Find the Angle Another Way (Loren talks kids of celebs, Jamie Fox reflects)

behind the scenes of the Grime. Today. I am feeling productive. I'm getting a lot done today. It is midweek, you guys know, heading into a holiday Juneteenth, there's always anticipation because you don't have to work, You get to, you know, spend time with your family, spend time doing things that you typically don't have time to do during the week. So for me, I was like, Okay, being at this

holiday is in the middle of the week. I want to try and get as much done as I can prior to the holiday so I can actually spend the holiday like a holiday. Yes, y'all know me. So I will still be working, we will still have podcasts, episodes, all the things right, but the full bulk of feeling like my day is dedicated so much to other people and work, work, work, work, work, work, work is not what I want to be doing on Juneteenth. I want to be celebrating, you know, being black, being you know,

all things black, girl, You know what I mean. Just honestly, it's taking the time to just decompress and celebrate. Like Juneteenth has become such a holiday since the world decided to act like black people are the shit, because we have been and y'all not don't customer podcast, but I feel that Customer it was necessary, but it has become such a holiday. When I was living in LA every year for Juneteenth, we would go to the huge black party barbeque that they do in LA but in Englewood.

But since being in New York, I feel like I haven't had the chance to actually celebrate Juneteenth, which I really tried to prioritize to do because it just feels good, you outside, you with your people. You got the music plan. For some reason, every time I think about Juneteenth, I think about the song Sounds of Uh, Sounds of Blackness. The as long as you key that song y'all know that song. Hopefully y'all know that song. If you do

not know that song, let me look it up. I want y'all to know that song because that is my June teenth themed song. And I don't know if that's like very cliche, I honestly don't care, because that is my song. That is my go to for Juneteenth. What is it's called? Oh? Yes, it's Sounds of Blackness by Optimistic. Yes, Sounds of Blackness by Optimistic is my Juneteenth go to song. That end I'm Black, y'all. I'm black, y'all, and you just wake up, you go to the cookout, see everywhere

you go. It's just I mean, every day it's a celebration of being who you are and being black. But Juneteenth, it just feels like the whole world is stopping to do it. So I've been getting a lot of things done, been very disciplined about getting things done by a certain time, getting my sleeping, being prepared for all the things. So I'm feeling good. If you guys cannot tell, I'm I feel like I sound like things are organized and they're

flowing as well too. So I hope y'all are feeling well out there as well, and y'all know, now we got to get into the latest. So I saw this story and I thought that it was really really interesting. I honestly, I was like, man, I wish more people

were were, you know, diving into this conversation. So it's been reported by US Weekly, The Grio in Essence magazine that actress Jody Turner Smith has pinned a letter to her ex husband Joshua Jackson, who was also an actor, and this letter is a letter that comes in the midst of their custody battle. Now, for those who are not familiar with Jody Turnersmith, you guys will know her, probably most notably from Queen Islim. Joshua Jackson also an actor.

I watched him in the affair, but I know a lot of people will also know him from Dawson's Creek as well Ani Mighty Ducks. So they were married, they were married for some time. They actually got a divorce and their divorce was finalized back in May of twenty twenty five. But you know, their custody battle, their battle in the midst of this, even though their divorce is finalized, has been one that has made news headlines, which is why I was so confused when I saw this letter

that didn't pick up. More not that I care that it didn't pick up, because that's what I love about the podcast is that we can dive into conversations that other people might not be having. But I was just very surprised because everything with their divorce has been so like people pick it up like insanely, because that's how

it was about their relationship as well. Two. So she following their divorce in May of twenty twenty five, it was decided that their divorce would break down to Joshua Jackson paying twenty seven hundred and eighty seven dollars a month in child support, and then there was a lump sum of spousal support that was paid out as well. But within the last month, there's been reports of Joshua Jackson and Jody Turner Smith going back and forth about

things like their daughter and their daughter is young. Their daughter is five years old, well someplace to report she's four, but someplace to report she's five, but she's young. Their daughter is under nine years old, and they've been going back and forth about where she's going to go to school and just what custody looks like between the two

of them, because they're both really involved parents. So Jody Smith Turner's letter is about the role of a mother in a child's life, especially a girl, a young girl, especially when you're dealing with two parents who are now separated. More specific she's talking about the role of a black mother in a biracial child's life. It's specially a biracial daughter. So the letter starts, Hi, Josh, thank you for your message. I appreciate your recognition of how fluid the production timeline

can be. Your willingness to accommodate the fluidity truly makes a difference. And when she talks about production timeline, she's talking about a show that she's shooting. So then she goes on, I'm also so glad that we agree that our share goals to provide Juno with as much stability, consistency, and meaningful time with both of us as possible. I hear and appreciate your point that that is ultimately her time with each of us, and not the other way around.

The framing feels very important. This arrangement allows Juno to enjoy a true sense of continuity and presence, something we both value. She's excited about our travel plans, and I believe this stretch of time will allow her to feel deeply grounded and connected during a season that's naturally more

open and flexible. Now again, I mentioned that all of this that's happening in the midst of them having these like custody conversations, right and more recently, when it was about a month ago when reports came out that they were having issues over determining a schooling determination between the two of them and then the custody. The conversation with custody was about their daughter, Juno's summer schedule and like where she would spend her time summer, how that time

would be broken down in what she would be doing. So, Jody continues, I want to raise the subject as something that has been weighing heavily on me, and it's grounded not just an instinct or emotion, but in widely established research. Before Juno was born, you and I spoke at length about what she would need to grow into a strong,

self assured young person. Central to those conversations was the importance of the maternal bond, and more specifically, the critical role that being close to her black mother would play in shaping her identity and self esteem. Research consistently shows that for biracial children, particularly with a black mother, that connection is not periphial. It is foundational. It plays a vital role in identity formation, emotional resilience, in a long

term physical well being. These aren't abstract ideas, They've lived daily realities that you know is already beginning to experience in the consistency of our time together, especially when school is out in their space for deeper connection is one of the most effective ways to support her through them. The vision we once shared hasn't changed, and it begins here and ensuring that Juno is not only protected, but affirmed,

reflected and deeply rooted in who she is. So I want to talk a bit before we get into you know, just where you know, opinion on this letter and all the things. I want to talk a bit about the custody conversation that I brought up. So according to reports, and actually TMC is the one who broke the story, there were legal documents that were filed back in May

of twenty twenty five. It was actually May third, so it was right before single de Maya of this year, and in the Joshua and Joshua Jackson and Jody were figuring out more of the divorce settlement, but specifically they had to use a mediator to come up with a temporary schedule to figure out what the fifty to fifty custodyould look like with their daughter. Now here's what they

can't agree on. So they agreed where Juna is going to go to school eventually, Like they got to that agreement right, And that was a part of the reports is that that was one of the things that they could not figure out. So in this most recent filing they were able to agree on that. And then after that, Jody was asking for a judge to force Joshua to adhere to a core order that gives her the power to pick elementary school. So it's more so about where

she's going to go to school next. And the issue is that Jody is basically asking for their daughter Juno to go to a new school next year. But she says that Joshua Jackson is not having that, like he's sitting it in a way that now she says that she's researched his new school. She talked about it with Joshua Jackson and made sure it was close enough to his home as well, but he's refusing to get on board.

But Joshua Jackson is pushing back against this because he's saying it would leave him without seeing his daughter for at least a month. Now. Jody is also asking that their daughter, do you know, you know, within these travel plans, be able to stay with her and Morocco while she's working there. That is the production schedule they were referencing.

But Joshua is standing. He sentos down with saying we need to have a meaningful conversation about this because any travel arrangements involving their daughter, including the location, the schedule, and all these things. He wants to have a conversation

about it before he makes actual decisions. And Jody has actually said to him as well, like, look, I know it's summertime, so if you have a specific travel plans or you know anything that you want to do, just let me know so that we can talk about it ahead of time. But I do want you to talk to me about it before you take it to our daughter, because you know, it's like once you tell a kid something, and she says this, and Jody Turner says this in

her documents that she followed. She says, you know, once you tell a kid something, then it causes confusion and it causes disappointment, and I don't want that. Now I'm listen, I understand Jody's point, you know, Jody Turner, I understand her point right, because look, I'm not biracial. Both my parents are black, I mean, as you guys can tell. But I hope she doesn't mind me telling the story. She knows who I'm talking about. She's listening to the podcast.

But I have a biracial friend who I got really really close to when I was living in LA And until I got close to her, I didn't even understand, nor did I think that there was a like a struggle or a world of things that biracial children went through. I remember one time we were in a grocery store and we were leaving a grocery store and we pulled out of the grocery store and there was a woman who was pulling in to take our spot, and then

there was another car waiting behind us. And the way that we backed up, the woman wasn't able to get into the spot, so the car behind us was able to pull in. So as we're going around the woman and it's a white woman, she yells the N word out of the window, and oh my god, it picked like I mean, I was like, whatever, old white lady. Whatever. It pissed my friend off so bad, and I was like, Yo, why do you care so much about this woman that you don't even know, you know what I mean? Like

we're in the car, you don't know this woman. Obviously she's not about the parking space. She's gonna say anything you make you mad. I've learned to just let ignorant people be ignorant because I've dealt with it, and I know who I am, so I know I'm not the N word with an r er, you know what I mean.

I know I'm an educated, beautiful black woman. Like it's different but when I say it pissed her off, It pissed her off to the point where we had to pull over for her to gather herself and get herself together. Like she was crying, she was emotional. It was a whole thing. And as I'm talking to her, I'm realizing, like, wow, like her identity of self when it comes to her as a black woman, because she has a black parent and a white parent, it's not as strong like anything

can kind of shake her. And it's because she grew up not as close to her black side of her family. So the black identity that she did have and that she gained from friends in school and community, whenever that was like tested or questioned, no matter how big or how small the way that it would throw her off.

I'd never experienced anything like it. And I think, and not even think once we begin to talk about it more, I'm like, Yo, why did that bother I get it, it's racial, and anybody hearing that is going to bother them. But it's sad to say, but it's like, I mean, letting ignorant people be ignorant is just a thing that I've It's kind of like not a coping mechanism. But

it's just one of those things. It's things. It's like the same way when I walk into a store, my first thing is, let me not bring big bags in here, because I don't want them to think I'm stealing. Whereas another person who don't look like me or who is white passing does not have to think about that type of stuff. It's just something that I know to do. So for me, let ignorant people be ignorantless it's right in my face, and I you know what I mean,

Like that's different. But we're in a car, we're pulling off like it's whatever. But in talking to her, what I learned and what I realized was that anytime her black side, if anything, was questioned, she wasn't sure about it enough to stay in firm. And I'm gonna just let ignorant people be ignorant because I know that's not how I identify. She couldn't stand in that because it wasn't instilled in her from her black side of her family. So she's never fully been able to like identify with that.

And the closest thing in proximity she has to identifying with it is what she's taught herself. It didn't come from a place of love or from people who love her, and not even from people who love her because you know, as her friend, I love her like that type of thing, but not from her mother or like, you know, someone that's more like the maternal or nurturing in her life. So it just her experience in walking through the world was so different, and she was always not black enough

for the black kids, not white enough for the white kids. Right, So she's always been trying to figure out where the identity lied and what she identified with the most, right which words, which was her black side because of her friends and her school she went to and all those things. She had an adopted mom who raised her, who was also black. But again, it's different. It's not your it's not your natural like it's not your your mom who birth you. So there's just all these questions that she's

trying to figure out. I tell you guys this story to say that I realized in that moment and being friends with her and in that particular moment, that there was just something different about being raised to know that as a black person in this world, or as a black specifically a black woman in this world, to know your brilliance and to know your uh just your wholeness and where that comes from, like who teaches it to

you and how you get to know it. It's such an important thing and it's it's an everyday thing in a black household, and it's something that we don't even think twice about as we're raising children or you know, me being the child of a mother who was black. But when I begin having conversations with my biracial friend and I began to realize that, like she didn't have that study like to stand on two feet about that it was and it was because of what she lacked

in her upbringing. When I read this letter, and this letter is a couple of days old as well, so it's been out, you know, not this letter, but the letter that was included in the filing is a couple

days old, so it's been out. When I read it, I'm like, man, I can really like I hear her and I understand her now whether or not Joshua Jackson will understand her, because at the end of the day, no matter how much you know, empathy a person that is not black has for us and what we need and how we need to be poured into in order

to navigate in the world. No matter how much of that you have, it's still different being a black man raising a black child with a black woman versus being a white man raising a child with a black woman. So whether he's gonna fully understand that or not, it's one thing. And I you know, we'll see how this plays out. And I think that it is so evolved for you know, even though their relationship didn't work out, for them to even be having those conversations, because it

is a real thing. Wishing him the best we will, you know, I'll say a breast to you know, the filings and kind of what happens and where they land, because it seems like he's not being just hard about her request for no reason. It's just a it's a parental thing. It's like a hey, I understand all of that,

but I'm her father too. He even says in one of the documents that he says, I don't think that on location tutoring can APPROXI the importance of what Juno has received by attending school and being in a consistent peer environment this year, her social and emotional development, and her academic achievement this year have been truly extraordinary. And this is him responding and basically saying, like, you know, as she's traveling, like, yes, it's amazing, she'll get to

learn these things, she'll get to be with you. But as school finishes and we want to you know, nurture her, you know, socially and academically, still throughout the summer, as she prepares to go back into school, traveling and you know, not having you know, that peer to peer consistency, it could interfere and tutoring is different than being in school and being with her friends and all those things. Like it seems like, you know, they're trying to accommodate for

the lives that they live at celebrities. But he's also reminding Jody, like there is a level of consistency and in normal normalcy that you want to provide for a child as well too. Let me know, So I think about the conversation. I think that it's definitely one worth having, especially as we go into junetieth celebrating all of you know, the blackness and all these things. And that's so ironic.

I didn't even tie the two together when I was prepping this, but it's ironic how they both tied together talking about celebrating Juneteenth and everything that is your blackness that day and every day, but that day specifically. And then this story now as we head on out of here, in the latest, we have Jamie Fox. Jamie Fox sat down for this really interesting interview with BET. He was

honored at BET. He received an icon of ward for his legacy, his career, all of the things during the twenty twenty five be ET Awards, which was amazing to see. You guys knew I was in LA for the award show, but there was an interview that released. I watched the interview yesterday and it was such a great interview. Jamie Fox talked about everything from you know who taught him. He talked about Harry Bellefonte teaching him how to be

a black man and what that responsibility look like. He talked about do you even have to have responsibility as a black person or as a black entertainer. He talked about, you know, just his abilities and doing the things that he's able to do, and his career and you know, all all of the things. But he brought up one thing that I thought was very interesting. He talked about social media and just being famous right now and how it is so different than when he got started and what he wished for.

Whenever you blocked out one way, you find the angle in another way. And I've worked on many stories from TMZ to now in my career with the Breakfast Club, and you know, in trying to find angles and find ways into a bit less invasive at the Breakfast Club, thank god, but in trying to find my way into these different stories, I still come up on roadblocks where I'm like, Okay, what's another way in? Can I you know, if the turney don't want to talk, what about the publicist,

what about the manager, what about the whatever. Jamie Fox when he was going through his healthcare, when I tell y'all, we couldn't find no way in. We did like everything was shut down. His family did a really good job of protecting him through that and making sure that not too much slipped. There were certain things that still got out,

but they controlled the narrative. We didn't see him like they controlled as much as they could so well in a social media time with a name like Jamie Fox, who comes from the real era of celebrities, y'all know

how hard that is. So to hear him talk about just you know, thinking of fame one way, wishing for fame one way, getting it, and then it being so different than what you experienced, especially now with social media, I was like, why, that's very ironic because in all of my career, working the story and reporting the story of Jamie Fox and what he was going through in his healthcare was probably one of the toughest stories that

we worked on. Number one, because it's Jamie Fox and he so beloved and we just didn't know what was happening and you want him to be okay. But also they did his family hold it down? We couldn't get there was nothing, nothing leaking on social nothing. So I'm like, you know, for him to complain about it, I'm like, man, it seems like y'all got it on lock over there, Like y'all y'all got a downpack over there, Jamie Fox.

Though I'm not even gonna lie y'all definitely do. I've experienced it firsthand, But I think there is a point to what he's talking about. Though. It's like, even when he mentioned the you know, like one post and everything you've worked for, it could just be negated, like one post on social media and the court of public opinion can cause a downfall of so many different things. That is like the scariest part of a lot of the

things that I'm experiencing today and in this time. And I look at you know, people like Jamie Fox, and you know, Gabrielle Union to rah gp Henson and you know all of these major Oh my god, Kerry Washington. There's so many major names that I look to. I think in Hathaway does a really good job of being present on social media, but you know, you won't really

know too much of her business. Like, there are a lot of celebrities that I look at and I'm like, they do a really good job of still remaining that mystique of I'm a celebrity, you can't know everything, and I'm not going to give you everything, but still using social media to a point where you feel connected with them.

Kerry Washington owned Twitter during the scandal days, but we knew nothing about her personal life until she told us those type of uh, you know, celebrities in that age of celebrity, it's like the younger the celebrities get, the more the that dies out. It just it's disappearing, and it's nerve racking a bit, especially as like things are

growing for me myself. But it's also nerve racking a bit too because it causes a like a whole genre of media and conversation and just noise of people who will do and say anything, and then it's hard to negate through that because there's not a lot of people

out here doing the due diligence. I was literally just talking about this the other day for what I do, not even just here on the podcast, but for breakfast Club, Like you know, waking up in the morning, I'm looking through stories trying to figure out what to talk about. A lot of times I'm trying to develop my own news on my own angles in as I just mentioned exclusives. But when I don't have that, sometimes it's like, Okay,

let me see what the world is talking about. And I've been feeling like over these last couple of weeks, like, man, so much of this stuff is noise. I'm scared to even report certain things, even if valid dot coms are reporting it, because things are just so things are just so misconstrued, like people can paint any narrative they want. Nowadays, because of social media and then it makes a dot com or it makes a news report and that is

so scary and it's just getting worse. So to know that it's still fat affecting someone as big as a Jamie Fox, I'm like, man, he's like Jamie Fox is like pinnacle entertainer. It's not about being a black entertainer. He is pinnacle entertainer. Like every there's nowhere you go that is not going to know a Jimmie Fox and he's still being affected by it. I'm like, it's over for the rest of us. We ain't got a shot

in ht double hockey sticks. If Jamie Fox is feeling like this, it's like, man, what do I have to look forward to? Well, speaking of social media, I'm gonna take you guys outside to the tweets. We outside, we outside, we outside in the streets. I tweeted something and when I tell you, all the people are in my mentions going crazy like go and saying, so I want to get y'all take on it, right, Okay, So I retweeted this,

uh this tweet. It says tr or Gez, who had a better first five album run, So they've got TI's serious. Tis Trap Music, TI self titled album, TI TI King, and then TI versus Tip Verse five TI albums. Then you got GZ. So you have Young g Z. Let's get it, thug motivation one on one, Young GZ the inspiration, Young GZ the recession, Young g Z, Thug motivation won on three Hustles, Ambition, and Young g Z seen it

all the autobiography. Now, I said GZ, And granted, it's hard anytime you talk about GZ and TI and a conversation, especially comparing it too, but just in general, like anytime people bring them up in a competitive way, I think people are always so competitive because these are two artists who literally changed the face of trap music and everything that they've touched, like they've culturally influenced and left a mark in a way that like you're gonna feel so

tied to the change that you felt when they when they were doing when they were really in the crevices of doing their thing right. So I get it. But for me, I don't know, I felt like, and I'm not this is not me saying that t I's first five albums wasn't a run. That's not what I'm saying. I just think that Gz's was a better first five album Run. Now, I want to know what y'all think,

because the people online they're like, what so uh. Someone said I'm gonna have to roll with young jeez Tip set it up though, then another one said, Lauren, how old are you? Where were you back in these days? Because you wasn't really outside I could tell by your choice.

I was like, WHOA. Then someone else said, I'm gonna choose both, but Tip hands down, and then somebody agreed with Oh, somebody just said, you bugging out cash to for S one on X edge, you bugging out will all due respect, I gotta respond that album because that one's kind of funny. Let me know what y'all think, though, So this is more about what I want you guys to get on my X account. I'm Lauren la Rosa on X my post t I g Z who had

the better first album first five album run. Let me know what y'all think, because I'm not even arguing back with the people. I feel that way because I feel like Gez's song like when you talk about full bodies of work all the way through. And again, I'm not taking away from t I. I think it's just a personal choice. I just personally, I can name you multiple songs off multiple want multiple up, multiple of these albums. Is that is that how you think it sends? Te

don't even know how to talk. That's like you know the episode is indre. I can name you multiple songs from multiple of these albums because I was maybe too. I may maybe I'm just a bigger GZ fan, y'all. Let me know what y'all think. I think it's a personal choice, personal opinion. I think both of them were very influential. I think their you know, first few album run, Like I said, it changed the way that we even

talk about track music, music from the South. I think they both have done things that you're never gonna forget, Sounds that you're never gonna forget, hooks, bars that you're never gonna forget. But personally, it's jeezy for me. What's y'all thing? Let me know. At the end of the day, there is always a lot to talk about. You guys could be anywhere with anybody talking about it, but you choose to be right here with me, and I appreciate

you guys for that. I'm Laura mo Rosa. I will see you guys at my next episode.