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Weekend Plans With Rascal Flatts Frontman Gary LeVox

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rascal flatts

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weekend plans

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, prominent detransitioner Chloe Cole sits down with The Daily Wire with a fresh perspective on life. She gained notoriety as a teen after exiting her own “gender-affirming transition” where she received life-altering surgery and puberty blockers. Even amid ongoing backlash from the pro-trans movement, she’s become the face of the “<a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5483/text">Chloe Cole Act</a>” designed to protect healthy children from devastating medical and chemical intervention. Now, she’s encouraging everyone to love themselves just as they are — because God doesn’t make mistakes.
* * *
Chloe Cole laughs as she tousles her newly sun-kissed highlights to softly frame her face. She looks radiant, having just celebrated her 22nd birthday. You’d never guess there was a time when she didn&#8217;t think she&#8217;d live to see 18.
“I&#8217;ve had a craving for cake for the last month. I had an ice cream cake made for me for my birthday, and a friend of mine just brought over a cheesecake,” she explains. Other guests arrived with cupcakes in hand. We joke that party-related calories don’t count. “It&#8217;s just cake central here right now. I don&#8217;t know how I&#8217;m going to keep the weight down, but it&#8217;s worth it. It&#8217;s my birthday week.” 
I ask about the Instagram birthday post where she mentioned a spiritual transformation that saved her life. She dives in without blinking an eye.
“When I was a teenager, I was going through a really rough time with the transition, and the psychological and physical damage from that,” she explains. “I felt like I didn&#8217;t really have a purpose. I didn&#8217;t feel like anybody around me really appreciated me for me. I didn&#8217;t know that I was created beautifully in God&#8217;s image.” 
“I didn&#8217;t know that he had a purpose for me through all the suffering. I just thought ‘I&#8217;m here by chance,’ and by the end of my life, there&#8217;s not going to be any meaning. And if there&#8217;s no meaning, why should I even be here? I thought, ‘I don&#8217;t want to be an adult. I don&#8217;t want to grow up. I don&#8217;t want to live.’”
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Chloe was born a girl. She grew up in a home where her father had been raised Mormon and her mother grew up Catholic. Chloe attended church as a young child. But instead of guiding Chloe to explore a deeper faith, her parents backed away from the church, hoping Chloe would think freely for herself. “I think what that does, unintentionally, is set up your child to lack the single biggest foundation that they need in their life, which is faith,” Chloe says.
She had been diagnosed with ADHD during childhood, but says, even today, most people in her life suspect she’s “on the spectrum somewhere.” Chloe ultimately chose her own path: one that, as a child, she couldn’t possibly have known she could never walk back. She decided she wanted to be a boy.
She watched other kids her age speak openly about their own transitions on social media. She already identified more with boy stuff, and the trans community seemed ready to welcome her with open arms. After seeking professional therapy, she began puberty blockers and testosterone injections at age 13. She underwent a double mastectomy at 15, which she almost immediately regretted. She began to detransition just before she turned 17, but she only sank further into depression, describing feeling like “the best parts were already over.”  
“I just thought there&#8217;s no getting past high school. I&#8217;ve already peaked, and this is going to be it for me,” she recalls. “All it took was for me to go through those painful parts, which I think ended up being God pruning all the bad connections … and then eventually bringing me purpose through using my testimony to help other families.” 
Chloe now applauds <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DaRJMYQga67/?hl=en&amp;img_index=1">her mom</a> for refusing to hide her childhood photos that were on display around the house, even though Chloe desperately wanted to erase all evidence that she was a biological girl. Those portraits served as a critical reminder of who she really was. But she pulled a 180 after catching a glimpse of her future.
“It was a very slow realization of all these different things,” Chloe explains. “What if I have kids one day? Am I even going to be able to have children? And if I do have kids somehow, what are they going to call me? Am I going to be Mom? Am I going to be Dad? If I get married, who am I going to be? A wife or a husband? None of it makes sense. All I had to do was get a little bit older, and I was going to become comfortable with these parts of myself.”
Chloe manages extreme joint pain following years of unbalanced hormones and puberty blockers. And she admits to having a tough time trusting the same industry that mutilated her body in order now to get the medical help she needs. But her life remains a testament to the real transformative power of divine love.
“There&#8217;s been a great deal of joy in discovering new beautiful things about my life … being able to re-embrace my femininity that I had forgotten about for years. Now, I feel like a completely new person. A lot of my friends who are close to me know me for my sense of humor. The best antidote to all the difficulty is humor and gratitude. When you practice those two things consistently every single day, that greatly improves your life.”
No place like home
Having just moved out of her parents’ home in Central Valley, California, on her birthday, Chloe is busy settling into her new digs. She assures me that hauling boxes was a breeze compared to more stressful events that have fallen on her big day. “On my 19th birthday, I was testifying before Congress for the first time,” she says. 
“Whenever I&#8217;m traveling to D.C. or anywhere else, I get so much of the city that it&#8217;s basically like living in it,” she shares. “I love all the people, I love all the hustle and bustle, but at the end of the day, I like having a quiet place to come home to. I&#8217;m surrounded by nature, and that&#8217;s how I like it.”
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<div id="attachment_924043" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-924043" class="size-medium wp-image-924043" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1243386581-300x200.jpg" alt="Chloe Cole speaks as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) looks on during a news conference on Capitol Hill September 20, 2022 in Washington, DC." width="300" height="200" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1243386581-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1243386581-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1243386581-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/05/GettyImages-1243386581.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images</div>
Chloe notes how Left-leaning outlets often claim she’s “raking in millions” as a “grifter.” (She’s not.) When I ask what most often occupies her downtime, she swivels in her gaming chair and tells me, “I&#8217;m a boring person. You know what I do every day when I&#8217;m not working? I play Minecraft with my brothers and friends. I lift. I work out. I run.”
“I have a whole home gym set up,” she notes. “I&#8217;m pretty sure I hit a new [personal record] on my deadlift right before I met [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] last December. I forgot to tell him about that,” she laughs. But her new home offered her a little fitness inspiration of its own. “Funnily enough, the previous owners left a photo of Marilyn Monroe working out in a bikini top and jeans. Maybe I might have to start RFK-maxxing and working out wearing denim, myself.”
Reinventing a lost childhood
As a tween, Chloe was forced to make adult decisions that were well beyond any child’s ability to grasp. But now, she’s relishing her glow-up era. I watch her eyes sparkle as she talks about bringing her childhood back to life.
“I&#8217;m rereading a lot of books I love from my childhood. My favorite book to read in high school English class was ‘Ender&#8217;s Game,’” she says, referencing the novel about a government-born child genius trained to battle invaders from other planets. “I love science fiction. I love stuff that has some form of psychological horror and great moral questions behind it.”
Chloe’s hoping to rebuild a treasure trove of memories to fill in the blanks. “I have a collection of hobbies,” she notes. “I love fashion. I&#8217;m collecting a lot of my childhood dolls that I loved. The way that I decorate my room — it&#8217;s very nostalgic. It&#8217;s very feminine. It&#8217;s very reminiscent of the way that I grew up before the transgender thing happened to me.”
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<div id="attachment_1153329" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1153329" class="size-medium wp-image-1153329" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2258795463-300x169.jpg" alt="Chloe Cole" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2258795463-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2258795463-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2258795463-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/08/GettyImages-2258795463.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Photo by Bastien Ohier / Hans Lucas via AFP</div>
“I&#8217;ve always been a tomboy. I&#8217;m closer to my brothers and boys in my classes than my sisters,” she explains. But she’s found the sweet spot between her unique personality traits and her true identity. “I have always had this very girly, pink — I don&#8217;t even know what you call it. Almost like a very sugary, feminine side of me that I just love to tap into.” 
An artist for this moment
There’s no question Chloe has always been creative. “Pretty much as soon as I was old enough to pick up a Crayon and a notebook and scribble on a piece of paper, I&#8217;ve been an illustrator,” she says.
“From the time that I was two or three years old up until my senior year of high school, I&#8217;ve always loved drawing cartoons, manga-style illustrations, and making my own characters and stories,” she shares. “Throughout my mom and dad&#8217;s house, I just have stacks upon stacks of notebooks, papers, anything I could possibly draw on.”
Since she’s recently had so much on her plate, she hasn’t been feeling the creative spark like she once did. As she works through a lull in inspiration, luckily, she knows where to go for help. 
“I honestly would appreciate some prayers in breaking that artist block because that was one of things I have loved doing most in my life. But the story writing that I used to do as a kid is something that now I bring out when I&#8217;m telling my own story to new audiences through speeches.”
Chloe sees a real need for art to come from people of all walks of life, including kindred creators on the conservative side of things. 
“We used to have these big, beautiful cathedrals with beautiful drawings, and so much human love just poured into every little detail. There&#8217;s such a hunger amongst young conservatives to see more art, more stories, more movies, more music that reflects our values, and there&#8217;s such a shortage of that,” Chloe says.
“I feel like I have a responsibility as an artistic person to tap into that part of myself, so that other artists can see that influence. We can, little by little, effect change in the lives of people around us.”
A real life redemption
Considering how much heat Chloe has taken from the pro-trans movement, I ask her how she perceives trans-identifying celebrities flooding headlines with “live your truth”-style clickbait. Miraculously, she views people like Dylan Mulvaney, Kim Petras, and Elliot Page with surprising grace.
“There&#8217;s this instinct to immediately label them as these evil, horrible people. But at the very core of it, it&#8217;s very clear from the outside that these people are suffering. They&#8217;re dealing with confusion around one of the most fundamental parts of the human experience.”
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<div id="attachment_315795" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-315795" class="size-medium wp-image-315795" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2021/12/GettyImages-1340132913-300x200.jpg" alt="NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 13: Elliot Page attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City." width="300" height="200" />Theo Wargo/Getty Images</div>
“I have a heart for these people,” Chloe says. “Especially knowing what it is like to go through that, to have this bubble around you of people who are encouraging you to continue destroying yourself. You&#8217;re constantly being told this is a fundamental part of who you are. You can&#8217;t change it. The only way you can help it is by undergoing a lifetime of medical experimentation — and also there&#8217;s a ‘genocide’ being waged against people like you. It&#8217;s no wonder that they continue fighting so hard to make sure other people stay indoctrinated.”
She puts the onus on trans-identifying adults — not the kids getting caught in the current — to flip the script.
“With adults, there&#8217;s a little bit more culpability. They should be held accountable for their actions if they are doing anything wrong. But we should also be praying for these people because they are suffering deeply.”
Writing her next chapter 
Missouri Rep. Bob Onder’s H.R. 5483 bill, known as the “Chloe Cole Act,” is currently making its way through Congress. It seeks to ban “the chemical or surgical mutilation of a child” and lengthen the statute of limitations for victims of these practices. It’s groundbreaking legislation, and Chloe is at the front of the movement.
“It&#8217;s still so strange for me to think about the fact that I&#8217;ve become prominent enough for there to be federal legislation named after me,” she says. “Just a few years ago I was the shy, nerdy kid in high school who could never even do group projects or present in front of class.”
Chloe describes how most states currently allow only two or three years for victims of medical malpractice to take legal action. That’s not nearly enough time. Chloe says trans-identifying children can develop regret “seven to 10 years after a major procedure such as surgery.”
“I want this to honor every single young person who has been pushed down this path of confusion and been hurt for life. I&#8217;m very much looking forward to the day that it is signed into law and every child in America will be protected.”
I get chills just listening to Chloe speak. She’ll live the rest of her life with scars on her body and on her heart, but she won’t be defined by old stories. Instead, pointing to “the grace of God,” she’s looking at a future without limits. 
“It&#8217;s almost kind of paralyzing to think about the possibilities,&#8221; she says. &#8220;I have had so many blessings over the years that I thought would never come to me.”
She’s hoping to harness her artistic talent for the masses. “I&#8217;ve always been sentimental about the idea of making entertainment for future generations. I would love to illustrate comics for people of all ages. I’m actually working on a book of my own right now about my story. But I also want to make a more digestible, more creative form of that as well.” I tell her if she ever publishes a graphic novel, I’ve already mentally added myself to her preorder list. 
Chloe’s just beginning to unlock her potential. But perhaps most importantly, she radiates with the kind of love she wants to share with someone else someday.
“I would love to have a family,” Chloe muses. “Whether God calls me to give birth or adopt, I want my kids to grow up knowing that they are loved, and that they are beautiful the way they are.”

Weekend Plans With Chloe Cole, Detransitioner And Child Advocate

Chloe Cole

Chloe Cole Act

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Weekend Plans With Tori Hope Petersen, Champion For Foster Families

Foster Care

interview

tori hope petersen

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, the Emmy-winning host of “Dirty Jobs” and the founder and CEO of the MikeRoweWORKS Foundation chats with The Daily Wire about how to land a six-figure job without a four-year degree (even in the AI era), the real reason he’s not married with kids, and the secret to his phenomenal success. All while charming your socks off. 
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He built a multimillion-dollar empire on harvesting bat guano, cleaning up roadkill, and upcycling Vegas casino food scraps into pig feed. But while skilled trade champion and whiskey buff Mike Rowe is doing a little less work with septic pits at meat processing plants these days, he’s still leading the charge toward what he calls “AI-proof six-figure jobs.”
He greets me from his home office in the Bay Area, where he’s got a killer view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Books, awards, and old photos occupy the wooden bookcase behind him. Thirty seconds into our conversation, I realize there’s no escaping his sparkling wit. I feel compelled to grab beers and ask him about everything he knows.
At 64, Mike also seems to be getting younger with time. I can’t imagine how he keeps up his busy schedule of appearances along with producing his show “Somebody’s Gotta Do It” and his podcast, “The Way I Heard It.” He’s also helmed <a href="https://mikeroweworks.org/">mikeroweWORKS</a> since 2008, awarding <a href="https://mikeroweworks.org/#:~:text=This%20year%2C%20we%E2%80%99re%20awarding,in%20work%20ethic%20scholarships">$10 million</a> a year in trade school scholarships.
“Well, whiskey plays a huge role, methamphetamines, whatever I get my hands on. I mean, I&#8217;m heavily medicated all the time.” I confirm that he is, in fact, joking. He offers the real secret sauce, adding, “I maintain what I hope is a steady state of curiosity, humility or something like it, and bemusement. I try to be bemused all of the time.”  
After beating the drum on reinvigorating trade skills over the last 15 years, Mike’s foundation launched <a href="http://buildfreedom.us">BuildFreedom</a> this year with $10 million in funding, in partnership with the Pentagon. In the age of AI, Mike says “electricians, plumbers, steam fitters, pipe fitters, and so forth” could not be more in demand. 
“I personally know more than a few [licensed electricians] in data centers who are making well over $200,000 a year. No debt, and they&#8217;re being poached every few months … there&#8217;s nobody in the pipeline,” Mike explains. “There are maybe 400,000 jobs available right now in the defense industrial base, and virtually none of them require a four-year degree. They require training.”
Before landing his hit shows “Dirty Jobs” and “Deadliest Catch,” Mike spent six weeks paying his dues, working on an Alaskan crab boat as a host-turned-greenhorn for the Discovery Channel. He says he attended six funerals during that time.
“It&#8217;s the most dangerous job in the world, crab fishing on the Bering Sea. Nothing comes close,” Mike says. “They wound up ordering ‘Dirty Jobs’ and ‘Deadliest Catch,’ but I had to choose which one I was gonna host. When in doubt, take the one with your name in the title, and narrate the other one. ‘Deadliest Catch’ is still on the air 22 years later; it&#8217;s crazy.”
As anyone familiar with his work already knows, Mike naturally offers something far beyond the approved script.
“People can choose to be curious, they can choose to be humble, they can choose work ethic, they can choose attitude. It&#8217;s all a choice,” he says. As to whether these qualities were passed down to him from his parents John and Peggy Rowe, he says, “My mother is relentlessly, abusively curious. My dad is relentlessly and abusively patient and persistent.” 
After Mike read on air a funny story his mom had written (she tells it <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH35c1EjP9U">here</a>), she got a book deal and became a New York Times bestselling author at 80 years old.
“What&#8217;s crazy is how much time I spend talking about dirty jobbers and men in my life who have prospered as a result of hard work and delayed gratification,” he says. “But this whole time, my mom is right in front of me, probably the prima facie example of everything that I try to do with my foundation, just slugging away for 60 years until she knocks it out of the park.”
It’s been ages since Mike’s first job as a home-shopping host on QVC, back in the &#8217;90s. In the time since, he completely transformed entertainment. 
“I can&#8217;t stand television that&#8217;s done in a traditional way,” he says, recalling the behind-the-scenes camera that captured the essential gritty reality of ‘Dirty Jobs,’ proving it wasn’t a staged set-up. “I didn&#8217;t want the viewer to think that they were seeing anything that was contrived or rehearsed. It let me do something in TV that is very, very, very, very rarely done, which is to truly be honest, you know, just be yourself. And it changed my life.”
Mornings with Mike Rowe
Mike’s private about his personal life, but when I light-heartedly joke about who might be waking up beside him in bed, he expertly bobs and weaves. “Who’s not?” He laughs. “I&#8217;m on fire these days. Have you seen me? Just drink this in and think about the futility of your question.”
“I&#8217;ve been with the same woman for like 30 years,” he adds. “She keeps a low profile. She doesn&#8217;t understand my business. I don&#8217;t understand hers. We give each other a wide berth and it works out.”
His parents are still together, and his grandparents were married for 75 years. I see a window to dig into whether he ever saw himself as being married with kids.
“I did until I was about 30. I&#8217;m a big fan of the institution, and I&#8217;m a serial monogamist myself. It didn&#8217;t work out with the one I thought it was gonna work out with, and then I really refocused on my career, which I loved. When ‘Dirty Jobs’ happened, I realized, ‘If you&#8217;re gonna do this right, you&#8217;re gonna mess up your kids.’”
He and his girlfriend are on the same page. “We each just kind of were like, okay, if you&#8217;re cool, I&#8217;m cool. And then we just suddenly woke up one day and it&#8217;s like, ‘Yeah, you&#8217;re too old for that.’ You play the cards you got.”
Mike usually heads out early in the morning with a 65-pound weighted ruck for an eight-mile working walk through the neighborhood hills. When he gets back home, he hits the floor.
“I do as many push-ups as I can, and I rest for three minutes and then I do as many push-ups as I can, and then I rest for three minutes and I do as many push-ups as I can,” he says, often hitting about 250 reps. “At the end, I&#8217;m just a quivering mess of drooling, incontinent disappointment.” 
After that, he’s in his office recording commercials for his podcast and exploring yet another one of his many talents.
“You know what I do that&#8217;s fun? I write unauthorized jingles for sponsors,” he says, panning his camera over to a keyboard. “I do them in four-part harmony, right? I sing all the parts myself. It just amuses me to write these old-timey jingles. I used to sing in a barbershop quartet when I was a kid, and so it never really got out of my system. It&#8217;s ridiculous.”
Something to sip on
Mike’s whiskey brand, <a href="https://shop.knobelspirits.com/?utm_source=google&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_campaign=18719292714&amp;utm_content=631519433017&amp;utm_term=mike+rowe+knobel&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=18719292714&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAo9yzEgP4tFnvRxNlBMC76rUsggQK&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw1IHTBhAaEiwA4AYNFgnsTpEUPMoC-HfVJMxbNES8yVXpSRJ5Zm9i_8siopi1B1Dwv25sOxoCa3AQAvD_BwE">Knobel Spirits</a>, was named 2026’s <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemicallef/2026/05/23/the-top-american-whiskeys-according-to-the-american-distilling-institute/">Best Tennessee Whiskey</a> by the American Distilling Institute. But during the warmer months, you’ll find Mike sipping something a little more herbal in his glass.
His foundation occupies most of his time, and “there are books, public appearances, endorsements, jingles, and more podcasts. And then, in the afternoon, I don&#8217;t read as much as I used to, but obviously I like books. I try and stay curious. Maybe in the evenings, a gin and tonic this time of year goes down pretty well.”
“I got a nice deck, and it&#8217;s a nice view. I&#8217;ll sit out there, I&#8217;ll sip a gin and tonic and think about all my mistakes, hopes and dreams, and regrets,” he says. He’ll do the same with his bourbon in the fall. He named his whiskey brand after his grandfather.
“I put my pop&#8217;s name on it because ‘Dirty Jobs’ was a tribute to him, and so was the mikeroweWORKS Foundation.” When his show returned to production in 2021, Mike leveraged a friend’s unclaimed five-year-old barrel whiskey stash as part of the reboot. 
“Now I&#8217;m in the whiskey business, I guess, which is so crazy cause my pop didn&#8217;t even drink,” Mike says with a smile. “He only went to the 7th grade, but he was an electrician, he was a carpenter, a plumber, a pipe fitter, a welder. Guy could build a house without a blueprint.”
“That handy gene, tragically, is recessive, and I didn&#8217;t get it,” Mike alleges. “But I got a real appreciation for the work, and that appreciation was the thing that allowed me to get ‘Dirty Jobs’ on the air.”
Still doing the work
Thanks to his enduring dedication to the trades, Mike has catapulted the next generation of journey-workers toward greatness. “It&#8217;s very gratifying to see the headlines catch up with us after all these years,” he says. “We have 3,500 people we&#8217;ve helped through mikeroweWORKS, and I hear from them every day. They&#8217;re crushing it.”
So is Mike. “I was shooting in Las Vegas four days ago in the only rare earth mine in the country. It&#8217;s about 1,000 feet deep. It was 114 degrees. I mean, jeez, these guys earn every penny.”
Mike is clearly grateful to return to comfier conditions at home. And no one does their best work without a little rest.
“You know, sometimes I&#8217;m just tired. When that happens, I do this thing called napping. Man, I&#8217;m such a fan of the nap now.” He chuckles to himself. “I never thought I would be, but being older than I&#8217;ve ever been, it&#8217;s just a delight to lie down. It&#8217;s great. Ten minutes with my eyes shut and I&#8217;m good to go. I probably shouldn&#8217;t tell you this, but I fell asleep about 10 minutes ago, actually. I&#8217;ve been asleep for most of this, if I&#8217;m being honest.” 
Leaning back in his office chair he surveys the landscape. “It&#8217;s a nice place — I&#8217;m not here a ton, maybe seven or eight days a month — but it&#8217;s home.” When I appear shocked that he isn’t reaping his own rewards on the daily, he responds accordingly. “I still work, woman!” Of course he does.

Upstream_Rowe

Weekend Plans With Mike Rowe, Blue Collar America’s Biggest Advocate

Mike Rowe

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, Emmy-winning ‘Sopranos’ star and host of the “<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ultrafree/id1873411221">ULTRAFREE</a>” podcast Drea de Matteo chats with The Daily Wire about embarrassing her kids in the streets of Los Angeles, why mornings revolve around her dog, and how one little “picture in a bikini” earned her the $75,000 she desperately needed to save her house. This Hollywood icon may be outlaw country and mobster royalty, but she’s totally punk rock. 
* * *
Drea de Matteo will be described as a “<a href="https://x.com/AndymRight/status/1696593084530737236?s=20">MILF</a>,” “<a href="https://x.com/LUVontheR0CKS/status/1695280747886637238?s=20">absolute dreamgirl</a>” and a “<a href="https://www.instagram.com/reels/DOYzqEfkSMX/">booyah hottie</a>” for the rest of time. And she’s perfectly fine with that. 
She joins me on a sunny Los Angeles afternoon from her home office, flanked by an American flag in the next room. Delightful chaos erupts as her rescue dogs Moose, Blankie, and her “Chinese mafia princess Shar-Pei” Lucky Luciana tumble through her eclectic Laurel Canyon house, vying for attention. Drea famously paid off a lien against her home using $75,000 she made in her first minutes on OnlyFans. 
“It was a picture of me in a bikini, man. I paid off a freaking lien in 75 minutes.” She caught flak for the move from Ben Shapiro, among others. It stung, but she doesn’t hold a grudge.
“I got dropped by everybody. In a way that just turned me off so much to Hollywood … All they have to do is tell a Democrat, ‘She didn&#8217;t get the vaccine.’ And that automatically pegs you as racist. You&#8217;re all the things. You&#8217;re a hippie who only eats flowers.”
Drea originally sought out the censor-free OnlyFans platform to host her podcast after being canceled for speaking out against the vaccine. The dip in her income was devastating. 
“They tried to make a story out of it, like female empowerment,” she recalls. “I was like, no, this is not that. I hope you are never in the position that I found myself in at that time. And it was all born out of the vaccine mandates and standing my ground.”
We spitball about her character returning from the dead for a “Sopranos” spin-off, or how a “Sons of Anarchy” reboot might feature her character among the last stars standing by the series’ end.  
The HBO hit that transformed television as we know it, &#8220;Sopranos&#8221; now streams all day. And it’s keeping Drea’s glamorously mob-adjacent Adriana La Cerva persona fresh in adolescent minds. 
“It is like a phenomenon,” she laughs. “I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s because, you know, I fixed my face a little bit so I still look the same? Teenagers are skidding on the road in California, like ‘Holy sh*t, it’s Adriana!’ And I’m with my 15-year-old who thinks it’s so uncool … He’s like, ‘I gotta watch it. My whole feed is “Sopranos.”’”
Drea laments the fact that her son Waylon “Blackjack” Jennings — whom she shares with Grammy-winning music producer Shooter Jennings — has watched all of “Breaking Bad” but has yet to crack into a single episode of “mommy’s show.” 
Unlike some other celebrities, Drea welcomes enduring notoriety as part of the deal. I almost bumped into her last year at Alice In Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell’s show in downtown LA. I didn’t want to bug her while she was with her daughter, Alabama Gypsy Rose Jennings, but she says I totally should have.  
“My favorite pastime is to give hugs to fans,” she confirms. “I don’t leave the house very much, but when I do — I’m like the Dos Equis guy — I am stopping and taking pictures with a zillion people. I feel like we’re all just this one big universe and that I can’t just shut people out. They love me, and I have to love them back.”
She keeps things apolitical these days, but she dives headfirst into topics that pique her interest, such as geoengineering and the weaponization of musical frequencies. But as a native of New York City (Drea says her father was “offered a button” from every crime family but the Gambinos), I have to ask if she’s personally offended by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani forgetting Little Italy on a map of “immigrant enclaves.” 
“I don’t want to be that person that gets on a soap box about it because that always annoys me, but at the end of the day, we built that city. The skyline, it’s all immigrants,” she says. 
“All of these mayors and governors hate f*cking everyone. I don’t think any of them care about any particular race, nationality, religion. I think they’re all bought and sold, I think they have a script and they f*cking stick to it. He’s the son of a famous movie director. What does he know about running a city? He was hired. I’m an actor — he got hired to do an acting job, too … Maybe I should run for one of these fake f*cking acting jobs and see if they’ll put me in office.”
Drea may be too much of an independent thinker to be relegated to any one box. 
“We are punk rock,” she says. “This is the only version of punk rock left. So if everyone in the f*cking music industry and the entertainment industry is following that protocol, they have left their punk rock credentials behind.”
Nights turn into mornings for the dogs
Drea briefly contemplates her morning routine before offering me the timestamp that’s really on her mind: her college-aged daughter’s latest endeavor.
“My daughter just started driving last week, so I&#8217;m a nervous wreck. What I do is I watch her drive on my phone. If she&#8217;s in the car alone and it&#8217;s late I sit here for 30 minutes if I have to, just watching what street she&#8217;s on, following her phone like a psychopath.” Drea laughs.
“She writes me, ‘I got home,’ and I send her a screenshot of her at home, like, ‘I already know I followed you for 30 minutes.’” Drea’s determined to let her daughter grow up under her watchful eye. “Me and a girlfriend were actually sitting at Norm&#8217;s Diner until four in the morning while she was at an afterparty, to pick her up and bring her and her buddy home. I want her to have that feeling that I had when I was a kid — that freedom. But at the same time, I can&#8217;t really give it to her because I don&#8217;t trust people … I am a few blocks away in a car like a psycho.”
Considering Drea’s evening routine, I’m shocked she sees mornings at all. “Listen, I&#8217;m not sleeping as well as I used to because I am 54 and that happens,” Drea shrugs. But she shares her earliest hours with her longtime boyfriend, musician Robbie Staebler. “We wake up at nine, sometimes we can even wake up at 11 a.m. It depends on what time we go to bed.” 
“The mornings are always the same,” she tells me. “It&#8217;s a cup of coffee, sitting outside on the front deck with all the dogs. The big one doesn&#8217;t stop barking. My boyfriend calls them ‘No reason barks.’ She&#8217;s just barking in the wind, hitting her tail on the wind chimes. It&#8217;s chaos.”
Relaxing into another dimension
For someone battling it out on the front lines in Hollywood, Drea’s a pro at letting negative energy pass on by. “The only thing that really stresses me out are continuous EMFs (Electromagnetic Fields) because I&#8217;m always researching or doing my work on a phone or a computer,” she says.
But when she needs a little rest, she picks up one of the “15 different books” she’s currently reading. “I get my little neck light and a book because my house is pretty dark. I can&#8217;t have LEDs all over me. I&#8217;ll have a bigger headache.”
She’s not kidding when it comes to a diverse collection of reading material, which multiplies as we speak. “I am in all these different dimensions,” she explains of the content she later peppers into her podcast. “I am trying to draw a diagram in my mind and put together pieces of a puzzle from ancient religions, secret societies, astronaut theories, all the different schools of thought, and all the different philosophers.”
“I am reading a hundred different books at once and trying to see where they overlap. People are so afraid of a lot of this stuff and then when you really get into it, it&#8217;s like, ‘Oh this isn&#8217;t really that scary.’”
Quality time with “la famiglia”
Drea’s mother <a href="https://people.com/sopranos-alum-drea-de-matteo-mom-dead-exclusive-8660256">Donna de Matteo</a> died unexpectedly in 2024. In celebration of her life, and hoping to forge new family memories, Drea took her kids on a six-week adventure through Italy and Greece.
“When I graduated high school, she took me and my friends to Italy, to Capri, because that was her favorite place to go with my dad,” Drea remembers of her mother. “We went with a group of 20 people … it was such a beautiful trip.” 
“Both my parents are gone and I was like, I&#8217;ve been broke for a while. I&#8217;m taking a piece of this money and going on a trip with my kids because I don&#8217;t know if the world&#8217;s going to shut down again … and I don&#8217;t know if they&#8217;ll ever want to go with me again. Right now, they&#8217;re still mine and they have to do what I say. So, we&#8217;re going to Italy. Now when they talk about it, they&#8217;re like, I can&#8217;t believe you took us on that trip. It was really worth it.”
But the family already knew how to make the most out of their time together, however luxurious it might be. Especially during lockdown. “We literally ran out of money because of COVID and the foreclosure and everything. So, we did roadtrips nonstop. We would go to Mount Zion or Moab. We spent a lot of time in Utah and Arizona. Lots of national parks and hiking.”
She feels this precious time with her kids slipping away. “Everybody&#8217;s busy. I wish I could get them to do more. We&#8217;ll see.”
An outlaw legacy
Drea describes how she rearranged an entire room of her house to turn it into a makeshift studio where her boyfriend Robbie’s band could record their latest album. Those tracks are still under wraps, but Drea’s got them on repeat. 
Also on her playlist, her daughter Alabama lends keys to her own New York-style punk band, The Pinups, as well as providing under-the-radar vocals on higher profile projects. Drea’s son Blackjack leverages his family’s outlaw country status, with a decidedly unique spin on his rap track “<a href="https://open.spotify.com/track/4mVxkznwq47MmZ927MeSaV?si=e82301e73ae14066">YUHH</a>.” Drea clearly encourages her kids to blaze their own trails.
“We are outlaws,” she recalls telling Blackjack. “I go, dude, you are part of a crazy legacy. From my dad to Shooter&#8217;s dad [Waylon Jennings], even Shooter. We&#8217;ve all gone against the system in our own way. So, this is your life, buddy. Like, you&#8217;re born into it. And you are already a rebellious maniac. So, embrace it. Don&#8217;t believe what your friends say. Find the right people who mirror who you really are.”
She may be a rebel, but Drea lets her heart guide the way. “I lead with one thing no matter what, and it&#8217;s love. I know it sounds so corny.” I assure her it doesn’t. “At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the connection we have with people, how we make others feel, and how we love them.”

Weekend Plans With ‘Sopranos’ Star Drea De Matteo

Drea de Matteo

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, former Newsweek deputy opinion editor, bestselling author, and host of NewsNation’s “<a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/batya/">Batya!</a>” show Batya Ungar-Sargon, sits down with The Daily Wire to dish the soundtrack to her $22 fitness routine, make a case for a romantasy fan’s Shabbat, give every other “wine down” a run for its money, and reveal why only love can save America.
***
Batya Ungar-Sargon has her Ph.D. in English literature, but she doesn’t annoy society by describing herself as a doctor. Spending time with her feels like grabbing a cocktail with a good friend, leaning in over a votive candle on the bar top as she surgically critiques culture to uncover the truth. I live for the secondhand buzz of her hot takes.
“I&#8217;m definitely more embraced by the Right,” she notes of the space where she’s most free to think for herself. “On the Left, the second I said, &#8216;Hey, are we really going to be antisemites? I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s a good idea.’ They were like, &#8216;Out to the Gulag!’”
She’s fresh off filming TV hits for the day, penning her <a href="https://substack.com/@batyaus/posts">Substack</a>, and promoting her latest bestseller, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jews-Left-Batya-Ungar-Sargon/dp/0063460602">The Jews and the Left</a>,” following her previous release, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Second-Class-Betrayed-Americas-Working/dp/1641773618">Second Class: How the Elites Betrayed America&#8217;s Working Men and Women</a>.”
“It&#8217;s so bound up with my love of America and my need to be part of the thing that&#8217;s restoring it,” Batya says of her advocacy for working-class Americans and her ongoing crusade against antisemitism. “Our best days are not behind us, but are to come. We don&#8217;t have to accept our decline.” 
“American Founding Fathers saw Jews as partners in the creation of this great nation,” Batya says. “There&#8217;s never been an America without Jews. We were never seen as an oppressed immigrant minority; we were seen as heritage Americans. That has been erased because it&#8217;s inconvenient to both sides. I was like, I have to tell this story.”
Currently a political free agent, Batya doesn’t see herself as having left the Left. Instead, she says she was ejected. “They kicked me out over refusing to stop condemning antisemitism from leftists like Ilhan Omar.” It wasn’t long before she questioned everything else she was taking at face value. Still, she knows she seems like a total lib.
“People will sit next to me in bars and say the craziest things and assume that I agree with them,” she explains. “I think because I&#8217;m not blonde, and because I wear second-hand clothes, they&#8217;re like, &#8216;Oh, obviously this person is on my side,’ and they&#8217;ll sit down and just start trashing Trump. I just look at them like, &#8216;Is he really that bad?’” Batya laughs, unleashing her humor. “Just the expression on their faces, the shock, the horror, like, ‘Oh my God, I cannot believe I was flirting with this woman; she&#8217;s so evil.’”
I tell Batya her name sounds like a warrior from the Bible. It turns out, I wasn’t too far off.
“So, the name Batya comes from the Midrash. The Midrash was the sort of secondary commentary on the Bible, and it&#8217;s the name that was given to Pharaoh&#8217;s daughter, who rescued Moses,” Batya explains. “God was so grateful to her for rescuing Moses and saving the Jewish people that he renamed her from ‘daughter of Pharaoh’ to ‘daughter of God,’ which is what Batya means.” Also her grandmother’s name, it suits her. “It&#8217;s kind of an old-fashioned Jewish name right now, so if you go to Israel, you meet, like, grandmothers or great-grandmothers named Batya.” 
But of course Batya is a fearless fighter; she’s originally from Philly. She keeps much of her private life on lock. Which, since she’s known for stirring the pot, means the internet just makes it up.
“There&#8217;s a lot of misinformation about me online because some Indian website created an AI-generated bio of me,” Batya notes. “It said that I was born in Gaza … There are no Jews in Gaza. It said that I&#8217;m worth $3 million … I wish. It also said that I was married to the very dashing Welsh character actor Ioan Gruffudd.” Happily married to the real love of her life, Batya still takes it personally that interviewers only focus on her fake net worth and sketchy alleged origins. “Nobody once asked me what it was like being married to Ioan Gruffudd.”
Schvitzing and kibbitzing
Batya’s day begins with a sweat at her local gym. “I work out every morning,” she says. “I wake up around 6:30 a.m., I have a cup of coffee, find out what the headlines are, think about what I&#8217;m going to write about, and from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m., I go to the gym.”
She loves a HIIT sesh, weightlifting, and resistance training, but she isn’t as thrilled about the aerobic stuff. “I do cardio twice a week, but I hate it,” she jokes. “It&#8217;s a tiny little gym, $22 a month. Everybody in the neighborhood goes there and you see the same people every morning, kibbitz with them, talk to them, say hi.”
To summon the adrenaline, she cranks up the tunes, describing her playlist with: “Jewish religious groups take Bible verses and put music to them. I find that really inspirational, especially when I&#8217;m working out.” I’m suddenly imagining myself listening to “How Great Thou Art” for 45 minutes on the stair climber. “I also love classic rock. I really like Florence and the Machine and Fleetwood Mac.” (Phew.)
She also brushes up on daily news via “The Huddle” podcast just before leaving the gym. “They are so good at laying out what the top five stories are. So, by the time I get home and I&#8217;ve showered, I know what stories I want to cover on my debate show.”
A holy tradition
Batya works Sundays but honors the Jewish Shabbat every Saturday. When I ask about the difference between on- and off-camera life, she says, “You mean something beyond just, like, the fake eyelashes?”
“I go to synagogue every Saturday morning,” Batya confirms, cherishing the experience of reading the same 2,000-year-old Hebrew manuscript shared by Jews around the world. “It&#8217;s like having an outlet and you&#8217;re plugging in. Instead of an electrical current, it&#8217;s eternity. It&#8217;s the most incredible thing, and it never gets old.”
Preserving this day of rest requires some doing. “I get home from work on Friday around 3 p.m., and then it&#8217;s a mad dash getting ready for Shabbat,” Batya explains. “By sunset everything has to be logged off; all the food has to be cooked. We usually host a lot of people for a big meal either Friday night or Shabbat afternoon, so all that has to be prepared.”
She skips the news cycle for an entire day, which appears to be her secret to a balanced life. I’m almost converted to Judaism, just drinking in the details. “It&#8217;s just 24 hours of eating, drinking with friends, sleeping, reading books, praying, and listening to the Torah, so it&#8217;s just the most amazing, wonderful reprieve.”
Citing Charlie Kirk’s advocacy for the Christian Sabbath, Batya recommends dipping a toe into this type of spiritual rejuvenation. “Put the phone in the bedroom and make a meal for your friends, have everybody put their phones away. It&#8217;s incredible.” Soon enough, of course, she’s back to business. “As soon as Shabbat ends, I gotta get back on the phone. I turn on the TV, I gotta find out what I missed.”
A relaxing dinner fit for two
Having cooked for the weekend, Batya and her husband enjoy leftovers before they hit the mid-week takeout routine. Calling dinner with her hubby her happy place, Batya appreciates their sparkling conversation even after being together for 15 years. “Friday night, he wanted to tell me about the Roman Empire,” she says with a smile. “I know that sounds like a real cliché.” 
But sacrifices must be made, especially if you disagree with your dinner companion on nigiri. “I think sushi is disgusting. It’s my most cancellable opinion,” she laughs. “The texture is horrible. It tastes like nothing. People say, ‘Well, that&#8217;s what the sauce is for,’ and I&#8217;m like, but you can put sauce on anything. Why don&#8217;t you put a sauce on something that already tastes good?” Luckily, Batya secures a workaround. “I love sake, so we have a compromise.” 
Speaking of something to take the edge off, she’ll take something in a stem glass. “I do enjoy a glass of wine or two with dinner at night. If I can&#8217;t have it with dinner because I&#8217;m on TV at 7 or 8 p.m., I’ll definitely have that glass of wine at 9.” 
She’s speaking my language on the vino. “I love a sparkling wine. I love an orange wine, obviously a nice chardonnay in the summer, but I love a Syrah. I love something that&#8217;s a little bit more tannic, a little bit rough around the edges. I&#8217;m not into big fruit; I&#8217;m into something that sort of holds back a little bit — this sounds so pretentious.” We joke that she’s outing herself as a wine snob. “If it&#8217;s been a really tough day, I&#8217;ll have a gin and tonic, or sometimes a Negroni. People talk about not drinking. I&#8217;m like, how do you turn it off at night? How do you relax? Like, how do you stop working?”
Getting lost in the story
Batya regularly takes in the news, but when she’s reading for pleasure, she’s all about escaping reality. “I read all kinds of fiction,” she confirms. “Spy novels, mystery novels, romance novels, historical fiction, classics. Right now I&#8217;m rereading ‘Daniel Deronda’ by George Eliot.” 
“I&#8217;ll go back and reread all of Jane Austen in a year,” she confirms. “I know a book is good if Shabbat ends and I don&#8217;t get up to go check my phone. I&#8217;m like, wait a minute, one more chapter, one more chapter.”
With shoutouts to authors Sarah J. Maas and John le Carré, she confesses she’s down for a good romantasy. “It&#8217;s hard for me to read at night, but on Shabbat I could be on the couch for 67 hours just in a book and in my bliss. I love, love, love to just lose myself.”
Deep thoughts for better living
Unsurprisingly, Batya’s always striving to improve. She’s also one of those people who inspires others toward greatness, too.
“I think a lot about how to be a better Jew, a better American, and a better wife, but also how to help people who don&#8217;t agree with me see what I see.” She offers the solution to the challenge. “The only way you can convince anybody of anything is if you convince them that you love them, and that&#8217;s very hard when one side of the political aisle is trying to kill us. It&#8217;s tough. I think about that a lot.”
If you’re hoping for a few words of wisdom from the front lines, you’ve come to the right place. “Never read anything anybody says about you,” Batya advises.
“People have written really mean articles about me. My husband loves reading the comments on videos that I&#8217;m in. Sometimes he&#8217;ll be like, ‘Babe, babe, I got one that you&#8217;ll love.’ I&#8217;ll be like, ‘What?’ He&#8217;s like, ‘This one says she&#8217;s so hot and so evil.’” Batya can’t help but laugh. “I answer to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and if you spend too much time reading comments about yourself, you start to answer to that.”
“It&#8217;s very hard to go out there and say what you think, especially when it&#8217;s not popular,” she says. “One thing that really helps is if you know with 100% certainty that if you&#8217;re wrong, you&#8217;ll admit it. That gives you a lot of confidence because you don&#8217;t have to worry, ‘What if I&#8217;m wrong?’ If I&#8217;m wrong, I&#8217;ll admit it … and then I will be right.”

Upstream_Batya

Weekend Plans With Batya Ungar-Sargon, The Left’s Most Unwelcome Truth-Teller

batya ungar-sargon

Gaines Upstream

Weekend Plans With All-American Swimmer Riley Gaines

Riley Gaines

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, Academy Award-nominated actor and prominent veterans’ advocate Gary Sinise chats with The Daily Wire to celebrate the most magical year of his late son Mac’s life, offer words of wisdom for those journeying through heartbreak, detail how the <a href="https://www.garysinisefoundation.org/">Gary Sinise Foundation</a> serves with holy purpose, and unwittingly prove why his trailblazing legacy just might last forever. 
***
Gary Sinise settles into his home office in Nashville, sporting a black polo emblazoned with his foundation’s logo and a fittingly off-duty Lt. Dan Band ball cap. If you only know him for his lauded film and television career, or for founding Chicago’s world-class <a href="https://www.steppenwolf.org/">Steppenwolf</a> theater, you should know he’s also a monster on bass.
He’s flanked by candid family photos carefully placed among various awards and mementos, an assortment of handheld U.S. flags, a military service banner, and other cherished treasures. The latest vinyl collection of his son Mac’s posthumous musical work, “<a href="https://store.garysinisefoundation.org/collections/merchandise/products/mac-sinise-resurrection-revival-part-three">Resurrection &amp; Revival: Part Three</a>,” suits the tableau. Each album cover in the three-part series features a portrait of Gary’s then-17-year-old grandfather on horseback before he shipped out to France to serve in World War I. 
Gary’s smile is warm and present. I don’t find out until later that he was just on the phone with the wife of someone killed in the recent crash at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He meets me in the moment. “Hi there,” he says. I can’t believe I’m talking to Lieutenant Dan. Still, Gary’s iconic “Forrest Gump” character takes a respectful backseat to this chapter of life, much of which quietly beckons grief to the surface. 
I’ve listened to Mac Sinise&#8217;s stunning “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCCPGtbQ5Pc">Arctic Circles</a>” and soulful “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_93pPbgGPa0&amp;list=RD_93pPbgGPa0&amp;start_radio=1">Shenandoah</a>,” featuring the harmonica Mac taught himself to play as a rare cancer overtook his body, making it impossible to drum like he once did. He recorded both tracks with a studio orchestra on the cusp of his death in 2024 at age 33. “He was able to finish that album before he died, and I mean just weeks before he died. It&#8217;s a beautiful thing because —” Gary wells up. The silence feels sacred. “In some ways, that final year for Mac was one of the greatest years of his life because of what he accomplished.” 
Mac was diagnosed almost in tandem with Gary’s wife, Moira Harris, who is now in remission from Stage 3 breast cancer. After six years of supporting family through surgeries and treatment, Gary is sharing Mac’s music with new audiences and putting pen to paper on his own journey. “It&#8217;s really the story of my son and the family and dealing with all of it,” Gary says of his upcoming release “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Graceful-Warrior-Father-Carried-Through/dp/1400208157">Graceful Warrior</a>,” a follow-up to his debut New York Times bestseller, “Grateful American.”
“It&#8217;s been a hard couple of years navigating through the stuff that bubbles up just at the drop of a hat,” he says. “You have one thought and boom, there you are in the middle of it.”
Gary tears up, recalling the year he surprised Mac with a professionally recorded version of a song he had written during college. “It was just a rough little recording of him singing and playing,” Gary says of the initial inspiration. After convincing two musician buddies to preserve “Eyes of Marigold” in the studio, Gary presented it to Mac. “I have a great picture of him with earphones in his ears in a restaurant when we took him out for his birthday dinner … with this gigantic smile on his face, listening to his song.”
I know I’m just barely scratching the surface on Gary’s inner wellspring, but it almost seems there was a greater force at play when Gary took on his role in “Forrest Gump.” Somehow, <a href="https://youtu.be/fJdxyuNslCI?t=45">Lieutenant Dan’s</a> impassioned outcry on the boat feels like an honest prayer from humanity’s depths, giving voice to our struggles as he screams at the heavens. “You call this a storm? … I’m right here. Come and get me! You’ll never sink this boat!”
The Nashville chapter
Ten years after its founding in 2011, the Gary Sinise Foundation relocated its headquarters from Los Angeles to Franklin, Tennessee. Gary’s family followed. 
“I stopped acting at the end of 2019 because things were getting so tough,” he explains. “I just needed to step away from it … and then I started to realize I don&#8217;t really want to live in California anymore.”
The move hinged on his daughter Sophie agreeing to move from SoCal with her three kids. Soon, Gary’s daughter, Ella, relocated from Virginia to the Volunteer State. Another driver was the security in knowing that his wealth would stretch further in a state with no state income tax (and less of the “dopey things they do out there”), plus gas that’s routinely $3 cheaper than it is in LA. “I have a lot of friends in Nashville,” he adds. “I&#8217;ve always loved Tennessee.”
The whole family, including Gary’s six grandchildren, is planning a getaway this summer. It’s their first vacation since Mac died. Gary’s face lights up when he tells me, “I can’t get enough of my grandkids and daughters.”
A morning fit for reflection
I’m convinced that some of the most fascinating people think their personal lives deserve no headlines. “It&#8217;s not that interesting, quite frankly. You know, I don&#8217;t do that much,” Gary says with a smile. I don’t believe that for a second.
“I&#8217;ll get up at about 5 o&#8217;clock every day,” he shares. Usually, he gets straight to responding to emails, but if he’s looking for something a little more analog, he heads outside to walk the hills of Tennessee. “It&#8217;s peaceful, and there are deer, turkeys … It&#8217;s really a beautiful area that we&#8217;re in and I get my exercise that way,” he says.  
I can’t imagine doing this before dawn without coffee, but Gary skips the hard stuff. “I found out that my gallbladder was shot … I was like, okay, I’ll get rid of coffee, I&#8217;ll get rid of alcohol, I&#8217;ll stop eating spicy food, you know, whatever it was.” He occasionally treats himself to decaf or Ryze superfood mushroom coffee, but he knows his limits. “As soon as I have a cup of caffeine, it&#8217;ll be back to three or four a day,” he says. Still, he adds, “I do like this sort of ritual of having something warm in the morning.” 
He tells me he eats yogurt with “this sort of cereal and fruit,” and I gently tease him for sounding MAHA with this and his mushroom drinks. “You know, a couple days a week … I&#8217;ll do like steak and eggs,” he finally admits. “I&#8217;ll go protein, like heavy protein.” There it is.
Spirit-boosting work
“I&#8217;m always working,” Gary says, confirming my hunch. He’s the kind of person who recharges his batteries by serving others. “Years ago I used to try to play golf.” 
The Lt. Dan Band is currently set to head out on tour, eventually stopping by the Opry in September in salute to our nation’s heroes. “I&#8217;m an actor who happens to have a band,” Gary says. “I&#8217;m not a songwriter or anything like that. I play other people&#8217;s music; we do some of Mac&#8217;s songs.” Even though the band was founded to honor veterans, it also serves as a creative outlet for Gary’s many talents. 
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<div id="attachment_1124073" style="width: 654px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1124073" class="wp-image-1124073" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260201-13620-GSF-LTDB-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="644" height="429" srcset="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260201-13620-GSF-LTDB-864x576.jpg 864w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260201-13620-GSF-LTDB-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260201-13620-GSF-LTDB-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/20260201-13620-GSF-LTDB-1536x1025.jpg 1536w" sizes=" (max-width: 644px) 100vw, 644px" />Courtesy of Gary Sinise</div>
“Playing in the band is about the mission work that I&#8217;m doing,” he explains. “I pay everybody else; I play for free. Even though that&#8217;s part of the mission, my sort of relaxing enjoyment is to get up there with my bass and play these songs for people and lift them up. I get a lot of joy out of that.”
A legacy of service
I catch up with Gary at a local firehouse just outside of Franklin, where he’s serving Martin’s Bar-B-Que to first responders alongside his longtime friend Joseph Carr, founder of Josh Cellars. This is clearly not Gary’s first rodeo on baked beans duty. But even though the Gary Sinise Foundation has served nearly 1.5 million meals of appreciation, Gary zhuzhes up the chafing dish and loads up plates like he baked the beans himself. 
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<div id="attachment_1124065" style="width: 643px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1124065" class="wp-image-1124065" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7991.heic" alt="" width="633" height="364" />Lauren Bair</div>
But it’s really not about the food or leveraging America 250 for the brand. “This is what we do every day of the year at the Gary Sinise Foundation,” he says. “The food is great, but the message of appreciation and remembrance is really what this program is all about.” 
It’s a perfect sunny day. Gary makes himself available for photos with each firefighter and rallies everyone for seconds. The firefighters assure me they never eat like this (usually it’s pizza or takeout). They’re gifted full-fledged catering, maybe once every two years. I hear we’re lucky the siren didn’t go off before everyone got fed.
Still in his apron, Gary ribs me about sneaking a glamor shot of the banana pudding. “What about the beans!” he laughs. If you remember those old Bush’s commercials, we got some beautiful bean footage before the beans ran out. Gary’s staff alerts him to the fact that his servings were extra large today. Gary jokes back, “We’re outta beans! My team has totally failed!” He has everyone in the station laughing.
“Service is a great healer,” Gary says. “I would recommend it to anybody when you&#8217;re going through a tough time.”
He’s been doing this for decades. Unlike other stars chasing photo ops, there’s no question his dedication comes from the heart. I ask if anything changed when his wife and son were in treatment. He says helping others renewed his spirit. 
“[I’d] come back from a trip where I&#8217;m just watching kids jump up and down, and spouses who have deployed service members overseas, and they&#8217;re worried about them, and they&#8217;re smiling,” he says. “I would always come back nourished and energized to continue the fight.”
“When your heart is broken over something, you know how it makes you feel when you lift somebody else up,” he explains. “When you put your arms around them, you lift them up, and you see the smile. You forget about your own broken heart for a while. I never stopped doing the mission work throughout the entire painful period of fighting for my son. He loved that I was out there on the road, helping families of our fallen heroes, and helping our wounded through difficult times.”
It really seems like Gary’s operating on another level, spiritually, holding vigil for people exactly where they are. He’s living his legacy. I can’t help but think of Lieutenant Dan on the dock, joining Forrest on the shrimp boat. “I told you if you were ever a shrimp boat captain, that I’d be your first mate,” <a href="https://youtu.be/HQsImiDtZds?t=72">he says</a>. “Well here I am. I am a man of my word.”

Sinise Punch

Weekend Plans With Gary Sinise, The Most Patriotic Actor In America

America 250

Gary Sinise

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, <a href="https://gill.house.gov/">Congressman Brandon Gill</a> and his wife <a href="https://www.instagram.com/danielledsouzagill/?hl=en">Danielle D’Souza Gill</a> take time out of their D.C. schedule to chat with The Daily Wire about why being a dad is Brandon’s most important role, how they’re making equally wholesome memories on the family’s Texas ranch and inside “the Swamp,” and what they hope their kids remember most about this magical chapter of their lives. 
***
I legitimately feel like I’m running a casting session for the next Superman movie, watching actors auditioning for Clark Kent and Lois Lane get mic’d up for a chemistry read. Rep. Brandon Gill unpins the congressional flair from his lapel and knocks back a Celsius Arctic Vibe. Sporting heritage-chic in pearls and a white tweed skirt suit that sparkles like fresh snow, Danielle glows as she steadies her husband with a gentle touch. 
I get teary watching a revealing off-camera moment unfold between them. Brandon and Danielle are a perfect match.
Just over a year into his first term on Capitol Hill, Brandon has swiftly taken opponents to task, breaking out with viral moments in congressional hearings on <a href="https://youtu.be/ju4CYd7qc3U">illegal immigration</a>, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-rising-star-demands-abortion-advocate-name-favorite-method-hearing-clash">abortion</a>, and alleged donor fraud by the <a href="https://youtu.be/-yjmf7TS9Ao?t=6">Southern Poverty Law Center</a>.
Danielle’s warmth belies her fierce advocacy for faith and family. The daughter of political commentator Dinesh D’Souza, she has published works like “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Choice-Abortion-Divide-America/dp/1546099875/ref">The Choice: The Abortion Divide In America,</a>” which prove she’s developed a distinctive voice in the political arena.
The couple couldn’t be busier raising their two young children Marigold and Winston while jet-setting between their home in Flower Mound, Texas, and D.C. I ask about their plans for Father’s Day. Danielle refuses to ruin the surprise, but dishes a few hints.
“I&#8217;ll tell you what Brandon did for me for Mother&#8217;s Day,” she says. “It was so cute. He got one of those clay crafts, so we have Marigold&#8217;s handprint in it. I definitely have a high bar set for me to top for him for Father&#8217;s Day.” Assuring me there will be handmade crafts, she adds, “Marigold has recently gotten into painting, and we&#8217;ll do a couple extra things for the grandfathers.”
“Conservatives believe that the family is the fundamental unit of society, and we do everything we can to live that out,” Brandon says. He clearly enjoys dad life. “Being a husband and a father is honestly far more rewarding than even being in Congress and being in the political fight because it&#8217;s something that&#8217;s going to stick around a long time.”
An Ivy League romance
Just looking at the Gills, anyone could assume it was love at first sight. “Eventually, I was able to get out of the friend zone,” Brandon jokes. Cue the popcorn, I wanted the full story.
“Danielle and I met in college,” Brandon explains. They first crossed paths through the faith-based Christian Union on campus. “Dartmouth is a very, very liberal college. There aren’t a whole lot of Christians at Dartmouth, so it was a pretty small pool for Danielle to choose from.” He laughs, recalling their initial meet-cute at a bonfire. “I thought that she was very pretty, so I wanted to go up and start talking to her.”
Their first dinner date didn’t spark a romance, but it definitely set the table.
“Basically, the whole dinner, Brandon was asking me all these questions,” Danielle says. “I felt like I had gone an hour and was literally talking the whole time. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I really don&#8217;t know you,’ so I was like, ‘Where are you from?’” Danielle says Brandon then detailed his rural upbringing using the only supplies he had to work with. “There were paper tablecloths at this restaurant, so Brandon found the crayons, which were there to entertain children, and he started drawing different equipment. I didn&#8217;t grow up around ranch life, so that was new for me.”
“It ended with me getting her flowers, and then getting stuck in the friend zone for two years,” Brandon remembers. The couple went on to marry in 2017. “You did write me a very sweet card,” Danielle assures Brandon of their first date. “I still have the card.”
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<div id="attachment_1118761" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1118761" class="size-medium wp-image-1118761" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7775-300x198.jpeg" alt="" width="300" height="198" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7775-300x198.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7775-874x576.jpeg 874w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7775-768x506.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7775-1536x1012.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7775-2048x1349.jpeg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Brandon and Danielle Gill</div>
But first, coffee 
Despite raising their kids in two different cities, the Gills try to keep home life as relaxed as possible. One-year-old Winston is usually the first to rise and shine, but Danielle says, “We have very slow mornings when Brandon has a day off.”
“We&#8217;ll usually hang out in the living room and just drink our coffee and play with Winston and Marigold,” Brandon says. When they’re in Texas, they enjoy a stroll around the neighborhood. “Our neighbors got a donkey and some goats. Marigold loves the animals.”
When they get the chance to visit Brandon’s parents, the kids get a taste of ranch life. “We take them out there as often as we can, drive around the ranch in the truck and give Marigold plenty of space to run around and see the wide open spaces,” Brandon says. “She loves cows and the deer whenever they&#8217;re out. We’ll drive the tractor, get a little bit of the Texas full-on ranch experience.”
Cooking with lots of love
When it comes to kitchen duty, Danielle’s doing most of the cooking. But what she’s cooking sounds like a scene out of “Dutton Ranch.”
“We have a lot of meat from Gill Ranch,” Danielle says. “Brandon’s parents gave us half a cow a year ago, so we technically always have food on hand. We have the ranch meat that they raise, so we know it&#8217;s good quality.”
She’ll happily hand over grilling duty to Brandon, and Danielle admits, “I probably am the baking person.” In an era where everything can be instantly ordered with a click, her perspective feels refreshingly analog. “Marigold and I made a cake for Winston&#8217;s birthday. He just turned one, so she did all the sprinkles on top,” she says. “I want to keep the tradition where we always bake the cake from scratch at home for a birthday, as opposed to buying a cake.” 
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<div id="attachment_1119575" style="width: 241px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1119575" class="size-medium wp-image-1119575" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_9315-231x300.jpeg" alt="" width="231" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_9315-231x300.jpeg 231w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_9315-444x576.jpeg 444w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_9315-768x996.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_9315.jpeg 1154w" sizes=" (max-width: 231px) 100vw, 231px" />Brandon and Danielle Gill</div>
The politics of playtime
Ever since the couple went all-in on Brandon’s run for office just three months after Marigold was born, the family has been balancing life in public service through the playful eyes of their children.
“Politics is a family affair for us,” Brandon says, describing his kid-friendly digs. “We&#8217;ve got a whole bookshelf built into the wall that&#8217;s full of toys for Marigold and Winston, so they can play whenever they&#8217;re in the office, and make a big mess of everything. Marigold will play hide-and-seek with us around the Capitol dome, or we&#8217;ll take them to the White House lawn and Winston will just speed crawl all over the place.” Based on the family’s recap of the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DW1mwALkX7S/?hl=en">White House Easter Egg Roll</a>, this checks out. “We definitely have a lot of fun with it, and take them with us everywhere we go.”
Danielle manages the travel days for a family that’s always on the move. “We try to be with Brandon as much as possible,” she says. “I think with our kids being so young, they&#8217;re very used to seeing Brandon every day, having him be a big part of their lives in a deeply involved way,” she explains. “It&#8217;s nice for him to be able to see them in the morning, or do bedtime routine, or just see him at some point in the work day, which wouldn&#8217;t be possible if we weren&#8217;t traveling with him.”
Classic parenting in modern times
The Gills have no rules around screen time at home — because they don’t need them. “We actually don&#8217;t have a TV in our home,” Danielle confirms. Still, if Marigold tunes in, it’s only for the vintage stuff. “When she travels on the plane, sometimes we let her watch ‘Tom and Jerry,’ ‘Popeye,’ like very old cartoons.” The family also sticks to the classics for bedtime stories. “As far as books … of course Bible stories, ‘Frog and Toad’’… Those are just so much better than the modern ones.”
“We&#8217;ve got this children&#8217;s version of ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ that we&#8217;ll read to her,” Brandon says. “We’re reading a lot of Dr. Seuss now, too, as she&#8217;s getting a little bit older.”
Brandon and Danielle genuinely agree that neither one has had to become the “strict” parent. “I feel like we have the same parenting philosophy,” Danielle notes. But if she has to pick, she says, “Probably me, just because I&#8217;m kind of with [the kids] a lot. But when Brandon needs them to go to bed, I can trust that he will make sure it happens.”
Danielle calls Brandon “the spontaneous” one, confirming that her husband brings the adventure to the daily routine. “In Texas, he&#8217;s much more apt to do crazy things outdoors, take them to the water, take them to see animals, things like that. I&#8217;m probably more of the snuggly, cuddly parent, and maybe like a source for food,” she laughs. 
Still, there may be another parental figure in the household. “Marigold has been obsessed with her little brother from the very beginning,” Danielle says. “She&#8217;s very motherly, she&#8217;s like always watching out for him. So, she&#8217;ll tell me, ‘Winston wants milk. Winston doesn&#8217;t want that.’ I think she thinks of herself as kind of the Winston interpreter. She loves dolls, so Winston&#8217;s just like a more fun version of the baby.”
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<div id="attachment_1119577" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1119577" class="size-medium wp-image-1119577" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_3908-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_3908-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_3908-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_3908-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_3908-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_3908-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_3908-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_3908-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Brandon and Danielle Gill</div>
Family time designed by a toddler
I’m curious as to what a busy young family in politics ever does to recharge. Brandon immediately flashes a glance to Danielle. “Do we rest?” They laugh. (I get the feeling that they don’t.)
“I feel like a rejuvenating thing is when we get to go on a date night,” Danielle shares. “And I think running is a nice way to clear your head, to just get outside. Brandon definitely runs more.”
Doing whatever they can to keep the whirlwind of Brandon’s career from overwhelming the family, Brandon explains, “A lot of our downtime is really just casual family time. It&#8217;s just being together, playing with the kids.” When they happen to have time to themselves, Marigold steps in as the family’s social chair. “We&#8217;ve got this little ball pit that Marigold likes to jump into, and she wants Winston to get into it, and then she wants Danielle and me to get into it … Marigold basically decides what we&#8217;re all doing.”
For anyone curious about the soundtrack to these idyllic family moments, you won’t find this playlist on Spotify. “Marigold is a very good memorizer. She can recite ‘Wheels on the Bus.’ She likes to skip over a lot of verses,” Danielle says. And yet, Brandon explains that his daughter won’t be limited to bus lyrics. “She&#8217;ll walk around the house singing a combined mixture of ‘Jesus Loves Me’ and ‘Wheels on the Bus.’ She can somehow combine it all together.” 
A time to remember
As Brandon and Danielle forge their path in D.C., I ask what they hope their children remember about this unique American experience.
“We want to make sure that Marigold and Winston have a very secure place,” Brandon says. “They&#8217;re young right now, but obviously we love them a lot.” I can tell.
Danielle hopes they remember “that they had a very magical childhood that was very warm and that their parents were deeply involved in their lives. That they got to have a lot of adventures, and of course, a Christ-like foundation for life, and that they got to spend a lot of time being happy kids.”

Weekend Plans With Rising Conservative Power Couple Brandon and Danielle Gill

Brandon Gill

danielle d'souza gill

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
***
This weekend, current Miss Israel and 2025 Miss Universe contestant <a href="https://www.instagram.com/melanieshiraz/?hl=en">Melanie Shiraz</a> sits down with The Daily Wire to dish on her viral run-in with Zohran Mamdani’s wife, where she really gets her “chutzpah,” and why this data scientist and self-described metal head is just trying to bake a decent loaf of challah and change the world. 
***
We settle in for our chat as Melanie Shiraz pulls her long dark hair into a slick pony. She recently returned to her digs on Israel’s Mediterranean coast, where she serves “off duty” in an oversized <a href="https://humble-club.com/">Humble Club</a> tee from the Tel Aviv gym launched by former IDF combat instructors and wears a bold silver pendant boasting the Hebrew “<a href="https://unpacked.media/the-chai-is-the-new-statement-piece-and-a-declaration-of-jewish-life/?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=13691711031&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADp4jqvNmnIlzEfXwbtrbSDY5_vYf&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw857RBhAgEiwAI-1yKHIHzSxNKqc8eEGEKZskN2vEKvF1IB2HNtYN734U7rc-5a0PgBUvMBoCdzsQAvD_BwE">chai</a>” symbol for “life.”
I give up trying to adjust my laptop for a semi-flattering selfie angle. Melanie’s one of those people who could totally rely on her looks. But after going viral for bumping into socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, <a href="https://nypost.com/2026/05/05/us-news/miss-israel-says-she-randomly-bumped-into-nyc-mayor-zohran-mamdanis-wife-in-cafe-and-it-all-went-horribly-wrong/">Rama Duwaji,</a> at a Brooklyn café in May, she has clearly found her voice.
“What are the odds that a very vocal representative of Israel and a very vocal representative of the other side, even though she&#8217;s not Palestinian, would be sitting right next to one another?” Melanie wonders.
<blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX95OnqqUm3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14">
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<p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX95OnqqUm3/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Melanie Shiraz Asor / מלאני שירז עשור (@melanieshiraz)</a>
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Rama, who had previously <a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/nyc-first-lady-liked-post-oct-7-rape-hoax">liked social media posts</a> supporting the October 7 terror attacks, had no idea what she was in for when she sat down next to Melanie, who was just grabbing a coffee. 
“Haters want to say that I came all the way to New York to stalk her, but I was actually in New York for 24 hours because I was hosting the State of Israel,” she recalls. “It&#8217;s not on brand for me to be harassing anyone in public, no matter what their views are. So I didn&#8217;t just open my camera … I said, ‘Hi, I&#8217;m Melanie. I’d love to take a picture with you.’”
Once Melanie identified herself as Miss Israel, Rama’s amicable demeanor changed. Melanie switched off the camera, hoping to engage in a conversation. “I told her, ‘As an Israeli, I was quite disappointed by seeing the rhetoric that you are promoting online … Have you heard from a lot of Israelis?’”
Melanie says Rama brushed her off with, “‘Yeah, I know a lot of Israelis,’” and left.
“She communicated exactly where she stands and who she is,” Melanie says.
I ask Melanie where she gets her fearless spirit. “It&#8217;s the Israeli chutzpah that I&#8217;ve been endowed with generationally,” she says with a smile. “Israeli women are known to be very fierce, very strong, and very strong-minded. They can be engineers or combat soldiers and be Miss Israel. It&#8217;s just such a normal thing.”
Melanie was born in Israel, and she spent most of her childhood in the U.S. before returning to Tel Aviv. The <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/miss-israel-says-this-years-contest-will-be-bogus-sparking-break-with-organizers/">outspoken pageant champ</a> and data scientist who launched her own fintech company assures me, “I have always been a critical thinker.” 
Here’s what she’s up to when she’s not fighting for the truth. 
Off-the-clock reigning queen
“Nobody ever asks me about my personal life,” Melanie laughs. “Being Miss Israel is like an alter ego for me. Before, I never had anything colorful in my closet, I didn&#8217;t have any fancy dresses, I didn&#8217;t have heels, jewelry — literally none of that.” 
Claiming she had to learn to walk in sky-high heels and accessorize with glimmering jewelry, she describes her true personality as more rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll. “I like rock music. I have a motorcycle, which is my favorite means of transportation.”
“I&#8217;m an adrenaline junkie kind of person,” she shares, noting her love of scuba diving. “Nowadays, I wouldn&#8217;t say that those things contradict being a beauty queen. I think a woman can be anything, and beautiful, and there&#8217;s nothing wrong with that.”
<div id="attachment_1114089" style="width: 270px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1114089" class="size-medium wp-image-1114089" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-260x300.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="300" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-260x300.jpg 260w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-499x576.jpg 499w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-768x886.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-1332x1536.jpg 1332w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/06/IMG_7384-1776x2048.jpg 1776w" sizes=" (max-width: 260px) 100vw, 260px" />Melanie Shiraz</div>
A rejuvenating daily routine
We already know Melanie likes her coffee. But as for her favorite way to start the day, she says, “I just like to get moving. When I&#8217;m in Israel, it&#8217;s really easy because it&#8217;s so beautiful outside that I&#8217;ll just go out for a walk and see where the day takes me.”
“Something that I used to do pretty regularly is singing, painting, and drawing,” she adds. When she’s hoping to refresh her spirit, she jumps on her motorcycle, or gets back on the horse. Literally. “I&#8217;m not a horseback rider of any caliber, but I do really like to be outside with animals … just in nature in general.”
“There&#8217;s just not enough time in a day to do all of the things that I like to do,” she admits. “But I&#8217;m trying to carve out more time for my own mental health.”
Invoking the smell of fresh-baked bread
“I can cook,” Melanie tells me. “I wouldn&#8217;t say I have time to cook most days.” That checks out since she’s battling jet lag as we speak.
“I started baking challah every Friday, believe it or not,” she shares. “It&#8217;s like the only thing I do every week.” With its sweet, chewy braids, challah is God’s greatest gift to bread lovers, Jewish or not. “It&#8217;s like a ritual that allows me to decompress and focus on something else for a few hours every Shabbat.”
I ask for her recipe, but she laughs and says, “It&#8217;s still a work in progress … it didn&#8217;t come out bad the last couple of times.” (I guess I’m sticking with <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FcR1PDzC94">Claire Saffitz</a>’s version for now.)
A safe space to be herself
While a packed schedule is par for the course, Melanie snags any chance to chill with the right people. “It&#8217;s really nice to just sit down and speak candidly with friends and hear about things that are not related to the conflict all the time,” she says. “I think it&#8217;s become somewhat of a luxury for me lately.”
Grateful for a close circle of longtime pals, she adds, “If it&#8217;s up to me, we&#8217;ll go out in Tel Aviv, go to the beach, or listen to live music.” 
She also looks forward to downtime with her family. “I feel like Shabbat is the one day a week that I actually force myself to rest,” she explains. “I don&#8217;t turn off my electronics, but it&#8217;s nice to just not work.” 
I ask how she feels about a one-day weekend, having lived in the U.S. and Israel. “I think that&#8217;s something Americans can learn from Israelis,” she confirms. “No one in Israel will ever assign you work on Shabbat. It&#8217;s unheard of. You could laugh at them if they do that. Our weekend is shorter by a whole day, yet I find it so much more rejuvenating.”
Turning it up to an eleven
“Do I want to come out as a metal head right now?” Melanie jokes, attempting to nail down her varied musical tastes to a specific genre. “I&#8217;m listening to Bring Me the Horizon and Spiritbox.” (If you get a chance to see either the <a href="https://youtu.be/23-8TLCyuEk?t=241">British rock band</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEOctaHwmbc">Canadian metal band</a> in concert, wear eyeliner.) 
Offering what she calls a more “normative” response, Melanie reveals another track she’s playing on repeat. “The song stuck in my head right now is definitely Israel&#8217;s Eurovision song ‘Michelle.’” The emotional ballad by Israeli singer-songwriter Noam Bettan that ultimately earned second place in the contest is decidedly not metal. And partly in French. “I don&#8217;t know French, so it’s just me saying the word ‘Michelle’ and singing the rest of the melody for the last three weeks.”
When she’s not listening to music, she’s reading — or thinking about it. “I&#8217;ve been really, really wanting to pick up a book,” she says. She’s got Yuval Noah Harari’s “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-21st-Century-Yuval-Harari/dp/0525512179">21 Lessons for the 21st Century</a>” on her list next.
A meditation on the moment
After the October 7 attacks, Melanie realized her greatest impact would be in advocating for Israel rather than working in fintech. But the decision still weighs heavily on her heart.
“I had a six-figure job before this. I had a company that raised money when I was 23. I was really doing everything right,” she says. “I think a lot of people struggle to understand why I would give that all up for something that&#8217;s uncertain. When I look back, even with all the challenges I have faced for doing this, it has also been priceless to me.”
“We all have to work as a collective to better the world, both as Jews, as Israelis, as people standing for women, as people standing for justice in the Middle East and beyond,&#8221; she adds. &#8220;I think that we all have to amplify one another and support one another, rather than comparing what we have that others don&#8217;t, or what others have that we don&#8217;t.”
Describing a clarity and hopefulness about the future, she says, “I am where I need to be. I&#8217;m serving and advocating for my people. It has been the most fulfilling thing I&#8217;ve ever done in my life.”

IMG_4145

Weekend Plans with Miss Israel

melanie shiraz

miss israel

Weekend Plans is our exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, evolutionary behavioral scientist and savage satirist <a href="https://www.gadsaad.com/">Gad Saad</a> lends his time to The Daily Wire to discuss his New York Times bestseller “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Suicidal-Empathy-Dying-Be-Kind/dp/0063446537">Suicidal Empathy: Dying to Be Kind</a>” and dish the details on the best barbecue, the comic genius behind a happy marriage, setting the tone with &#8217;70s soul, and why this Lebanese Canadian is America&#8217;s “ultimate family man.”
***
If the concept of “suicidal empathy” sounds familiar, you can thank Gad Saad. A frequent guest of “<a href="http://jrepodcast.com/guest/gad-saad/">The Joe Rogan Experience</a>,” <a href="https://www.prageru.com/presenters/gad-saad?gc_id=23574368327&amp;h_ga_id=&amp;h_ad_id=&amp;h_keyword_id=&amp;h_keyword=&amp;h_placement=&amp;gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=23569095981&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADviHxF_xebQoWC3mxpobAmxlsjUQ&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwof_QBhCgARIsADaMzOezao9xFCYHLrrtgv55CMJRkmUCYlSztz6gkETU30u88dRt0gK3yVUaAo98EALw_wcB">PragerU</a> collaborator, and wearer of the occasional purple <a href="https://youtu.be/f39nBhLZEiU?t=296">wig to prove a point</a>, the man known as “<a href="https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/books/388547/the-gadfather-makes-an-offer-he-hopes-you-cant-refuse/">The Gadfather</a>” coined the term to describe compassion gone wild as he skillfully unpacked the personality trait that became society’s greatest threat. 
In tandem with Gad’s dizzyingly intellectual research on thought pathogens, he finds the sweet spot between academia and meme culture. My hard copy is now decorated with roughly 100 colorful page markers and dog-eared corners. I laughed out loud at “Geese for Foie Gras” as a mirror for civilizational seppuku and the mention of an actual university research grant to &#8220;decolonize light.” 
Gad brilliantly translates scholarly theories into phraseology anyone can understand. But you don’t have to be a genius to appreciate the professor’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r06A7A_vfKA&amp;t=155s">profound joy</a>, either. 
His story began in Lebanon. Gad&#8217;s family fled in 1975 at the start of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Lebanese-Civil-War">15-year civil war</a>, finding a new home in Montreal, Canada. Most recently, Gad secured an EB-1A green card, reserved for those of “<a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/gad-saad-joe-rogan-leaving-montreal-united-states/">extraordinary ability</a>,” to relocate his wife and children to the U.S. The idea that the Saad gang might one day become American citizens appears to be running unopposed. 
When I ask Gad what he hopes readers take away from his work, he confirms empathy’s virtue, in moderation. “Adaptive empathy, meaning well-calibrated empathy rooted in an evolutionarily rational calculus, is a noble and laudable virtue,” he says. “We are a social species that has evolved the capacity for empathy. But suicidal empathy, consisting of its hyperactive firing, in the wrong situations and toward the wrong targets, will destroy our civilization if it continues to go unchecked.” 
I quickly flip to my favorite page … there it is: “Be kind as a default value,” Gad writes. But when needed, he says, “Activate your inner honey badger in defending truth.”  
A morning coffee walk-and-talk
“My public life can be intense, hectic, and quite stressful,” Gad confirms. He presently works as a scholar at the University of Mississippi, hosts “<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-saad-truth-with-dr-saad/id1516343565">The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad</a>” podcast, and makes regular public appearances. Outspoken about his views, he’s vulnerable to antisemitic attacks and <a href="https://aristotlefoundation.org/book-reviews/the-road-to-hell-is-being-paved-with-suicidal-empathy/">death threats</a>. “My private life is the antithesis of that, namely, it is calm and serene. I need the protective sanctuary of my private life to be able to tackle all the stimuli that I face in the public arena.”
He’s dialed in a routine that makes getting out of bed totally worth it. “I wake up usually between 7:00 to 7:30 a.m.,” he explains. A steward of sunrises, he enjoys his first taste of caffeine with his number one lady. “On a typical day, I head off to the local café with my wife for our morning coffee cup. I then work on my laptop for three to four hours until I return home for lunch.” During outdoorsier seasons, this affords him the opportunity to get his steps, if he were ever in need of counting them. “If the weather is clement, my wife and I will walk to the café, 30 to 35 minutes each way.” 
The family man’s guide to quality time
I’m amazed that Gad ever has any free time. But he assures me he gets the most enjoyment from hanging out with his favorite people.
“I love to spend time with my wife and children,” Gad says. Maybe the fact that they rarely appear on his social media further clarifies how deeply they are cherished. “I am the ultimate family man.” 
As for the Saads’ favorite activities, the only requirement is that everyone get in on the fun. “We are always together as a family unit. We love to go to restaurants together, but our most frequent outing is to head off to a café to chat. We have wonderful conversations spanning countless topics.” When they’re craving connection with a refreshing change of scenery, they set out to explore the world. They&#8217;ve recently traveled to Portugal, Bermuda, and Israel.
On the chance that Gad finds himself with solo downtime, he nurtures a few passions he’s had since he was a kid. “I love to exercise, to play soccer, and to read and collect books,” he says. He’d beat anyone in a juggling contest (I have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YiGqoLilyHE">receipts</a>).  
The secret to wedded bliss
Even casual followers of Gad know he’s totally in love with his wife. I wasn’t going to miss the chance to uncover why they act like flirty friends who can’t wait to share each other’s company. 
“The choice of a spouse is arguably the decision that will impart the greatest amount of happiness or misery in your life,” he says. “The secret to my happy marriage is that my wife is truly my best friend.” It’s obvious in the way they laugh with each other, decades into their relationship. “We love to spend time together. We have open lines of communication. We never go to bed angry at one another. We are respectful of one another.”
They’ve also nailed down who takes the reins in the kitchen. “My wife is an exceptional cook,” Gad says. “As such, she does all the cooking, and I do a lot of eating!” Reporting that he looks forward to anytime she grills up a juicy ribeye, he adds, “I convinced her to start a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYX0etLWQEi-cpyrpgkOWFg">cooking channel</a>, but then she decided that she did not enjoy being in the limelight even though I never filmed her face.” 
The couple’s easy chemistry might also be attributed to Gad’s congenial vibe. “I am always joking around,” he says. “They say that women love funny men; well, I count myself as a very funny guy so presumably this makes my wife happy.”
Mind fuel from a prominent thought leader
I’m curious about which book from Gad’s massive library might currently live on his nightstand. “A biography on Konrad Lorenz, the pioneer of the field of ethology and co-winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize,” he notes of his page-turner du jour.
Gad’s curious nature inspires him to pursue all sorts of interests. “I am a huge fan of the Philly Sound, a genre of soul music from the 1960s and 1970s. On any given day, you are likely to find me listening to The Stylistics and The Delfonics.” He even developed a friendship with Russell Thompkins Jr., the original lead singer of The Stylistics, who then appeared on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aorkR10oP_s&amp;t=7s">Gad’s show</a>. 
Doling out a little out-of-office guidance to the greater wisdom-seeking collective, Gad taps into his 60-something years of experience. “Life is short and every moment is infinitely precious,” he says. “Do not waste time on silly matters and pursuits.”  
One last thing. “Three additional pieces of advice,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Read, read, and read.”

Punch 5-5 – Fly Me to the Moon-1-1

Weekend Plans with Gad Saad

gad saad

suicidal empathy

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/weekend-plans">Weekend Plans</a> is Upstream’s exclusive lifestyle feature where we highlight the real off-duty routines of the most exciting people in culture. 
This weekend, 27-year-old country singer and political commentator Alexis Wilkins stops by Daily Wire HQ to talk about splitting time between Nashville and D.C., her strategy for flying above the fray, and why dating FBI Director Kash Patel might be the most normal (and perfectly aligned) chapter of her story.
***
Alexis Wilkins arrives wearing a relaxed button-down and silver jewelry, offset by her dark hair, which she tucks behind her ear. She offers me a warm smile and a big hug. I’ll bet you $1,000 no one would ever peg her as an NRA board member. “Hiiiii!” she trills. I immediately get why those who know her love her. 
I’m not going to be that girl who asks when Kash is finally gonna put a ring on it (yet), or whether the relentless stream of rage-bait headlines and credible death threats freaks her out. Instead, I go with, “How does it feel to be hot enough that people think you&#8217;re a spy?”
Alexis laughs. “I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s ever been framed that way, and I love it.”
She grew up Orthodox Christian, mostly in Arkansas, raised by her Armenian mother who was a financial consultant and her father who was top brass at Gillette. 
Still, some allege she’s a “<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/kash-patel-girlfriend-alexis-wilkins-conspiracy-israel-mossad-b2945596.html">Mossad honeypot</a>.” Alexis essentially rolls her eyes. “My poor mom&#8217;s digging in our basement for my baptism certificate, like, ‘Wait, but this doesn&#8217;t make any sense.’ I&#8217;m like, ‘Mom, they don&#8217;t do common sense.’” 
“If I wasn’t doing a good job, nobody would attack me,” she adds. “So I will continue to do my work.”
Alexis doesn’t come off as anything close to a flash-in-the-pan opportunist. Hey, New York Times, she built a career of her own long before Kash. 
Alexis wrote her first song when she was seven years old and recorded it in Nashville at the ripe old age of nine. “I started writing when I was really young because I read an article in a Smithsonian magazine about <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/fire-in-the-hole-77895126/">coal fires</a> in Pennsylvania,” she says. (Wait, she was reading Smithsonian at seven?) “It was just one of those ‘bored is not allowed’ things,” Alexis confirms. 
“I asked my mom if we could donate all of our money, and she was like, ‘No, that&#8217;s not how that works.’” Instead, her mother suggested she use her talents to fundraise for the cause. “I went on my American Girl doll tape recorder, and I recorded a song. And I&#8217;m like, I&#8217;m gonna put it on the new iTunes thing that’s out, and we&#8217;re gonna raise money with this song.”
She later took on Christ-focused <a href="https://www.independentwomen.com/people/alexis-wilkins/">Belmont University</a> when an activist professor gave her an F in comparative politics because he didn’t jive with her conservative values. His mistake was messing with a straight-A student who doesn’t take kindly to being silenced.
She also describes leaving the American flag icon on her social media and continuing to work with veterans despite pressure from the music industry to tame her patriotism. Pointing to her parents and a close circle of friends, Alexis says, “My support system is really great. That&#8217;s why I started speaking up.” 
About her music, tracks like “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm8fSgu6Wgc&amp;list=RDvm8fSgu6Wgc&amp;start_radio=1">Grit</a>” and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7BQayn516w&amp;list=RDA7BQayn516w&amp;start_radio=1">Country Back</a>” are as fire as her favorite <a href="https://www.sigsauer.com/p365-380-rose.html">Sig Sauer P365-Rose</a> and as country as cowboy boots. Luckily, Alexis is still following her gut and staying true to herself.
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The rare off-duty day
Alexis hits the stage most weekends, but on the occasion that she’s in D.C. with a little downtime, she says she and Kash prefer “no plans” plans. “We just hang out, honestly,” she says. The U.S Intelligence life involves constantly being on-call, but the couple unplugs when they can. “We settle into the house, see people, cook, ask, ‘What do you want to do today?’ Things that we don&#8217;t always have the luxury of doing. It&#8217;s such a blessing.”
Back in Nashville, a free schedule features the same emphasis on living in the moment with the people she cares about most. “I would go to breakfast with my mom, and go antiquing or something … find an estate sale. I just love old things.” 
A curated place to call home
Architectural Digest’s “<a href="https://www.architecturaldigest.com/video/series/open-door">Open Door</a>” home tour series is missing out on a brilliant gem. Alexis describes the interior of her Nashville home as “old Roy Rogers,” AKA the cowboy decor of any Western fan’s dreams, which her mom helped her DIY.
Part of the vintage curioscape involves a mid-century RCA turn-dial TV they rigged to stream nonstop Westerns, and a gorgeous bannister they built from salvaged wood and rugged rebar. “I collect old books,” she explains of her museum library-like collection of secondhand treasures. “I am literate, contrary to popular reporting.” 
But once she utters, “I have a taxidermy squirrel that has a cowboy hat and a holster,” <a href="https://woodlandcreekfurniture.com/gunslinger-squirrel-whimsical-taxidermy-mount-anr-sqbandit.html?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=20086237438&amp;gbraid=0AAAAAD_a_Z1yVuMnIduE_wQkkqjsbbsUH&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw8uTQBhAdEiwAVvtJyvC0Tx-TOfxA_lYxkrx09I-MdfQWSFKI1E6gBiBN0SHu1b5wbbyyBxoCS0oQAvD_BwE">I’m sold</a>. As for music? “I listen to Gene Autry, like very, very, very old Western country. It&#8217;s a theme in my house.”
Rejuvenating in the midst of chaos
For Alexis, the biggest difference between her public and private life is the way she’s portrayed in the headlines. “People would be surprised that I&#8217;m just not very serious,” she says. “I&#8217;m just kind of a normal person … God forbid.” 
She can often be found reading over policies, researching, and even teaching herself to code, so zoning out with a little beauty routine is her favorite way to unwind: “sitting in front of my red light, on my <a href="https://higherdose.com/products/higherdose-infrared-pemf-on-the-go-mat?variant=42731166498987">PEMF [pulsed electromagnetic field] mat</a> on the grounding setting, watching reality TV.” When we talked, she had just finished part one of the “Summer House” reunion. 
Also a fan of Pilates, light strength training, and a peaceful walk outdoors, she wants to form a regular hobby that doesn’t involve a screen. Still, we’re both low-key looking forward to “Love Is Blind” Season 11 this fall.
Cooking up a family connection
Keeping it simple in the kitchen, Alexis preps basics like chicken cutlets and <a href="https://www.goodles.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoq2xGaj7J-5ctFvNc5uSwlkqO9vZTvqx-eA7V1IyPOWi6ayampi">Goodles</a> mac and cheese for herself. “I am such a boring eater,” she jokes. “I&#8217;m making chicken Caesar wraps all the time.” But when Kash hits the jackpot during hunting season, she says, “We have a lot of wild game to work with. I&#8217;ve been cooking stuffed peppers with elk recently.”
Always down to learn something new, she also enjoys discovering a few tricks of the trade from the Gujarati Indian side of the family. “[Kash’s] mom teaches me how to cook,” she says, noting how the same dish might be seasoned differently depending on a family’s preference. “I&#8217;m in the kitchen with her, I&#8217;m asking her questions, I&#8217;m taking pictures of how much spice she uses. It&#8217;s such a fun privilege to get to learn these things.”
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<div id="attachment_1104731" style="width: 393px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1104731" class=" wp-image-1104731" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="383" height="216" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/05/GettyImages-1500474725.jpg 1200w" sizes=" (max-width: 383px) 100vw, 383px" />Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images</div>
A casual meet-cute 
Alexis and Kash met at a Truth Social party at country singer John Rich’s house, where Kash tried to hit on her by complimenting her jacket. But first things first, what the heck was that jacket? 
“You&#8217;re the first person to ask me that,” she smiles. “Fun fact. It&#8217;s actually a men’s jacket: the <a href="https://www.filson.com/products/mackinaw-wool-cruiser-jacket-red-black-plaid-1">Filson Mackinaw</a> wool plaid jacket, black and red.” She later bought one for Kash as an inside joke. Alexis proudly maintains “boring,” “straight-laced” professional boundaries, so it took a minute before she accepted an invitation to dinner at E3 Chophouse in Nashville with the then-adviser to Donald Trump. But this serendipitous connection almost didn’t happen.
“I wasn&#8217;t gonna go to that party because I had lost my dog like 10 days before,” she recalls. Deep in grief over her 16-year-old Bichon Frise, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CjKKj29OmDN/">Bizou</a>, Alexis reluctantly took her mom’s advice … sort of. “My mom literally kicked me out. She was like, ‘You have to get out of the house.’ I was like, I&#8217;m just wearing jeans. The joke is I wasn&#8217;t dressed up.”
Kash has <a href="https://youtu.be/QJZz4hI-KZE?t=696">spoken</a> publicly about an imminent proposal, but the dedicated couple remains intentional as they navigate uncharted territory. “We had no idea, obviously, what challenges lay in store for us,” Alexis says. “But everything is an adventure. I&#8217;m so proud of him.”
Advice for the next generation
Alexis offers front-line wisdom for those just beginning to find their voice. “I think that being who you are does turn into a superpower,” she says. Stepping out confident in your values requires some guts, but she confirms, “It&#8217;s the same thing as someone saying you have to go to these parties in high school and do drugs to be cool. We all look at that like, ‘Oh, that&#8217;s peer pressure.’ You don&#8217;t have to be in rooms that you don&#8217;t want to be in.”
This high-value apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. She says her grandpa — a first-generation Armenian who worked in an ice cream factory, sold newspapers, shined shoes at age five, and went on to become an aerospace engineer — often quoted historian Thomas Babington Macaulay: “The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.”
“My mom always said don&#8217;t settle,” she adds.
I tell her to waitlist me for a “Mossad honeypot” tee if she ever launches a line of satirical merch. But before we part ways, I invite her to share what most often occupies her thoughts.
“Am I making a good impact, and am I showing up for my friends and family, and am I being myself in all of this noise?” she says. “Is God proud of me? Is my mom proud of me? Okay, cool.”

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Weekend Plans With Alexis Wilkins

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