Brett Cooper on Her New Show, Marriage, Kids & Farming

Introduction

Gatorade slid into my DMs, and they're like, we want to do a show, and I was terrified, and I almost didn't even send in a tape. I'm just not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. My mom She basically like grabs my throat. The statistics actually show now that home schoolers test higher, they're being recruited by Ivy Leagues, all this stuff. Your parents were doing it right. You're not going to be in one class with the same group of kids who are the same age.

When I started home schooling, I lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There was one co-op, and it was weird. Very, very odd, really, really small, and my mom was like, this is not going to be your people. We're going to do our own thing. So, she basically created this program for me. She designed the curriculum, she took all these books from, you know, classical education, had me in basically every single extracurricular thing. I was dancing, I was in gymnastics, I was singing.

That makes the difference between the home schoolers that are the stereotypes and the ones that break through those is that we were highly socialized in a very dynamic and intentional way. Brett Cooper, welcome to my channel. so excited to be here. Thank you so much for coming. Yeah.

Reflecting on The Comments Section

You know, it's wait, I just have to say, you were the first interview that I ever did right after starting Comment Section. funny. So, this is like a whole new It's like we're repeating history. Oh my gosh, I'm so happy I'm so honored about that. That's really fun. You had such huge amounts of success with the Comment Section. It was crazy watching that. Like I think we did the interview and you had you were Maybe you were almost at a million or you had hit a million, and then like the next time I checked you were at three.

It was like crazy. Yeah. Yeah. It was I was really, really honored, and it was so much fun. It was like a rocket ship taking off those three years, and especially the first five months, and I think cuz I looked at your episode recently when we were planning this. I think I was like around 700,000 or something. And it was just like it was the most fun team.

It was so like nimble and flexible cuz we were doing something so new, especially at the company, cuz we were kind of like trying something out and even seeing if it would work and stick and it was just so much fun. Oh, that's great. Okay. You have a new YouTube channel. Yes, I do. I'm going to link it below, but what's it called? Just so we can get that out of the way now. um Bret Cooper.

Brett's New YouTube Channel

A lot of people found it when it was B Bret Cooper, but we actually just got it changed with YouTube, so it'll be just Bret Cooper. Oh, nice. Yeah, so it's just my name, which is cool. It's not a show anymore. It's just me. Wow. Okay, can you tell me like what your plan is?

Yeah. going to do farm stuff? Uh I wish. Okay, I'm going to do some of it and that's like I posted a community post right after launching the channel and I was like, we have free reign now, guys. Like we can do whatever we want. Like I'm excited. And so many of the comments were like, okay, yes, like we like you for culture and politics, but like are you going to like let us meet the cows? So we're definitely going to do some of that and I'm really excited about that and that's obviously like a huge part of my life these days.

So I'm excited to incorporate more lifestyle stuff. Um but yeah, I'm this whole new chapter, I'm really excited and I'm so grateful that so many people are already following me over to the new channel and the new platforms. Um but yeah, it's going to be a challenge for sure cuz it's, you know, we're rebuilding, but also it's like that's what I loved about starting Common Section. I loved building something. I'm definitely somebody that loves taking on new things and loves creating something and I was kind of itching for something new. I know. It's very exciting.

Yeah. Okay, let's go with let's go to living on a farm first. This is what I'm curious about. Why did you decide that's what you wanted to do? I wanted to do that for years. So I grew up in half in Tennessee and half in Los Angeles cuz I was acting, but we always lived on land, but never had animals.

Life on a Farm: Why Brett Made the Move

And my mom, from the time that she was like 13 years old, always wanted to have a farm. So I was raised by this woman who was like craving that lifestyle and experience and it just like never happened and kids and moving and my dad didn't want it and her first husband was like definitely against it. And so when my parents got divorced, she moved to Idaho and started her homestead. It was like her like next chapter. She was like finally getting what she wanted for, you know, 50-plus years. So, I grew up in that environment and because of that, we were like super engaged in our agricultural community and we had friends that had ranches and rode horses from a really young age and we had really good friends in Kentucky that had a Highland cattle farm. So, I was always around that and really gravitated towards it just because it felt so grounded and tangible compared to a lot of the things in my life.

Um I think growing up in a very turbulent household just with this you know that you know I have a brother with schizophrenia and I have a brother that passed away at a very young age and I was moving around a lot because of acting and was like having those activities and literally just being outside felt so like not you couldn't take that away from me. Um and I've just always wanted it. My mom buying her farm a few years ago really solidified that cuz I loved being there with her. So, Has she seen your new place? Yes, she loves it. Yes, she loves it. Yeah, she's actually moving literally down the road.

Oh my god. it's amazing. So, she's selling her like dream homestead in Idaho and moving here. The weekend that we got married, she literally drove around the area and like knocked on people's doors and was like, "I like your farm. I like your farm. Like, would you sell it to me?" Um she's like a ballsy woman. But I'm so excited.

I mean, my husband's whole family is near us in Tennessee and my dad is nearby, but my mom was kind of out in the middle of nowhere and, you know, she heard marriage and future kids and she was like packing up the bags and would be there to babysit. Yeah. that's so fun. we're going to have farms near each other. Wow. Do you have a Do you have somebody to help with the animals? Do you So, you hired someone to take care of them? Cuz like if I ever do this, you're not like taking care of the cows yourself. No, I am.

But it's like when we're out of town, we have like So, right now we have an amazing farm hand who like is coming daily and checking on their water and like dropping hay and that kind of stuff, but like during the week it's just me. And if we need like extra help on projects, then we'll have um one of these guys come out and they're able to like help Alex with stuff that like I can't do or we can't do alone. But yeah, it's like the two of us. It's so much fun. So are you milking cows? have any milk cows, so no. Like that's what my mom does. We have what will be beef cows.

Okay, nice. That's Yeah, exactly. That's my kind of cow. And then we have we're raising um pigs. We'll have pork and then we have 10 chickens and four ducks. So you're set for the end of the world. Basically.

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Any age is welcome. The courses are university level. Thanks, guys. Enjoy the rest of the podcast. It's amazing. It's like it is such a nice contrast from the rest of my life because it's so public. It's so digital.

Like especially because the comment section was completely revolving around social media and trends and news and it was so fast-paced and it's just like chaos in the political like cultural world, whatever this weird industry is that we're in. Like it's just crazy all the time. Mhm. It was so freeing to be able to drive home and like drive home on a literal dirt road and come back to some place that is so quiet, like so normal, detached from everything. We're in the middle of nowhere. And it was like, "Okay, I'm like my nervous system is like regulated now." Yeah.

So yeah, I'm really really grateful for it. I get that. I I kind of had the same experience. I always liked living like I liked living downtown. When I was a kid I was like, if I don't live near a China a Chinatown that has 24-hour Chinese food, I don't want to live in in that city, which obviously changed. My diet changed and everything, but that was like, it needs to be like that much of a city and I want to live right downtown. And then when things got crazy it was like, you know, it's a you know, it's a bit hard on the nervous system.

If you're already bombarded from a bunch of other angles, it's like maybe maybe not. Not that I live on a farm. breathe ever. And it was interesting cuz I moved to a new part of Nashville early last year and then only lived there for a few months and then had to go to Budapest to shoot the Pendragon Cycle for Daily Wire. And so then I went from like living in the city in Nashville to literally living in the city in Budapest. I didn't have a car, living in an apartment and it was just like it was so much fun and I felt like I finally got to live my, you know, like study abroad dreams that I didn't get to do um because of COVID, but I was so overstimulated and we actually bought the farm sight unseen while I was in Budapest. And we like saw it on Zillow and I was like, we should just like go look at it. Like that's just like fun.

Then so Alex flew home and went and looked at it and he called me and he said, "Okay, I'm sorry, we have to buy this." I was like, "Wait, what? Like I'm not even there." He said, "No, we're going to we're going to buy this." So Oh, that's so cool. Yeah, it was just but it was a really like I came back from living in like major major city for 5 months to being on like tens of acres just in the middle of nowhere. Wow.

Yeah. And so do you find you don't find that it's isolating at all cuz you get enough stimulation elsewhere?

Adjusting to Farm Life

Or are you just kind of used to that atmosphere from your, you know, mom talking about it or I feel like if I was on a farm, I don't know. I'd go stark raving mad. I think it's it's a mixture of both. So I was born on Orcas Island in Washington state, which a lot of people don't know, but we had land out there. I mean it's super remote, super quiet. Um so I lived there when I was younger and then in Tennessee where I grew up, we also lived on like 6 acres, very very like removed area. I was raised in areas that were very quiet and that's definitely where I find like my peacefulness.

But no, I also think that we've been very intentional about building community at this new place because when you live in a city, it's very easy to like just run out and go to dinner or like see people and go out for a drink or do whatever and it you know, we removed ourselves and realized okay, this is not convenient anymore. We're not just going to run into people. We can't you know, say hey, can we just go like meet you for 5 minutes and get a drink whatever. So, we've had to be very thoughtful with you know, how we cultivate that community and bringing our friends out and hosting all the time. We want to make sure it's a place where people you know, want to come and spend time with us. So, I think we've done a good job of that and we're like hosting all these dinner parties having people over to the farm. So, we definitely have made an effort and I think because of that we have not really felt any negative removal.

I think yeah, I think my husband was more worried about it than I was because he used to live in New York City and definitely more of a city person. And but he loves it. It like he was like shocked him how like peaceful he is and how he was like this is actually you know, exactly what I needed. Oh, that's great. Yeah. I I get that. So, he has no background in like cow farming.

No. Not at all. But he's doing it. He's doing it now. Wow. very much. Oh, that's so cool. listening to Alex Jones a few years ago and was like okay, yep, we need to be prepared and then I was like well then obviously we need cows and he was like okay, I think that makes sense. And I was like here's the farm.

We're going to buy it. You know, he's all bought in. So, it was great. Did you have Did you have to I'm getting in the weeds here. Did you have to purchase the cows separately or did some of them come with the farm? No, yeah, we bought them all separately. So, the people that we bought the place from were not farming it whatsoever.

They just wanted a bunch of land. So, we've had to literally, like, from ground zero, like, design where all the pastures are going to be, fence everything. But, like, renovate the barns, do all of that stuff. And then, I bought the cows on Facebook and Craigslist. That's amazing. It's like and it's so weird And you can just buy a cow? Is there paperwork or anything?

Or do you just kind of they're registered. So, you need to, like, change, you know, hands and registration. So, like, our pigs are registered. They're fancy pigs. So, we had to get our registration, uh, you know, handed over to us. But, yeah, it's been a whole adventure. It's like so much fun.

I believe that. I believe that. Okay, married life. You weren't married last time we spoke. Yeah. Uh, and you got married. Mhm.

How's that going? It's literally the greatest thing in my life. Yes. I was thinking about this as just a couple of weeks ago, but on both sides of the political aisle, I was told that getting married is like the worst thing you could do for your career. It's settling down, you know, it's holding you back. I heard that from the people I grew up with acting in Hollywood where I would talk about wanting to be a mom and wanting to be a wife.

How Marriage Changed Everything

They're like, "Oh my god, you're going to sacrifice everything." it getting married that was the problem? Or was it like having kids? Both. Oh, wow. Yeah. It was like even just getting married is like, "Okay, well, now you're like settled down and now people won't like you as much cuz you're married." Oh, yeah, I heard that, too.

Yeah. Yeah. And did not give a rat's ass, obviously. It was like, "You're not going to tell me what to do." Um, and I love this person and I believe in the institution of marriage and um, I also found somebody who makes me better every day and I think that's the most important thing. It's like I've never felt more ambitious, I've never felt braver than when I'm with him and it's like he takes all the parts of me that need strengthening and just amplifies them. Oh, yay.

Um, and so it's just like you feel like a superhero. And so it's very like that's the number one thing I would tell like all women is like look for that person who's like a a real partner in everything and that's him. So it's been just incredible. Aw, I'm so happy for you. I I like it is I I always thought I think I was scared of it too and I mean I had to like I had a bad experience so that didn't help. But I also I think it's it's sometimes hard to find people that actually make you into a better person. It is.

Rather than especially if you're very driven or something and then it's like you're doing too much like or or and then there's always just it's just kind of like you're holding me back. Yeah. And I also think it's complicated as somebody who is conservative and definitely more traditional but obviously has a career and works and is successful Mhm. it took a lot to find somebody that was like masculine enough to like stop me in my tracks and was not going to be a doormat for me because I'm definitely like I can steamroll through people. And it was so impressive to me that he was like not intimidated in the slightest would like call me out on my BS. Will do that every day which I need. Um he would debate me. Like that was the greatest thing like I would come home from work and we'd be able to like talk through everything that I was you know talking about on the show or reading about and he's like a voracious reader and a voracious podcast listener and just like learning about the world every day and just has such a curiosity and having somebody that was like this like mental sparring partner of sorts.

It was I think difficult to find that and I'm so grateful. I feel like I lucked out. I mean I got married so young. I was like not letting you go like this is perfect. But yeah. That's great. Yeah, I'm really happy. does sound like you got lucky I think.

For sure. a hard time finding that. I know. Otherwise yeah, you just steamroll people. Then you feel kind of bad but also disgusted. I felt bad too. Yeah, not feminine at all. And then like guilty but also like irritated and disgusted.

It's like uh And you don't want that in like a romantic situation whatsoever. It's like I would already And now I'm turned on. That was a That was yeah, stimulating. Thank you. Exactly. But it's hard and I think the the feminine side of it was something I hadn't experienced and so that was what was so shocking to me cuz I was always like more of a tomboy.

The Importance of Finding the Right Partner

Obviously I have a farm. I hang out with cows all day. Then I have three older brothers and I again have a career. I'm like very outspoken and had never felt like taking care of in that way or even like allowed to feel that. I'd always have my guard up. And I didn't even think that that was in the realm of possibilities for me. I was like I'm just not a feminine person.

And then you meet that person that brings out that side of you and gives you the protection and the space to be that way. It was like really special. I had the exact same experience. It was the same thing. Like a career, also like able to debate, outspoken and then yeah, like masculine basically in conversation and things and guarded. Which I was just like, okay, that's just like how I'm going to be, I guess. Which is fine.

I was also okay I got cut to the point cuz I was like I was 29 when I finally met Jordan and at that point I was like I'm fine being This is It is better being alone than with somebody who Well, I met you when I don't think you were dating Jordan yet. Maybe you were or maybe it was like the very early stages, but I mean even just as a like a friend and a viewer of seeing your transformation over the past couple of years even just like professionally cuz what you guys have done together is so remarkable. Thank you. And it's like you look so happy and the work you're doing is incredible. I think it's such a testament to the way you work together and the way you compliment each other. So it's like Thank you. I appreciate that.

It has made It's made a huge difference. It's like this is great. Yeah. I didn't know that this is like is something that could happen. Yeah. That's what you hear about though. I think people just have a hard time I think I had a hard time being picky enough, but you have to meet a lot of people, too.

For sure. Like or I didn't know what I was looking for or something. It might have been that, you know, or maybe I was stupider than you when I was younger. Seriously, that's like a huge possibility. That's probably what was going on. to like draw your lines in the sand and when you What's important, what's not important if you don't have very much experience. That was hard for me. Exactly.

I think it was helpful cuz I being so public, especially, I was talking about my values 24/7 and talking about my principles and I think that really forced me to like take that into dating in a even more severe way cuz it was like I'm a public figure now. I'm very in tune with my values and what I want and what I believe in. It's like at the forefront of my mind and what I talk about all the time. So I I credit that to a lot of how I approached like starting this relationship with Alex cuz it was totally different than how I dated in college. And I really didn't date a lot. I would say I dated. Like I went on dates, but I wasn't in relationships, but it was very lackadaisical.

Very like emotionally driven rather than being like this makes sense. This is like everything is in line and the emotions and the affection, the attraction is there, but it's like it's the puzzle pieces came together and I was so aware of that. Yeah. Or before it was like wasn't even looking really for that. It was like in the back of my mind. Mhm. Mhm.

That makes sense. Do you have recommendations? I know people are getting like it seems, I don't know if I'm going to pull like a conservative sphere, but it seems like people are more attracted to the idea of getting young getting married young, which is good. Um do you have recommendations for girls in how to choose a partner? Oh gosh. I mean I again going back to what we were just saying, I think that you find the person who makes you better in every way, whatever that looks like for you. I also think it's this dance of knowing that you both fit into each other's lives.

There's there was this balance for me cuz my mom used to say like I don't want you to date until you're 30. And that's what she always said growing up. And then she flipped right as I moved to Nashville and she was like the world's getting crazy, you need to find like a good man. I was like, wait, I thought I wasn't allowed to date till I'm 30. But at that point she gave me some more nuance. She was like, okay, that was probably a little bit too intense. But she was like, I wanted you to know yourself.

Like that's the most important thing. You know yourself and you know your values most importantly and what you want and where you see your life going. And obviously you can't choose how your life turns out, but kind of knowing a road map of the lifestyle that you want for yourself, um, the way you want to raise kids, whether you want to home school or not home school, whatever that looks like, some of those big core things, have those identified before you enter into any serious relationship because if you can't have those conversations from the get-go, you're just wasting your time. And that's the thing that I hate most is people like, especially women, wasting your precious time and energy and your precious years if you want to be a mom, on people who are not even in line with your life. And maybe there's like all of those good feelings of infatuation, but it's like that only gets you so far if you're not able to have those conversations and be very clear about how you both fit into this puzzle. Yeah. Um, 100%.

Yeah. You just have to be so clear. And I think the other thing, too, and this is more to people who are like, oh, you're getting married too young, it's like you do have to know where your life is going and what you want, but you also have to be flexible and be excited about growing together. And know, and once you have those core values, then it's like wherever your ship is taking you, it's going to be sort of in line with where you want to go. It it not be exactly what you thought of like three like our life now is definitely not what I thought our life would be three years ago like when I met Alex. But it's in line with our values and so it's not surprising and it's not like shocking or bad or like oh this is not good because it's not what I wanted it's like this is better than what I wanted because we did it together we built it together. Um so I guess that's my very broad advice.

And then I guess know yourself. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe it did like you doing all this public talking even just on YouTube maybe that did help you figure out what you wanted. like hammered in. Yeah. really really helpful. Yeah. Yeah.

That's cool. So did you guys have the conversations like when do you want to have kids? How fast are we going to get married? How are we going to raise our kids? Do you have them super early on? Yes. It was not like we're sitting down and having a meeting about it but Yeah.

We're both very intense people and very forward people and we were serious about the relationship very early on like Alex was like I want to be a husband I want to be a father. I don't date like really long term. Yeah. shocked. And it was so refreshing. And he had never had a girlfriend before me like he had dated he'll he'll be so offended. He had a girlfriend in middle school. But he is like the most selective person with his time and energy and so he would go on dates very similar to me and we'd go on dates be like okay this is not the right person but because he brought those conversations to the table very early on so he was able to go like all right in line not in line don't even want to waste my time and then he would rather you know focus on himself and his career.

And so I think with the two of us it just flowed naturally because it was like okay we both see this as serious we have these intentions you know this is where we want our individual lives to go so those conversations were very easy to have and it wasn't like awkward or weird but yeah we had those you know like two or three months in. But I even before we had them I had like a gut feeling I was like this is the person. And then those like conversations evolved over those next 3 months as we kind of figured it out. Cool. Okay. I wonder if that's just the type of person that does that. I had a similar experience with Jordan.

Mhm. But at that time I was also like jaded and was like I'm going to be alone forever. I'm fine with it. Whatever. At least I'm not in a relationship. Yeah. So I was just like this is like here's all the bad stuff and like and oh is that fine?

Yeah. Cuz if it's not it's fine, but like it's there and then yeah, serious conversation very early. Yeah. But I'm sure and I mean you had your daughter coming into it too, so that just adds a level of complexity. That kind of wipes away a lot of the like ooh, this is going to be absolutely perfect at the beginning. It was is just like no, there's some serious things going on right now. Yeah.

So we need to get that out of the way. Otherwise like I have no interest. Yeah. And it's impressive when he's willing to jump in and just face that head-on and not be deterred by it or intimidated by it. Yeah, I was a bit worried at the beginning cuz I told him all these things. He was like that's fine. So like Oh, it's terrifying.

Do you know what you're talking about? Cuz are you sure cuz I don't I'm not even sure it's fine. Yeah. Yeah. He has a very quintessential family and I love them to death because they're not what I grew up with at all. Parents in love, married, siblings are all alive. Like they're all like well-adjusted.

Oh. Yeah. Um like very well-adjusted and so normal and I literally sobbed the night before I met them cuz I was so uncomfortable and terrified cuz I was like I am damaged goods. And had never felt that way before because I just never been faced with such normalcy and I desperately wanted to impress them and be like I'm not like corrupting your son with my like weird family. that so funny. I had almost the exact same experience with Jordan's family. It's same. Parents are together.

My parents are together. But like normal. And I I like I don't think I've met a normal family. Mhm. This is crazy. Like growing up in downtown Toronto, I was like, I don't think I think there was one family in my neighborhood that I kind of knew that we considered normal. Everybody else had serious, serious problems.

And I was like, that's just what families are like. Yeah. And then met his family and I was like, Yeah. no one hates each other? I didn't know how to operate within that framework. I think that was the thing that was so weird. I was like, I don't know what to do. He was like, you're just going to meet my parents.

I was like, Yeah. But it's so it's insane how our brains wire us that way. But he was so wonderful and like holding my hand through that and also just not being phased by it at all. Like just like, I don't care. Like you can be nervous, you can cry about it, it's fine. But you're going to go meet them and it's great and it's normal. So, that was refreshing to say the least.

Jordan dropped me off in his house with his sisters and then disappeared for like three hours. I almost murdered him the next day. Luckily, his sisters are amazing. But I was like, you don't Yeah. You can't just do that. Yeah. Where did you go?

Brett's Plans for Kids

Do you have a plan? We sort of do. We definitely want them sooner rather than later, and it's definitely not something that we're pushing off. We've talked a lot about you know, how we want that to look, I think. You know, he it's it's been a a big part of us transitioning our careers. Um he came from the corporate world, and when we got married, completely flipped his life upside down, and he started his business. He's totally independent now.

He controls his schedule, totally flexible. He comes with me everywhere, which is just fantastic. Um and is more successful than ever and happier than ever. So, it was like, you know, he took a big risk and a big swing, and it panned out, and it's, you know, supporting me, but it's also done incredible things for him, which is great. And that was a lot of my thought process of this next chapter of, you know, I have a great appreciation for how my mom raised us, and she was incredibly focused, incredibly dedicated. She worked and had different projects and jobs throughout our childhood, and she was, you know, starting all these organizations and running all these different things. It was incredibly impressive and had a huge career prior to having kids, but we were involved in all of that, and it was all by her design, and she ran all of that so that her children could still be the center of her life.

And for her, being a mom was, you know, like a It was a career for her, and she saw everything else as like amplifying that. And I think, you know, Alex's mom did a very, very similar thing. So, we were raised by women that made their careers around their children, and by default, had even better careers and became even more successful because they were independent and they started businesses.

Stereotypes of Homeschooled Kids

And so, you know, I think that has been for the last year, that's what we've been trying to work on just so that we can have that flexibility cuz I went to home school, I was home schooled. Um and it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me and I think completely formed who I am as a as a person and a thinker and an academic. And that was something actually in terms of the like conversations with Alex and I, he was definitely not on board with home schooling at the beginning. Ah, yeah. Yeah, did not want heard what I heard growing up, which was like weird, alienated farm children. Yes, exactly. Yeah, with their really long skirts.

Yeah. And it's so funny cuz he was a like private school lacrosse like frat star, like SEC, and he married the home schooled like theater kid horse girl. Yeah. I was like, if you told him that at 15 years old, he probably would have died. Yeah. He genuinely would have been like, what is my life? But he knew I knew So, that's kind of an interesting thing.

We weren't exactly aligned we first started dating, but the values were there. So, he was like, "I'm not really into home school cuz home school is I mean, just kind of heard weird stuff." And I was like, "But I don't want my kids in public school cuz you know, the system is designed against them." And so, we had all of the facts and the understanding, but his solution was, you know, he went to a private school. He was like, "We'll just send them to private school." And then the conversation merged to, "Okay, well, what about a hybrid if they're at home with us a few days a week, but then they do get to go in and do sports or whatever?" And then over the course of 2 years, he was like, "They're not going.

They're not touching any school, you know, they're I want them home." And he's really excited about it now. But the values were there and the conversations were all so productive and I was willing to bend and flex, but that's a really high priority. It's something that we've again talked about since the very beginning. So, it was like, "How can we structure our life to make sure that that is doable?" And again, he's done that and it's been, you know, the greatest thing that happened to him career-wise. So, it's all really it's really positive.

I think it just shows that when you orient your life to things that are objectively good, like you'll be rewarded in that sense when you take risks and you bet on yourself, that's just a net positive, which is something that I'm, you know, trying to jump into right now, but it's definitely Oh, 100%. Yeah, you're going to be fine. Like, no, it it'll be like amazing. It'll be amazing. I'm I'm excited for you. Yeah. It'll be fun.

I didn't I didn't end up signing like I had a few offers to sign with people for the podcast and then I was just like, but I'm fortunate cuz I've always been kind of doing it on the side of other things, so I was never like I'm I don't know. I don't want to work with anybody like really. I'm too difficult to work with. Like it was that. Self-awareness is good. Yeah. I was like, you don't want to work with me, I don't want to work with you, no one wants this.

Yeah. Well, that's good. So, did he just watch what was going on in schools for a couple years and then he was like, maybe private schools also have the same problem. that and then also getting to know me and I have so many friends that are homeschooled and he just started to cuz he didn't know any of okay.

How Homeschooling Prepares You for Success

And we're much more I mean, my circle is made up of a lot of homeschoolers and so I think he continued to meet more of us and realized like you are you're all really impressive and you're very smart and you have really really interesting careers. And I think that changed his mind as well, but yeah, definitely just understanding the school systems more and that a lot of private schools are not exempt from it. And so many families have to do something other than homeschooling and it's not doable for a lot of people and I've never wanted to shame people for doing other things and I think those parents are very careful with where they send their kids and they're very involved because of that fact. And so there are great I know that there are great schools out there. I think that they're just few and far between and the system is still set up against them. They're going to have to be fighting that all the time. Um, so he knows that that's out there, but on a whole he was like, "If we have the opportunity, if we can set up our life to be able to do this, like why wouldn't we?"

And I also think the thing that changed his mind and so many other people's minds is that I don't even know how many years ago it was. Like I mean 15 years ago when I started homeschooling, there was barely anything. It was like one I would live in Chattanooga, Tennessee, there was one co-op, like homeschool group, in the entire city. We had to drive super far away from it and it was weird. It was like very, very odd, really, really small, and my mom was like, "This is not going to be your people. We're going to do our own thing." And so those were the people I'd heard about.

Exactly, yeah. And she was like, "Okay, well you're not going to be that homeschooler." And so I was like so she basically created this, you know, program for me, where she designed the curriculum, she took all these books from, you know, classical education, um, school curricula, and had me in basically every single extracurricular extracurricular under the sun, where I was dancing, I was in gymnastics, I was singing, I was doing theater, I was volunteering at church, you know, she ran a nonprofit. For most of my childhood I would go work at the nonprofit and run an event. Anyway, it was just a very, very engaged and hands-on homeschool experience, which I think that makes the difference between the homeschoolers that are the stereotypes and the ones that kind of break through those is that we were highly socialized in a very dynamic and intentional way. And the statistics actually show now that homeschoolers are more well-socialized. I mean, they test higher, they're being recruited by Ivy Leagues, all of this stuff, but the socialization aspect is really what people care about and look towards.

But when you're homeschooled, you're not, if your parents are doing it right, you're not going to be in this one class with the same group of kids who are the same age, who are from the same district, area, whatever. It's like I had friends from all different backgrounds, of all ages. I was interacting with adults at a very, very young age, thanks to my mom's work and the things that I would do. I knew I had so many friends. It was like overwhelming like my social life when I was, you know, 8 years old. Yeah, perfect. to a tree. And it was I was so social that I think it was like weird to other kids were my age cuz it was like how like you know all these people and you're doing all these things, but it was just so second nature to me.

And so by the time that I was an adult when so many of my good friends, you know, who had gone up through the traditional school system were just starting to apply for jobs, were going to colleges, that kind of thing, and they were having to interact with adults and go through interviews and that sort of thing, it was totally out of their element cuz they just hadn't had to interact with adults who were not teachers or their parents. And for me I was just so comfortable, so adapt, so flexible, and I think that's the social advantage. Like you might not have normal socialization, you might not have school socialization and be around like your best friends for, you know, 12 years. And that's one thing that I feel like I not missed out on, but it's one of the things that as a kid I was bummed about. It's like everybody has like their high school friends and they have their friends that they were in school with from K to 12 and I didn't have that. And that's one form of socialization for sure, but mine was just so diverse and all over the place and I think it served me really, really well and made me flexible, so I'm grateful for it. No, that sounds good.

I went through the traditional school route, but I changed schools so many times that cuz we we moved a bunch and then I don't know. I went like elementary school to middle school, I just chose a different middle school than everybody I knew and then with high school it was the same thing. And I remember in high school being like, I have friends in my neighborhood who've known people for 12 years. Yeah. Like why do I keep like bouncing around to like five or six different schools? I knew a lot of people. Yeah, and I'm not friends with any of them except for one, so it like it didn't make any difference anyway.

But you did you were able to be resilient and land on your feet, which I think of Yeah, even if it's a bit uncomfortable, yeah, it's better. That's one thing I think that my mom did that was very unconventional is that we didn't live in the same place for my entire childhood. We moved around a lot. I was like constantly jumping back and forth between like LA and Chattanooga and we had lived in Washington and all of this and I was homeschooled and she did the same thing for my brothers who are 12 and 14 years older than me and they were constantly moving to different schools. She was trying new things for them. They lived in different places and it was intentional. She was like I never want my kids to be risk averse and too comfortable.

Interesting. like bored or she wanted like borderline like I don't want my kids to be uncomfortable all the time. She was like I want them at a very young age to be able to make new friends, land on their feet, be resilient, not need to be in like the fourth grade soup to feel like you know, they have a sense of self or confidence like they can go anywhere and know who they are, be able to make friends and that was her entire reasoning behind it, which was so I learned that later on. I was like that's why you did this? Like that's why we were constantly on the move. But it was so interesting that she thought about that. I mean, that's why That's way outside the box, too, cuz people say like I've had some mom guilt because I moved around so much when Scarlett was So she's seven now and we moved I moved a lot. Like every year.

But a part of me was like she makes friends quickly. Yeah. Like and she's not scared of going to new places. Isn't that part of the benefit? Like you want some you want some friends and you want some stability and like we have more stability here. It was pretty unstable before. But she was like as long as she's fine, then I think that kind of lifestyle it could easily be beneficial.

Like maybe some kids can't handle it, but like seriously grows resiliency, which is huge. And I think complementing that with a parent that is engaging in those conversations and kind of saying like, "Hey, this is why it's a good thing." I think it's very different than just like dropping you like, "Yeah, figure it out." Yeah. But where you have a parent that's like, "Hey, this is like a great opportunity for you. And look at all these friends." And it's like constantly encouraging your child in that regard.

That made it so I was very self-aware of it at a young age. I was like, "Oh, this is like different than everybody else, but really cool and that's a a fun thing about me." As like 10-year-old Brett. Yeah. Aw, that's fun. So, she'll be great. Okay, cool.

And she's moving. Mhm. Oh, yeah, you're getting pretty organized. Yeah. You're getting pretty organized. Well, good for you. Yeah.

Yeah, a lot's changed. When was the last time we did the last podcast? Was that 2 years ago I think so. That was 2022. Okay, wow. up on probably 3 years, but Yeah, yeah. 3 years. Wow. Okay.

Well, I'm excited for your channel. Thank you. You have like 400,000 already basically, right? And you haven't posted it, yeah. I think you're I think you're going to be okay. okay. It was I mean, it's like it's definitely nerve-wracking, but it's also Yeah, that must have been nerve-wracking after spending that long growing like that's Yeah. nerve-wracking. I think the best thing that I can take away from it is And it's interesting cuz I I feel like I go through these periods every few years I have to like take a big risk and like revive that part of myself.

Brett and Daily Wire - How Her Career Began

Cuz I told the story before, but DailyWire had slid into my DMs and they were like, "We want to do a show and we think you're really interesting." And I was terrified. And I almost didn't even send in like a tape. They wanted me to like react to a story and kind of talk through obviously my values and that sort of thing. They were vetting me. And I had the video recorded and I was terrified. I was like, "I can't do it."

And I had just moved to my mom's farm and I was so I don't I was just like out of practice cuz I was an actor. And so I had spent 10 years doing auditions and sending them off and getting rejected literally every single day. And because of COVID and the vax, I hadn't auditioned in like a year. And so I would just totally like shut off. Like there was no risk taking, I wasn't building anything, I was not creating. I was literally working as a waitress in Boise and was writing for Foundation for Economic Education and had like a job on the marketing team at Young Americans for Liberty. And it was all great and I had made good friends and I was, you know, felt like I had a good job.

But I wasn't I wasn't taking any risks and I wasn't reaching what I probably knew could be my full potential but I was so shut off. And my mom I was like kind of, you know, sheepishly like, I haven't sent off the tape. I'm not I'm just not going to do it. I'm not going to do it. She basically like grabbed my throat and is like, I don't care if you say no and you never want to leave but you will never get this opportunity again. You're shooting yourself in the foot. Like stop being like a brat about it basically.

And I don't care if it doesn't pan out but you're not taking a chance on yourself. You're not betting on yourself. And even trying. And again, I was just out of practice. And so that was like 3 years ago when we built this entire thing and I think that's how I was feeling again and that's why I feel in this moment where it's like, you know, I'm 23 years old. We don't have kids yet. We're like recently married.

It's like, if there's a time to swing for the fences, oh yeah, do it. And it felt really exhilarating. This entire process has felt really exhilarating for that reason because it's just like I'm like it's just been like adrenaline 24/7 but in a really really great way. And I think it's just a good character building. You should do it every couple of years just take a big risk. Yeah, definitely. No, I I think it's good.

You're going to be fine. Like a whole bunch of opportunities going to come that couldn't present itself earlier. It's going to be super fun. And having your own channel is great. Yeah, I'm excited. And you have it already, so that's fantastic. Wow.

Okay, well good luck with everything. Thank you. Um are you still Do you think you're still going to delve into politics? I think so. That's, you know, politics and culture is so intersected now. and don't think that there's a way to unravel them. And I think when you're somebody who is so principled and is driven by your values, there isn't a way to separate them even if you wanted to. And I think that it's important for people, especially young people, to understand where politics touches every single aspect of their lives, and impacts every aspect of their lives, even in you know, and that was the basis of Common Section as well, of like politics even touches your TikTok trends.

And it impacts the way celebrities talk to you. It impacts the content that you see. It impacts your school system. And so, you need to have the tools to be able to unpack that and analyze it and at least understand it, cuz you can't, you know, get away from it. I think it would be a net negative on society if you could shield yourself from, you know, opposing, you know, positions or hide from politics. You need to be aware of what's impacting you, but you have to be able to break it down, so you're not just taking in these subliminal messages, not understanding them. Yeah.

And so, I think that will always be a part of what I do, cuz I think it's important. Um, I'm excited to be able to reach across the aisle more too, and I think that that this is like the perfect time to do that.

Why Staying Engaged in Politics Matters

Like, there's never been a time, at least in my life, when people are so willing to listen and have conversations. There's so much excitement about this like next golden age, what a lot of people are talking about. Uh, and hopefully it comes to fruition. But, it just feels like a great time to have those conversations and bring it to more people. more positive than me. I was I saw I'm having trouble with this, actually, and I I know it's wrong because you're like but I'm still harboring, I think, after what my family went through. I'm like harb- I'm still harboring there's like resentment, which I like resentment is just toxic. So, I know that's bad for me.

But, like I see some people, I'm going to throw The Young Turks under the table, being like, "Oh, we you know, we've realized we've realized we've been lied to." And Yeah. And I'm just like, "I screw you." Kind of. Like, it was obvious 4 years ago, and then you spent 4 years insulting and alienating everybody, and now oh, suddenly now it's fine and everyone can be friends? Yeah, it's walking this fine line. I know.

Like, where is the apology or something? Like That was bad. Those were bad years. They were awful. And I think it's again, it's like walking that fine line, like you said, of like getting some kind of apology of like of like, yes, this was so wrong and so bad and we did terrible things, but it's like I'm I never want to say like you're not allowed. No, I know. So, it's like finding that balance.

Yeah, I understand the resentment is and especially with what you and your dad went through. What he's still going through in Oh, Canada's still a mess. I've got great faith in America, and I know Canada always, like the nice thing about America is Canada always follows suit. It takes like 2 or 3 years, although they're having an election in 2025, so that's like right away. Um, but they always follow suit. So, if America figures its out, then Canada's going to be fine. Dad's going to be like, I'm leaving Arizona, I'm going back.

Ah, he likes it here. He likes it here a lot, but I don't know. I also totally understand, like I have a I have a lot of liberal friends in Canada that were totally brainwashed, yeah, and I get that. Like, I do get being brainwashed. It's the people that were like, you should have known better. Like, you you there would must have been a part of you that knew what was going on. Like, it's different if you're like a housewife or stay-at-home mom or even like a dude that has a job or something, you're surrounded by other liberal people. your job is to be engaged and be involved in politics?

That's your job. And you're like a middle-aged person and you have a huge channel. Like, think. Yeah. And it's different with like like you're allowed to have different opinions and I don't care if you think differently, but it was the vitriol and the attacks It was that part. Yeah. You're so mean.

Yeah, constantly. Yeah, so that's how I'm feeling. I did even even Dad was like, should we reach out? I was like, hmm. I was like, yeah, yeah, probably. I guess that's what a good person would do. Yeah.

Like, fine. Whatever, it should be good. He's always leading the way. He's being a good moral compass. I know. I know. He is.

It's fine, I'm sure. I'm not mad at very many people. I think I mostly I think I'm mostly annoyed at the people that really really went after my dad. And so it's like not exactly on my behalf, which I think makes it worse cuz if it's like against you, you can be like, eh, whatever. But if it's against somebody you love, then you're like, you were I remember. Yep. I remember.

For sure. It's fine. Are you excited? Are you going to go to the inauguration? I think so, yeah. I want to go. It's going to be huge. be.

There's balls and things. I've been invited to like it was like, oh, that's like a huge party. I want to go to that. I'm Canadian. I'm just going to like sneak in there. What a dumb experience. Yeah, I didn't even have plans yet.

And then right after, you know, the election, I was like, flights booked, hotel booked. I was like, I don't have a plan. I want to be there. That was smart. I had to claw my way into a hotel. I believe that. Apparently, they're booked out for the next inauguration, too.

Really? Yeah. That's wild. I guess that's just what happens in America. I guess. I don't think we have that kind of I'm not used to it at all. I don't think we have that in Canada.

No one cares. Like, oh, you were talking about how young people need to know how politics touch every aspect of their life, which is so important, especially when you go to public school and you're like, that's ideology, that's not education. Uh, I remember when I grew up, it didn't matter who was in office. Like, it didn't matter. It may have made more difference in America who was in office, but in Canada, it really didn't make a difference in what was conservative or liberal. So, you just didn't really care. Yeah.

I was always kind of anti-conservative cuz they were like old uptight white guys and it was like, you don't want to do anything fun. Yep. Uh, but it literally made no difference to anybody on the ground. Mhm. It's definitely making a difference now. It's destroyed Canada. So I think everyone, maybe that's partly why they got hit so hard too is cuz everyone was used to it being stable.

We didn't have like even even neighborhood violence and stuff, that was for America. Like America has that they have school shootings, that's not in Canada, we're fine. And then it just like snuck in. You get comfortable and you're able to tune it out and I think that's one thing that I would like warn young people about is like if the next four years are great, that's awesome. I want them to be great and we should be able to revel in how amazing this is and the fact that things are cheaper and we're flourishing and we feel safer and more secure, that doesn't mean that you take your foot off the gas. That doesn't mean that you become complacent and stop caring and stop being simply, you know, engaged. Um, doesn't mean that you stop caring about what's going on at your local community.

It's like you should care more because the other side's going to be angry and, you know, ready to fight back. But I think those are the periods when, you know, complacency obviously happens and they're able to, whatever we want to call it, cause corruption and chaos and pull the rug out from under us. Yeah, it never stays good forever, right? No. There's always going to be fighting at some point. Yeah. It's the cycle of, you know, hard times create good.

It's the, you know, we're in it right now. Everything's good. Yes. But maybe this is a good period. I've got I've got faith. Good. I think it's going to be good.

I think it's going to be good. So is your recommendation, do you think, for people your age, like when you're talking to friends, do you usually encourage them to like find someone, settle down? For sure. Well, not necessarily set You know what? Settle down was part of the problem. Yeah.

Finding Success and the Right Partner

Like right? Because it isn't settling down. It's not doing hookups. Like specifically that's what it is. It's not settling down. And settling down does sound like negative. And slowing down, everything turns off and your life is over.

Settling down. there is an aspect of it where you do like emotionally slow down, which is really nice and you become very comfortable and again, especially like as a woman, my nervous system was like, "Ooh." And that's great. But that gives you so much ammunition to go on and do great things in your life, to build great things. And whether that is like starting a business, just doing well in your job, or whether that's having kids and creating such a great life, it just gives you such an important foundation to grow off of. And yeah, that word settling down just does not encompass it at all. But I think yeah, advice when I'm talking to my friends is find that good significant other who is going to build with you and grow with you, whatever that looks like, and don't delay it. I think that there you know, I have a good friend who she had a very specific goal of a place that she wanted to live.

And she wanted to move abroad, and it had always been like, "I want to check this off. I want to do this." And I really admired her because a lot of people around her were getting married and dating, and she was like, "I" and she was young at the time. She's still young, but this is a few years ago. And she was like, "I'm going to keep my eye on the prize, and I'm going to get there, and I'm going to meet a person there, because I want my life to be in Europe. And that's what I'm going to do. And I don't want to be distracted, and I think there's some people that would look at that and go like, 'Oh, you're like putting your career and your unselfishness over it.' But she had a very clear idea from a very young age of what she wanted this lifestyle to look like, and she had that idea.

And she got there, and she met this amazing guy. And it's like it all you know, he fit into that puzzle piece, and she's building this incredible life. She got this amazing job abroad, and she's literally living what she wanted. And so it's that balance of knowing it's such a dance of you know, what what can you do to put yourself in the situation to meet that right person? And you might be there already, and that's great. But if there are things this where again, it gets into like the girl boss like territory of like if you just want to like get that career and buy the house, whatever, it's like that doesn't matter as much. But there if there's a place that you need to be emotionally and if you need to work on yourself and you want to make sure that you have this foundation set so that you're ready to welcome a good person in your life then focus on that.

That's great. Um then it panned out for her in just a really really beautiful way. Mhm. But I think the last time I did a like a solo kind of Q&A talking about relationships my advice for young people was work on yourself.

Relationship Advice: Work on Yourself

Like you have a bit of time to work on yourself and really figure out what you want. Yeah. And get more secure so your life isn't in total chaos and then find somebody. Yeah. At least that's what would have I think worked better for me. I was like I was brought up knowing that I needed to focus on a relationship and then that was seriously important and that marriage was really important. And my dad tried to explain these things that like marriage gives you freedom Yeah. which was really difficult to understand before I got married to Jordan and I was like oh okay, yeah.

My nervous system isn't on fire anymore. And I don't need that cuz now I can go do other thing things just like you said. But I think for people like me it was important for me get a bit older and I'm not talking about old. Like I will I I could have done this younger. Mhm. But uh get your life in order. Like get as educated as you want to be and like be a bit stable so you can welcome somebody in and you're not pure chaos.

Yeah. confuse that with the material achievements. Yeah. And I think that's probably where the nuance is is that it's like I disagree with the idea that you need to have the six figure job and the house and the car that you want and that you've gone on all your vacations and what not and X Y Z. But I do agree that you need to have worked through a lot of your crap. Yeah. And Exactly. so that you're not bringing a lot of that baggage in. Um and I probably could have done a better job of that at the be you know the beginning of Alex's my relationship and he was so patient and kind about that.

But I was already I was very aware of what the were and kind of what I was going to bring into a relationship because of my family so I was at least aware of that and could identify it. But, it's that It's again knowing what you want and where your life is going to go and yes, having just your stuff together and being emotionally stable so that you're not going to disrupt somebody else's life. That's super healthy and you should take the time that you need to do that because then you're not going to be wasting your time down the line with, you know, a relationship that's going nowhere because you're not even in the right mindset. Yeah, that was perfect. a dance for sure. That that's kind of where I was with Jordan. Fully aware of what all the problems were. Yeah.

Which is way better than being unaware. Yes, for sure. And like trying to deal with them. I also think it's way easier and men probably have the same experience, but it's way easier if you have someone you can talk through your issues with. If you're not like so traumatized by them that you can't talk about them, but if you can say, "Hey, this like this happened. Oh, I'm still upset by it. Like, can I tell you what happened?"

Having someone there that will listen to you, like it makes it so much easier to release than trying to sort it out in your own head. Like, people need people to talk to. And somebody who can identify the patterns for you that you might not be able to see. Or it's like there are some things that I had no idea that I did repeatedly that were definitely not healthy and didn't serve me at all. Like, I was would have I'm It's a kind of dichotomy in my personality where in terms of, you know, work and how I am publicly, I'm kind of a bulldog and I'm very outspoken and I don't really care, but in my personal life I think it's just because of how my family was, I automatically became the peacekeeper and I did not want to rock the boat. I was like, "There's too much chaos. I'm just going to like protect everything."

I apologized constantly. Like, would not let myself get mad at Alex. Wouldn't like say, "Hey, I don't love it when you like nothing." I was just like, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Whatever." And I was so grateful cuz very early on he was like, "You don't need to apologize to me for any of this.

Like, this is a You know, have you noticed that you are so terrified of even taking a a misstep?" He was like, "You're apologizing for things that I'm not even noticing, that aren't even a problem." And like you're not you like the smallest thing of, you know, I had asked for one thing and he had done something else cuz maybe our communication wasn't as clear and I was like I couldn't even bring myself to say that to him cuz I was just like, "Oh my god, he's going to like hate me and I can't I can't work that I'm just going to whatever." And having somebody that lovingly and kindly can say, "This is what you're doing. This is not healthy and you don't need to do that." That's so helpful. And then to also go like, "Why do you think you're doing this?"

And it's like, "Oh, I had no idea that I was going to be bringing this into a relationship." And that it was, you know, I thought this was something I just like did with my parents cuz I it's just like I had no idea. So yeah, it's super helpful to have somebody who can just be on the outside. Yeah. Yeah. I did that when I was younger. Mhm.

I like it so by the time I met Jordan, that was gone. Mhm. But I definitely did that when I was younger. Hardened. Yeah, yeah, hardened and just like I just don't care at all like about what I say and how it makes anyone feel like grow a pair. Yeah. Like But to a point that was maybe not so so great.

But I I don't know, maybe I'm fine. But It worked out. But I I had that really badly until probably like 26, honestly. Yeah. Where it was it would be better not to say it if it's going to hurt somebody's feelings. I think I'd been told a lot as a teenager too like, "You're mean or you're hurting my feelings." when I was just saying something. I wasn't trying to be mean and they're like, "That's mean."

I was like, Yeah. I don't understand how that's mean. Yeah, you're so mean. It is what it is. Like Yeah. And so I kind of shut that part off and which was just not a good idea. Yeah, for sure.

So, I get that. That's hard.

Final Thoughts & Where to Find Her New Channel

Okay, Brett, well, congratulations on your new life and your new YouTube channel. I'm very excited to see what happens. That'll be great. I'm pumped. It's going to be an adventure, for sure. Yeah, I think it's going to be huge. And that again, that YouTube channel is Brett Cooper.

Yes. So that should be easy to find. easy. Okay, great. Well, thank you so much for coming out and coming on. Good luck with everything. So nice to see you again. Yes, and I'm glad to be back here doing this again.

It's like a ritual now. Yeah, again, we'll catch up in another 2 years. Yeah, for sure.