Getting addicted to fame and views

Laura Clery: I think we did become addicted to the success and the fame and the views and the money and, you know, you just do.

Right? It’s, they’re almost designed that way, those apps, and so you have to be very careful.

Andrea Marie: We are Moms Unhinged, a nationally touring standup comedy show. Join us in our podcast as we explore everything from motherhood, midlife, crisis, marriage, divorce, online dating, menopause, and other things that irritate us.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to Moms Unhinged, the podcast. I’m your host, Andrea Marie, and I am so excited, you guys. This guest that is joining us today is absolutely amazing. She has over 24 million social media followers. She is an author, a comedian, an actress. She’s done so much, and a most importantly, a mom.

So welcome, Laura Cleary.

Laura Clery: Thank you for having me.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, and I am so excited to dive into the things that you’ve done with parenting, but also your book. I’ve been reading your upcoming book, you guys. I’m gonna mention it right away because I love it. It’s What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter. It’s coming out July 14th, everywhere.

But I have been totally riveted by this book. You guys, you have to get it because it’s so good, the story, and you’re so funny. You’re so funny.

Laura Clery: Thank you.

Andrea Marie: First of all. But I wanna get into a little bit of how you started with your journey and, like, everything went viral. You were trying to be an actress.

And tell us a little bit about that moment when things kind of went viral online for you.

Laura Clery: Well, I moved out here. We’re from the same exact place.

Andrea Marie: I know. You guys, I have to tell you.

Laura Clery: A few miles.

Andrea Marie: We’re from like, two towns apart. We grew up two towns apart. I probably could be your mom.

Laura Clery: I don’t know about that.

Andrea Marie: I would’ve been a very young mother.

Laura Clery: Yeah.

Andrea Marie: But it’s so fun. You grew up in Downers Grove. I grew up in Wheaton. We’re just talking about that, and just.

Laura Clery: Yeah.

Andrea Marie: The lifestyle that was just so wholesome back then.

Moving to LA at 17

Laura Clery: Yeah, it really was, I think, a pretty idyllic place to grow up. You know, you’re just running around in the streets. Yeah Just safe, fun. We knew everyone in the neighborhood, but still, like, right by Chicago, so you know what I mean? Right. It’s not like Southern Illinois, which, you know, no shade, but it was cool that we got Chicago right there, you know, 30, 40 minutes.

But anyway, so I was always obsessed with being funny. As a really young kid, I realized, oh, I’m funny. And sometimes unintentionally. Sometimes I would just be doing something, and if people would start laughing, and I’m like, “Oh, all right.”

Andrea Marie: I know.

Laura Clery: My dad’s kinda like that too. I always describe my dad as, like, Kramer from Seinfeld but drunk and not racist.

That’s how I, ’cause Yeah. of Michael Richards. He’s just so physically, like, six foot four and, like, kinda lanky and would just like, walk in the door, and you just laugh, you And then my mom is this brilliant storyteller. Irish. I don’t know what it is about the Irish.

They just are great storytellers and just so funny. And so she taught me how to tell good stories and funny stories, and then my dad’s physicality, and I think I just got that little mixture. And I was obsessed with making people laugh since I was little. I even wrote a letter to Lorne Michaels when I was, like, nine or 10.

I was like, “Dear Lorne, I’m gonna make your show so funny when I’m older. I’ll see you soon.” You know? And like, he never got back to me, you know, which is rude.

He should have. I mean, it’s his loss really, honestly.

So I ended up moving out to LA at 17. My friend was interning at a production company out here and was like, “Hey, do you wanna sleep on my couch and pay me a little rent money and eat my food?”

And I was like, “Yep.” And ’cause I was just gonna do theater in Chicago and just do Second City and all that, and I thought, “Why not?” And I kinda sorta never left, you know?

Booking her first commercial

Laura Clery: And I got a commercial agent at 18. I booked the first commercial I went in on, and I was like, “This is easy,” you know? It’s not.

But I just, I booked the first one I went in on, it was a Spanish cellphone commercial, and I just danced around in like, a crop top with a cellphone, and I had no idea what they were saying. Like it was just so dumb. But then, you know, years of struggling. I, you know, became a drug addict for a bit.

Andrea Marie: As you do.

Laura Clery: As you do. I you got very distracted, but you know, I started booking like little sitcoms, indie films, and then I would like, the second I would end a job, I would file for unemployment, and that would keep me going. And I was just barely, barely working comedy actress.

Going viral posting daily for a year

Laura Clery: And then around my mid-20s, I started seeing all these people making content online, and some of them were making money doing it, and I looked at it and went, “Total creative freedom.”

You could just post whatever you want, and it could hit a lot of people, and that’s cool. At the end of the day, I thought I always wanted to be on a sitcom. But really, I just wanted to make people laugh, so however I could do that.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Laura Clery: So social media became this way where I didn’t have to wait for a director to go, “I like you, lanky blonde lady, I’ll hire you.”

You know? Like I didn’t have to wait around for a director to hire me. I could just make my stuff. I could write a song about potatoes and post it. I could do that if I wanted to, and no one could stop me. so I did that, and I became obsessive around it and about, I would post a video every single day for a year.

Andrea Marie: For a year. Yeah, I saw that. Yeah.

Laura Clery: And about six months in, I had my first viral video, and then from there, you know, I just kinda kept going.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Well, I think the thing that’s so amazing is that your comedy is so physical, and it’s so funny. I mean like, Help Helen Smash, like ridiculous. You know? Just so funny. And your characters are just, you’re just not afraid of doing whatever it takes to make someone laugh, like you said.

Laura Clery: Yeah.

Andrea Marie: And I love that.

Laura Clery: Yeah, it’s like my friends are like, “You’re just the same way you were when we were 12, and we spent hours prank calling 411 in, you know, my friend Holly’s bedroom.” And they’re all cracking up in the next room with the house phone on speaker listening, and I’m in the other room alone pranking for hours.

They’re like, “You’re the same person just now for millions of people, and before it was just us 10 or whatever,” you know?

Andrea Marie: Yeah, that’s amazing. I love that so much. So that’s very, very cool.

Building a comedy business with her husband

Andrea Marie: So you started going viral where, and you were, at that point, you were together with your husband at that point, Stephen, right?

Laura Clery: Yeah, yeah.

Andrea Marie: So and he started joining in on the videos. You were he was the straight man to your Helen.

And, that must have been so interesting too, and you touch on it in the book about, you know, kind of growing that business together. Like just you’re all encompassed, all working together. So how was that? That must have been so fun.

Laura Clery: It really was. Like yes, were we codependent? Absolutely. But when we met, he was a film composer scoring these big movies, and I was this barely working comedy actress. And then, you know, he actually inspired me just, he said, “Go, you know, post your videos online. Stop waiting for people. You’re funny. Just post your ideas.

Don’t wait around.” And I listened, and, it took off to the point. And I would ask him, I’d be like, “Hey, can you score my Instagram video?” And I’d have like, a 15-piece orchestra on my Instagram video and like, it was awesome. And then I started bringing him into videos. “Oh, can you play my boyfriend, and I’ll be a really obnoxious chewer and for this date?”

Or whatever the concept was for the sketch. And so we just kind of organically started working together, and then he was like, “You know, let’s just go all in and just, and just build this thing together, and I’ll do the music, and you write the comedy, and we’ll produce.” And it was so fun.

For many, many years. We had the best time ever. It was like I got to work with my best friend, you know, do what I love with the person I loved. I mean, what a dream. And it was, and it kept us close ’cause I always thought about people who their husband goes to the office all day, or the wife goes to the office all day, and then by the time they get home, they’re all tired, and, you know, how do you connect?

But then I started getting envious of that ’cause like the space is probably good, too, and it makes you miss them and ask about the day.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, yeah. They’re just there all the time.

Laura Clery: So it did work for a long time, and it was a blast.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, so fun. And then kids came into the picture. So talk about having two kids while building this empire.

Laura Clery: Yeah, I mean, we started taking off like, growing followers, brand deals, monetization. We bought a house in the Hills with a pool like, just the one on our vision board. And then it was just time. We were like, you know, I was 31 at the time. And, you know, I thought, “Let’s do it. Let’s have a baby.” We’ve been married several years at this point, and we got pregnant with Alfie, my son. And I remember when I got pregnant, I was like, “My career’s over.” Like, ” What, are all my characters gonna be pregnant? Like, how do I do this?” You know? Helen’s pregnant, Pamela’s pregnant.

‘Cause at the time I was very character-based, and I was really nervous about that. I remember I also got, booked a pilot. They made a like, million-dollar pilot around my Pamela Pumpkin Workout Queen character. And we shot it when I was, like, four months pregnant and I hid the belly, and it didn’t get picked up.

And now it was wildly offensive. I get that now. But before I just, I would write whatever I wanted. I didn’t care about being politically correct or anything. But anyway, it didn’t get picked up, and I was devastated.

Having kids and fearing it would end her career

Laura Clery: And then, but it turned out to be the best thing ever because what I did instead was I just wrote about being pregnant and that I started peeing on myself a little bit when I sneezed and, you know, and the waddling and the nesting period and all the funny things about being pregnant.

And once I started writing about that, about being pregnant and being a mom, it blew up even more because motherhood is not a niche. Most women are mothers. Isn’t that crazy to think? Most women are mothers. So I was, all of a sudden it wasn’t just these absurd characters. I was writing about this universal experience which brought a lot more women to me, and I wrote about it in a really funny, physical way.

So it helped the career. And then just having Alfie was, oh my God, like it was bliss. I mean, birth, it was horrific obviously, you know.

It’s crazy. But, right? And postpartum like, that stuff is so tough.

But yeah. But Alfie, I remember like his, Stephen’s parents, my ex now, his parents came in, my parents came in, my family, and it was just like, a really beautiful time.

The public unraveling of her marriage

Laura Clery: Just under two years later, we had my daughter, Poppy, and that’s kind of when things started going south, I would say, after the birth of my daughter.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. So, it feels like a little foreshadowing to the book. Dun, dun, dun. That’s the you know.

Laura Clery: And that’s when everything shifted.

Andrea Marie: It’s so true.

Laura Clery: And that’s when my life was never the same.

Andrea Marie: It was very true. I just am amazed at all you’ve been through, and also like, so publicly, you know, like everything kind of unraveled so publicly. You talk about that, what was it, the date in August 2022 was when kind of that public meltdown happened of your, of Stephen, your husband at the time.

And you kind of woke up and got lots of pings about it. I mean, what is that like to go through a very public breakup on YouTube and Instagram, basically?

Laura Clery: It was a very wild experience and you know.

It was a lot, and this is you know, I’m someone who I’ve vlogged my birth, so it’s not like. But this was something that I wasn’t anticipating going public, and I think that’s why it just all happened so fast. It was lots of confusing things were happening. My ex was acting in a very strange way, and I didn’t know why.

I didn’t know at the time that he was back on drugs. I didn’t know. And so I just saw this man who I didn’t recognize, and then he became, you know, abusive and threatening and scary, and I didn’t know what was happening. And you know, I called the police and it was all so much, and at the time I had a one and a three-year-old.

It was terrifying. And then the next day or so, I get all these phone calls and texts, “What’s going on? Oh my God, are you okay? I’m praying for you. Is everything okay? Are you safe? Are you good?” And I’m like, ” What’s going on?” Like I haven’t even told my mom about this, you know, incident that I go into in detail in the book.

And then I look on YouTube and there’s a video you know, from my ex that’s like, “I tried to kill myself. Like and subscribe.” You know?

Andrea Marie: Oh my God. So dark.

Laura Clery: And I’m just like, “oh my God.” Yeah. But then it’s funny, when I called him and I was like, “What are you doing? Like what, why are we, you posting this to the world right now?

Why aren’t you talking to me?” And he goes, “Well, that’s what we do. We post our lives to the internet. That’s what we do.” And it’s like yeah, I mean, you’re right. But then you gotta, there’s boundaries to that, or like we have to consent, but he is right. And then I’m going, “Man, did I create the monster?” Like ’cause when I met him, he was like this very introverted composer in a studio.

And I brought him out, “Let’s go. Let me sexually harass you with a square face.” And like, you know? And then now like it is another addiction, you know? It’s not just him that’s a recovering addict. I’m an addict too, and I’m in recovery. And I think we did become addicted to the success and the fame and the views and the money and, you know, you just do.

Right? It’s, they’re almost designed that way, those apps, and so you have to be very careful. So anyway, long story long, it all got out there and, and then it kinda just kept happening. I said to him, “You know, I don’t feel safe because of some really disturbing things that happened,” and I said, “I think we need to separate.”

You know? And I want you to get help. But you know you can’t force someone to get help, right? They have to want it. But what I knew was he wasn’t safe to be around me or the kids. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, who this man was, but he was not safe. So I said, “I wanna separate.” Next day I wake up, “Are you okay, Laura?

Oh God, Laura, is everything all right?” My fucking nanny’s third cousin, “Everything good?” I’m like, “Who is this? How does everyone know?” And then I look on YouTube and it’s like a video, “I separated from my wife.” Okay. First of all, I initiated it, first of all.

Andrea Marie: It’s the man taking credit for all the things again. What? What?

Laura Clery: So it was that insanity, girl. And it’s like you one would think, like, that was a bottom, and no, girl. We’re just scratching the surface. Shit got so dark and scary and bad, and it kinda kept going like that for you know, three years or so. You know? We just now finally, like, signed the settlement and are officially divorced. Like it took nearly four years.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Yeah, what a process. Well, and I think it sounded to me like from what I was reading is that you were, your finances were really intertwined with, because of the business for so long. I mean, I was reading how you were at one time paying for both your mortgage and his.

Laura Clery: Yes, correct.

Andrea Marie: I’m like, “What? What?”

Laura Clery: That until my water got shut off, and then I was like, “It’s time to stop.”

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

I saw that too. So you really hit, you have that part where you talk about just really hitting bottom, and you’ve got your two kids, your water is shut off. Like, what’s going through your mind at that point?

Laura Clery: Oh, girl, I was, you know, I was 20, 25 pounds lighter than I am now. I’m naturally pretty skinny, yeah, I couldn’t eat. I was traumatized. I was living in fight or flight which, you know, you already are raising a kid.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. That’s naturally, that’s the yes, that’s right. We didn’t even touch on the fact that you’ve got autistic child too, so in the mix there. Yeah.

Laura Clery: All kids are hard you know. But a kid that likes to elope in the middle of the night, so it’s a lot. And so I just was in fight or flight and, you know, but I still think even when I completely ran out of money and I was enabling this addict, and I didn’t realize I was enabling him ’cause I was still in deep denial and didn’t believe he was on drugs.

No, he’s building his business. You know, no, he was high out of his goddamn mind, and I was paying for his house ’cause I cared about him, and I also owed him so much, I felt. Like, he helped me, motivated me, was my partner for so many years, the father of my kids. I still loved him even though he was hurting me, and so unkind and scary and threatening and all the things.

I still loved him, and it’s codependency, you know? And I was enabling, I guess. I was, you know, not letting him hit bottom, but I thought I was helping. I think a lot of people who have addicts in their family identify with that, right? Where you wanna help them get on their feet, but in doing so, you’re enabling and not allowing them to hit bottom.

Getting a restraining order and starting to heal

Laura Clery: It wasn’t until I got a restraining order, stopped paying the bills and got a restraining order is when I could finally start to heal.

 Because I had this like, court-ordered no contact, and it was the hardest thing I had to do.

Andrea Marie: Yeah, yeah

Laura Clery: Hardest thing that I had to do.

Andrea Marie: That’s amazing. And I mean, just what an experience. You know, normally on our podcast, I ask about an unhinged moment in your mom life. I’m like, you’ve had a couple of years of unhinged moments here throughout the whole time.

So well, congratulations on your divorce. I know, I always say that marriage isn’t easy. Divorce isn’t easy. None of it’s easy. It’s all really hard. So congratulations that that is now final.

There was one part in the book, how you were funding your own smear campaign because you were helping him, but also, or paying for him to post video, negative videos of you, basically.

Laura Clery: Yeah. Isn’t that insanity? I know. ‘Cause I kept being surprised when it would happen again. You know? He would like, write about how, you know, I was a terrible mom or just whatever, just horrible things about me.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Laura Clery: And personal things, and it was very confusing and yeah, I just can’t even describe.

How she and Steven first met

Laura Clery: It’s like who are you? And now I know he was deep in his disease. He was on fentanyl and heroin and these really hardcore drugs. The fact that he’s alive is like wild actually. Now, you know, he is sober, and it is like, I say he’s like vintage Stephen. He’s like the guy that I met at that party in 2011 where, you know, he was holding a bottle of water, and I was like, “Wow, who’s that hot guy in a suit holding a bottle of water?

I gotta talk to him.” And I just went up to him. I was like, “Hey,” like, “Where’d you get your water?” And he’s like, “Pardon?” I said, “Oh, I just love water so much. It’s like, so important to stay hydrated.” So that was the first thing I, see, Helen. That was the birth of Helen. But yeah, yeah. But that was the first thing I ever said to him, and then, you know, and then he was like, “Obviously, you don’t love water. You would’ve brought some yourself.” You know?

And I was like, “Are you accusing me of not liking water?” And we had this whole water back and forth, and then long story long, we both discovered we were both sober, in recovery, and we met at a meeting the next day. And like we were engaged in six months and married in a year, and I was just 24.

Yeah, and he was 36. Like I said, it was so good for many years, and I don’t look back and go, “Oh, I regret it. I wa-” You know, a lot of women and men, “I wasted 10 years of my life.” I don’t like that. And I get those feelings, but I don’t know. I think there’s a lesson in everything, an experience in everything, and girl, there’s fucking books.

I even told him.

Andrea Marie: That’s why I’m like, you know, I think that more women should be in comedy ’cause we have so much material being moms, being you know, just the situations we’ve been through, all that stuff.

Laura Clery: Oh my God, just sharing your story is so healing. Like I heard somewhere, you’re as sick as your secrets, and I love that. And growing up in the Midwest, it was very much, at least in my household, we don’t talk about that. We don’t talk about what’s going on in the family. And then now my mom’s like, “Okay, Laura.”

She accepts it and embraces it, and she’ll come on my podcast and talk mad shit. She’s an open book now. It’s amazing. But it wasn’t like that growing up, and it is very healing telling my story. So even though this whole horrific separation, divorce, where, you know, it got very bad to the point where I had got a restraining order, the LAPD were at my house every other day, the FBI was involved with the criminal investigation, DCFS got involved.

It truly got so insane. I feared for my life in many ways. It’s funny, the publisher at the time of this was like, “It reads like a thriller,” but it’s funny. You know?

Andrea Marie: It does. It does. I was like, I was like, turn… well, yeah, I’m on my phone reading it, but I was like, totally like going through. I was like, “Oh man, what’s gonna happen next? Shut up. I, I’m worried in this.”

Laura Clery: So I think like rather than living in regret, I’m just like, that’s my story and maybe this story will help or inspire another woman who’s in a situation she doesn’t feel like she can get out of, you know.

Advice for women in unhealthy relationships

Andrea Marie: Right. Actually, I wanted to ask you that, is like what would you say to some, a mom, a woman who is in some similar situation where they’re afraid for their life, maybe they’re dealing with a drug addict that has really erratic behavior and, you know, they’re not sure what to do. What advice would you give that woman?

Laura Clery: Baby steps. Just one call, call one person and tell them. You know, tell the truth, you know? For s- for me, there were things I kept to myself or I would maybe just tell my sponsor, you know, about what was really going on. But I think that’s so important to like, reach out, whether it’s a therapist, a family member, a friend, and tell them what’s going on.

You know, get honest and share, because we can’t do it alone. We can’t do any of this alone. In fact, while I was going through my separation, my friend, one of my best friends, who also has two young kids, started coming over a lot. “Oh, hey, can we come over?” “Yeah.” “Can we come over? Can we sleep over?” “Yeah.” “Can we stay, like, two nights?”

“Yeah.” “Can we like, maybe stay three?” “Sure.” And confided in me about her relationship, that he was, you know, alcoholic and raging and screaming and scaring the young kids, and she was terrified. And now she is going through a divorce because she opened up about it. She had that courage to share. For so many years it was a secret.

She didn’t want people to know. So I think that, it’s like we can’t do it alone. We can’t do any of this alone. So getting honest and then you just take those small, small steps, you know? and don’t pay their mortgage

Andrea Marie: I think that’s a really good one.

Laura Clery: Yeah.

Andrea Marie: Don’t do that. Don’t do that. But you know, it’s just like the frog in the boiling water. You don’t really know how hot it’s getting until you like look back with perspective and say, “Wow, why did I that?” You know? Is there anything, is there any advice that you would give your younger self or anything that you would coach your younger self on throughout this whole thing?

Laura Clery: You know, I was going to get, the first time he lost his mind on me and broke into my house and threatened me, I was on my way to get a restraining order. And then ultimately did not go through with it, and it took another three years for me to do it. I would’ve told myself to do it then. I had a psychiatrist who was like, “You don’t need to get one. You guys need to get along.”

And I was like, “But I’m scared.” And he was like, “It’s best if you guys stay friends.” No, I’m not kidding you. Now, and I’m not, I can’t blame him. But girl, like, I was like, “Okay, but I really am scared.” And he was like, “No,” I just got off the phone with him ’cause he was, like, our couples psychiatrist or whatever, and he was like, “He seems good,” like he, “He’s not gonna do it again,” like, “He’s gonna get help.” Like, “Just try and be peaceful when you’re going through this divorce.

You don’t wanna get the courts involved type thing.” That was a mistake. My gut. I know, I know. And it’s funny ’cause every woman that I said to was like, “Oh, God.”

Andrea Marie: Oh, no, the women.

know. know.

Laura Clery: yeah, the women, They knew. women knew. The men were like, “No, no, you’re fine.” And so I listened ultimately. And I wish I did that not just for me and my safety, but also for him actually because he would’ve hit bottom sooner had I done that and gotten.

And either he would’ve died or he would’ve, you know, gotten sober and straightened his life out. But so I think like, enabling an addict is bad for everyone. It’s bad for the addict, it’s bad for me, it’s bad for the kids, it’s bad for everyone. So that’s what I would’ve done is taken action, walk. And I was in fear.

I was so scared of what would happen if I did do it, and I was so scared, and but that’s what I would’ve done differently, is done it right away. You know, one time is one time too many. It’s, you know, “Oh, he won’t do it again,” or, “He didn’t punch me in the face.”

Andrea Marie: I know, that line seems to move, right?

Laura Clery: Yeah. And you justify and it could be worse, and no one’s perfect.

And I’m a recovering addict. I’ve made mistakes. You know, you just play these mind games in your head and justify the behavior, but that’s what I would have done differently. Yeah, and I would just say to any woman out there like, you know, you can get through it. And you know you can be hotter on the other side.

Honestly, I gotta say, I love my life today. You know? I’ve got water, running water. I’ve got two kids who are amazing. I have incredible friends, a women’s support group I go to every Friday that I love and I write about in the book ’cause it changed my life. Because again, we can’t do any of this alone.

And I go there and I deeply share and deeply listen to other women, and I just feel so full and abundant in my life. To the point where I don’t think I’ll ever get married again. And now this could just be a phase, but that’s where I’m at.

Andrea Marie: That happens with a lot of moms and a lot of people who are fulfilled. We’re, we’re like, “Well, you know, maybe we don’t need that any, you know, in our lives.” ‘Cause sometimes it doesn’t bring peace, it brings disruption, so.

Laura Clery: I’m not saying I can’t date.

Andrea Marie: Yeah. Right, exactly.

Raising her son and what he’s taught her

Andrea Marie: Exactly. Yeah, I know. I just wanna touch on, I know we are running out of time, but I also wanted to just touch on your son Alfie, who is autistic and just, it sounds like you’ve just been so good at processing all of that and kind of working through all that and learning so much and sharing so much about what that’s like to raise an autistic son.

How has that changed you as a mother?

Laura Clery: Oh my gosh. I mean, it’s the biggest challenge, but also so rewarding. I feel like he is so connected to God. I don’t even necessarily mean God in the religious sense, just, like universe, love, higher power, I don’t know. Just he is just connected, like he’s one with nature. He’ll just stare into your eyes for like 20 minutes, just deeply stare with the most loving.

And I’m like, he’s just staring into my soul and just holding me and, you know? And it’s not like my daughter. Like, my daughter is so awesome in so many ways. He’s just on this different like, plane. You know, kids on the spectrum, I find. They’re not operating at the same level.

It’s really interesting. But I think, like, he just makes me a better person. Like, he’ll wake me up and he’ll go, “Walk, walk,” and you know, wants to take a three-mile walk, and it’s like, would I have done that had he not suggested? No, you know? And he like, forces me out in nature, forces me to be present.

And you know what’s really interesting? Whenever I find myself, like, I’ll wake up in the morning sometime and I’ll start working. When I do that, all of a sudden, like this morning, I’m like, “I wanna do one hour, you know. No work, just prayer, meditation, be with my kids, and then take them to school, and then I can start work.”

Well, I didn’t do that this morning. We got up and I’m making breakfast, but then I go into my bedroom and I’m looking at work emails and seeing what I have to do, and then Alfie comes in, he goes, “Almond butter, almond butter.” And I go, “Almond butter?” And he goes, “Almond butter on floor.”

It’s like, “Oh, shit, Alfie.” But I swear to you, and I go in there and the kitchen floor is covered in almond butter, and he just has this like, big grin on his face. But what I find so interesting, and I’ve noticed this, is when he does shit like that, it’s when I’m doing something I shouldn’t do or like, that I said I shouldn’t do.

And I don’t know if this is crazy town or not, but had I been present like I said I would in the morning, that wouldn’t have happened. But I got into work mode, and then almond butter happened, and shit like that happens all the time, where I’ll like, be focused on something that’s not the best for me or, you know, distracted by, you know, even scrolling TikTok, right?

And then he gets into something else and it’s like, well, shit, had I been present… I don’t know.

Andrea Marie: It’s just, yeah, It’s just like spiritual accountability, you know?

Laura Clery: Yes. And it’s like, “How did you know?” You know?

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Laura Clery: He was diagnosed just under two. He was diagnosed with level three severe autism is what they said, that he might never speak, might never be independent.

It was pretty devastating to hear that. I didn’t know much about autism then. Now he’s speaking in sentences, he’s drawing advanced shapes on the driveway. He knows more shapes than I do. Decagon, nonagon, octagonal prism. What? “Mommy, draw a pentagon.”

Mommy has to Google pentagon ’cause Mommy doesn’t know how to draw a pentagon. You know, he’s so adventurous and fun and loving and also incredibly mischievous and will elope and give me a heart attack, and he’s escaped, and I write about that in the book. He eloped to the grocery store and got Sour Patch Kids, and the cops found him. Mm-hmm.

Andrea Marie: Oh my God. Oh my gosh.

Laura Clery: 1.4 miles away from my home.

Where to find Laura and her new book

Andrea Marie: That is wild. Oh my gosh. Well, you guys, and Laura, this has been so much fun, and you guys out there, you guys have to get this book, What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter. It is coming out on July 14th. Get it wherever you can. And also go, like I did, go follow Laura all over the place.

Binge-watch her videos ’cause they’re so funny, so much fun. You will love them. And Laura, why don’t you just let our audience know where they can find you, where the best place is to connect with you?

Laura Clery: Yeah, thank you so much. You’re awesome, by way, and I love your glasses and the blue and it’s my favorite color. I’m just like, “Ooh, yeah.”

It’s just my name everywhere, @lauraclery. Just type that in to whatever social platform you prefer. I’m all over. And I also narrate. I narrate the book, which is fun. I know like, for busy moms. Yeah, you can just like, listen in the car like, on your walks or something like that, and it’s fun.

Andrea Marie: Yeah.

Laura Clery: To listen to. Everyone has their preference.

Andrea Marie: For sure. Well, thank you so much, Laura, for coming on our show and taking time out, and, just love your stuff, so thank you.

Laura Clery: Thank you. You’re awesome. Thank you so much, fellow Midwesterner. Suburb of Chicago-er. Yes, that’s right.

Andrea Marie: Thanks for listening and make sure you subscribe, share, and follow us on the socials to get more comedy clips.