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Let's Be Naughty...with Sandra Lee

Published Nov 21, 2024, 5:00 AM

The OG Lifestyle Influencer Sandra Lee has been showing us how to take our cooking and decor to the next level for years!Now the breast cancer thriver is showing us how to be over 50 and fabulous!In this episode, she is joined by her bestie Carolyn Smith Bryant for a fun and naughty conversation about sex, and dating younger men.Plus, find out what products they swear by when it comes to being naughty AND nice!

This is let's be clear with Shannon Doherty. Hello there, I am Sandra Lee, and I am so excited that I have been allowed to host this podcast in honor of Shannon Dwarty. She's such an icon, and I am so in awe of her bravery, in her inspiration and her giving to all of us, not just in entertainment, but even at the end of life, in helping us understand the disease of cancer. But I myself had breast cancer and a double mistectomy, and then I went ahead and had a full hysterect to me and I was thinking, who are the people who are really involved in my life and special to me in my life that I would want to do this podcast with? And so I called upon one of my very dearest friends, Carolyn Smith Bryant. Carolyn, what I would love for you to do is share with everyone kind of what you're working on now, where you come from, all of those good things. I know everything, but I want you to say in your own words right now.

I am the features editor of Sophisticated Living Nashville, which is super fun. I get to bring cover stories to Nashville. You know, stories that should be told, so I'm having a blast doing that. I just finished co writing the book of a musical called Bye Bye Love, which has some commercial interest that I can't share at this point. But you know, musicals are an exciting genre and very speculative, so I hope that this one comes to Broadway at some point soon. And I wrote with two very iconic songwriters, Desmond Child and Sharon Vaughn, and that was super fun. That was one of our COVID projects. We've been working on it for about five years. I come from New York, originally grew up in Kennet, hitting back to New York Woo and met Sandy. Our eyes met across the room over a shared love of cream colored clothing. We were both dressed head to toe in cream. We spotted each other's outfits and we've been friends ever since. And that is close to twenty years ago.

And this is all before, you know, our lives changed when we heard or were fearful of the sea word.

And so.

There's only one other woman that I just became friends with that I've met from across the room. And this really speaks to like friendships of women and being thoughtful about those friendships with women. I met a gal named Nikki Deloche who is on Hallmark. I think she just launched a movie and she used to be on The Mickey Mouse Club. She also just started a podcast that's called Mind What Matters, and her love language is togetherness. What would you say your love language is?

My love language is kindness and being a good listener. And I think you know that about me. I think, and it's so important and not overrated in these times that we're going through. I mean, being kind is a gift to yourself and to everyone else.

Which does not mean that it's not about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Like let's get down right now, because when I were being like this very polished, very sweet, very soft, very kind girlfriend group, and we are we are, we are naughty too. We can be a little naughty and which I love about us and then we giggling cackle depending on the season. But I want to say that I was I was so taken back that you moved to Nashville. I stayed in New York in that time, and I was in the hospital having my double mistectomy, and you flew in for the day just to sit with me in the hospital room. And I can't remember the day I was redecorating my hospital room, which was the day after my surgery, or if that was the day I was on my face, you were on.

Your face that day. You were absolutely in pain, you were exhausted, your body obviously was healing. And no, you were definitely not redecorating your room or a I would have helped or be told you to get back to bed. I didn't know you were redecorating the day after the room.

Next you did the day after. You have a double mistect. To me, nobody gets the point that you're still amped up on these drugs and on adrenaline and all those things, and it's not that painful that first. That first very next day you're like bionic. I was on the phone making business calls. I was doing all this stuff, redecorating my room, reorganizing my flowers, and then the next day, boom. I was down for two straight weeks, I think. But you came and then when you had your double misteckt to me, it was planned. So I got on a plane and I came to Franklin for a week and we had so much fun, none of which you remember. My husband, Della and I which I'm throwing Dell under the bus in this anaima you.

Would love it. He expects nothing less.

Yeah, And I ate everything under the sun. And you were in bed. I crawled in bed with you more often than not. And your mom would come in to change your drains and to do whatever.

And she was always.

Scowling at us like we were twelve.

Absolutely she wanted me to rest.

I know, and we we're just like giggling. And I think, but I really think that that is part of healing. Absolutely, laughing and being together.

Laughing is a part of healing through everything in life. And it's just a daily mechanism to get through the small, mundane moments and you know what, tough moments in life. So smiling and humor is important.

So everybody knows that kind of knows that I've created semi homemade and I'm a little naughty, mostly nice. I do the cocktail times and the two shots of vodka, and I created tablescapes and did all of those things. After I had my double mastectomy, I actually felt sexier. I liked being I mean, I've had reconstruction since, but I liked kind of being flat and free. Does that sound weird. Does that sound odd?

No, No, it doesn't. No. Actually, and my doctor took me in the opposite direction, which I was so annoyed about. He made me three sizes too big, even though if I remember that, but they were up to my clavicle and they were enormous, and I was pissed for about three years, and then I finally said, I'm going to do something about this, and I had them redone. But apparently, ladies, if you're considering this prophylactically or after a battle of the cancer, sometimes the doctors will make you a little bit bigger based on your frame or what they think you ought to look like.

So just something to know, Well, you and I are. You know we're taller women. I'm five nine. I don't know how tall you are.

I have ten.

Yeah, I have ten. And I know you have one size above me and shoe size I do because you have the best. She's like sex and Okay, everybody who's listening. First of all, thank you for listening and being patient with me, because it's my first podcast. I've never done it before, so I don't know if I'm doing well or not. But Carolyn Smith Bryant is like the sex in the City of shoes and bags. I'm just saying, I mean, you've got to be six five when you put on your stilettos.

I am, and being back in New York across from where I used to work in my office, CNN caught me one time where I'm towering at about six ' three and said, why do you wear heels? And I just threw my head back in a demonic laugh and cackled because it brings me power. And they played that all over the nation. But anyway, I no longer wear them for power, but just for me. And we talk about fabulous outfits of your blue ribbon, your blue room championship, making championship, your outfits. Can we just talk about those for a moment. They were off the chaine, my friend, thank you, absolutely gorgeous, one better than the next.

Netflix let me style all that, and I was really happy because it needed to be my own style. I created that show, the Blue Ribbon Faking Championship twelve years ago, Carolyn. It took me twelve years to get that thing on the air.

Netflix was the perfect place for it. And it's a fabulous show, not just because you look amazing, but I love Jason Biggs. He's so funny and your judges are amazing.

Okay, we have to talk about Noddy, not sex. Let's talk about sex.

Let's do it. Okay, let's go there.

You first after you had your double instec to me and had all your stuff. And what I love about sharing this is we both had these issues. There are next generations that are going to come with these issues. There's women going through issue right now. There's women on the other side of the issues. There's women looking at what their next journey is going to be because they're going to join Shannon in heaven for the big cocktail time, which is you know, your blue ribbon right on that next journey. So let's talk about did your sex life change after your double mistectomy or your hysterectomy.

Well, let's just talk about the lack of hormones that comes with No matter what kind of cancer you have or if you're doing what I did to prevent cancer, it does impact your hormones and that always impacts your intimate life. So I know that.

Carolyn, there's a vagina cream. No, it's like got testosterone in it, and there's estrogen in it, and that stuff will light you on fire. I never looked at a tree that way before.

Hello, send me a link.

Well, I'll take a picture and send it to you. This stuff is unbelievable. It's like hot to trot. Everybody's like, you look so young. What's going on? I'm like sex, That's what's going on a lot of it.

You have a significant other also, that's quite a bit younger.

And Carolyn tormiando thing called Sammy. What's Sammy?

Sammy is a natural mood elevator. It is great. The first time I took it, I could not stop laughing, so I'm not sure I took the correct dose. It's been around for a very long time. And we are not doctors. Sandy only plays a doctor on TV, so check check this out with your own doctor. But Samy over the counter herbal is over the counter, right, and it's been around for a very long time, which just means that people have vetted it for a very long time. But it's great.

Okay that Carolyn takes Sammy's to make her happy, and I have vaginny cream. All right, So we're going to talk about something that happened, and you're going to tell me, actually, what happened. Okay, So I go down to visit Carolyn on one of my many trips to Franklin, who, by the way, has the best antiquing. I love Franklin, Tennessee. It's right next to Leaper's Fork. I think justin Timberlake owns most of that town. Great Pockets, food, chest pie, oh God, bands, Sunday Morning, fire Pits, coffee. Can't say enough about Leaper's Fork. And Franklin is just this is like jewel of a town.

Like jewel.

Kathylee Giffard lives.

There, she does, and Shannon live there, and Dann live there. Shannon lived there.

Yes, oh my god where she Yes.

I'm not exactly sure because unfortunately I met her about a month before she passed away, and she said we have to hang out, and then I got the sad news when the world got the news. But she she also loved Franklin. Oh my love.

Yeah, we shouldn't say too much. Everybody will move there and then they'll work.

No.

So oh, so I come to visit you and we're sitting in the kitchen and two things, Dell, wouldn't you put the Christmas tree up? Until like a couple of days before Christmas.

And I'm like, hmm, yeah, that doesn't sit well with someone who invented table scapes.

Now I'm like, Dell, I have good news for you. She's not putting it up November first, which is my idea, or even the day after Thanksgiving. And so Carolyn, I would look at you and I'm like, Carolyn, seriously, you can't put your Christmas tree up or kind of and You're like, I'm working on it. So now the Christmas tree goes up.

When Christmas tree goes up about mid November, a full week before Thanksgiving, and you know, you know you're in a relationship. Everything takes patience from making them think it's a fair idea, right.

That is the beautiful thing about being over fifty and fabulous. I'm part of this QVCS over fifty and fabulous. At this point, we've been around the turnarounds, you know, those turnarounds that you can said so many times, and we weren't doing everything, Like I don't mean that ells not doing anything, don't get me wrong. But we're organizing the house, we're organizing the holidays, we're doing the gift giving, we're making the food, we're doing all this stuff like if we want to put the Christmas tree up, like, I got good news for you. Put the Christmas tree up and we can have sex.

You've given me that advice before, Dell put the Christmas tree up, and let me help you.

Help you Carolyn's husband, who is the most charming man in the world. And we used to go the three of us used to go everywhere together and a Dell's parents wrote so many great songs. They wrote Rocky Top, which is the Tennessee fight song. And I've been to a Tennessee game with you. Great apparel. I think so you are helping run that brand for.

The time being. I absolutely am. We have a bunch of things in the works.

Yeah. And I went to Walmart with you, and I have also been with walm Mark, QVC and Walmart for like over thirty years. It was so nice to see your stuff in Walmart.

Oh, it's so gratifying to see their works all over everything from wrapping paper, you know, T shirt, sweatshirts, the obvious things.

Can you sing Rocky Top? I can't. They'll tell us.

That I was on old Rocky Top down on the Tennessee Hills. Ain't no smokey smog on Rocky Top. Ain't no telephone bills.

So I want to go back to talking about compelling journeys. We know and are so honored to be here because Shannon started something pretty fantastic and is an inspiration to all of us, and her story was so compelling. What is the one thing that you think that you learned from you taking control of your health journey yourself? Like, what did you learn from that experience?

I've learned that it's okay to be raw and vulnerable and honest. And I called myself the town crier of menopause because I found that nobody was talking about it. Nobody was talking about these intimate things. And I was the first person to tell people, Yeah, I've got stuff hanging out and I'm tacking it back up and I'm taking everything out I don't need, and I'm going to be perky forever. And to go back to what you said about laughter, being raw, being honest, being authentic and laughing about it, and it just this is what Shannon did with this podcast. It just opens people up to tell about their own story, or their mother's story, or their sisters or best friends or you know, we're all impacted. So we all have stories to tell and it's okay and younger, yes, frightfully so. But the reason why people don't talk about it also is they think that sometimes that it ages them, and age is age is a gift. I mean, do I like the wrinkle here and there? No? Do I love and I like your wrinkles. I love your beautiful face that is so beautiful, and I just like the inside of you.

You know, some people think because they watched me on Semi Homemade, we're have in the past, or they see me on Best and Fair or whatever it is, they because we're edited so specifically. You know, when I did Semi home made, it was four recipes, a cocktail, two wardrobe changes, and a whole table scape. There was no time to be naughty or to say much other than you know, put this in the bowl and do that with the bowl, and you know this that and the other thing. But there was no time to really have that kind of like personality. So now that people see my real personality, some love it, some are horrified, and you know what, love hurts.

Love hurts, But you know what I know, But you weren't pooling anyone when it came down to cocktail time. You're naughtiness came out in that part of the segment. I used to look at it and see, my god, I'd be on my face. But you shot the Monca, always always tasty, and everything you've done is just so beautiful, so much fun.

So I have a nephew, a godson if you well name, which is Carolyn's son. And Carolyn you had Tad later on in life. But before you're going to tell the Tad story, which is a whole inspiration. Before you tell the Tad story, I just want to say, Tad, I'm holding you to the fact that when Aunt Sandy Claws, Aunt Sandy and your mom were in Paris walking all over the Shaunsey Leez trying to buy you color markers when you were five, we had a conversation. Listen to Aunt Sandy, you are going to be pushing us in our wheelchairs in Paris when we're old, all of us, so start working out. But not that you need to start working out. So tell tell you were Gizelle before Gizelle was Gizelle in that you were having a later in life.

Baby, Well, you just made my day being compared to Giselle in anyway is such an honor. But yes, I had my well, I had tad at thirty nine and then quickly turned forty because in New York, as you know, a lot of women are just career focused, career obsessed. And then and.

You were on Wall Street and during all you went to Harvard I mean yes.

Online the business school to help merchandise Rocky Top and other parts of our famili's made the catalog.

And later in life you decided to have a baby and coming into the world. What is it like to have a baby later on in life? I would think it would be much better because I feel so much more solid in myself and where I want to go and what I want to do and how I want to do it. And when I was thirty nine and forty, I was determined. I was not taking no for an answer, and I was running like a thoroughbread But you were burthing I was.

And I can sum it up in one word. I had patience. I come from a long line of impatient people, so it wasn't until I was about thirty nine when I finally was patient enough and I felt like I had done part one of my journey as a woman, and accomplishing things, but I was patient enough to just really enjoy. And you know, I enjoyed every moment of motherhood, and it's all these different stages. You helped me. You would go pick them up from school with me after our Central Park hat luncheons, and it's a beautiful journey. I've enjoyed it immensely.

Thank you for introducing me to Stevie Nicks, like a couple times. She literally saved my life in high school. When I was a junior, I literally did not want to be here. I wanted to go on that next journey in the sky and have cocktail time up in heaven and set up the craft store for everybody, but that was.

Not to be.

Thank goodness, thank you. But if it wasn't for her Belladonna album, I would have been not here. I was so upset and so depressed. And you introduced me to her several times, So thank you.

Well, she loved meeting you, and she's such good friends with Dall and it was just another and a long list of great times that we've had. So I'm thrilled.

So talk to me about your alchemy.

Well, looping this back to menopause, one of the best things for menopause is Saint Clarie Sage. It's wonderful. Don't pretend to know how it works, but it works. It stops and helps with hot flashes. It is great and it comes and rollers that you can roll it on at the post point. You can put it on your pillow. Larry Sage is amazing. But I also really I live by things like you know, lavender for stress. I love frankensense. I don't know what it does, but it just makes me happy. And when I think of Christmas and Jesus getting it as a gift, you know who, you can't go wrong with frankensense. But there are just so many great herbs out there.

So how is your sex life? Honey?

While I was going to throw it back to you, you're the one dating the younger man. Let's talk to you. Let's talk about your your a handsome young man. We can talk about mine after. My sex life's great, great, And Ben is so handsome, so sweet. He's so sweet for you.

No, he's super super sweet. And I do have to say that. I you know, everything's a trade off. You know that everything in a relationship is a trade off, and there's nothing you can do that, because nobody is perfect. What I love about him is that he's transparent, overly transparent, almost like hey honey, inside voice. He is loyal, he is connected, and he is available emotionally physically like he's available. And what I don't like is that he's a little messy.

And you know me, well, I mean, if that's that's the worst of it, that's great. I love the way he looks at you in every picture, and I'm just happy for you.

Yeah, it's it's been a really interesting ride. I decided after my double mastectomy and my breast cancer journey and then my uncle's diagnosis, I just had to change my life. I just I was in New York. I was in a totally different situation in life.

We know, you know.

That that was a challenging time for a while before I decided to leave and to change my life. And I think that that's one of the beautiful things that I love about Shannon's story is that she was married and decided to get divorced in her last year of her life. And I think that that is just right up there with life too short, Like if you're not happy or it's not happening, and you need to move on, like you need to move on, and making those decisions are They're.

Tough, absolutely, and that's the ultimate. And recharging your battery, which is what you needed. But back to our Shannon, Shannon's journey and having the bravery to say, I think I know where this cancer journey is going, and yet I'm going to end this relationship and recharge my battery. She was just a badass and so brave. I'll be forever grateful to her. She was so kind. That's like my favorite word these days. She was kind and inspirational.

I'm so grateful. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to do this podcast. I'm so grateful for you for being with me on this podcast.

I'd loved it and we're thinking about you, Shannon and all the Let's be clear listeners. Thank you so much.

Thank you everybody.

Let's Be Clear with Shannen Doherty

Let’s Be Clear… a new podcast from Shannen Doherty.   The actress will open up like never before in 
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