0:13

Well, hi, everybody, I am here

0:16

with Linda Richmond. Linda

0:18

Richmond, how are you? Linda?

0:20

I'm great. I'm very excited

0:22

being here.

0:23

You look really good.

0:26

No work yet? What

0:28

do you mean, no

0:30

facelift?

0:31

I don't believe you. You had a facelift at like

0:33

forty, didn't you, or something? Something ridiculously

0:36

young?

0:37

Right, yes, before the damage

0:39

came in.

0:39

Exactly when you were looking perfect.

0:42

That's what you decided you needed a face. When

0:44

you go tell the people how old you are, Linda,

0:47

I'm I will be eighty three

0:49

next month. I don't even know what month

0:51

anymore. Yeah, but you're going to be eighty

0:54

three?

0:54

Yep?

0:55

Can you believe that?

0:57

No? I can't believe it. I'm

0:59

shocked by it. I wish

1:01

I had some advice for people who are

1:03

turning into their eighties,

1:06

and there is no

1:08

advice. You just cry.

1:10

Yeah, you fought it hard. You did not like

1:13

your eightieth birthday. We were there for a big

1:15

party. You hated

1:17

the party. Yeah, why because you're not

1:19

a party person.

1:21

I love fun, but I didn't

1:23

want to be the settler of saying,

1:26

yes, she's eighty how

1:28

wonderful?

1:29

Right? Right?

1:30

And now I'm turning eighty three,

1:32

right, and I'm praying my daughter doesn't make

1:34

me anything.

1:36

No, I'm sure she'll do something.

1:38

Oh a light, you know, chicken dinner.

1:41

Linda's daughter is one of my closest friends,

1:43

Robin Juzanne, and we kind

1:45

of.

1:45

Met through her, and we did

1:48

meet through her.

1:49

Yeah. I met Robin on a plane going

1:51

to New York. And I was about

1:53

to adopt a baby. And

1:55

I said to Robin,

1:58

oh, where do you live? Was right close

2:00

to where I lived, and

2:03

I said, next week, I'm getting

2:05

a baby, and over you came

2:07

and you never left.

2:09

Well, it's not my memory

2:12

of the story.

2:13

Tell the story.

2:14

The story is Robin met you on a

2:16

clane. Yeah, I really never heard

2:18

of you. I'm sorry, that's okay. And

2:21

I lived across town from you in

2:23

New York, in New York, yes, and

2:26

by this time I knew you know who

2:28

you were, but I never saw a movie

2:30

or anything.

2:31

Right.

2:32

Right, And you

2:34

had asked, Robin, do you think your mother would babysit

2:37

for me? Because I don't have a nanna yet?

2:39

Right? Because I was just starting my show and

2:42

I had Parker who was in diapers and hadn't

2:44

yet walked. He was still crawling.

2:46

He was three months old.

2:47

Yeah, he was a tiny little thing, and

2:49

I didn't know who I could ask to come,

2:52

baby said, So I said to Robin, would

2:54

your mother ever want to just hang out here at

2:56

night? The baby will be asleep and I

2:58

just have to go. I think it was the Emmys. Was it the Emmys?

3:01

I don't remember the occasion.

3:03

Yeah, yeah, but you came over

3:05

and you did it.

3:06

I did it, and he was like a piece

3:08

of gold. He never cried.

3:10

Missus Parker, who's now twenty eight.

3:12

I know, right, And

3:15

he was a doll and it was lovely.

3:17

And I remember this. You won't remember,

3:20

but it tickled the hell out of me. You

3:23

asked him charged, Oh, I

3:25

own my own business. I

3:28

was self supporting, and I said, I

3:30

don't charge anything. So

3:33

the next day, one day later,

3:35

I get a phone call from Rosie. Do

3:38

you think that you could help me

3:40

out? I still don't have a nanny, right,

3:43

would you watch him another night? And

3:46

I said sure when she said tonight, and

3:48

I said fine. And he

3:51

was fussy that I remember,

3:53

he was fussy, But

3:55

I had two children. I knew what to do. Sure,

3:59

And I went into his room and he had

4:01

a couch in his rooms, right, And I

4:03

sat on the couch until he and I

4:05

talked to him until he fell asleep

4:08

because a lot of people get bored when I keep

4:10

talking. And

4:15

he went to sleep. And I

4:17

don't remember ever leaving your house for

4:19

the next two years.

4:21

And a half years. Linda literally moved

4:24

in to my house on

4:26

Broadway in sixty fifth Street, and

4:29

we lived there for about two and a half years. Then you

4:31

helped me with him, and you were the grandmother that

4:33

he didn't have. And it's a beautiful,

4:35

beautiful relationship.

4:37

It's he's still He's

4:39

still in my heart. I mean when he comes

4:41

out here and I see him.

4:44

For those of you who aren't Jewish, I killed,

4:47

which means I burst with pride,

4:49

Yeah, because I feel like I had a part

4:52

in well you did bringing up this child.

4:55

Well, Rosie moved again, but

4:57

she moved to a fancy Schmanz house

5:00

hell in Hayes Estate. Yes, but

5:02

of course she never tells you what she's going

5:04

to do. She just does it. Will

5:07

you wake up in another place?

5:08

Yeah, I wake up and go. I have an idea, let's

5:10

go. Yeah. But when I

5:12

met you, wasn't it How long after

5:15

your son, Jordan, had died in a car accident.

5:17

Was it shortly after or no, No,

5:19

it was years.

5:21

Well, he died when he was twenty

5:25

twenty nine, so

5:29

which made me do the math

5:31

somebody I don't know.

5:33

He was born when I was twenty

5:36

right, so I

5:38

had to be in my thirties maybe early

5:41

forties, right, And

5:44

you know, a baby meant nothing in terms

5:46

of can I care for this baby?

5:48

Everyone in love with him?

5:49

Of course, of course.

5:51

You know. And but Rosie had this

5:53

habit of not telling me what

5:56

company she was getting.

5:58

Well, I never thought I had to say, oh,

6:00

so and so Star is coming. I would just

6:02

invite my friends over and

6:04

then afterwards you would be like, what didn't you tell

6:06

me It was Katie Burk, you know?

6:08

Or the best one was Madonna, that's

6:11

right, because she was at the height of her career.

6:13

Yes, yes, and she gets out of a limo

6:16

and I said to myself, that looks

6:19

like Madonna and she gets

6:21

out with her nanny and I went, oh

6:23

god, that is Madonna. Yes,

6:26

And I remember sitting and having one sch at

6:28

Rosie's and Madonna was

6:30

just Madonna.

6:32

Now, but you had been around famous people

6:34

because Robin was at one time married

6:36

to Mike Myers, who created Linda

6:39

Richmond Coffee Talk YEP, which

6:41

is based on you totally

6:43

and you'll love for Barbara streisand totally,

6:46

which is how you and I connected initially.

6:49

Yes, right, I think we are the two biggest

6:51

fans in the world.

6:52

Yeah, and I think she knows it, Yeah, she does.

6:55

And I never you know, I never miss

6:57

a birthday, I never miss an event. Let's

6:59

talk the book. What do you think

7:02

of that book?

7:03

It was boring and brilliant.

7:05

Boring?

7:07

It was boring and brilliant because.

7:09

Do you think it was boring to you because we know everything?

7:11

Yes?

7:12

I think people who aren't as avid fans,

7:15

right, they maybe heard stories they

7:17

didn't know of. But you and I kind

7:19

of we knew a lot of things that were

7:21

in.

7:21

There, Like we knew more than Barbara.

7:24

Think that scare her, let's not say

7:26

that, but yeah, no, we knew a lot of the story

7:28

of her life because you know it was really

7:31

the whole reason I became a performer

7:33

was because of her.

7:35

Well, I didn't

7:37

become a performer, I just became

7:39

a crazy fan. I remember

7:42

hearing a story

7:44

from her that she had a contentious

7:46

relationship with a mother, yes,

7:49

and you didn't have a mother, And

7:52

I had a contentious relationship with.

7:54

My mother, and you didn't have a father.

7:56

My father had died. He was my father

7:58

was killed in a car crash. It runs

8:00

in the family, obviously, And

8:03

no one told me he was dead until

8:06

I was a teenage, late

8:08

teenage, So.

8:09

For over a decade, no one

8:11

mentioned his name.

8:12

No, and I wasn't allowed to ask how

8:14

old.

8:15

Were you when he died? Eight?

8:17

You were eight? Until you were like in college

8:20

or senior in high school. Nobody

8:22

really even And what did you imagine,

8:24

Linda, What did you think happened?

8:26

I thought, well, I

8:29

had a as I said, I had a difficult

8:31

relationship with my mother, so I

8:34

figured he left her. Oh,

8:36

and he met somebody else who was

8:38

fun and frolicky,

8:41

and he was off having a great time.

8:44

So even though I was confused,

8:46

yeah, I was happy

8:48

for him.

8:49

Oh that's so interesting.

8:50

And I never told a soul what

8:54

was going on in my head. Yeah, so nobody

8:56

ever spoke of him.

8:57

Now, what happened to me? A couple of times after

8:59

my died, as somebody would call like solicitors,

9:02

you know, which at the time

9:05

when they knew it was a kid, They'd say, is your mommy

9:07

home? And I remember having such

9:09

panic and I said, she's in

9:11

the shower. And I hung up because I

9:13

couldn't get myself to say that she had

9:15

died. It wasn't until I was a college

9:18

freshman that my roommate said

9:20

to me, how come you never talk about your mother? And

9:22

I was like, I guess it's now or another

9:24

you know, And I said, oh, my mother died when I was ten,

9:27

And it was the first time I ever told anyone that.

9:30

Well, I never said that he was dead

9:32

because I didn't know, right, I didn't

9:34

know. But that also bonded

9:37

me with Barbara. Yes, her father died.

9:40

I think he was I think

9:42

she was six months

9:44

old or something.

9:45

Yeah, she was an infant. Yeah.

9:47

And when I met her, I

9:50

said, you know, I told her I was

9:53

the most disgusting person

9:55

in the world. I said, I'm the biggest

9:57

fan. I

10:00

had been invited to her concert

10:02

in Vegas, right, and

10:05

she only wanted to speak to me, which

10:08

I loved. And we sat and

10:11

we talked. We talked about my father,

10:14

we talked about my

10:16

mother was not a mother and

10:19

her mind.

10:19

She had a lot of mental illness.

10:22

I had a lot of mental illness. Yes, Barbara's

10:24

mother was just mean to her. Yeah, it seems

10:27

so jealous.

10:28

So unsupportive. I mean, so

10:30

maybe jealous of her talent. Yeah.

10:33

Well I spoke to the mother really

10:36

yeah. At the event, I

10:38

figured, you know, this is the woman who created

10:40

my idol, right too. And

10:43

I walked over to her. I said, hello, I'm

10:46

Linda. I didn't even use my last name.

10:48

I didn't. I didn't want her to think

10:50

I was a jerk, but I was being jerky. Yeah,

10:52

yeah, And I said, you

10:55

have created a masterpiece.

10:58

And she said, did you have a here me sing?

11:01

No?

11:01

She did, nice, God is my witness,

11:03

that's what she said.

11:05

Where on earth would you have heard her mother sing?

11:08

I mean, how could she ask that? Where would you have heard

11:10

her sing in shule com

11:14

on now? I mean she wasn't known

11:16

to have a singing voice.

11:18

Right at all? Not at all? And

11:20

I said, I know, I'm sad that

11:23

I never got a chance to hear you sing, but I'm

11:25

sure you have a beautiful voice.

11:27

But I told you all you needed to know.

11:29

It's all I needed to know. And

11:31

then Barbara and I

11:33

bonded. I didn't tell

11:35

her what her mother said. Of course that would

11:37

have been cruel. But we talked

11:39

about our family and our parents,

11:42

and we talked a lot about

11:44

fathers, because I lost mine, she lost

11:46

her. And I remember having this

11:48

conversation that she brought up and

11:51

she said something about her father and

11:54

I said that I didn't even know my father

11:56

was dead. Yeah, I said,

11:59

he was argued a place cold

12:01

and I don't even remember the name of the place. Now.

12:03

She goes, that's where my father is.

12:05

Wow.

12:06

And I said to her, I go there like

12:08

once a month. Do you want me to visit

12:10

your father? She said yes,

12:14

And I said something that I will

12:16

never regret, but I said it. I said, it

12:19

would be my pleasure.

12:24

The things that come out of your mouth. But how

12:26

long did it take you to go? Like I

12:29

am talking to Barbara Streis and like for me to

12:31

this day still it still

12:34

echoes in my head when I'm anywhere

12:36

near her, that is her

12:39

People sometimes say how often do you see Barbara

12:41

Streis? And I'm like, never, ever, never.

12:44

I send her flowers On April twenty.

12:46

Fourth, you know, but you went to our

12:48

house, yes.

12:49

To interview her. I went to her house a couple.

12:51

Times I was jealous and I remember

12:54

that. I remember, but I don't keep that a secret.

12:56

Yeah, well, was there anyone

12:58

besides Barbara for you? Was it always and

13:00

only her? Like you know what? Was

13:02

she the guiding light? The north Star?

13:05

She was it? When I was growing

13:08

up, like teenageys,

13:10

I became a you should excuse

13:12

that, became a dancer, a

13:14

Latin American dancer up in the Catskill

13:17

Mountains.

13:17

Okay, So I.

13:18

Met Buddy Hacket and

13:22

a Sid Caesar and people,

13:24

and I thought, I have the life.

13:27

Boy, there don't get better than

13:29

this. Robbic Ulay, oh stop,

13:33

rabbit Lay stopped his show to

13:36

talk to me. He said, are

13:39

you okay? I

13:42

went no. He

13:44

said, would you like me

13:46

to come down to you know, into the

13:49

the audience and say hello to you? And

13:51

I went yes, And

13:53

he came down, kissed me on the cheek, and I

13:56

thought, nothing is ever

13:58

going to be the same for me.

14:00

Yeah, you know, it's so weird the role

14:02

that entertainers played in

14:04

your life and played in my life too. It

14:06

was like it was like a ladder

14:09

up out of the darkness. You climb and climb

14:11

and climb. Every time, Like I heard streisan

14:13

or saw a movie or a record came out.

14:16

It was like a new burst of endorphins

14:18

for me. You know, anything she did,

14:23

anything she does still totally

14:25

fascinates and interests me.

14:27

You know, well, you know I was agoraphobic.

14:29

I do know that for many, many, very.

14:31

Many years, which meant I stayed home.

14:33

I never left my house ever ever.

14:36

And you also stayed in your bedroom.

14:38

Mostly.

14:39

I stayed in my bedroom and I

14:41

had the TV on, and

14:45

if she was going to be on, I

14:47

was there. But I also had

14:49

a record player, and I

14:51

had someone had people running

14:54

errands for me to give me albums

14:56

of her, and I could listen to her

14:58

all day. And in my mind,

15:01

I swear to anyone who's listening to

15:03

this, I am normal. And

15:07

I have like five therapists

15:09

who agree. They all said, you're normal.

15:11

They want me to give those names

15:14

because I'm not going to no. Uh yeah,

15:16

you normal in terms of your love for her,

15:18

or normal.

15:19

In terms my love for her was unimaginable.

15:24

Yes, you know, I'd be depressed

15:26

and then I'd put on a record. You

15:29

heard the word record and old tells

15:32

you how old I am, and

15:34

I would just be elated

15:37

and I would just go from depression

15:40

to happiness, and then

15:42

I would pretend. But I knew I

15:44

was crazy when I did this. Yeah, I would pretend

15:47

that Barbara and I had lunch together.

15:48

I did that all the time. Good, are

15:51

you kidding me?

15:51

No? Why do why we get along?

15:53

No? I would sit on my bathroom and I would pop

15:55

my little pimples and I would talk to Barbara

15:57

streisand and Johnny Carson like I

15:59

was the next game. Oh you know, so I turn

16:01

and I'd say, yes, Barbara, so Johnny,

16:04

Like that was my fantasy,

16:06

my delusion. I talked

16:09

to her a lot.

16:11

You know, I spent years doing

16:13

that. Yeah's Barbara. And

16:16

I'm telling you, when I met her, I

16:18

thought I died and went to heaven. And

16:21

she looked different in

16:23

the sense that she was prettier

16:26

than anybody had ever seen.

16:27

I think she's the most gorgeous woman that I've

16:29

ever seen in my life. Here in what's

16:32

up? Doc?

16:33

Gorgeous? Oh my god, gorgeous.

16:35

Right. Hello, she'll

16:38

take that off at the end. Hello,

16:40

daddy. Uh. Yeah, there's there's

16:43

nothing that I have no negative

16:45

thing to say about her, even

16:47

knowing her. Being around her, people

16:49

say and she said to me, don't meet your idols.

16:52

I'll never be able to live up to what

16:54

you have in your head. But you know what she lived

16:57

up to and beyond my wildest dreams

16:59

of her.

16:59

Right, well, she yes, she

17:02

did something for me that amazed

17:05

me. My son also loved

17:07

her, right my whole house loved her.

17:10

But you were always playing it in your bedroom

17:12

exactly.

17:13

She asked me if I wanted a picture with her.

17:16

I would never ask her if for anything,

17:18

and I said, yes, I

17:21

would, And she took this picture.

17:23

And the next day she came back and

17:26

in a frame was a picture of me

17:28

and Barbara, and

17:31

she wrote something about my son. She

17:34

said, I hope Jordan's happy where

17:37

he is. And I looked

17:39

at her and I said,

17:42

how do you do it? She

17:44

said, what did I do? I

17:46

said, you did a mitzvah. For those

17:48

of you listening, that means a

17:51

good deed. And

17:53

I thought that was the kindest thing ever.

17:56

I said, and let me ask you something.

17:58

This is how brilliant I was. I

18:00

said that you go to the mall to

18:02

get a frame. She goes, no,

18:04

I have people who do that.

18:06

What do you think? She was in bedbath

18:08

and beyond looking for something cream

18:10

colored. No, that did not happen.

18:13

We'll be back with MORELANDA. Richmond after this.

18:38

Now, you not only have you lived

18:41

through some ups and downs like

18:43

every eighty three year old almost would

18:45

do right has done in their life, but

18:48

you, you know, you took like grief

18:50

and you made a book

18:53

I'd rather laugh. And you

18:55

ended up going to Canyon Ranch and

18:57

lecturing people on the

19:00

grief of losing a child

19:02

or grief in general grief. And

19:04

how did that whole book and how

19:07

did that switch take place?

19:09

Well, I went to a therapist.

19:11

I needed a therapist at this point,

19:14

you know, as the years went on, I

19:16

was going downhill and

19:20

Robin, my daughter, said

19:22

to me, there's a therapist there. His name

19:24

is Dan Baker. You should

19:26

see him. I said, I'm not seeing another

19:29

therapist. I'm done. I'm

19:31

not going. And

19:34

she said, Ma.

19:35

You need to go.

19:36

You need to just go. So I made an

19:38

appointment and I go into his office.

19:41

He's wearing jeans, a

19:43

cowboy hat, a

19:46

cowboy shirt, boots,

19:48

and I'm thinking, I'm a jew

19:51

from New York and I'm

19:53

going to this guy. He knows cowboys,

19:56

he knows nothing. And

19:59

I went into his office this and we

20:01

started talking and

20:05

he asked me a bunch of questions and

20:07

I was charming. Sure, you know, playing

20:10

the game charge? Yeah,

20:12

oh yeah, that was the biggie. And

20:15

he said, can I say something

20:17

to you? I said yes.

20:21

He said, I think you're full of shit. I

20:24

said, excuse me?

20:25

Wow?

20:26

He said, you have covered

20:29

up all your pain with

20:31

humor, he said,

20:34

And there are a lot of things that

20:36

you should cry about that

20:38

you're laughing at, he

20:40

said, because it doesn't hurt to laugh.

20:45

And he was my doctor, and this is

20:47

how we went. I said, I don't want therapy. I've

20:49

been to four thousand therapists. He goes, no, this

20:51

is not going to be regular therapy.

20:55

And what we did is we went to the swimming

20:57

pool and we

21:00

had we had sessions

21:02

in the pool.

21:03

Wow, And what

21:05

did that? What was that? What did that do?

21:07

It just made it not the stagnancy of an

21:09

office.

21:10

I didn't feel I was mentally

21:13

ill hm because all

21:15

those years that after my son

21:17

died, it was like.

21:19

Dark and confused.

21:20

Everything is dark and confusing. And then

21:22

I lost my sister. Yes, and

21:25

that was that was a huge

21:27

hit for me. She

21:29

raised me basically yeah.

21:31

She was like fifteen years older than you.

21:33

She was god almost

21:36

ten ten years old.

21:37

Yeah, and I loved

21:39

her. She was great fun. My knew

21:42

were in Florida and you guys

21:44

were like the Bobbsey twins. You were like, you

21:46

know, separated never right, absolutely,

21:50

And then she got sick and sadly

21:52

died of cancer. Correct, right.

21:54

And I was so crazy, And I kind

21:56

of loved to tell this story because

21:59

when someone dies, you

22:02

do know how you're going to react. Course, what

22:05

I did is I lived in the next

22:07

building from her in Florida at this time,

22:10

and every morning I went to her house

22:13

and made soup. Now,

22:15

I am one of the worst cooks that

22:17

you'll ever meet. I can vouch for that.

22:22

And I decided that

22:25

the soup was going to cure her until

22:28

one day after she had chemo or

22:31

radiation or something. She

22:33

said, I love you so much. And

22:36

I said, I love you so much. She goes,

22:39

I know, but love me less. You're killing

22:41

me. She said, your soups are the

22:43

worst soups I've never had in my

22:45

whole life.

22:47

And that's what's making me sick.

22:50

Right right.

22:50

So, at any rate, I had a lot of a lot

22:53

of stuff in my body, a

22:55

lot of pain.

22:56

And you never really did work out the

22:58

stuff with your dad, or did you with that therapist

23:00

as well? The grief of losing

23:02

your dad and then not being told that he had passed.

23:06

Well, he just

23:08

said to me, that's crazy, that's

23:11

crazy. Your mother was ill

23:13

right and didn't know how to handle it. Yeah,

23:16

so they made believe that he didn't

23:18

exist because I never heard the word

23:20

dad.

23:20

No. Same with us. You never heard mommy in

23:22

our house again, and it was

23:25

almost like a terrifying word to say.

23:27

Right. And I remember my aunt Minnie,

23:30

who had stayed with us for a little while

23:32

after, who was my father's

23:34

brother's Hawaiian wife, and

23:36

she sometimes would

23:38

set an extra place setting at

23:41

the table by mistake, and it was just

23:43

this horrible silent movie of

23:45

her realizing it and trying to pick up

23:47

the plate and move it back to the cabinet. But

23:49

I noticed everything, you know, so

23:52

it was like we're aren't allowed to say

23:54

it, but the evidence of her absence

23:56

was visible everywhere, you.

23:59

Know, I know that feeling

24:02

right. You know, people would

24:04

never talk about the word

24:07

father, let alone having a father,

24:09

right, you know, until I

24:12

was god, I

24:14

was getting married so

24:16

I was eighteen or nineteen.

24:18

Oh, my Godlindon nineteen you got

24:20

married.

24:21

I learned, I was body

24:23

trained and I got married.

24:25

Oh god, no, what is

24:27

that what everybody did? Then you got out of high

24:29

school? You got married?

24:30

Yeah, and I married

24:33

a very nice man. But

24:35

I shouldn't have gotten married.

24:37

Well, who can get married at eighteen? That's so young.

24:40

I wanted a baby. I

24:42

wanted a baby very badly. And

24:45

my firstborn was my son,

24:47

right, who ultimately was killed

24:49

in a car access Yes. And my father

24:52

had been killed in a

24:54

car truck truck accident. Yeah,

24:57

And I thought to myself at that time

25:01

it must have been written that way, right,

25:04

So I'm not going to feel anything at

25:06

all at all. And

25:09

luckily I became pregnant

25:13

during during that time and gave

25:17

birth to an

25:19

angel in disguise, and

25:23

I put everything that I had into

25:26

her, and which sent her into therapy

25:28

for a lot of years. You know,

25:30

you can't fill a hole.

25:34

With another with another person, especially

25:36

another wounded sibling, you know. I

25:38

mean, how old was she,

25:40

George?

25:41

She was in her twenties. In her twenties, yeah,

25:44

you know, and she had her wounds,

25:46

and but I

25:48

was I was the I

25:52

always thought of myself as the queen of

25:54

depression and misery and unhappiness,

25:57

and I gave it easily to everybodybody

26:00

else right, you know, and with

26:03

an outside that looked happy.

26:05

Well, that's the thing is that you're funny. You

26:07

know. People think it's butter, it's coffee

26:09

talk. They think of comedy,

26:11

and you know, I know that you did

26:14

really profound work with the book and

26:16

with all the grieving that you helped so many

26:18

people that you

26:20

know it probably was life altering for

26:23

you.

26:23

It was life altering because

26:25

people would come up to me after a lecture

26:27

and say, you've changed

26:30

my life, and I go, how m

26:33

And they would tell me and I go, I did

26:35

that. And there was a very

26:37

famous person that I'll tell you later who

26:41

came up to me who said, I've been

26:43

diagnosed as bipolar, which I didn't

26:45

even know what bipolar was at

26:48

that point. He said,

26:50

and you're an important person and

26:54

I said I am. He said,

26:56

you didn't know that. I said,

26:58

no, You've

27:01

made a big change in me. Whether

27:03

I can hold on to it, I don't know sure,

27:06

he said, but you've made a

27:08

big change. And then a

27:10

girl came up to me, a young girl I'm still

27:13

friendly with, and she

27:16

we just started talking. She said, my

27:18

father just died. And

27:20

I looked at her and I said, I'm so sorry.

27:24

I said, you know it's

27:26

your father and I'm not going to

27:28

use his name, and she said, yes,

27:31

how do you know? I

27:33

said, you have every mannerism

27:36

of his.

27:37

Was a famous I know, the

27:40

child of someone famous.

27:42

And with still friends?

27:43

How about that?

27:44

And she calls me, and

27:49

she calls me at least once a

27:51

month. She called me this

27:53

time and she said, I haven't heard

27:55

from you in a while. And

27:57

I said, I had surgery and

28:00

I didn't feel like talking on the phone. I'm

28:02

sorry as short of emailed you. And

28:05

she said, you can make no mistakes

28:07

with Migland.

28:08

That's sweet, that's sweet. Well,

28:10

you have touched so many people. You have so many

28:13

people in your life that really

28:15

care about you and that you're invested,

28:18

and I mean, I think it's why you're doing

28:20

so well in terms of your age and your

28:22

cognition. And you're you know, you're

28:25

you're fully active in loving

28:28

people. You're not so active

28:30

in getting up and around and moving.

28:33

You know that's something that you know, do

28:35

you think that's something that can change.

28:37

At eighty three, well, I'm sitting next

28:39

to my physical therapy yes exactly,

28:42

yells at me daily, right for

28:44

not getting off my as they say in French,

28:47

tookus.

28:47

Yes, without getting off your ass to

28:50

move around. But do you think

28:52

that there could be a change in that? Do

28:54

you think at eighty three you're kind of like, well,

28:57

this is how I am and I'm not going to change it, because

28:59

like today, you didn't have the wheelchair coming in, you

29:01

didn't have the canes coming in, you have you

29:04

just you know, you're you're doing much

29:06

better than you had been.

29:08

I also, if I fell or

29:10

couldn't make the steps, I wouldn't be embarrassed

29:13

in front of you. Oh right, right, because

29:16

we lived together for so long. Yeah, yes exactly.

29:20

But if you were having company, I

29:22

would probably take the wheelchair

29:24

in and and and I'd be happy.

29:27

Yeah.

29:27

Yeah, you know, at least they knew I wouldn't fall.

29:30

More with Linda after this, how

29:54

much do you think our relationship is

29:56

based on my needing a mother and

29:58

you needing a child?

29:59

Time I do too.

30:02

I think it's shared, right.

30:04

Oh, definitely shared. I

30:06

remember you had an accident

30:10

in Florida, and you caut

30:12

uh. Yeah, fishing a fishing

30:15

thing, fishing.

30:15

I cut off the price tag of a fishing pole and

30:17

it like severed everything in my hand.

30:20

And I heard about it, and I was living

30:22

in Florida and I flew

30:24

down there. When I say flew, I mean

30:26

by carr uh.

30:30

And I wasn't allowed in the room.

30:33

And I cried. I

30:36

cried like a baby. I said,

30:39

I have to see her. Yeah, if

30:41

she's where my brain was, if

30:43

she sees me, she's going to be a right.

30:48

And it's true.

30:49

What's illusion is that I believe

30:51

it's true.

30:51

How about when I had my heart attack and I called

30:54

you up? You want to you want to tell that

30:56

story? You tell this is a good story.

30:58

I had had a heart attack on a Monday morning

31:01

and went home and was feeling

31:04

really bad. And I was in my art

31:06

studio with Blakey and I called Linda

31:09

and I said, Linda, do you think this anyway? I

31:11

could have had a heart attack? And what did

31:13

you say?

31:14

I said, what are the symptoms?

31:16

And I had all of them?

31:17

You had all of them. And I said, get

31:19

to the hospital now. That's right,

31:22

no matter what it is, you should be

31:24

seen now.

31:25

But I was not thinking right really,

31:28

and I waited another

31:31

day a half. Yeah, I went

31:33

to a doctor on Wednesday

31:36

at four pm when I had had a heart

31:38

attack Monday at nine am.

31:40

Yeah. Oh, I

31:43

I was so angry with you. I know, I

31:45

didn't want you to die either, you

31:47

know, and like I couldn't make

31:50

headway with you.

31:51

No, But I was, like I was fifty, and

31:54

I thought, a heart attack has to

31:56

feel more painful than this, Like

31:59

my arm's hurt really, really badly.

32:01

But I had helped a woman get out of a car, and

32:04

so I had helped her and it took

32:06

longer and my arms were hurting, and I

32:09

don't know what I thought. I thought,

32:12

how could this be a heart attack? How could

32:14

this be? But I was very lucky

32:16

because the doctor said I had like a half an hour

32:18

more and that would have been that.

32:21

I couldn't imagine you not knowing it was

32:23

a heart attack.

32:24

Right, I think part of me knew,

32:26

but part of me was, you know, here's

32:28

the stupid thing. This is what women do. Women

32:32

sometimes worry about other people

32:34

who aren't even in the equation. Like I was thinking,

32:36

if I call the ambulance, what if

32:38

there's a car accident and somebody really

32:40

needs that ambulance and this isn't

32:42

a heart attack after all, then I would have caused

32:45

the death of a young kid in a car

32:47

accident because I wasted the ambulance.

32:50

That's where I was.

32:51

You know, anyone listening to this

32:54

right now knows who

32:56

Rosie is, because

32:58

that's what she'll do. She'll

33:00

put her life aside so

33:03

that somebody else who doesn't even exist

33:06

gets care before her.

33:08

Right That's when my brain goes through. It's

33:10

like, you know, don't be selfish and take

33:12

this when someone else could need that,

33:14

you know, And I

33:16

mean it's a way that

33:19

women often treat themselves lest

33:21

in a family. When you're the mother, you take care

33:23

of your kids first, and you know,

33:26

you don't put yourself first oftentimes,

33:28

I think when you're a mom, and I was deep

33:30

into mom mode at that point. You know,

33:33

not that I've ever gotten out.

33:34

Of what day? What day

33:36

does you leave?

33:38

I'm still in it. I'm still in it. Yeah,

33:41

But I think that our relationship

33:43

has been very healing for me and

33:46

having lost my mom and to have

33:48

you for you know, the time that I

33:50

missed my mother the most is when they handed

33:52

me Parker, and I remember

33:54

thinking, God, I wish I had my mom

33:57

here to help me because

33:59

you're scared, and he was premi and he

34:01

was tiny, and and then not two days

34:03

later, ding dong, care

34:06

for what you wish for?

34:07

But you just said something that he was

34:10

healing, Yeah, your mother. And

34:13

then I get a phone call, will you watch

34:15

Rosie's son after

34:18

I've lost my son?

34:19

Right?

34:20

Right? I didn't care if it was Rosio.

34:22

I didn't even know who Rose O'Donnell was. Right,

34:25

I didn't care if it was Mary Smith. You

34:27

have a son and he's in,

34:30

you know, in the condition that that

34:32

Parker was, which was a pre meiate. Right,

34:35

of course I'm going to watch it.

34:36

Yeah, yeah, so yeah, But it

34:38

made it made it so much more

34:42

fulfilling for me to not be covered

34:45

with with anxiety the whole

34:47

time, to not just be like, oh my god, I'm

34:49

an orphan girl without a mom. How am I going to do

34:51

this? You know, what do I do if he

34:53

wakes up in the middle of the night and and

34:55

he's vomiting, and like you start to

34:58

panic with your first baby, You don't you don't

35:00

don't realize, you know, I don't know if

35:02

you remember, but he fell off the couch. You

35:04

know, the couch was very low, it was it

35:06

was right like the couches here. You need four people

35:08

to help you get up. But he rolled

35:11

off the couch and I was afraid that he

35:13

hit his head on the wooden leg, but

35:15

he didn't because it was under the couch. So

35:18

but I called the doctor and I was like panicking,

35:20

HYPERVENI my son fell off the couch. How

35:23

high is the couch? About three two and haf feet

35:25

two? And effie, okay, miss so Donald, You've

35:27

just survived your son's first fall. Was

35:30

like, and what do I do? Do I bring him in terret of care?

35:33

What do I do? They're like, you do nothing? Is

35:35

he crying? And no, he's fine, He's fine,

35:38

and and so you learn, you know, but

35:40

you need to have those maternal

35:43

figures in your life, especially

35:46

when you lost one so young

35:48

that you know you don't always

35:51

know where and when you're gonna need a

35:53

mother if you've never had the chance

35:56

to have one.

35:58

And I always felt I didn't have a mother.

36:01

So interesting right

36:03

because she was not really able

36:06

to care for you. She wasn't in her

36:09

right right mind.

36:10

I had a sister who I made

36:12

into my mother, and after

36:15

my sister passed away, I used

36:17

to think I killed her.

36:18

Oh a lot.

36:19

I don't. I had a lot of therapy. I'm

36:21

okay, I know that that's not real.

36:24

At the moment, I thought

36:26

I put so much pressure on her all

36:28

her life that

36:31

I probably killed her. No, And but

36:34

I went into therapy.

36:35

Yeah, yeah, and it helped.

36:37

Yeah, swimming helped a lot.

36:39

Now you love swimming, but you don't do it that much.

36:42

No, Why the

36:44

water is too cold?

36:45

Yeah? Yeah, well Robin has a heated

36:47

pool.

36:48

Now, now she does,

36:50

but it's not is it working?

36:53

It's working, it's working.

36:54

Well, then it's then it's new, Okay, because

36:56

it wasn't. There wasn't a pool there

36:59

I built. Yeah, don't I sound

37:01

like I'm rich and famous. You kind

37:04

of are kind of Can we talk?

37:07

Yeah? So,

37:10

so your relationship with Robin is

37:12

one of the most beautiful mother daughter relationships

37:15

that I know of.

37:16

Thank you.

37:17

Would you say that too? I mean I'm crying,

37:20

yeah, yeah, I mean I think

37:22

that you are so involved and

37:24

so obviously in love with each other. You

37:27

care about each other, You're in each other's lives

37:29

on a on a daily you

37:32

know, minute by minute basis.

37:35

We have had this group

37:38

text since the beginning of COVID

37:40

that Robin's set up, and

37:42

we have taken it all the way

37:44

through till now when COVID is pretty much

37:46

done. Although my nanny just had it that

37:50

we we talk on these group texts three

37:52

or four times a day, and you know,

37:54

I don't know, Robin calls you what ten

37:56

times a day, at

37:59

least four, at least four, yeah,

38:01

yeah, at least four. And you

38:03

had to work on it too, don't you think it

38:05

did it just come naturally?

38:08

I think tragedy

38:11

brought us together.

38:13

What do you think are

38:15

the ingredients to a good relationship

38:18

with your adult daughter? Like so many of my

38:20

friends have problems

38:22

with their moms and their eighties that it's

38:25

you know, and Robin has the patience

38:27

of a saint. I give her that, she surely

38:30

does, and she takes care of

38:32

you like a concierge

38:35

at the best hotel in the country.

38:37

You can get better than that, right, Sometimes

38:40

it's very annoying, yeah to you

38:43

at me, Yeah, yeah, But

38:45

I know where it's coming from. So I

38:47

have to be patient because she's hurting.

38:50

I'm not hurting from it, right, you

38:52

know, I accept what

38:54

she's giving. And I try and

38:58

she's going to listen to this and never to

39:00

me. I

39:04

try not to make her part

39:07

of my mental illness,

39:10

which is I don't feel good. This

39:12

hurts. That hurts. I mean, I had a

39:14

heart attack and I

39:17

had just come out to California. This is years

39:19

ago, and

39:22

I called her. I was in a motel for some

39:24

reason, because I usually stayed with her, and

39:29

I called her. I first called nine one

39:31

one. I said, I'm

39:33

having a heart attack. I need an ambulance. That's

39:35

how I got on that tee, and

39:38

then I called Robin. I said, listen, I'm

39:40

having a heart attack and

39:44

I'm going to Saint John's is where

39:46

I was near. And she said I'm coming

39:48

to get you. I said, no, you are not to

39:51

come and get me. An ambulance is

39:53

coming to get me. And

39:58

I went to the hospital, and

40:00

as luck would have it, the

40:03

doctor who operated

40:06

on mother Teresa was

40:08

the visiting doctor that

40:11

day at the hospital.

40:13

Okay, I have to explain to people.

40:15

Linda Richmond is all about

40:18

the doctors. Where they go to school,

40:20

where they studied, were their grades?

40:23

Who else do you treat? Do you treat

40:25

anyone that I'm aware of, is it someone

40:28

famous that I would like? And how about

40:30

this The weirdest thing about Linda Richmond.

40:32

If you say any celebrity dead

40:34

or alive, like Soupy Sales, Linda

40:37

will say, you know, his daughter's

40:39

carniologist was my uncle's

40:42

neighbor. But you know the

40:44

most absurd facts about

40:46

whose doctor is connected to I

40:50

do. And you had a Mother Teresa doctor

40:52

there for your heart attack.

40:54

So I when I woke up,

40:57

they said, you know who operated on you,

41:00

Mother Teresa's doctor when it's

41:03

not even Jewish.

41:07

No, not even There's some interesting books

41:09

about her that said that her faith was

41:12

kind of diminished at the end of her life,

41:14

and she wrote some interesting diary

41:16

entries about whether or not she believed

41:19

in God Towards these very

41:21

two fascinating books. I read one about

41:24

a postulate who was in her service

41:27

in the what is it called the Sisters of

41:30

Charity or I

41:32

don't know, but anyway, it was very fascinating

41:35

books, very fascinating, which brings

41:37

us back to Barber Streis. And I know you listen

41:39

to it like I did. Right I

41:42

started out reading it and I heard everyone

41:44

saying, you have to listen to it. So

41:46

I listened to it, and it was like a warm

41:48

blanket over me. You know, I

41:50

had to find myself sitting

41:52

and somewhere in the sun with the headphones

41:55

on because it would almost make me, like feel

41:57

so comforted that I'd go to sleep with her in

42:00

my head. You know what I mean.

42:02

But Rosie, let me just ask you

42:04

this question. Go with

42:08

your name ever mentioned in the book? No,

42:10

it was not mine? Was?

42:12

All right? Listen, bitch, all right, right

42:14

now, let's throw down, Linda.

42:17

I don't care that I got twenty years on you,

42:19

I know, No, I mean

42:21

listen, for what she was

42:24

and is to me in my life, and how

42:26

she was and is to me now is

42:28

more than I ever could have expected. The

42:30

fact that she was

42:33

so welcoming and so understanding

42:35

and so genuinely loving of this,

42:38

you know, person who wouldn't stop

42:40

crying when she looked at her. I mean, what must

42:42

that feel like? Because we're not the only

42:44

ones, Linda, are millions

42:46

of us. Everyone could

42:49

feel the power of that voice and that

42:51

talent and her acting and her directing,

42:54

and she's like a powerhouse,

42:56

a force of life, that entertainment

42:59

and artistic I don't think has been

43:01

matched in our.

43:02

Generation, our generation at all. But

43:05

a thought just came to my mind. And

43:07

that's when Rosie was

43:09

living in Florida. I was living in Florida and

43:14

Rosie, I don't know who called

43:16

who or what. I think

43:18

it was you calling me. You said,

43:21

you're not going to believe this Barbara

43:23

Streiss and asked if she could stay in my house

43:26

yes, because she didn't like the hotel

43:28

yes that she was at. I

43:31

said, oh my god, So what's going on?

43:33

Yeah, she said, I'm redecorating

43:35

the whole thing today.

43:37

You know, I call the people who flowers

43:40

in every room, every

43:43

room, everything come

43:45

on. And we got a new toaster

43:47

because the toaster was not good. And

43:50

she left me little post it notes around

43:52

my house in my bedroom and I

43:55

kept them all. I have every single everything

43:57

she's ever sent me, given me and

44:00

to me. I haven't a special box, and

44:03

I you know, I don't know what I'm

44:05

gonna do with it. I'm gonna you know, Bobby

44:07

Pierce, my friend, Bobby, Love

44:09

Bobby. He's a great guy. He always says to me,

44:12

you know, why didn't you keep your Emmys? Why don't

44:14

you keep your and I had said, if my kids want

44:16

that as a remembrance of

44:18

me, I think I've failed in some

44:20

way, right, if all they want is my

44:23

career stuff, like my achievements

44:25

outside of the family. So I

44:27

thought, like a box of these intimate,

44:31

meaningful letters

44:33

from my pretend mother in

44:35

my brain. You know that

44:38

that would would mean more to my

44:40

children when I'm gone than

44:42

ever a statue, could you

44:44

know?

44:45

But I do what it wants.

44:52

I think she did, all right, don't worry about Robin.

44:54

All right, Well, Linda, this has

44:57

been really fun. This is all it is.

44:59

We're done. Done.

45:00

I can't believe it.

45:01

You did it successfully. Now

45:04

what do you have to promote anything?

45:06

Turning eighty three, turning eighty

45:08

three. Yes, we're gonna have a little

45:10

party, Yes, Robins, and I'm

45:13

going to be smiling and laughing

45:15

and hoping I get really nice

45:18

prisons.

45:19

Honey, whatever you need I got for you.

45:21

Of course you do. All right, Well, I think I dropped

45:23

this.

45:23

Come. I love you very much.

45:26

Thank you for doing my podcast.

45:27

I love your room.

45:28

All right, Linda Richmond, Ladies and gentlemen, don't

45:30

go away. We'll be back after this. Well,

45:44

I hope you enjoyed that Linda

45:47

Richmond is one of a kind

45:49

and I love her to death, and I hope

45:51

that you liked it. Next week on

45:54

onward will be just me, Rosie O'Donnell,

45:57

just me talking. Let's see how that

45:59

goes. Peace out, everybody,