to tip my cap to user, because you are a man of many hats um, and it's impressive to see you go across industry and have so many talents. You're obviously known as a performer, but

you have so many other talents. Yeah, it's it's nice that so far someone has not told me I sucked yet, which is good. That's always a good It's always a good indication that you're doing something right. Um. Also, I shall say, um, I don't know if you remember it or not, but we met before. I don't know if we actually personally met, but we were in the same room two of our friends, very very very good dancers

got married. Yeah you got up and sang, um that was that was and Sasha probably then yeah, buddy, if you got up and saying and you crushed it and you lit the whole fun it was. So that night was so fun. That was a lot that that was some of it. Tordsend was a little bit of a bull but yes, it was fun. Nonetheless, UM, I don't know if you knew what happened to me that night. Um, so everybody in the room is professional dancers, including yourself

being on Dancing with the Stars. I think you were Dancing with the Stars, right yea, So, um, everybody in the room is a professional dancer, with the exception of like three of us. And I put on my suit, put on this nice black suit to come to this wedding, and I'm like, wow, my suit is a little tight. You know, this was a suit from when I was playing hockey, when I was a little bit leaner. Now I'm a little stronger. So I'm like whatever, I'll wear the suit. I'm out on the dance for it's midnight,

just dancing. All of a sudden, it ripped the whole ass right out of this, right out of the the whole ask just goes right around right for the watching. I'm like, oh, dear, gone, nothing wrong with that. Especially in front of dances. Everybody were like cool, you're up to pants keeping going. So I got a quick uber home change pants and kind of quick uber. No, no, I didn't know that. That's awesome. Hey, nobody knew that

that's awesome. I only missed about twenty thirty minutes, but um, you rock the mic that night then it was It was fun man, Yeah, it's it's you know, it's always fun to do stuff like that, especially you know when you're you know when when my fourtast is mostly performing and singing, and you know, with Dancing the Stars, I really don't get a chance to do that in a sense,

but people see me in performing. So but it's kind of fun to be able to do that for your friends that are having a wedding and you know, you've you've you've grown to love and and and it's just fun to be able to do something like that, to be able to give the gift like that. So, hey, it's such it's I think it's soutful to use your gift to give that gift. Yeah. No, hey, I tried it as much as I can. If I can do it, I'll do you know, I'll do it. You know. Super cool.

So I also I want to get into more of what you're doing as well. We'll get into that later in the show. Because you, like I said, you are your whole thing. You're doing the man many things. You have a new show, common knowledge, a lot of stuff going on in your world. So we'll get to that later. But to serve our community first, I want to ask you some questions, some fatherhood questions. Um, you have two daughters,

ten year old and a ten year old. Um yea, And I don't know if you want to mention the names or speak about the minute. Chloe Chloe's a ten year old. Brianna is my nineteen year old. Brianna is just she finished already her first year of college, which is crazy to say and have that come out of my mouth. Uh, She's gonna be starting her second year coming up, I believe at the end of August. And my my ten year old is starting fourth grade uh in August as well. So they're they're both they're they're

definitely gonna be attending school. UM. I know with the whole thing with COVID and everything. I think Brianna is she goes to Michigan State. She'll be going there for I think up until December and then comes back for the rest of the year. And since my old my little one, I should say, goes to private school for schooling they're doing where they can either go to school or opt out of being in school. So what we want to do is for my daughters, what we're gonna

what we are doing. What we're doing is we're gonna have our kid, Chloe, Chloe going to school. And if and you know, and if things aren't that great or the case would be, we can always pull her out worst case scenario and still be two at home, but we'd rather her get the education in the hands on things because now the classes are going to be even smaller, which is great, I think, obviously with the exception of hopefully for everybody's social distancing, and they're putting plexical I mean,

it's crazy what they're doing, but they're trying to make it as as normal as they can. So it's been a it's been interesting to deal with that, especially right when the pandemic hit and you know, I'm not doing fourth grade math anymore. And my kid comes up to me and says, hey, Dad, don't know how to do this, And I look at her, going, uh, I don't know either. Let me find out. You know, you figure it out or you asked the teacher. You know, I asked my brother.

Is talking my brother about it too. He's got two kids, and he said he wants to put his son back in school in the fall too. So it seems like a lot of places are leaving you the option. Um, I would probly do the same, try and get them back in school, just to be the environment and being around their friends. And life's gonna look a little bit different. Um, But that's okay, you know, I think so right right now, it's again it's just adjusting and hopefully getting back again.

Nothing's ever gonna be hard to percent normal. I don't think back to normal percent, but again, there will be some sort of normal ce on certain things in the way they're going to handle things, I'm sure. And just again, it's one of those things that like, Okay, let's try to reassess the figure out what we have to do and how we have to do it to make things work to where we get these kids in education. Yeah, wow, amazing, awesome brother, Okay, we have we have some questions for you, buddy,

and I'm looking forward to your answers. And just like doing everything from a father, so our our producer engineer, extraordinary, Mr Easton is awaiting in the wings with the question Easton, what do you got for us? Buddy? All right, let's get into it. Uh. This first one is from Clara. She says, guys with kids, how are you surviving this time? Marriage, dating, parenting? It's all too much? Great question. Yeah, it's th one, but like how we're very guys with kids, kids come first.

I don't know what does it look like for you? It is well for me, it's it's for people. For for men that are going through what I have gone through and things that I'm going through now, it's it is. It is tough. I ain't gonna lie. It's not that easy. I mean right now, you know. Finally add percent been divorced. I've been married. I was married for almost dated for almost ten years and almost married for ten years. So I was with with with my ex Kelly for almost

twenty years. Uh. Been has been separated for about two years now. It's been over about six years now. Been divorced in a sense separating divorce from about five to six years now. But it's crazy because it's good and bad. It's really weird because for what we have now is you know, a lot of times I do travel, and I do work a lot, and mostly my ex will take care of the girls because I do travel. Now that my other one obviously is older, she is obviously

a lot more free. She's nineteen, she goes to college. Okay, with that, get to understand that it's a little bit easier with the ten year old I right now. We've been doing it since the pandemic happened. You know, there were times, like I said, when I work now that things haven't been happening, and I haven't been working. I've been taking care of my kids two weeks, two weeks on, two weeks off, so I'll have my girls, I'll have Chloe two weeks on, and like now, the next two

weeks I have off, I don't have them. And also on top of that, I also have a girlfriend that I've been dating from the past four and a half five years almost now almost six actually, uh, And it's been crazy because the fact that you know, she lives in l A. And everything's been going on in l A. She just a couple about a month or so ago. She actually flew to spend time with her mom, who lives about an hour so away from me. So that's kind of a good thing for me in the best

of both worlds. But the hardest part, I would say honestly is really juggling that time, but also on top of that how to avoid and deal with the pandemic and not you know, okay, my say friends is okay, my girlfriend's been with her mom, but her mom has been out maybe somewhere, so I can't really be with her all the time. So it's a lot of face time and a lot of conversation, um, you know, dealing with the kids. It's it's that day to day basis. And again, like I was about to say earlier, is

with the math problems. There's certain things that I don't know and I'm like, Chloe, I don't know what to tell you, like I don't even know the answer or how to do this. So and the nice things about is the teachers have been really helpful during obviously the school year, so they've been really helpful with the with the with the point of like you know, give us the call or let us know, you know what, we'll

try to help you out one on one. So it's been a crazy thing for me to juggle because I mean, think about it, you know, get people always say celebrities, Oh, you know, you got it easy, and you know you've got tons of money and you can do this. Okay,

I get that. But when you have a divorce, when you're dealing with kids, when you're dealing with a girlfriend, when you're dealing with your own personal things in your personal life, and then you go, oh, I have I have to deal with a career on top of that. It does take a lot of um compartmentalizing, putting things in certain places and going okay, I have to deal with this right now, and then I gotta put that away and deal and put a new hat on and put the you know, the dad hat, and what do

I have to do with that? You know? It's it is so crazy. It's like eighty million things. Especially in my ten year old now, it's more or less of going, you know, to give you a crazy day, it would be like, all right, we're getting up, you do the breakfast, you do this, get your bed, I gotta get ready for this. Oh my gosh, you're going through puberty now,

and your arm pits of this and that. How do I have this conversation with you when you're ten years old and you're a girl, But you need to trim that. But how do I tell you that? And I'm a god, it is insane. And that's just at the beginning of the morning, you know, and then you gotta go throughout the whole day of other things as well. So it's the question for me to compartmentalize like that. Do you do you like, actually make a schedule, like a home

schedule like before nine I'm I'm horrible with schedules. I will say that because even now me right now, and I'm learning more and more as I do it, because back in the day with the STINC, I was always scheduled. It was a schedule to do everything you hate you do this. Now that I have my own time, I can make my own schedule, I tend to be more relaxed a little bit more. But I will say, especially when it comes to the kids, I make sure their

stuff is first and prior before anything that I do. Really, majority of the time, it's always are you at a dentist appotment or you got at school, you got this, you got that? Let us let that's my that's my goal for that day. You know, a lot of times, especially for me, again, it is a little bit easier for me because when I am home, I don't work as much period. But now that things can slow down, I haven't done correct. So it's like almost my whole

year as a wash. And it's like, now, you know, next year is going to be definitely different because it's picking up the pieces as far as working. Common knowledge is coming back from that kind of stuff. Again, I'm gonna be in California. How do I deal with my kids and that as well. So it's again it's a very um it's never a dull moment. It's never the same for parents that know that you know, and obviously we want consistency, we want repetition because it helps them

in their daily life. I think as they get older to have some sort of consistency in their life. I think for kids, you know, and even though you know, my stuff is a little out whacked, but there is consistency. Every two two weeks, she goes to to to Kelly every two we every you know, the next two weeks she's with me, you know, and we we we kind of make sure we And that's the other thing I make sure I talked to Kelly on getting the same uh regiment. If you will you know what kind of

foods do they like? What kind of things? I don't just go off of what I like and what I do, but I'm always like, you know, what are the things that they really like and really want to do. So we're on the same page and when they come over here, they're getting the same exact kind of thing as they are in the other household. Because again, my daughter Chloe's on the spectrum of autism, not that she's not that she's not completely disconnected or you know, not verbal. She's verbal,

and she she does talk to people. She doesn't make a whole lot of my contactical at times, but there are certain things that do not connect, and that's also puts a strain on people. And how do you deal with that and figure that out? And for a while, I had so much patience when I was young. As I got older for some reason, I'm like, I have no patience for this anymore. And then as I'm getting even older now you start to realize, Okay, what's the balance of I have patience for this, but I don't

have patience for this right now. But I need to take a time to figure it out. You know, that kind of thing the more. The more dads I talked to him, we have a couple on the show, Um, they'll all reiterate the same thing, and it sounds like, what, Um, what you're saying is that there's no perfect dad, there's no perfect way to do it. But we no book, there's no real book. We leave with our hearts and we try the best we can and you're gonna make

mistakes except that and know that. And um, but I've every dad that I've ever met, I've never questioned their heart and their intention. But they all say, yeah, we're not perfect, but I love my kids and they'll do anything for him. So oh yeah, I mean, you know what. And it's so weird and and it's it's odd for me to say this, and I even say and it's

not odd for me I should say. But what what I'm about to say is is definitely something that I have learned over the years later on especially being a divorce family. And even if you're not divorced and you're still obviously what your spouse and everything is going great, give the time for your spouse, whether it be the

male or female or whatever. What you're under your roof is give that time to say, hey, you know what, I'm going to take the kids or the kid or whatever for the weekend, or you know what, you go somewhere, give each spouse a chance to kind of recharge their batteries, because nobody's just like you said, nobody's perfect. We get angry, we can do this, We do that. We all need downtime to ourselves, whether that be either watching TV all day, going to play golf, going to a hotel and reading

a book, whatever. Then that sense maybe in your zen, I think it does give the other person a break. And I never noticed that when I was younger, because I was always traveling within saying my ex was always with my with the kids, and it was always you know, well the kids did this and this and that, and I'm always like, y, yeah, but you can deal with it. And it's it's not that easy. Everybody there. People realized and don't really think that, especially especially when when I

got divorced. I became mom and dad when I got home. So when I when I'm home by myself, I'm like, like, legit part of my friendsman, I'm like, oh, I gotta cook, I gotta get them ready for school. I have to make sure, the house is you know, livable. Let's be real, you know. And again, and I'm not the type of person that's gonna be like, oh well, I have maids to do this, I have people to do that. I don't do that kind of crap. I mean, even when we had our children, I had a babysitter. I never

had a nanny. And that's just that's just our personal preference. Again, everybody is different and the way they were raised, it's just different things. And the way I was raised, you know, I was raised by my mom and dad, and that's the way it was. Do we have babysiting, We have babysitters, but we were just you know, it's the way we do it. And again, it's like for me, it's very um,

it was definitely a challenging thing. But I I tell all people that have been married or still married or whatever, give some time for your spouse to take a break to disconnect. Uh and trust me, that person will thank you, but maybe not by saying thank you, but you'll notice in the how they react to certain things, you know. And again, I know it's tough sometimes and it's not easy, and you know, we go through different things or who the hell want to want to watch the kids seven?

You know, when you're working all day Monday through Friday, nine to five. You know, I get I get it. But you know what, in the long run, it does pay off to do stuff like that, whether you're divorced or whether you're still together. Amazing, man, amazing. Eastern Question number two. All right, this is from Erica. How do men feel about dating when they have kids from our previous relationship? Do they feel it's important to take the time to introduce kids to the new relationship. It's tough.

My rule for what what we did, believe it or not. I don't know if this is gonna work for everybody, but I can only speak for myself. Is we had it to where we? You know, again, people are still dating, and when you get divorced, people date other people and you don't never know that person is going to be there all the time. And you don't want to introduce your kids to somebody that maybe for there for one week and then a new person is gonna be there

the next week. You know, you don't You don't want to kind of have that That thing so mine was is after two years of dating, is when I introduced my kids to my girlfriend. Not I waited almost two years. I waited just to know that it's going to be right.

That's the difference, because again, somebody can be there for you know, six months, and everything could be great, but something can go left field, and say, for instance, that you know that child has an attachment to that that that other person now and becomes some sort of a stepmother or stepfather, and then all of a sudden things don't work out and you pull that from the kid too. I think personally, I think it's a time to give a chance to make sure you're really in this relationship

with that person. So my one time, the pretty funny thing was is I was dating Isabel at the time, and my buddy, my friend Matt, came with me to go to the movies, and my older daughter, who was still younger at the time, came with us, and I obviously, you know, tried to honor as much as I can to make sure that things were distant, and they didn't know until I was really serious with this girl. And in the movie theater, I was like, oh, yeah, Brianna, this is Matt. You know, my buddy Matt, and this

is his girlfriend. And Matt and my daughter kept looking as she got all the going there's no way in hell that Matt was dating that girl, No way, because he's like he's like a Tom Young, like a young goofy Tom Hanks kind of thing. And then you have you know, Isabel, who's this tall, beautiful Brazilian. So it's it's a areas how that whole thing, you know, you know, it goes down. But again for me, it was like, I want to make sure that I'm in this with her before they meet my kids, you know, And I

think for me that's when I did that. But you know, again to each his own, toever. You know, sometimes people fall in love, they move in very quickly and that's that's that's their that's their bag, that's what they like. But for me, I know that I would take the time before I introduce my significant other to my kids because again that's a hard thing, especially depending on the age as well. Like my little one really doesn't know as much. It didn't really know as I didn't know.

They're not stupid. Let's be real here, kids are not stupid. They they will they will see things and they will know things. And even like sometimes you know, as she was getting a little older and I was dating Isabelle, there has been questions like legit, like you know, uh, you know you still married to mommy? Do you still love mommy? And you kind of go, yeah, we still love each other, but we're just not together in a relationship. We're always still gonna be there for each other. We're

always gonna be there for you. And it's a tough it's a it's it's not an easy thing to kind of talk about it, especially when the kids can't understand it or they don't grasp you know. They're they're taught to love one another, to love people, and if you really care about that person, you know, maybe you get married with them and you have kids with them, and

that's that's the that's the thing. It's never, well, what happens if you get married or you're together and you guys really really don't really see eye to eye anymore? And how does that work when you actually go through a separation or divorce or not being with them. So

it's hard to really explain that to kids. But as they get older, they do start to understand and they have I think for me, they have a little bit of appreciation of how me and Kelly kind of handled what we did as far as going into that with our children. Amazing. Yeah, two years is long. I I wouldn't guess, obviously, because I'm not in that situation. Maybe off the top of my head and maybe would have

guessed like four or six months. But like the fact that you were that thorough, that thorough, Like I really just as you how much you love and want to protect a few daughters because you don't know. Yeah, especially in a situation that I'm in. You don't know what the what the what the reasoning of whatever. The girl that I just say side I decided to meet or whatever has a different intention you don't. I don't know, So I want to make sure that it's legit, it's real.

It's not like, you know, a flash in the pan. It could have been a rebounder. You don't know. You know again, you never know until you really go Okay, that's the person I really want to be with for for the rest of my life or for a really long time, and I want them to be a part of my life with my children. Yeah. Wow, great answer, Thanks Joy, he said, you got another one. Yes, this is from anonymous how do dads cope with their daughters or sons that are getting older and leaving the house

and starting their own lives. How do you navigate that transition? I said, Brianna, get the hell out. No, I'm kidding. I bought it. Get the hell out. You know what's so funny, there's there's different there's different kids. Kids are gonna be different, um like for instance, and again, it's interesting how dynamic and how different my daughters are from each other. Where you have Brianna, who is never really a hugger. She'll hug you and stuff, but never hug strangers.

She was never like even the type to give a hug. To my parents. We would tell her, you know, all right, yeah, lean over and and and and give your forehead basically because she would go to hug, but she would just lean her forehead to her shoulder, never wrap their arms or even like my parents, her grandparents, she was there like that. Chloe's a different story. Chloe hugs and loves everyone. And the reason why I saying that is with Brianne.

With Brianna, my older one, she was excited and ready at the house, not like you're like, oh my god, I can't wait to get out of you drive me crazy. It's more or less of I really want to go into the world, and I think we have I think I'd like to say and think that we did a good job on prepping her to be smart about things, to be independent, to be an independent person, and not really rely on other people all the time, because there are times that people are you know, it's it's just

it's a true fact. Everybody is never not everyone's always gonna be there for you. It may happen a lot of times, but not everybody is always gonna be So

how do you think for yourself? You know. So it's funny to watch her because, especially in college, when she has a roommate and she's in the dorm and it's almost like not that she's bathing the roommate, but she has that motherly I guess feeling instinct, yeah, instincts where she's like, oh my god, I had to clean the room today, or I have my god, this was messy. And to make sure this, I said, oh, you're finally learning about things. I'm like, wait until you get a

job now. And now she's been getting you know, she's working now and now it's a whole another thing. But she was, you know, for me, it's it's sad. Of course, it's so weird to see your child grow up. It's there always people always say it, People always say this stuff, and you always go, well, you don't, you never, you don't understand less you have a child. And it is so true. And it's not like shove me, get down your throat, like, oh my god, you know what you're doing.

It's more or less of It is a such an odd feeling to have somebody that you loved that from the very beginning could never even speak to you or talk to you when the kid was born, that you have so much love for this person, and now this person is a grown ass woman and she's doing things and going through things that you did before, but in a different path. And it's weird to go, Okay, I've seen you sing at a kid's school play, you know,

singing Yankee Doodle Danny in kindergarten. And now you're walking down getting your diploma, and now you're going into college and you go, what the hell just happened? How did that time go? And it's it's an emotional roller coaster. It is I mean, I got I cried like a freaking baby when I left her. I remember this, I actually left her. I was like, all right, cool, and I was like in the dorm and I'm like, you're

all settled in. I'm like, all right, I said, the only thing for me when I got upset and I told her, I said, I was like, I got teared saying it because I said to her, listen, I said, here's the here's the thing that sucks, and said, it's great that you're going and doing all the things that you're doing. The only thing that sucks is and I'm used to traveling anyway. So therefore we have We're good with each other in a sense of calling each other,

face timing each other. The hardest part is is when I come home to Florida and I want to see you, You're not there. You're a Michigan to see you for a lot of the other holidays that you normally I normally see, you're not there. So that kind of tradition and that kind of stuff is where it hurts home and you're like, sucks, you know. But again, it's one of those things where you have to let you kild fly. You have to let them to to make those mistakes.

And you know, even now, there's so many times that we bumped heads. And one time I said something that she actually told me to go f myself, which I was like, whoa, I mean, you want to get deep with stuff? And we we had a heated argument. We had a we had a heated argument. Can I criss on here? No? I can't cross. You want easy to

believe it to be things? You should believe it? Oh yeah, no, no legit I I we had an argument about something and I I said something that I shouldn't have that triggered her to get upset because she was I've never seen to be very outspoken like that. And I'm like, you got you're very passionate, you're very upset, and the way it came out again, I should have said this again, we don't say the right things all the time, but I was like, you're really upset? Are you were in

your period? And that set off a whole another level of something that I've never seen before. So that's why she told me to go. Basically, she said, you can go yourself. It's what she said to me. And I went and I stepped back for a second and I just let her go out. She get all steamed up. She tells me everything. I go, okay, I left room. I went back in the room and I said, do

me a favor. I said, you know, I know that we do have great conversations again, and it's it's amazing to me how she is very open to a lot of things that not even myself, or sometimes I would think even my friends kids would never say to them or openly say to them. But it's interesting where I was like, do me a favor. I said, we can have conversations. You can be mad at me, you can go inside and say I said, if you ever say

that ever again, I will beat your ass. I said, you want to know what a grown person would do to a grown person. You're grown woman, though, I will beat your ass because I'm your father. I said, don't ever speak to me like that ever again. I said, we don't. We don't have that. Guy said, I don't speak to you like that. You don't speak to me like that. I said, we don't do that. So she apologized and everything, and again, these these are these are moments that you know, we don't like to talk about,

but they happen. Having your own kid to tell me go screw myself after she got mad at something else. And again it was a whole other thing, and I was just like, let's all calm down. I'm not your friend, I'm your father. So that's that's the first. And it's so it's so funny to see people too when they see me because I'm like a twelve year old kids

you don't like having fun? Is that It's hilarious when a lot of friends of mine see me and they're like, damn, you really reprimand your kids are You're really telling them don't do that? Or how did you see that? That your kids doing that and you're yelling at her? They're only done, I said, I see everything. I said, we just noticed it. It's just an instinct. It happens. It is what it is. But you know, like I said, getting back to the to that question, in a sense

of like it's it's it's tough. It is, it's just all around tough. You try to deal with it the best you can uh and learn how to go about it. And again, everybody's path is completely different. You know, mine is where I never even went to college. My kids going to college. I never went. So I look at her going. I don't know what to tell you. I've never been to college. I don't even know what it's like. My college years was touring the world. Yeah, so I

don't know. You know, it's different old. How old were you when you left home? Um? I didn't well specifically really leave home, but as far as traveling, and I was gone from about two and a half years is when I was right out of high school, almost like eighteen or nineteen years old. The age that my my daughter left college really was the time I left. I left the team to pursue hockey, and I remember leaving.

I was gone for about a month and then I'm remember writing a letter to my parents and my brother and sister and like I can't do this. I miss you guys too much. Like I was crying. Um, it's like my heart was breaking that I was away from home. I was living with another family in a different town, five hours away. And I put it in a little desk drawer in my in my bedroom and I never mailed it. And I kind of just got over that hurdle all of a sudden, and then after that I

was fine. I was like, I want to pursue hockey for a life like I want. You know, this is just I'm just feeling this way, but I want to pursue. This means everything to me. And once I got over that hurdle, I just you know, took off. But my parents, I don't think we're ready for me to go. Um, God bless their heart because when they dropped up, we all cried. They bawled their eyes out, and then they get in the car and they drossed home. Um, they

weren't ready for me to go. But I think it was an ultimate form of love to show me, like for him to be what he wants to be, he needs to play against better competition and this is do that. So literally, I'm sure their hearts broke, but like in giving me love, that was probably the way that they

saw that they could most give me love. And you know what I And the most amazing thing about that is if if and and as kids we don't think about it, but and now that I think about it, because I probably wouldn't let her go if I didn't think she was able to do it. Do you know what I mean? I think parents, if parents knew that their kid was about to fail, or do something. And you know, I'm just saying it just forget it happens.

We're all, we all play Devil's African stuff. But I think, like, you know, especially with my kid, I was like, you know what, you're ready. I can't stop you anymore. I can't. I'm not gonna cuttle you. I'm not gonna baby you. You're you're a grown kid. You've made enough decisions in your life to prove to me what that you can make a normal decision in your life, you know what I mean. So it was kind of interesting to to to let that go. And I think that's what it is.

I think for even for an adult to say, you know what, I know you're ready to let yourself to let to go. They might not be ready, but I know you're ready, you know what I mean. It's it's it's interest because I think that's thinking about that. I don't think I would let her go if she was ready. Um, how does that? How does that feel for you? Is there is there like a real internal sense of pride, like I believe she's ready, Like I think I've I think I've been the best parent I could for her,

and like yeah, you know, and again. You know, it feels good when other people say it, obviously, you know when when it's word of mouth, when all of a sudden, you know, I've had Yeah, And again, it's always weird and interesting because of who I am. Some people take that into consideration. Think about it. You know, where some people just might want to come up to me and say, oh my god, your daughter is such an amazing kid,

just because they wanted to talk to me. But there are some people out there that are like, you know what, They're like friends of mine that are like, dude, that's your kid. That's weird. First of all, they said, because how the hell did that amazing woman come out of you? Basically in a sense like you taught like I know you from like farting around in rooms and being silly, and you know, again being twelve years old, they're like,

she is so ahead of her time. Even though she's still a kid and she still plays and has kid tendencies, she was very adult older for her age. Like I mean, we went to for instance, the stupidest, funniest thing too, and I want to kill somebody is we went to

Lance's wedding. We're at Lance's wedding. Him and Michael were getting married and some people haven't seen me in a while, and some people I know and stuff, and I'm walking around and Brianna was with me and and and Kelly actually my exit that we were separated, and Brown was walking around and some guys starts talking to Brianna and he's like basically hitting on her. And I'm like watching as this is going down, I'm like, this is gonna be funny. I walk up and the guy's like, oh, Joey,

what's up there? And I know. The guy like oh, it's like, oh, do you know. I'm like, yeah, that's Brianna, my daughter. He went, oh okay, I'm like, yeah, daughter. I was like that. All I say was that's my daughter. And he had no idea. He thought it was just some chick at them at the wedding and he was just trying to hit on. I was like, by the way, she's seventeen. And that was the time too. I'm like, she's seventeen and I would kill you, there's no way.

So again, it's really funny, like how mature she has has gotten. And I guess, you know again, I commend obviously myself. Yeah, I put about the the back and and my acts as well. You know. Again, it's like we may not be the great the greatest people in a relationship wise as far as the marriage is concerned, but I definitely know that we have been damn good parents to to keep our kids in the right path

whether or whatever happens in our relationship. You know, if we try to keep that, Yeah, we try to keep that that very kind of on the same path for them. Yeah, true North compass point for kids. Yeah, to put them first and and be there for them. Good for you, guys, we don't much more time with you know, you have a heart out here. Shortly, Um, eatan, what kind of do we want to get to another final question? Or do we want to get some fire? Fire fire some

questions and I'll answer as quickly as I can. I know, we go into a whole freaking thing. I love to talk about this because I got a quick one. So, um, you probably get these all the time. But like our our listeners are, like I said, are probably fan girling right now. So, um, what's the most challenging part of being known from a boy bound boy band? And what's the best part? So most challenging and most and the best um you know, in the beginning of it, like

after we split. I think the challenging part from being at a boy band was was breaking that mold. Was trying to not be a guy from Men Sync and again we were and I was, and it is what it is that I had the popularity it was it was more or less of really trying to break that mold because people all they did was just see me as a as a guy in a group. And you look at a lot of other groups out there, that's what a lot of them known for some of them

now of course. Or you got you know, like into Jackson Bybe, you got Michael Jackson, you got with even within Sick, you got justin Um. You know, with Backstreet, you don't really have a specific solo person or somebody that's out there, you know, making it their own. They do individual things like Nick does and stuff like that,

but not really I don't know, not really made. Other things are completely out outside of just music, you know what I mean, Like for instance, because I like how you reinvented yourself in many lanes, Well I looked at the whole picture. Yeah, I gotta look at the whole big picture. You know, for instance, say Real Quick Dance with the Stars was a great platform. Yeah it's not my forte. I mean, yeah, I danced a little bit, but you know what, people saw my personality and that

helped me get another gig. And I did a show called the Singing b Singing Be went to TV Guide Network and I did I was doing the Red Carpet for TV Guy Network and it just kept going on and on. Thank goodness that the albums the show called common Oledge. So I think if I didn't do those shows to show my personality, I would have never been able to reinvent myself. Yeah awesome. Um, what's the best part of being known from a boy band? M There's a few things. There was no social media back then.

That's a good thing. Uh. I'll just say, if you screaming, women just coming up to you and oh my god, you know what, it's it's one of those things. It's I one of the one of the harder things was was really traveling around a lot back in the day. I remember how hard it was though, where we could not even go to the bathroom by ourselves, had a security guard have to go into the bathroom make sure

that there was nobody in there kind of thing. Now it's a little bit more lenient, it's a lot more relaxed. I like this better. Um, you know, do I do? I of course do. I love performing with the guys stuff, And then of course I didn't. It still would love to if that ever comes about. How's it gonna happen? Probably not at the moment, I'm already answering that question. But it's just one of those things where you just, you know, it take you take different things one step

at a time, you know. And for me it's like I try not to dwell on things are like, o oh, in the past, you know, we were this, and we were that. You know, that was the best days. I think the whole thing was just an amazing experience. It was something a part of my life that I will never forget and always cherish. I never I'm not the type of person it's like, oh, those are my days when I was young. I didn't know any better. We were making a crapload of money, millions of fans, and

we had great music and what else is it? So? Um? I had a friend, an next athlete, once tell me never try and replace sports. But also I know that you will always be the athlete that you are. So like a lot of guys will come out of sports and say, oh, I was a professional athlete like you are. Like if you want a gold medal, if you want a gold medal in the Olympics, you are an Olympic champion. You are. Yeah, you know what can take that away

from you? No one continue You still are that. But then the challenges you know you are a member of in Sync. You are, but you have done things now, But I am also now, I am this, Now I am I've gone through that journey myself in identity of like I am still a hockey player even though I retired. I am that. I'm also a podcast post and I'm

also these other things you know. So um, I think people get stuck in an identity, especially in uh a notable one of one of fame or where where people identify them as of course, people could still identify you as a member of in Sync, but you've gone on to do so many other things that well, and is that And it's interesting to see now too because now I never know it's it's it's actually quite It's almost like a little game now for me because when people

come up, I never know what they're I never know what they're gonna say, because sometimes it's like the older the young, older women that are in their thirties and forties are like, oh my gosh, I love you, and in in sync the grandmother will look at me and go, oh my god, you were great at Dance with the Stars, or I love you my big fact Greek wedding. Young kids will say, holy cow, I loved you from Impractical Jokers,

or you were great on the Mask Singer. So my my stuff is spread out so much, which is really cool, I guess because the demographic for me has been again it's been such a widespread So I think that's another thing in credit to where when I do Common Knowledge to show that's on Game Show Network right now, so many different kids and from kids two adults to everybody can watch it. It's a fun family game and the things that I've done have spenned over a lot of

different generations. Believe it or not, Uh to be able to thank goodness, people still recognize me. It's not oh, you're from that band that justin Timberlake was in which you know, we get we get all the time. But it is what it is, and but I don't care. Man, it's credit to you for reinventing yourself, for continually doing things in life, versus you could I you could have just cashed out and said, okay, I'm good. I was and seeing dressed in life. But but it's not exactly.

I love to entertain. I love. Yeah, I love to entertain. I love I love different things. I love. I love that I'm able to have a variety of life in the sense of where one day I'm in a booth dute, I've alwiced over for a cartoon. The next minute, I'm hosting a show for the Game Show Network. Then I'm doing pranks and jokes with a practical jokes. I mean, who the hell would not want what I'm doing. I mean it's amazing. Again, I've always you know, KMA lucky

stars and blessed the stuff that I've done. And again I I do also handed to my ex but also my kids for allowing me, because sometimes that's not easy when you know the parents are always gone and the kids are not, like, well, why does daddy always have to leave? And that happened with my younger one. My older one now when she was younger, Why is daddy always leaving? And it's always well, daddy has to work. And I was literally, plain simple. Do you like the

house you're living in? Do you like the school that you're in? You like the car that mommy drives? Well, daddy has to do these things in order to have these things. Dude, I can't imagine how hard that must because I have a two and a half year old husky who's my boy. He's like he's like laying on the floor over here. Um, but like when I leave, he just stands at the door and howls and like claws the door and howls, and it just breaks my

heart when I take him everywhere with me. So when I do have to leave where somewhere where he can't come, um, it just breaks his heart. And it must be amplified a million times. When you have kids that are looking at people say that, I think it's the same. I know it sounds crazy me to say that, because I've seen people with their dogs. I mean, even my girlfriend has a dog. We have a multipoo, and that is

her kid. That's amazing. I mean, like no joke. It's like she literally said to me one day and I looked at it. I was like, really, she goes, well, you know, if if he doesn't go, I don't go. You know what. Fair enough? I was like, and I don't even said that. I could. I can't be mad at her. I could be like, well the dog, that's her kid. You know, you gotta start thinking about it

that way. Not many people think that, So again, it does magnify it because I think the only difference is is with a child, when they get older, they communicate and they say, daddy, don't leave. You know. A puppy is sometimes crying because maybe they saying, daddy don't leave. But daddy don't leave. I want you to play her, daddy, I gotta I want to eat, you know. But it's it's interesting when the kid, When the kid does say

stuff like that, it breaks your freaking heart. It makes you just you're like, gosh, it's like man, you know, like, you know, it's amazing how different things is. You can get older triggers, you know. I gotta I gotta a Father's Day card the very the very first time I ever got a Father's Day card. I'll remember this to the day I die. I gotta thing sent in the mail. I was on tour and it came into the mail at the arena and I opened up and it was a book that my ex made with with Brianna, like hey,

do you know where my daddy is? And always like these cute little pictures of like Carl looking through the cabinet and stuff like that, or hang on and then set me a whole Father's Day thing. I lost it. I lost, legitimately, absolutely lost. And that's another thing about met out there. Stop being strong, be the be the

worst that you can be. It's okay. It is okay to cry when you read a Hallmark card in your forty three years old, or it's okay to to get teary eyed when you see the soldier coming home to their daughter or their son. I lose that. I lose. I've never like I'm like God, I'm a big man. Now I lose. I lose. I lose absolutely too. I never did during during playing sports. I never did. But

I've learned that. I've learned that side of my life and developed that side of my heart and the emotional intelligence and beat in two with that and not trying to suppress that, and my life is so much more fulfilled and happy. Yeah, I'm so much more expressed and I find a greater capacity to express love because of it. Yeah. I love that you say that for our community because I always try and be an advocate for that on

this show as well. Um, so high five to you for being like truly a masculine and in touch with their emotions. Yeah. Man, nobody, nobody is perfect. And again we all we all have different spides to us, and you know, certain things may touch others in certain ways, but again it's it's for me, it's it's life. You know, if it's something moves you that much and that emotion

that it's telling you something, it's telling you something. You know, it's say that moved you and that felt you in a way that you've never done before, and you're like, wow, that just took me. You know. Again, certain movies, now, anything that has to do with a daughter and and a father's I lose. It's a ram Like. I love that real quick. I want to ask you one last question or um it's it's probably the hardest question of the world to be short on, but I just want

to respect your time. But um, what is the absolute best and most fulfilling thing about being a father. The most fulfilling thing is just seeing your kid succeeding in whatever that whatever that is in that moment. It's not like, you know, making money and being successful. It's it's literally you know, oh wow, she just walked for the first time.

That's amazing. You know, those are for those moments for me are fulfilling, especially when and another thing that people have asked me, and you could actually go look a lot of a lot of interviews when people always ask me, well, what's the one major thing in your life that was a pinpoint or a pivot or the most amazing thing? You know, what's one of the performances And I'm like, well, it's not really so much performance. It's when I had my kids. That's the most rewarding thing for me. Yes,

is it amazing to have the awards? It's amazing. To perform is amazing. Oh yeah, it's amazing. But it's amaz eason to have someone that you've created basically, and even if you haven't, even if you have adopted, that's another thing. And if you adopted a child, it's still in a sense your flesh and blood because you were teaching that child, the way that you were taught when you were younger by your parents or whoever taught you, and how to move that along and how to how to I don't know,

get it to the next generation. So for me to know, it's weird for me to know, especially too, it's it's interesting to think about this, but for me to know that I have not failed my children is one of the greatest rewards as well. I think, you know what, I mean to see my kid look up and go, you know what, that's my dad. My dad may not be perfect, he's a door, but he's done a lot of good things in life for me and for my family and just for just in general where he makes

people happy. And that's that's kind of one of the things that that I'm most proud of to know that my kid knows that my kids know that value and know that that after I'm dead and gone, that they know what I did, whatever I did was hopefully a great lesson and a value to them that they can live on to tell their kids or their family or their friends or whoever. So yeah, I love it, man, I love it. I love your mission. Um Where can

our community find the one and only Mr I am everywhere. No, I mean on on Instagram and on on YouTube and on stuff. Obviously Real Joey Fatone at Real Joey Fatone is my Instagram and Twitter. But also there's a show that I host Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays on YouTube at around two o'clock two o'clock Eastern time, eleven o'clock, uh Pacific, the California area over there, um where we it's called what does Joey Know? I have a host, Jason Logan,

he doesn't. Me and him basically host a show where we have a different celebrities and we interview them, we play certain songs to see if they can guess and see if they know it. That's another thing. Common Knowledge is still airing right now. And actually the cool thing about Common Knowledge is is it's gonna be airing on Fox at one pm I believe, starting I think uh sometime in mid August or the second week of August.

But it's gonna be in like Orlando, Tampa, in New York, Chicago, l a, UM, a bunch of major cities, but on Fox affiliates. So we're hopefully gonna be getting syndicated. So that's gonna be happening, and we're shooting more episodes in January three. It's August. Thank you. See you know more than I do. So August three grab even quicker than I thought. So August three year, we're gonna they're gonna start showing that. So please guys check it out. That'd

be amazing. Let me know if it sucks. But it's a lot of fun. It's a fun thing. And then I'm gonna be doing some more stuff when practical jokers, when I start shooting again, so we have the after party show that I host. My brother in law used to watch that show all the time when he loved was so funny all the time. The nuts these guys are nuts, buddy. I I want to thank you one for being open and honest with us but to um pleasure you can do our community. But for being an

amazing dad. Like I said the show, I have the utmost respect and tip my cap to every father out there. Uh. I think that's the greatest destiny in life, to become a father and a loving husband and a partner. And so I tip my cap to you. And then also from a personal standpoint too, I also am inspired by you. How you came up as a member of instinct and pivoted your career and you close you went on too different lanes and do in my life as I am

an athlete was did live that athlete life. And now there's other things in the world, other ways I want to make an impact, other things. I want to challenge myself. But I could live my life. I'm not growing and challenging and meeting new people and stuff. And so to see, I always love when I see people crossing lanes and when I get to have conversations with them. So you're an inspiration to me. My man, Thank you so much. We can't wait to see what you do next. I

appreciate you, man. Thank you for having me on any anytime. Seriously, I mean for me. You know I don't I don't talk a whole lot about it. A lot of times I think not not It's not just because I don't want to. I think it's more or less of just like just like anything, it's it's the right time in the right place. This is a podcast for that. You know, if you're gonna talk to me about my career, we'll

talk about my career. But you know, it's it's different people that are different listeners that are listening you know what I'm saying. So it's kind of nice to where we had these conversations. Let's get into those conversations, and again they might not be the nicest conversations. Nobody is perfect. That's the one thing we we we all have to really when we all should realize that, we know, we realize that everything is not always freaking rainbows and roses.

It's it's it's grind, it's grueling, parent thing could be a big painted the ass. It's just tough, but it's how you navigate and make it your own and make it to where you know you're learning. You're giving life lessons and you're learning them as well. I'm always learning every day. So I appreciate you. Thank you. Also, just to end it, just the other day, I was over at Sasha and Emma's for a barbecue and we're talking about their wedding, and I said, that was one of

the funnest nights of my life. To do it again, like every year, just something right, if they do it, we'll see you there and I'll jump up, yeah, hell yeah, and make sure you don't rap your pants this time. Alright, uh, thank you for serving our community. Until next week, everybody, take care of one another, love one another, and we'll see you back here for another episode of How Men Think