Marilyn Denis: She Likes it On Top

Voiceover 00:00:00
The Women of Ill Repute.... 

Wendy 00:00:07
Maureen, I realize I've never really asked you this, a really big question. Have you ever had any work done?

Maureen 00:00:12
Oh, my God. We've had countless for renovations, and then we relanscaped the backyard last year. It was mud and dust for months. So, yeah. Boy, have I ever.

Wendy 00:00:22
No, that's not what I mean.

Maureen 00:00:25
I know it's not what you mean. I'm just stalling.

Wendy 00:00:28
Yes.

Maureen 00:00:28
In the interest of full disclosure, I had a tummy tuck after Ronan, after my second baby. And I've had breast reconstruction after losing one in the war. The war with cancer. Which I won.

Wendy 00:00:39
I won that one, too. And I lost bits of boobs, whatever I guess they would be called.

Wendy 00:00:46
I call them war injuries.

Maureen 00:00:47
And that's very tenacious for you to hang on to. Your breasts there. Good for you, Wendy.

Wendy 00:00:51
Well, that's good. We're on radio. I'm not flashing anybody. But anyway, what about Botox? You had botox.

Maureen 00:00:56
Yes, I've had botox. I started getting Botox 20 years ago because nothing says beautiful like a face full of poison.

Wendy 00:01:03
Yeah, well, it's amazing what we do. Look, I realized it looked like a wooden puppy from the jaw down. I have a jaw on the go, dab.

Maureen 00:01:11
You mean a wooden puppet.

Wendy 00:01:13
Yeah, but my forehead is unbelievable. Like, there's not a single line. It's freakish how flat it is.

Maureen 00:01:19
Yeah.Listen, I got to admit, getting older is a drag. Mostly for me, because certain doors start closing. And I've got to say, I suppose letting my hair grow in gray or white is a bit of a flag these days. A white flag?

Wendy 00:01:34
I think it looks great. But maybe as in I surrender. White flag?

Maureen 00:01:38
As in I surrender? Yes. You and I both agree that Lefair La Flam was probably not about her beautiful silver hair, but just an out and out power struggle.

Wendy 00:01:48
Yeah, but you know what? I think she might have won in the end.

Maureen 00:01:51
Yeah, I guess. If there were any winners.

Wendy 00:01:53
Well, I guess some women deal with age a lot better than others. So there's the people who are all going to be on our podcast in the future. David fonda. Lily tomlin.

Maureen 00:02:02
Yes, helen Mary always has been beautiful.

Wendy 00:02:06
Elon musk's mother. I have no idea what she has to say, but she's gorgeous.

Maureen 00:02:09
She's gorgeous.

Maureen 00:02:10
He doesn't take after her. Dolly Parton.

Wendy 00:02:13
Our dream girl, Madonna.

Maureen 00:02:15
You know, I don't think Madonna is aging well, and I don't think it's a physical thing. I think her personality isn't aging well. Do you know what I mean?

Wendy 00:02:24
Well, her husband said it was like curling up to a piece of gristle. Or at least that's what he's alleged.

Maureen 00:02:29
To her ex husband. We should point out Sharon Stone.

Wendy 00:02:33
We like her.

Maureen 00:02:34
You and I both aspire to Sharon Stone. But listen, these are women our age. They're middle aged. They're not old.

Wendy 00:02:41
Well, if I'm middle age. That means I get to live there. We have 120.

Maureen 00:02:44
Absolutely. Well, there is one woman I know who is doing so well. She's at the top of her game. She really is the busiest woman in show business, marilyn Dennis. Marilyn Dennis is the host of the most surprisingly Marilyn Dennis Show, which, of course, is seen across the country.

Wendy 00:03:00
And she does that show. She's the host of Maryland Dennis and Jamar, which is Toronto's top rated morning radio show. You've been there.

Maureen 00:03:06
I'll admit that now. I'll admit that now. It is Toronto's top rated morning show.

Wendy 00:03:10
Anyway, she's been there since 86, and she works for Bell, which is kind of where Lisa Leslie works, worked. We know that you can't go there. You can't, like, share it on your boss. So there's so much else to talk about.

Maureen 00:03:22
Yes, but she is also, personally, she's a mother. She's a grandmother. I guess you could call her a bride because she married her high school prom date four and a half years ago. She's also a dear friend of mine, and she was because she's a dear friend, she was the first guest to say yes to this podcast way back when.

Wendy 00:03:41
Yeah, well, we did this interview ages ago, and we were going to save it and run it for right after Labor Day. And then we found out who would believe that broadcasting veterans is us would have a technical problem. But we had a technical problem, so we're doing it again.

Maureen 00:03:55
We did. And then a whole lot of things happen in the world, particularly in the broadcast world, as you mentioned, and Marilyn Graciously agreed to come back and give it another go. And so we are so happy to welcome her back because we have so.Much to talk about.

Marilyn 00:03:55
 It was my fault, by the way, in that last interview, which was brilliant, by the way.

Maureen 00:04:18
Well, broadcasters, children go barefoot. Isn't that what they say?

Marilyn 00:04:23
That's what they say. It's so good to be with you both again. I mean, this is the only time I get to see you, I'll take it.

Maureen 00:04:29
Yeah, I know. Well, as we said, you've started another season of the Marilyn Dennis television show, and jeez, I don't know, you're coming on 34 years on radio.

Marilyn 00:04:40
Is it 34? 35 hpf 86 to the math. Well, you know what I'm going to say to you? Don't ask a broadcaster on the fly to do a math equation because it's always wrong.

Maureen 00:04:51
It is so true.

Marilyn 00:04:53
Roger Ashby was really good at that. He knew his numbers. Like, that one time he said to me, okay, here's a phone number. Add up all the phone numbers. And then if your phone number adds up to the number that Marilyn is about to say, you're going to win a prize. I'm like, I can't do that.

Maureen 00:05:09
Needlessly complicated, doesn't it?

Marilyn 00:05:11
No, it's too much. But it's so good to be with you. And season 13 of the Maryland Dentist Show is underway. Now we've got an audience. We've had an audience still wearing masks since, I'd say, mid July. We have guests that come in. Now we actually get to do things in front of a live audience. And what a difference two years makes. Yeah, I know.

Maureen 00:05:32
It's a whole new world.

Marilyn 00:05:33
Yeah. It was very quiet for the first year. I came back to the studio for both shows, but particularly for TV last August 23 last year. And there was nobody in except everyone was remote. And now everyone's back in again, carefully, but back in. This is what it's all about. It's the connection. And I love the connection. Yeah.

Wendy 00:05:54
I used to work for the national and I just talked to the camera and you'd always try to imagine there were people there, but it does make having that connection, Maureen, it's real.

Maureen 00:06:01
Marilyn, take us through your day. Like, what did you do today? Because you are doing both shows. You're doing the radio and television. So you started at what time?

Marilyn 00:06:10
I got up at three.

Maureen 00:06:12
Jesus.

Marilyn 00:06:13
I watched a couple of newscasts, I had a cup of coffee. I got to work for 515 because I have to wake up and I need to think. It's just I can't remember the days we used to rolling after a late night. Those days are gone. And then I did the morning show with Jamar on Chum. And then I come and do hair and makeup between, let's say, 915 and 1015. I get Miked up at 1015 and we start the show. Today's show was Thanksgiving and it was about how to carve a turkey, how to cook a turkey, how to be safe with a turkey. We had cocktails, so I've had a couple of shots of something. I had a martini today on the show, just a couple of steps, but as Maureen knows, I'm a light drinker. And then I just finished a meeting, wrapped that up around noon. Sometimes it's 1230, but today was at noon. And then I have a look ahead meeting about what's happening in the next four to six, sometimes eight weeks on the Maryland Dennis Show. And then I have a very important podcast to do with my friends. Yes.

Wendy 00:07:12
I just think it's amazing. My favorite question to Maureen was always, because she's in the morning show Forever, was, how on earth did you get like, how do you get up? I'm sorry you guys find this really terrisome, but I can't get over you getting up at three in the morning. Do you have a supper at two in the afternoon?

Marilyn 00:07:30
No. It's so funny you say that, Wendy, because the other day my girlfriend, who I've not seen a long time, you know, this is like the year of reunions. And my girlfriend said, I really want to see you when we get together. And I said, Well, I can do dinner at 430 and it worked out beautifully because I was home by seven, and at 730, I was showered and into bed I went. And it's easy for me to fall asleep fast.

Maureen 00:07:54
Yeah, you live in a different time.

Wendy 00:07:56
Zone, so it's just like a time zone thing. You just tell yourself you're in Europe or something.

Marilyn 00:08:00
You do. And it's hard in the summer when you hear everybody else outside having fun, the kids playing basketball. You feel like you're being grounded and stuff. But then the winter comes and I don't know if you felt this way, Maureen, but I felt like, okay, it's snowing outside. There's nothing to do out there. It's okay to be at home and go to bed early. That's how I feel about it.

Maureen 00:08:16
But we love home. We've talked about this. We love home. Home is a wonderful place. It's a refuge, and we love to make our homes beautiful, and we love to spend time there. So I think that helps a lot when you're living in an alternate universe, which you still are.

Marilyn 00:08:32
Yeah, that's true. And I will say that I say goodbye to my bed in the morning. I'll see you soon. I love you so much you don't even know.

Wendy 00:08:39
So that's it? That's your bad habit is sleeping? What about the sex? Drugs and rock and roll and all that?

Marilyn 00:08:46
Well, the sex is good because there's a man in my life. But if you five years ago, I would say it's a Sahara out there.

Maureen 00:08:54
Yeah, I remember Marilyn telling me at lunch, you got to use it or lose it. I have never forgotten that. And so I'm glad you're using it. So tell me how you met Jim, because it's such a great story and I never get tired of hearing it.

Marilyn 00:09:07
Well, you're sweet. Okay, so Jim and I go back to grade nine when he moved in to my neighborhood in Little Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A little neighborhood in Pittsburgh. And his dad was a salesperson, and so this new family moved in, and they were part of the neighborhood. So he joined the gang in the neighborhood. And we used to play football. We used to do all sorts of stuff together, just a great group of kids. And we got to know each other through that and always were friends. I had a crush on him, but he had a crush on my girlfriend, Lisa. She was more developed than I was. I'll just put it at that was it. Maybe it was the knee highs and the saddle shoes that put them off, but we had fun together, and I always had, like, a little crush on him. And I realized that we're just going to be friends. Okay, whatever. And then one day he moved away and of course, being a real guy and being how old are you? What? 16. Didn't tell anybody because he wasn't on the bus. So time goes by. The next year, I got a call the following January, and it's Jim. He's calling me from Nashville saying, is anyone taking you to the prom? And I said, no. And he said, I'd like to take you to the prom and say okay, because I thought, I don't have a boyfriend. He's my friend, and there'll be no drama. So he came to take me to the prom in April of 1975, and then we had a great weekend, and he got to see all his friends. We had so much fun. And then we put him on a plane, and off he went back to Nashville. And then we rode a little bit to one another and then nothing. When I looked back in my high school years, I had fun, and he was part of that group of friends that I had fun with. So 42 years later, my then floor director, Kathy Attitude, has been with me since the city line days. Always checks Facebook messages, and she said she'll always heard something from people that I might know or think that they know me or whatever. So she sent this message, and I went, oh, my gosh, that's Jim. I love him. I'll get back to it. So a couple of days later, I emailed him, and we went back and forth, and it was great to reunite and that way. And then eventually he asked me, hey, do you want to get together? He lives in Seattle. He said, hey, listen, do you want to get together for lunch or dinner? I will be in Chicago. And that's only a quick flight for you. Are you interested in media? And of course, I said, well, okay. Of course I am.

Wendy 00:11:15
40 years later, you still have a crush.

Marilyn 00:11:18
Yeah, those feelings, right? Emily knows a lot about this.

Maureen 00:11:22
Anyway, well, I saw you a few days before you were going to go to Chicago. We had dinner, and you were like a kid. You were like, I'm going to get my hair done. I'm going to wear this. Do you think I should wear this? I think I'm going to wear that, but I don't want to look like I'm trying. But of course I'm trying, but I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard.

Marilyn 00:11:37
That's right. Hilarious. So you got to present well, right? Didn't eat anything for like, three days. I didn't want any problems. Gas, bloating, nothing. I get my hair and makeup team to do my hair and makeup that morning. I am the most gorgeous piece of whatever going on a Porter flight to Chicago. I mean, I'm the most well dressed. I should be up front. I look so good. I get off the plane. I don't want to move my hair or anything like that. I get to the hotel and I watch TV, just sitting there. And I have broth for lunch. Big bowl of steam because I don't want the bloating. Right? So anyway, he is at a conference at a medical conference. And he says to me, well, we should meet for dinner at such and such a time. And then he says sweetly, because he's a sweet guy, are you as nervous as I am? And I said, yes, I am. I said, I am. But long story short, I'm in this hotel, and I come down the elevator. It is the longest ride down the elevator, and the lobby, for some reason, was empty. I don't know why, because it's a very busy place, Chicago. And here he is pacing back and forth, and there he was. And I went up like I usually do, and I go, Hi, I'm Marilyn. Dennis.

Wendy 00:12:56
I'm Melvin.

Marilyn 00:12:59
And we hiked each other, and he goes, how about a drink? I said, I'd love a drink. And then we went to the Barn, start talking, had a great dinner, just had a great evening. We said goodbye. We came back the next day. I had brunch, and then he had to go give another talk or whatever. And I went back home and didn't know what to think. And I thought, you know what? As Joe Rich, my therapist, would say, and it always says, Remember, you have a good life. Whether this works out or not, you have a good life. Because, Maureen, you know, like, life is good. There's no drama. Life is good. Life is good, so it's much better. So a week later, he called me and he said, listen, I would love to see you again. What are my chances of meeting in another city? And I said, they're looking really good. And that's when we cemented the relationship. Do you want to know what I wore, though? Do you want to know what we do? I wore leather pants and a nice black top with sheer sleeves and some really fabulous high heels. There you have it.

Maureen 00:13:54
Yeah, there you have it.

Wendy 00:13:55
But he didn't message you for a whole week.

Marilyn 00:13:58
I know.

Wendy 00:13:59
Oh, my God, you must have been going crazy. I would have been going, oh, you didn't like my breath?

Marilyn 00:14:07
No. But he did say to me he did say to me before he left, Wendy, he said, I'll be in touch with you in a week. I'll call you on such and such a day. And he said, I think it was such and such a day at a certain time because he's a doctor, so he's got lots of thinking to do, and yeah, so we are together and happy, and he moved in with me October of 2019. And I want to say something else. There's not much I love him. Where do you think I was, Thanksgiving of 2019? Was I waiting for him at my house to welcome him? No, I was at a Steelers game in Pittsburgh, because I always had the Steelers game with my girlfriends from high school and sorry you moved by yourself. I'll be home on the Monday. And that's how it is. It's a great relationship. We're very lucky.

Maureen 00:14:51
You know what, Mary? I've got a few friends our age who have either been widowed or divorced, and most of them have found love again.

Marilyn 00:15:00
Wow, that's great.

Maureen 00:15:01
Yeah, I know. So it's not absolutely out of the question. However, I've had a couple of them say they just can't deal with the anxiety is he going to call me back? Or the sexual anxiety, just the drama of it. As much as they might want to be with somebody, is it worth putting yourself through those hoops at this point in our lives?

Marilyn 00:15:23
Well, one thing that I thought about that was a comfort to me is that I knew this kid when we were kids, and sometimes when that happens, you look at that person as like, okay, we're going to go play football now, or are we going to go outside play? Like that kind of innocence. And at the same time, I thought, well, I'm established this is my life. I'm not going to adopt things that you like to do and pretend I like them, too. So I'm going to give you the facts. And when I thought of it in those terms, especially the latter part, is that I thought, you know what? This is who I am. This is what I do, this is what time I go to work. This is my family, whatever. And there's nothing else that's going to change. I'm established. And I think when you tell the truth like that, I think and they say they get it and they act as if they get it, you can see it in actions more than words. Then the anxiety starts peeling away. We don't have a long runway, let's face it, but at the same time, we have more knowledge. So you're not going to turn into unless you're heartbroken, because we all turned into 17 year old girls. But if you're really honest with this person without saying, these are the rules and regulations, just like, this is who I am, and no, I don't like skiing, thank you very much. And I don't do that. I'm not an athlete.

Wendy 00:16:35
That kind of stuff.

Marilyn 00:16:36
When you have those great dinner conversations or walks or whatever, I feel like I haven't sold him something that is not real.

Wendy 00:16:43
I think that's really important. Really important. Like my husband and I, when we started out, he pretended that he likes wind surfing, which is my great love, and then finally he said, I hate wind surfing. And I was able to say, well, I don't like going to concert. It's just great for 20 minutes and then it's really boring. You go and finally there's this honesty that has descended. Not that it's all bliss, but yeah, it is about being real. I think it's important.

Marilyn 00:17:08
Yeah. I mean, I camped, I horseback ride. I hate this, but I love to do what I do now. And there's other things that I like to do, too. But it's like I thought about in the past, what are the things that I did incorrectly that I could have corrected? Because I don't know. We just aren't sure of ourselves at the time. And not that I'm not insecure, because I do get insecure, there's no doubt about it. But I thought, I just want this to work. And if it doesn't work, I know that I gave it my best shot. And also, you do talk about past relationships, about what didn't work for you in that relationship. I think sometimes you should never bring up the ex boyfriend. Well, yeah, I'm going to, because we're old.

Wendy 00:17:46
There were other men in our lives.

Maureen 00:17:48
Didn't save it for you, baby.

Marilyn 00:17:51
I would be worried if you didn't have somebody. Yeah, that's right. And I think it's okay to do that. But I also know that I had a lot of time between relationships, and I was very happy, as you know, maureen like, really? I'm good now. I'm all good. But I also think for Jim, he was a kid that moved around every two years. As I mentioned before, he also was a colonel in the military, so deployment was like this. And he told me about the time when he was married. He came back from Bosnia. And they told them as they were coming back into their regularly scheduled life. Listen. You can't come in and start bossing people around again. Because this person or these people have been living in this house in North America while you've been fighting or you've been doing whatever you're doing. Just know you have to kind of slowly. Slowly transition in. And he absolutely did that because he was really worried about how much I loved my single life, because after a while more, he knows that's what I'm good. I like that I can go to New York tomorrow. I can do this tomorrow. And I just didn't want to negotiate with another person again. But now I do, and it's fine. But I know how lucky I am. But I understand the anticipation, the anxiety. I'm worried about what were they thinking? And you just have to tell them the truth. And you know what the red flags are. Do not ignore those red flags. Don't. Because it's not going to end up well, those little red flags that we've known for a long time that we've never addressed. When you meet somebody new and you hear what they are saying to you and it's a red flag, then it's a red flag. That's what it is. And so you have to really be a good listener when you meet somebody new and get some plastic surgery. I'm just kidding. We're going to transition to that. I'm just kidding about that.

Maureen 00:19:28
Yeah, we're going to transition to that. No, but it's a big deal. The decision is a big deal. And what to do and how much to do and unlike Wendy and me, well, Wendy was on television up until the incident. But having to deal with getting old to begin with or getting older is an issue. But when you're doing it on camera every day with everybody in HD, High Definition, everybody checking you out, you've got to make some decisions.

Wendy 00:19:56
Yeah, but in High death, it's better, actually, because they have this machine where they can come in and they can say, your nose is too wide. We'll make her nose thinner. Like, it's unbelievable. I was so terrified of High Definition coming along when I was in my 40s. But it's amazing what they can take so and so's hair and put it on top of my head.

Marilyn 00:20:17
Right. You know what I didn't like about the old cameras and everything? Speaking of that, they put I don't know about you guys, but whenever you do television, so much makeup on your face. And I always feel that when you're a kid, you put more make up on to look older. When you're older, you want to put less on so you can look younger.

Maureen 00:20:37
Full disclosure. As I mentioned earlier, I've had botox. I've had a lot of surgery, like reconstruction surgery. But I'm at the point I do stand in front of the mirror and go, wow, that would be amazing, as I pull my little extra skin up around the jaw and so on.

Marilyn 00:20:56
The women of ill repute.

Maureen 00:20:59
So when did you decide to leap off that building?

Marilyn 00:21:02
I did that probably in probably 1990 with the nose. Because every time I smile, my nez dipped. I never liked that. Felt like it was giving shade to others, passing by.

Maureen 00:21:14
So it wasn't an age thing, it was just you didn't like the shape of your nose.

Marilyn 00:21:18
That's right. And I had that done. And then as time went on, I saw that it looked tired, and I thought, well, you know, raising kids, right, of course I'm tired. But morning shows, shift work will age you very quickly, there's no doubt about it. And then doing the morning show and then transition to TV, and then going into morphing into my mid forty s. I really noticed the difference. So I had under my eyes done, I think, next with a brow lift, and then you kind of get that 40 sq after a while in your Tour set things. And so I watched my weight as much as I could. I've been up and down on my weight. I'm like a yoyo. But I did a jaw, pulling the jaw a little bit, just tighten it up. I've had my eyes done a couple of times just because they were getting droopy. Just the eyelids. What else is that? Tummy tuck. I've had a breast lift, not a reduction lift.

Maureen 00:22:11
I've had that. I had one lifted.

Wendy 00:22:14
One of them.

Maureen 00:22:19
I had one removed, and then the other one I had reduction. And yes, I just thought I'd try one.

Wendy 00:22:28
But this is weird because people like Marilyn, people don't talk about this. Marina and I've decided, like, what the hell? We're older. Just throw it all out there. I remember 20 years ago people saying, oh, well, did you see Meg Ryan? Or did you see even Maryland Dennis? Like, somebody has. It's shocking. And here you are, just like, Screw it. Like, I had this because I didn't like that. I think it's a much healthier world that we live in. Maybe we're exposing too many secrets.

Marilyn 00:22:57
Well, I do. I think so. And I talked to a long time name dropping right now. I got to talk to the Phyllis dealer back in the day.

Maureen 00:23:05
Oh, gosh, she was a lovely woman, like, just so sweet.

Marilyn 00:23:10
And I said, yeah, I loved her. She said, well, you know, I'm more attractive now than I was then. I go, well, and yet you try to make yourself look unattractive with her outfits and everything. She said, I just didn't like the way I looked. I mean, it could be funny, but it can be attractive and funny. So she was so open about that. When I became open about that, oh, my gosh, I was being giving whatever. You're putting too much in your face. You're doing this now. I will say that of course I use filters on my Instagram. Come on. It's cheaper, but less invasive. And then there have been a couple of mistakes. I'll never forget. I told you this the other day. We're talking about when Botox was new and they were trying to find where to put it, right? And they had put it near my mouth, so my mouth. And so they had to shoot. I had to go on live on television. It interrupted the way I talked and my mouth. And they think, oh, my gosh. And I said, well, shoot me from Ottawa, because then you won't see it. I finally said one day, I said, Listen, I want to tell you I said I did something, and I blame myself because I signed up for it. And they said they went too far.

Maureen 00:24:17
But it wasn't permanent. That's the nice thing about Botox.

Marilyn 00:24:21
No, because that's the thing was not permanent. Right. And then there's fillers and all that kind of stuff. You try this and that. Fillers. I don't like fillers.

Maureen 00:24:29
I heard about fillers from someone we both know, a doctor we both know who said filler, because I had filler under my eyes years ago, and it was awful, and it disappeared. And he said, you're lucky because often this is a renowned cosmetic surgeon. And he said, Filler quite often does not go away.

Marilyn 00:24:48
And sometimes they move, too. They move.

Wendy 00:24:51
You have a nose coming out of your chin.

Maureen 00:24:54
I have a question, since you've been so forthcoming about this. What do you think is the best bang for your buck?

Marilyn 00:24:59
First of all, before considering any cosmetic surgery, i. Think it's a bang for your buck to go to a dermatologist and get those little reds around your nose and bring down the inflammation.

Maureen 00:25:12
The redness.

Marilyn 00:25:13
The redness rosacea, if you have it. And there's firming techniques that are noninvasive that you can do. You can have as much cosmetic surgery, but if your skin is not in good shape, then the results aren't going to be good. So I would go dermatologist first, see what he or she has to say. What are some of the things that you need to do? They do have payment plans. They're not dumb. They have payment plans. You go, how much? Okay, sign me up.

Maureen 00:25:36
You can even get RCI, like, whatever they're called.

Wendy 00:25:40
I don't know.

Maureen 00:25:40
You can do this here, but in the States, you can actually buy these. Like they're RRSPs. But for cosmetic surgery, I mean, you can start saving up when you're young, and you can invest this, and then you can pull it out tax free. I don't know if it's happening here, and I don't even know whether it's a good reflection on our society.

Wendy 00:25:56
Is it a good thing now that men are getting Botox and getting all their stuff? Or did we go too far down that because I think you're beautiful. I don't know what you would be like without having all the bits and pieces done, but yeah, I can't understand why people do so much.

Maureen 00:26:12
Kardashians haven't helped.

Marilyn 00:26:14
That's true.

Wendy 00:26:15
I don't know. I just find it so hard to believe that you didn't think that you're beautiful. Like, you're one of the most successful.

Maureen 00:26:21
People in Canada, lovable, popular, funny.

Marilyn 00:26:25
Yeah.

Wendy 00:26:25
And you had to eat bras for your date, which was probably because your stomach was going flip floppy.

Maureen 00:26:32
But maybe the most effective.

Marilyn 00:26:36
It was the most expensive broth I've ever had in my life. Here's what I want to say about that. The nose was to change. Yes. The cosmetic surgery was to tighten and look fresher. That's all it was. I never thought of myself as pretty, but I never thought of myself as ugly, as a friend of mine said, yeah, but you thought you were funny, and that carried you through. There's something that you have to identify something. I don't know. I don't know that funny either. But I wanted to look fresh and not look tired. No amount of makeup could do that. But there was pressure, as we all know, in the 90s. Show your arms.

Wendy 00:27:17
Where the high heels? Yeah, the whole thing.

Marilyn 00:27:21
Yeah. And so I got a little bit of that. But because I did a lifestyle show, it was okay for me to be a mom. And you'll still see this today on the show. You very rarely see me tucking my shirt because I don't like belts and I have a little bit of a tummy. And I tried everything, and I just know how I feel comfortable.

Wendy 00:27:41
So is it okay to get older.

Marilyn 00:27:45
Yes.

Maureen 00:27:46
Well, this has been the topic this summer, right? And we're not going to take you down a place that is not politically right for you to be in. But now more than ever, and Wendy and I are certainly okay, I'm going to say victims of this too, but our careers have been truncated for a number of reasons, and it wouldn't have happened, I think, if we were men. And what I guess I'm asking you is, do you feel pressured or people think to you, well, gee, Marilyn, how much longer you're going to do this and how do you feel about that?

Marilyn 00:28:16
They are word all the time. They ask me all the time, and I always say two things. I go, well, if they don't want me anymore, they should let me know, and then they'll let me know, hopefully in a nice way. But I also think if I'm not finding Joy in it anymore or I have the energy to do it anymore, to do it to the level I want to do it, is another answer. Another answer is I have a husband and a grandchild now, and I get overly every other week. I help her mom out because her mom is a stylist. And so I take her, I pick her up after school, and then we keep her till 7637. O'clock, joy. I'm exhausted. But anyway, you never get those years back. So it's a combination of all those things. And I do want to work and I do want to have purpose. I'd love to sleep in some day soon, but I don't know when that's going to happen. So to answer your question is, I'm not sure, but right now I'm in, and then when I'm not, we'll figure that one out. I don't have an age on it. I don't have an age on that.

Wendy 00:29:13
But you're so successful, you're one of the biggest in Toronto. And it used to be like we're 50% of the population, but we sure aren't 50% of the stars on radio or TV. When Maureen and I and you started out and you're thriving like you're close to the young man, it used to be the other way around when we started out, and it's kind of cool.

Marilyn 00:29:33
How did I become the oldest person at Chum, seriously? I look at Jamar, I look at Azalea, I go, okay, he's early 40s, she's 32, lovely. I've got a wonderful new producer who's twelve. Such a passionate guy when it comes to radio, it's amazing. And so it was really funny because I thought about dear Roger Ashby, who I love and adore and who was such a part of my life for so many years, and he said to me, one day, you know, one day you're going to be the oldest person in this room. I went, now probably go the same time you go when he was ready to go after 50 years at Chum, a m and then chum at them. I went, well, I'm not ready. So it's a wild thing. I'm very happy to have my name on a station that I believe in. I'm so glad they didn't change the name of the station when they changed some stations into the bounce. Pure country virgin. Those are all great names and they're doing great things and they're part of my umbrella broadcasters in this bell world. But I'm so glad that they maintain chum because when I do retire, I want to retire from chum radio and I'm not going to say retire. I'm going to use a different word. The word is when I decide it's time to go because I'll still be doing who knows? I don't know what I'm going to do. I should really think about that. But I just know that it's been such a part of my life. I'm so glad I'll have that to say goodbye to and it wasn't morphed into something else. People have changed. People have come and go. Some people didn't want to go and had to go and some people decided to retire like Roger. But I'm so happy that I have that connection with the station that I believe in and that still believes in me for so long. I'm a lucky girl. I'm going to say something to you because I want you both to know this. It is heartbreaking to me because I've had many good years. There's been some bad times, especially on the TV side, just changing of the guard and everything like that. But through what is it, city line to this day that happens. Some good producers and bad producers. I've got great, great teams on both sides of television and radio. I know I'm very lucky. It breaks my heart to know that some people, when I was having such a good time and still am, that they weren't enjoying their ride, doing their various shows, I thought, like high school, you go back to a union, you go, hey, it's so good to see you again. I said high school, right? I hated it. I didn't have a good high school a couple of years, I'm like. So I always thought that when we woke up in the morning that we were all experiencing terrific stuff and it's not true.

Wendy 00:32:14
Well, you got to be an optimist to survive, I think.

Maureen 00:32:18
Not to speak on behalf of Wendy, but I know that Wendy loved being at the CBC and I loved being at CHFI. We loved our jobs and so that made it all the more crushing when these events removed us from the jobs that we loved.

Marilyn 00:32:33
But there are people that we know that are no longer working in the field, specifically radio, that were not having a good time, that we're hurting. And it breaks my heart to know that.

Wendy 00:32:45
But maybe that's why you're there after all these years, because you're not faking it. You actually enjoy being with other people and I think people can well, you're saying that you couldn't tell me you were surprised to learn these people were so unhappy. But I don't know, I think that's one of the things that makes somebody work in radio or television is that there is a joy, there is a chuckle, there is an enjoyment.

Maureen 00:33:04
I know what you're referring to. Well, no, I can find it. The Daringer years when I was at Q and A seven, maryland was incredibly supportive and incredibly understanding.

Marilyn 00:33:15
I still loved the job and I.

Maureen 00:33:17
Still had great chemistry with him. All that stuff that came out over the past summer was really hard to go back over that. But it doesn't take away from the fact that I really loved what I was doing.

Marilyn 00:33:26
And that's clarity for me because I know you both love what you do and what you did at those places. As I say, venues, I don't know, whatever stations I reached out to somebody.

Wendy 00:33:37
Who'S also our vintage or older, just saying that we were really lucky because I've been speaking more of television than radio, mainstream media these days. We were there when people still believed what we were saying and there wasn't a thousand other because now, I must confess, I'm not a mainstream media person. I follow people that I feel are going to give me the goods and the goods are out in 5 minutes or 5 hours earlier than they would be on places that I used to go. So I'm just really grateful that I was there sort of during a special age. It's like being born between the Second World War and whatever is coming now.

Maureen 00:34:14
Golden age.

Marilyn 00:34:16
No, it's so true. And I think about this building where I'm doing this podcast with you all at Queen Street and all the events that happen here, all the big shows and the big things in the parking lot and so that changed a lot. But I think my son said someone had told him that prior to lockdown that some of the wheels were falling off a little bit, but you didn't know some. But the pandemic pushed us five years in advance to where we are now. So we're like five years from now right now. The changes are incredible. The landscape is incredibly different from what we're used to. Now I think about this. I'd say, well, you're 64. Is it because you remember the good old days? No, because not all the days gone by were really that good. I had some real struggles on different things. It's like, wow, it's so different. Like people that decide they didn't want to come back to work and they moved away.

Maureen 00:35:11
Priorities are different and maybe they're better. Maybe this isn't the be all and end all and I'm glad. Hey listen, there's podcasting too. Don't let anybody tell you we're having a blast. We're just not making any money, but we're having a great time.

Marilyn 00:35:27
I know you are.

Wendy 00:35:29
We forgot to press record so we're going to call you again tomorrow. We'll do this every day.

Marilyn 00:35:35
Well, I like that idea because I mean next time I do have a bottle of wine that somebody gave me today on the show, those are the freebies I get. Next time I'll open it up and we'll toast each other. But I love the fact that I can talk to you too because we all experienced the same time of what's happening and of some of these events and getting to know you later on is great because that's a sisterhood.

Wendy 00:35:59
Well now one of the good things of being semi retired because I still can't see the full word, is that I have time for friends. And I only met Maureen like five years ago. Really? Who knew that there was this whole there are stars in the sky, there's like all this weird stuff.

Maureen 00:36:13
I do have to say it's pretty hilarious talking to the two of you. It's not the first time we've done it because you're two dear friends and you're also the two most famous people I know. And as I've said before, we can never travel together because if it's a plane crash, it will be like wendy Mesley at Maryland dennis killed in plane crash with local woman.

Marilyn 00:36:35
Oh my God, I love you.

Maureen 00:36:38
So we can't do that. But anyway, I love you both. Mary, I've loved you for years and thank you for doing this with us again. And we may ask you again because you know what, you're going to be doing this for a while and I'm going to want to hear about it. What it's like when you're in your.

Marilyn 00:36:53
Seventy s. Well, I'll see what I can do. I'll call you from the home. You know what we should do? We should get like a condo and put all broadcast in the condo and some of them will not make it though, I'm telling you. Listen, it was a joy talking to both of you and I'm so glad you're doing this and it's such a great podcast and good on you. That's what I have to say. Because both of you pivoted and you pivoted large and I can hear the joy and that this turned out to be a great thing.

Maureen 00:37:24
We're ridiculously proud of ourselves. We made this from nothing and somehow we can pay for our groceries as a result. That would be great. We're not there yet, but you know what, having you on board certainly is going to help. So thank you for that.

Marilyn 00:37:37
Oh my gosh, you're too much. Thank you so much. I appreciate the time.

Maureen 00:37:40
Love you, Mary.

Wendy 00:37:41
Thanks Marilyn.

Marilyn 00:37:42
I'll be back.

Wendy 00:37:47
It's amazing that all that work and she looks so fresh. So it's working, whatever she's doing. She's only this big on my computer, but she looks amazing.

Maureen 00:37:56
But she has always been forthcoming, maybe not publicly. Like she was today. But she's always been forthcoming about that. Yeah. And she's taken a lot of abuse. As you know, when you're on camera and everybody feels that they can tell you how they feel about your haircut or about what you're wearing or whether you put weight on or not. And she's been subjected to that her entire life. I've had my friends say to me, oh, your friends in Maryland?

Marilyn 00:38:19
She's had a lot of work done.

Maureen 00:38:21
Seriously.

Wendy 00:38:22
I know, but I don't know why she decided to go public with it all. And maybe more recently, it sounds like, but it is like, screw off, I decided to do this. What's the difference between doing this and going to the gym for 2 hours a day? It's all about doing what makes you feel right about stuff. And I just find it heartbreaking that she doesn't think she's beautiful and she doesn't you know she is.

Maureen 00:38:43
I know. She doesn't even well, they're all like they we are all like that. Besides, I don't even think I'm very funny. And she's one of the most compelling, warmest, lovely and yes, she's funny. And she also has a fantastic sense of humor, which I think we agree having a great sense of humor is being able to get the joke even more so than telling it.

Marilyn 00:39:01
Right.

Wendy 00:39:02
Well, that's what I'm going with for the moment.

Maureen 00:39:05
You always get the joke. You always get the joke.

Wendy 00:39:08
But I don't have a billboard. I was in Toronto recently and there are billboards everywhere. It's amazing. Yeah. I'm so happy for her and so glad that she could come on.

Maureen 00:39:17
Jim's a great guy, like a really great guy. And I wonder how it's going to be, though, because he's still working in a nestedist as opposed to an esthetician, and he's teaching and she's so busy and well, eventually they're going to sit across each other from the breakfast table and go, well, now what? But in the meantime, they're eleven large.

Wendy 00:39:38
Well, then she'll go to the game with the Phillies. Then she'll go to a game. No, I think it's so great. It took me 25 or 27 years of marriage to realize, oh, okay, so.

Maureen 00:39:47
We'Re not clones, don't have to do the same thing. Yeah. I would say it's even better if you don't do the same things all the time. But you do need to break apart. Yeah.

Wendy 00:39:57
So it's good in your relationships to meet somebody or to get back with somebody. At 60, you can just say, this is who I am. Okay. Yeah, great. Love you, too. Anyway, so nice.

Maureen 00:40:09
Great story.

Wendy 00:40:10
All right, on to the next.

Marilyn 00:40:13
The women of Ill repute with Wendy.

Maureen 00:40:15
Mesley and Maureen Holloway.

Marilyn 00:40:17
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts or@womenofillrepute.com Virginia.

Maureen 00:40:23
Used and distributed by the Soundoff Media Company.