This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast. Chris Harrison and Lauren Zema coming to you from an undisclosed location for a very well, I think it's a very important reason. This week we.
Are taking our annual Chris Harrison Birthday trip. And we I say annual trip because we kind of do a trip for your birthday every year. And also it's not just a day, it's a week. Which look, I'm not mad at it because one thing I've learned in dating you, babe is Chris Harrison is from a family that really
celebrates birthdays, and I didn't. I mean, my family celebrated my birthday, but growing up, my birthday was very close to Thanksgiving, so it was kind of like still is by the way, have I had one take?
But yeah, so it was like, oh, Lauren, everybody's already together. We had turkey and here's a cake for you.
Yeah, that's you know, obviously, you know our daughter's birthday, Taylor is December twenty first, Christmas. We have a rule. You have to separate. You can't do oh this is your birthday, Christmas present, your turkey birthday.
That doesn't work, sir, Christmas present.
That's why he was always wonderful. To have a July birthday Me and Mick Jagger, who I'm BFFs with, both on the twenty sixth, and it's exactly half the year.
Well, happy birthday, Chris Harrison July twenty sixth, and we do a full birthday.
Week before that though, we had a great event at our house. As people probably know, both our kids go to TCU. We have a senior and now a sophomore, which is hard to believe, but we were asked by the folks at TCU if we would host the local Austin Welcome to TCU for all the incoming freshmen, and so all the kids from around the Greater Austin round Rock Bernie area came to our house for a little mixer and it was really cool.
It was wonderful.
Look, we had sixty five seventy people at my house our house.
Was I overwhelmed, No, not at all? Was it.
Everything was great. My mom came into help, which was awesome. And you're so good with my mom because you are like when my mom's great at parties, but she's very the captain of the ship. And I got to give Chris Harrison credit. You are so good at just being first mate. You let her tell you what to do, You let her organize an order, and even if you know an ideas maybe not great, you kind of just let it ride until she realizes it herself. And I
think that's a lesson that comes with maturity. Correct me if I'm wrong, tell me if you were like that years ago.
But I think it's there is a learned skill to take second chair, even when you think, say it's your house and you know you want it to be your domain or whatever, learning that this is how she speaks her love. This is her love language, taking care of us, cooking, creating things and being in the kitchen and all that. And so instead of, you know, maybe when you're younger, taking a fence to how people act at your house.
And I know it's difficult when family comes into town because they're in your space and all that, but maybe just see try and take a step back. What are they really saying? And your mom kind of like my mom, that's their love language. And so it means a lot to me that she loves you so much that she wanted to come into town. But it definitely is something that I had to learn from experience, and you know, when you're younger, you're like, oh, my mom or my dad or my brother drives me crazy because.
They're trying to control me always in my business. But you're right if you can see what's really motivating them, and they're not being motivated by control, they're being motivated by a need to be needed.
By wanting to find space in your life. Yeah, that they really don't have me. I can already see it with my kids. I don't fill the same space that I used to because they don't need me like that because I did my job. So they grow, they become independent, and then you long for that, so you have to find different ways to get it.
Well, when you think about the longevity of that, I mean, we always want people to bounce back quickly, but the reality is you've been a parent for eighteen year years and then all of a sudden they had to college and you're supposed to not need to be needed anymore. And it was great though, because everyone was so lovely. I mean, neither of us nor my mom went to TCU, but my mom even said, Wow, all those TCU parents and kids were so great. The kids were awesome, and
it was really wonderful to see. Actually, one of the other parents said to me, well, you know what's great about this this kids can connect on social media now, but events like this actually kind of make them hang out in person. And it's so cool that the school does different gathering so the kids can get to know each other.
So it was awesome and it was good to see the parents actually nervous. The parents are just as nervous as the kids. But two hours after this party.
Ended, listen, we raged and I had Afternoon Suarez.
We had a wardrobe change, we went from purple to pink, and we went to Barbie.
We should have started this podcast with Hi Barbie.
I ken, wait, no, that was me. We did a pod about this last week about Oppenheimer coming out, the three hour Christopher Nolan thriller and then the Greta Gerwig comedy very much the Barbie movie heartfelt comedy, and I kind of made the proclamation that a rising tide will lift all boats, and that is what happened at the box office. They both were massive successes.
And I am so happy to see it because I think I'd actually pulled back a little bit on reading the headlines because when this whole Oppenheimer Barbie thing first happened. The headlines were about the movies being pitted against each other, like there's this big history of Christopher Nolan always opens
his movies on the same weekend in July. But for Oppenheimer, he switched studios and his old studios, Warner Brothers decides they're going to open Barbie on Chris Nolan's weekend, and it was sort of perceived as this slight and it became a competitive thing, which movie is going to do better?
What was so great?
And I don't know if I sound crazy, but can we all take a lesson from Barbenheimer when these two movies came together, when the narrative became about, oh do the double features. See Oppenheimer in the morning, Barbie in the afternoon, We're black and pink.
They both did great.
Like I actually read that Oppenheimer benefited a little bit because some Barbie showings were sold out.
Oh funny.
I think because people had heard about Barbenheimer and all this press and they thought, oh, well, let's just go see Oppenheimer and.
So but I think a lot of people, like myself, I'm going to see both. I have not seen Oppenheimer yet we didn't have time because we left on this trip, but I will see both. We just chose because our daughter was in town. We saw Barbie first.
Hsen, Babe, you were surrounded by the ladies, and I.
Got to give I had such a good dyey. I went with four ladies and in four Barbies and four barbies, and we all got dressed up.
Yep, Chris wore pink. He had a pink shirt that had roses on it. So it was very apropos that, very on brand.
I was seeing on on social media that some people, like some younger people were saying, wow, so cool to have like two big movies in one weekend, and then older.
People are like, this is how it used to be.
So I hope it was a resurgence to the eventizing of movies.
Like our theater was packed packed, and people.
Were wearing pink, and people used to like I remember when the Star Wars prequels came out, people dressed up like they were wearing.
They brought lightsabers to the theater.
And even though it didn't do as good, but people were there for Barbie, people were there for Oppenheimer. People were still going to mission impossible. So it was packed all around, which was great. It was just nice to have so many great fun movies out. You had choices again.
And it was nice to do something together and to realize that by these two movies kind of playing into each other. And look, here's how Hollywood's gonna work. Studios and pr people are going to try to recreate the Barbenheimer effect in the marketing moment. And you can't like, this was a viral happenstance thing, but what it was born out of. This happenstance was born out of Tom Cruise, Margot Robbie and other and the people.
Involved in these movies.
They would post on social media, Hey, I just bought my ticket for Oppenheimer. I bought my ticket for Barbie. And they literally did that because they want the box office.
To do well.
And so it is this good overall lesson of when you operate from a place of supporting.
Each other, everybody does better.
And I think it's it's a good thing to note in a very what continues to be a very tumultuous time in our country.
I read something today that was really interesting that things change with a surprising success. More so than they do a big flop. And what I mean by that is in the industry, if there's a big flop, it'll change the industry, like, Okay, no more of those action movies, or no more of those thrilled whatever and so. But this person was saying that a surprise success is even more of a game changer. And what that means, hopefully
is that. And I'm not poo pooing on these because I do like them, but sequels too long running movies like a Mission Impossible, like Indiana Jones, the Marvel, DC, all the superhero movies, that is what everyone's been leaning into for god ten years now.
I think we're burnt out. I do.
I mean, look, I love those movies to Iron Man and some of the Avengers movies and all that. They're great, they're funny, they're action packed. But I think we're burnt out. I think we've reached the tipping point.
No longer do I feel like if I miss this Marvel movie or DC movie, whatever, I'm really going to be lost.
In fact, I feel like I can't watch all of them.
I can't keep up with it because they also started doing you've got to see the TV shows that are on the streamers to know what's happening in the next movie. I can't consume all this. We've reached burnout, and I think the quality of the movies is getting worse. I mean, I'll be honest. I like taichoidt, I like Chris Hemsworth, but I saw the most recent thour it wasn't as good as the ones in the past.
There's a movie and again I don't I'm not trying to dog it, but there's a movie coming out that we saw Blue Beetle. We saw the ads for it, the trailer, and I'm like, oh man.
It's just I'm like, I've never heard of this superhero we're at this point, but.
It's Spider Man. It's the story of Spider Man, except it's a beatle.
I do hope that what studios take away from this is that original, interesting movies do well. Because let's point something out here. Now that the numbers are in, everybody's saying, oh, this is for Greta Gerwig, for example, this is the biggest opening ever for a female director, or for Chris Nolan,
this is his biggest opening ever. This is the reality the box office amidst all the talk about how movies are dying just powered to it's I'm quoting Variety here, fourth biggest weekend in history, all of history.
So this was the foorth essentially two and a half, well four decent films on the radar right now if you include Mission Impossible and Sound of Freedom along with Oppenheimer and Barbie.
But these weren't superhero movies. These weren't franchise movies. I saw a quote from somebody at Warner Brothers who said, this shows the power of Barbie. Yes, but please don't start inundating us with movies based on every single toy we ever grew up with. I think what it shows is that people want to get back to that time where movies touch them, where they laughed. I mean I cried in Barbie. So many people say they cried at the end where they walked away thinking about the movie
I miss. You know, I think about movies I grew up with. I still quote those movies, movies of the past decade or so. I can't think of many that I walk around quoting or rewatching all the time.
And I know there is politics involved in everything we do these days, and there are opinions that controversy. It's just, you know, with Oppenheimer, there's plenty of it. With Barbie, I saw plenty of it. I'll tell you I went. Not only was I not offended, I just I had a great time. I laughed. Look, not everything hit the mark, but this is her take on it. And I loved historically how they brought in kind of the old canceled or discontinued Barbie's and they threw some historical moments from
mattel In. I liked it. I'm sorry, and I'm gonna say the same thing probably about Oppenheimer.
Yeah, Well, for anybody who was saying I will give my opinion. I think there were some people who said Barbie is anti man, you know, and then that's played up in the media because they need clickbait headlines. But if you see it, no, I don't think it's anti man at all. In fact, what it is is anti putting people in a box.
It says that we are more than our gender whoever we are.
We are human and we should know who we are and what we want to make in this world. And that shouldn't be defined by labels. It should be defined by you as a human being and we all have that same human experience.
So that's what I took away from the movie.
I agree, and I went into it going, oh, okay, look out for this because I had heard about it. Not only was I not offended, I was I laughed, I was impressed. I enjoyed it. I love sharing it with my daughter, who came out with her own opinions of it and took a lot of different things away from it, and it was a great family experience. Enjoy the movie, go to the theater.
All right. With that, I will say bye.
Ken, Bye Barbie. Oh before you go. We do have this very interesting story that we're going to continue on the other side of the break. Miranda Lambert was hosting a concert. She was giving a concert in Las Vegas. Stop the show in the middle of it to really kind of verbally undress these women who are taking selfies in the middle of her show. Now to paint a picture, because this is a podcast and we're not watching, we're listening.
It's not your typical concert where everybody was standing in a stadium.
Vegas has these intimate shows. You're seated at tables, old school, yeah.
And they were standing up and it was like five or six of them and this thing. At first there was a lot of applause and everybody was in for it. Then the tables and the tide turned against Miranda Lambert. And that's where things are going to get interesting because on the other side of the break, we're going to talk to Adella, one of the ladies who was there, the lady who posted the picture.
Well, and this has come up again because now people have started making t shirts about the moment. Because Miranda's tour is continuing, so taking pictures at a concerts, the debate continues.
Yeah, and so Miranda got kind of you know, it was very interesting, and I want to talk to Adela because she was so she took the pictures, she posted these pictures. I know she has her opinions, but Llo, cool Jay has come out and he's like, Miranda, get over it. Parker McCollum, up and coming superstar and Country has defended Miranda Lambert and said, no, no, these ladies were up, they had the flash going, they were doing a full on photo shoots. There's a lot of opinions
that go both ways. But I want to talk to the source, and we have chased her down. She's going to join us right after this. We talked about it right before for the break, the big story that came out of Las Vegas and the Miranda Lambert concert and the women that were taking a selfie? Was it good? Was it bad? Are you for it? Are you against it? This has really become a thing. So I had our
incredible producer Kendall, let's go to the source. She chased down Adela, who joins us now from Las Vegas, who was the woman really at the center of this whole controversy. Adela, First of all, thank you for being here. I truly appreciate you taking the time.
Oh happy to be here.
What has this last week been like for you.
It's been very busy. I had to be highly organized managing personal life and some interviews here and.
There, crazy people chasing you out of the woodwork to talk to you about this moment that happened at Las Vegas, and I explained just full disclosure before the break before I got to you. This isn't your typical We're at a concert, at a bar, or at a stadium where everybody's up screaming. You're sitting at tables typically right the cocktail tables.
No, the theater at Planet Hollywood holds. I actually had to look up the capacity. It holds seven thousand people. And first you have the pet which is right around the stage. Then you have two rows of VIP benches with tables, and those rows are more like cocktail tables. They also give you complimentary champagne. And behind the two rows of VIP then it's the main seating, which is more like a regular concerts.
I actually hosted Miss America there for many years. I remember that theater very well, but it looked like you guys were in that VIP area.
Correct.
Yes, kudos by the way to forget those tickets and the bottom service.
Very lucky. I believe I bought them right when the concert dates were announced, and as soon as they went on sale, I was on ticket Master buying the tickets.
Because you're so you're a Miranda Lambert fan.
I love for music. Also, my husband and I like to go to almost virtually every concert. We can get tickets too, because Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, so we enjoy going out on weekends.
So you're at the Miranda Lambert concert, you have the VIP ticket, You're sitting there presumably your husband's there is that who was taking the picture?
No, my husband happened to be out of town, so I decided to invite some of my girlfriends and making a girls' night.
So it's girls night, and that's who we see in the picture with you that was put up on Instagram and then taking around the world. Really, so tell me from your perspective what happened.
The concert start is the typical Saturday night fun Las Vegas. The energy is starting to get really high in the theater. People all throughout the theater are standing up or sometimes dancing, taking pictures and videos, and me and my other friends are doing the exact same thing everybody else is doing everywhere. We are having a great time. And suddenly, at some point during the concert, as we are trying to take a group picture and people are right next to us,
you're taking a selfie video. But suddenly the concert stops. Me and my friends are being called out and we are being told to set down.
It was so instead of a picture, what you thought you were going to take a picture, the person pressed video so instantly the light came on. Is that why the light was on?
I believe we took the picture with a friend's phone, and I believe she turned the flash on because the concert started. We were trying to take a group picture of all us ladies, but the lighting was not very good, and I think she realized we had to use the flash to take a good group picture.
So you're taking a picture, I think you, and you're at four or five other girlfriends. The flash is on, and all of a sudden, when did you realize Miranda Lambert is on stage talking to you.
As we are turning and we're just about to sit down, we realized, oh, the concert has stopped, and this is because me and my friends did something.
And what was that moment of realization?
Like for you, anybody will get ready in the face. You have to have very tough skin not to feel embarrassed. And after a couple of seconds passed, I was trying to clear my mind, and I thought, the last time I was told to sit down is when I was in school and the teacher told me to sit down because me and my friends did something that annoyed her.
What was and I don't even know if you remember this because it probably happened so quick, But what do you remember as the reaction from the crowd when she was saying that where because I've heard and seen different videos and some people were applauding. Some people didn't like it and left. So, in your mind, what was the reaction when Miranda Lambert told you to sit down?
I think because everything happened pretty quickly, and the energy was so high in the theater leading to that moment, and people were just cheering. I think people were cheering just because Miranda Lambert was speaking. They're just trying to have a good time. Some people were realizing what's happening, and some people left after. Obviously, every the concert did stop. I did try to look a little bit around everybody that sat down. Everybody did stop taking pictures. I felt
that we were just singled out. I felt like she was just bothered by everybody taking pictures and videos. Just I couldn't understand why we were singled out.
Did she overreact in your opinion? Was it a bit much?
Yes, I've been I've been to so many concerts in that very theater, and I mean there's thousands and thousands of pictures and videos taken. I have never seen a reaction like that. Ever.
Do you think it's because of your location of how close you all were to the stage. You were in her eyesight, I guess, and the flash was going off. Do you think that was it?
I guess because we were writing the center and writing the front was easier to make an example out of us. That would be my guess. I don't know exactly what she was thinking, and I know there's a lot of talk about the flash. I have tried really hard for the last week to see if there's truly no flash palace in that theater. I've been to concerts before and
I've never heard the no flash policy being announced. I also have tickets in the next couple of weeks to Kelly Clarkson in that very theater, and I looked on my tickets to see does he say no flash? And I haven't found anywhere it says no flash. I even googled the name of the theater no flash policy. I couldn't find it anywhere. If there is, I have not seen it.
Do you, as you look back on it, do you regret it at all? Is there anything you would have changed from your perspective?
If I was to regret something, everybody else in that venue would have to regret taking pictures and videos, so I don't see what there's to regret.
This was my take when I saw it. When I saw Miranda Lambert speak out and there was instant applause, and like you said, when you were at a concert and the performer starts speaking, everyone just kind of starts yelling. I think she was emboldened by that and like, I'm going to keep going. And I think she probably, if she would admit it now, may have gone a little further than she even anticipated because she thought she was
riding this kind of wave of energy. But then people started kind of turning on her, and that was the interesting thing. And people left the show. I saw a video of people leaving. I think your friends may have even left, Is that right?
Yes, two of my friends got up and left. Two of my other friends were nicer. They said we're going to the ladies room. But me and one other friend we stayed until the end. But the concert was about to be over anyway, very.
You know one of the I think it would have been great if Miranda had somehow sent security out to you guys after the show and said, hey, stick around. Miranda wanted to say hi to you, and you know, I just think like, look, I know she did what she felt was right, but I think it just would have been a good pro move afterwards and said, hey, you ladies, stick around, let's take a picture. I think it would have fixed it would have solved everything.
It would have been nice. But I have learned that she has done this in the past. She got annoyed by audience members ticking pictures. So I think just something in her she just doesn't like pictures and videos taken during her concert. And that's okay. She doesn't like that. Bruno Marsh doesn't like it. He made me and my husband lack our phones in pouches. He makes everyone in the audience lacks their phone in pouches, and the audience complies,
you're okay with that. As I said that before, nobody goes to a concert wanting to annoy the performer. We just want to have a great time.
You know, I did see one guy, and I'm sure you are just as surprised as everybody of how this is taken on a life of its own. I mean, it's amazing how much this has really circled the globe and become a thing.
Yes, yes, And I ask myself exactly why maybe because there's this contrast between there's a celebrities performing on stage and unfortunately fans through stuff at them. And then here's the one instance when fans want to have a memory of this great concert. We have such amazing seats and we want to have in the background in between us. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to do that. And she gets upset by that when it's absolutely a great compliment that we want to have a picture with her.
I saw someone, you know, some guy, and this is what happened. Some guy goes I put it on TikTok. Of course, I flew to Vegas just to take this selfie at a Randa Lambert concert. And I'm like, guys, come now, you just have these people copycat. They're trying to go to her into stuff, and it's become a whole thing. And so hopefully that part will stop for you as you go to many more concerts and you and your husband go to shows and stuff, will it change you at all? Like WI, will you be more cautious?
Will you think twice before taking pictures from now on? No?
Again, I'm only what everybody else does in the whole audience, taking I'll give you an example. One of the best concerts I went to in that theater is the Backstreet Boys concert and I believe in twenty nineteen, and I have videos on my phone from that concert, and I still watch those videos and I still look at those pictures because they are such great memories.
If you could say something to Miranda Lambert, if she was listening to this now, what would you want to say to her?
She just has to decide if she likes pictures, if she likes videos, or maybe she doesn't like pictures and videos during one song. She just has to figure out what's the policy she wants for her concerts and let her fans know and we will comply.
Couldn't say it better myself, Adela, Thank you so much. I really appreciate the time.
Oh thank you, having a great day.
And enjoy all the shows coming up in Vegas.
Thank you.
So there you go. You know one of the women that were at the center of this Miranda Lambert controversy, and it was interesting to hear her take. She stands behind everything she did and would do it again. Be interesting to know where you fall in this is Miranda Lambert in the right here to demand that respect at her shows and to say what she said and do what she did in that moment and call out fans
or was she out of line? And were these people well within their right to sit there in those VIP seats, get that bottle service and take the pictures. I think the interesting thing about this and why it has created such controversy is everybody has a very strong opinion, but it's not all the same. Some people are team Miranda, some are team Adela and her crew. So let us know where you land. Leave us a little comment and appreciate it very much. It has been a very busy week,
a lot of great things. The theater is hopping with the Barbenheimer weekend, the Miranda Lambert controversy, and I'm glad we had a chance to talk about all of it. Thank you so much, as always for listening. We will talk to you next time because we have a lot more to talk about. Thanks for listening. Follow us on Instagram at the most dramatic pod ever and make sure to write us a review and leave us five stars. I'll talk to you next time.