Comedy & Courage: Breaking Stigmas with Kym Whitley

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Mick Unplugged.

And today I have a bucket list guest of bucket list guests. We're talking about someone who is a

force of nature, a brilliant comedic mind who has graced our screens and stages,

bringing joy and insight to millions. She is known for her undeniable presence and groundbreaking

career. Join me and welcome me, the vivacious, the hilarious, the absolutely unforgettable. My queen

is Kim Willie. Kim, how are you doing today, dear? I'm doing good. That was a great introduction.

I will definitely send it to you because I met everywhere to that. You are someone who

not only has brought joy to millions of people, but you've also been a standard in what I love

about Kim Willie. Every time I talk about you, it's just that standard that you have for yourself.

It's something I'm proud of for you. And just knowing that you are always who you are,

is so important to me. And I know that's important to you as well.

Yes, absolutely. I appreciate that. When you say that and you think about this business,

how quickly it goes, it feels like I just started yesterday. So I just appreciate

you having me on today. And I love your background. And I mean, that's just that whole

little jealous. I'm like, oh my gosh, I love the lighting. That is so nice. I've been on a lot

of podcasts. And I will say, you might be, you might be number one with the, with the look

and the lighting. Hey, Kim, don't make me come find you and give you a hug now. I don't,

don't make me do that. But I will. I love it. I will get myself together.

So, Kim, I always ask my guest this one question first. And that question is, what is your

because? I like to call it that thing that's deeper than your why your true purpose. And I know

that it changes over time. So if I were to say now in 2026, Kim, Whitley, what is your because?

What is your purpose? What is your mission? Now, when you say because and you're saying in life,

just why am I here? Am I because? Because it is what? How do we say the gift that was in me?

That is in me. The because is because I can't do anything else. The because is because I was

made to bring joy and laughter to this world from day one. I don't know why, but that would be my

because my mother said I came out laughing every time she looked at me. I was laughing and I would say

that's my because, my because is because that is how I was made. That is so so beautiful. Like,

I think that's the only way to say that to respond to that is that is just beautiful. And again,

it goes to your soul. And I think anyone who's ever seen anything you've been a part of,

whether it's a show, whether it's on stage, whether you know some of the shows that you've had,

I think that's a definition of you is just beautiful. I truly mean that. It's just you have this

calming presence. I feel like obviously, you know, I don't know you personally, but I feel like

when people are around you, they feel like they are important because you give them that focus,

that joy. Has that always been like something that you've paid attention to about yourself?

No, no, no. I didn't know this about me at high school. I was a class clown, you know, and just

a tomboy. And, you know, I didn't realize that I got a little older. I knew that I was funny,

but there's a difference. Like you said, I love the way you ask that question because you don't

understand that it's a gift to give. Not a gift, a gift for you to hold on, but to share with

the world. And I didn't realize that until I saw that it brought change, that I would change

someone's day, that I could change someone's life, that everyone is going through different things

at different time. And by me just sharing a joke or laughter, I think when I really first discovered,

it's going to sound crazy, but I was in the unemployment line at the unemployment office. And

there was a woman and she told me this horrible, deep, dark story in the line. And, you know,

I loved on her and I was pretty young, but I felt like the situation. I was like, I got to change

this. I have to bring light to her. And I just remember being funny and cracking jokes with her

girl, that ain't nothing. And I saw it changed her and changed her day. And I was like, this is

what I'm supposed to be doing. So I think that's definitely what it happened. I love it. And that

truly is you. That genuinely is you. You know, another thing when I talk to my family, my friends,

and we talk about Ms. Kim Whitley, we talk about just how courageous you are. Not just being

authentic, but you know, in your line of work, right? Like you have to live your life publicly a

lot of times. And maybe with a lot of stars, they don't they don't talk about their

parenthood. They don't talk about things that are going on personally, their lives, whether it

struggles or things that they're trying to accomplish or new goals that they set for themselves.

You've been very courageous to live publicly, but also have a voice. And I want to start by just

talking about motherhood and what that means to you because you've inspired my sister to be a great

mom because she's like, what would Kim doing this situation? And so we always laugh about that. But

they're talking to us just about motherhood and what that means to Kim Whitley. Oh my gosh. That's

a good question. Motherhood, let me tell you something. Motherhood means you got to grow up. That

was like, this is not a game. I think motherhood made me go from, oh, I'm just having fun. I'm in

Hollywood, but you have a human being that you are shaping for the next generation.

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Mick. I motherhood meant to me, you know, women we complain about the men that we date. But if you have

a son, are you raising that son to be the man that you would want to date? So all these things,

but motherhood changed me for the better. And I hope that I lead by example that it is not easy.

It is not easy, you know, the days, the days are long, but the years are short. Yes,

you look up and my son is, yeah, he's 15. And I'm like, oh my god, did I run out of time? Did I

teach him everything he needs to do? Did I give him enough hugs? So if we just lead with every day,

think about what you wanted as a child. I want, I want more hugs. I want, I want to be validated.

Those are the things that make children thrive. The confidence we put in them, they feel like they

can do anything. And so motherhood means like what my parents did to me. And they were like, you

could be anything. You can do it no matter what, no matter what size I was, no matter what

nationality, they were saying you can do it. And I think that's what motherhood is that even though

it's hard, you got to love on these kids. Just love them, love them and tell them they can do

anything, support them. That's it. And so as busy as you are and as busy as you have been, right?

Not just today, but I'm talking, you know, the last several years of your career, how have you

been able to balance motherhood with all the other commitments that you have, like with comedy

shows and filming and everything because, you know, regular people like me, we feel like, oh,

I'm busy, I'm busy, I'm busy, but Kim has got to go from this city to the next city and we

record this and do that. But you still have your child with you too, right? Like how do you balance

all of that? It is a balance. And I'm not saying I'm great at it. But I think as parents, we have to stop.

And what my people know is that my son comes first. Feet thing, a lot of mothers do this, but

everything decision-making, my son has to be a part of it. Does he have spring break? Well,

then I can't do that. Is he doing this? Does he have a basketball game? Someone told me yesterday,

which I was like, is that true? Obama made it to dinner every night. So those are the things I

was like, what if the president of the United States can make it to dinner? Then truly, I can make

some time for my son and that they say that if you have like a weekly dinner with your kids,

or you have dinner with them every night, these are the children that they were scoring like high

in the SAT score. So I'm crazy. But once again, that's what I said. I had to stop. And I was like,

I have to, even though I'm like, I'm working. I'm working. I got to feed him. That's not what's

important to a kid. So I try. It's not easy. I have a village. And that means not that I got, oh,

I can hire all these people. I go to my friends. Hey, I need you to be the auntie. I need you to

uncle. He's got God parents. I'm not going to make every game. I'm not going to, but he's so happy

to have the people that are surrounding him in his life. So I say, even if you are a busy parent,

you've got to put people in their lives that can support them and that are there for them.

I feel sometimes, but I try to make him make sure if I'm on the phone, Oprah told me that, honey.

She's like, if you're on the phone or whatever, she said, your child comes in the room. She's like,

stop. I said, okay, I'm listening. Yeah. Yeah. I believe that. And I've heard you say that not

the Oprah part, but just how being present matters. And that was something for me that I had to

realize as my children got older, being present matters, because the worst thing you can do,

especially now, you know, you can't let social media or social media topics raise your children.

It's going to try. But if you're not present, it's almost the worst in the

neglect that you can give a child. So I applaud you for being present. I also heard, you know,

you talked about Obama making sure he was there for dinner every night. I thought you were going

to tell the world about your private jet and how you make it home to your son every night for dinner.

I thought, that's where you were going. Baby, I wish I could. I know what you're saying. Yeah,

I am on that private jet and I'm making them now. I make it home and I try to schedule things,

things around it. But like I said, you're not perfect, but it will come back. One thing we have

to remember is time. You cannot get time back. You can't wait until they're 20-something years old

and saying, you know, I just want it more time. You're like, oh, well, let me, let me turn the clock

back and go back to when you were 15 and give you that time. So sometimes you just got to stop

and say, let me do this now. Amen to that. Amen to that. You know, Kim, you've also been,

you've been public. You've been a voice of positive for all of us. And I'm including myself in this

that have struggled or gone through weight changes, right? I don't even want to say anything on

the negative side because it's just weight changes that we go through. And you've been a voice,

you've been a partner that we've all needed because you're talking about it where a lot of us

aren't. Like, talk to us a little bit about your partnership with Lily and Zepbound and all the

things that you're doing to be this beautiful queen that you are over there. Thank you so much.

And you know what? I am absolutely excited about my paid partnership with Zepbound and Lily

because it was the tool that I needed and you're right. I am a person who's passionate about,

do you co-mit? I didn't realize that obesity is a disease. Did you know that? I did. I didn't

realize it's a chronic disease just like any other disease until I went to my doctor. And for

some reason, I know people were like, no, once I found out that obesity is a disease and that

there was a medication of Zepbound that was a tool that can help me with it. You know, I really

said, okay, I am excited that they found me and I found them and my doctor directed me to this.

And you know, when you become a partnership with people, you want to share it. I want

I mean any kind of disease, but you know, especially friends and people that I meet that are

struggling with obesity and I've struggled with obesity my entire adult life. So to find a tool,

to help me through this weight loss journey has definitely been incredible. And I want to live

out loud. If I, why would I sit back and hide that? I want to live out loud and so people can go

talk to their doctors and find out about it. Can you imagine holding this? I got a tool that will

help you with obesity, but I'm not going to share it with the world. And I love that you call it a

tool because a lot of folks think that, you know, where there's that down to whatever that

there's like a magic bullet, right? There's still things you need to do. Like you've got to be

active and I don't mean like physically active. Yes, you do. But like you've got to be proactive

with diet. You got to be proactive with exercise. Like you, you still have to make those mental changes

because it's not easy. And it's not, well, let me do this and all of a sudden, I'm 30 pounds lighter,

50 pounds lighter. Like life doesn't work that way. I love for you to educate us on some of the

things that you're doing as it relates to diet and exercise as well. That bound with a healthy diet

and exercise, you know, is part of my weight loss journey. And I think about, you know, you know,

when you think about you've been going through this, you know, I've used other products. I've been,

you know, I remember I had a group of friends. We got together. We do that, you know, hey,

well, that's all lose weight. We got to do this and that. But when I talk about the tool is

that found, first of all, let me encourage a, but I am not a medical professional, but I encourage

everyone to talk to their doctor. We sometimes we're afraid to ask questions. And when I say, I have

to educate people, I want people to go to zfoundlily.com or go to your doctor. We know both. I think you

got to go to both, but I will start at zfoundlily.com just to read up on it and ask questions. We'll go

into our doctor's office and we just might say, we won't even say, I don't think we say anything. We'll

get on the scale of the doctor will say, you know, you have obesity. And we feel some kind of shame.

There is no shame. You know, that's what we got. We got to ruin. We got to take away the stigma

that it is just like any other disease. So the first thing is to ask questions and tell your doctor

how you're feeling. That's why I want to be like when you say your best friend to everyone,

I want to really encourage people to sit down with their doctor and say, look, this is how I'm

feeling. This is how it's been going. And can you help me out? And you could even say, hey, I heard

about Zeppel bow. You know, point me, point me, you know, in the right direction. So that, and when

we say a tool, you think about, we use tools for all kind of things. You know, I've been stuck.

You know, if you felt stuck and you're like, I don't know what to do. And that has been

for me and even my friends that you don't know what to do. And you've done this year whole adult

life. I say, go over, talk to your doctor. And then, hey, here's this tool. For me, it got me

unstuck. If that makes sense, Mick. It is definitely. It totally makes sense. And I think that's

an encouraging word because, you know, there's somebody that's watching or listening to this right

now that that feels stuck. And they also feel some ashamed, right? It's like, I don't know, like,

should I try this? I hear what Kim saying. But, you know, I could do it on my own. And they've

been trying it on their own for 10, 15, 20 years. And they know on their own. It's not there. I tell

people this, this is the time that you should be selfish for yourself and not have shame and not

care what anyone thinks or knows and be proud of it. You know, I have this, it's not a joke. But

I told this to my friends all the time. Like, I'm so glad that chat GPT and AI came out because I

remember what their social media posts used to look like, right? Like they couldn't type two

sentences together on their social posts. Now they're writing novels when they respond to people

and they saw educated. And to me, that's the same thing that like, Zapp Boundilli is. It's like,

let it help you. Let it put you in the right direction. Like, let it be a tool. And if you feel

ashamed, then maybe you need to change the people that are around you then because if they're not

supporting you, then they were never on your side anyway. But I'd love to hear your take on.

I love that you said that. You know, and it's not about vanity or the number on the scale.

You got to make a decision that I am going to not about anybody else. You know, I'm going to take

on this journey. Think about any other disease. Why? When it comes to obesity. Why is it that, oh,

I can't, I'm shame or I can't say anything. Any other disease, you're telling everyone. You know,

you're like, Hey, can you help me get me this? What about that? It's the same thing with obesity.

It just did. And so that's why a Zapp Boundilli is such a great tool because if people don't know about

it, you know, I know a lot of people don't know about it. And you feel like you're hiding a secret.

And I really encourage other people to because it's not about vanity. It's not about, oh,

look how I look, you know, so it's about going on that lifestyle that you're doing exercise.

You have a healthy diet and you got that tool Zapp Bound that you have talked to your doctor about

and they have guided you in the way, or you go to Zapp Boundilli.com and find out the information.

You don't read for yourself because sometimes, you know, other friends, they'll lead you wrong.

That's why you're stuck because you keep listening to your friends.

Amen to that. Amen to that. So I'll make sure I have links to Zapp Boundilli and everything

in the show notes in the descriptions. Kim, I got to ask you this because for the past six

months, there's been this buzz, a special Instagram about Barnel Hill show and it's making,

it's going to make a debut. It's going to be a real thing. And I'm like, no, that's not real.

That would be so amazing if it's real, but that can't be real. That would change the game

and sitcoms and just things that are going on today. Kim, so I'm asking you, is it real?

Telling people on the make a hunt show. Listen, I'm just going to say this. We filmed eight episodes,

so it's pretty real. Martin Lawrence, Tommy Davidson, Wendy Rockhael Robinson,

but there was a guy named Noah and my friend Christopher Williams, not the singer, but the actor,

Vanessa Williams' brother, who was hysterical. They put this amazing, it's Barnel Hill,

the spin-off from the Martin Lawrence show. And when I tell you, it is so funny. And we're supposed

to have it come out maybe in June. I'm waiting for the word, so I hope I'm not jumping the gun,

but I want people to keep listening for it and looking out for it. Look, you don't know how

excited you just got me because I miss just funny. I think you know what I mean. I just miss

funny. There's things that silly, but silly isn't funny for me. And I know the cast that you're

talking about, and I know because you are a part of it, it's about funny, not silly. And I know that

there's also going to be some good storylines in there. I talked to us about how you got the call

of the audition and you were just like, yep, I'm doing it. You know, you get calls a lot for different

things. But when they said, first, is it Tommy Davidson? I love Tommy. I was like, oh, that sounds

great. But then they were like, Martin Lawrence. I was like, Martin's really going to be in it.

Wendy Rockhael Robinson is one of my dear friends. I was like, wait a minute. Christopher

the cast is fire. And think about old school comedy, like you're saying, the sitcom, I read the

script and I was like, this is laugh out loud, funny. So, you know, I don't, I don't think I thought

about it long. I said, let's do it. And we're all very excited about it. So, you know, I just,

that you make it be. I feel like I think I got to have a moment of prayer. I feel like I need everybody

to pray on this and make sure it comes out. No, it's, it's going to happen. I'm, I'm definitely going

to do my part because all the things I've heard, I was just like, there's no way. Like when I saw

the, the cast list that you just mentioned to, I was like, there's no way. Like this isn't real.

Like, you know, Instagram will tell you lies. If you're listening or watching this, Instagram

will lie to you every once in a while. I was like, there's no way that this is happening. You know,

like, this is happening. I'm so excited. And I'm, I'm so proud of you for, for being in that.

And just I know it's going to be fire because you're a part of it. I'm just excited. So,

we're going to make sure that everybody knows. I think every, every week, I'll just do a break

down so people continue to watch it. Like we'll, we'll have a little episode party on Mickey on

plug. Oh, and I, and I will tell you there are parts that I'm a little silly because sometimes

Bentley, he will just let us go. Can you imagine Tommy Davidson? Oh my god. He's so silly. So silly.

So fun, fun, fun. And thank you, Mick. I want to thank you, even for this interview.

Because I said, I like to, I like to live out loud. And I want to make sure that anybody who is

struggling with weight loss obesity, that they go to their doctor or go to zip bound dot lily.com.

It's so important because I just really, you know, people say it, but they're afraid to make

that first, you know, initial move. And that would be like, if you can't get your doctor's appointment

immediately, or you can't talk to your doctor immediately, I really encourage people to go to

the website and read on it. It will probably excite them and give them, you know, questions to

that they can ask their doctor. And for me, yeah, and that's what people don't, I just want to make

sure I know that people know also that I use the self pay option for my zip bound. And it ships

directly to me because people always wonder, you know, how you can get it once you talk to your doctor.

So there's all kind of ways, but it's the first step is to go check out the website and to call

your doctor because I have friends. I'm still encouraging to do that. So I want to make sure I tell

the people who are my new friends and new fans to go to go to the website. I will have links there.

I love the fact that you said that their self pay options as well too. That's really important.

We'll have links to that. We'll have a little spot on our website as well that I'll have this

link because I believe it's extremely important. In any way that I can support Ms. Kim Whitley,

you can promise you can believe I'm going to do that. I'll have links to your website too because

I know you are still touring and tearing up the stage. So we'll make sure that everybody can see

where you are at. I appreciate that. I got a show coming up. Arlington, Arlington, Texas,

at the Arlington Improv in March, March 56 and 7th. And then I know I go to Cleveland and I go

and Louisville, Kentucky. Well, I forgot about that. That's close. I was thinking I was like,

maybe I'll see you in Louisville. Well, you can come out in Louisville. That would be great.

All right. Just just like you remember me. I like you remember me. You ain't got to really remember

just just like, Oh, yeah, I know, Mick. Yeah. I'm not going to forget you. I actually wrote your

name down as a person to come back and visit your podcast. I love it. I love it. Well, Kim, I know

how busy you are. I'm just grateful that you could take a moment out of your busy schedule to spend

with us. Thank you for the education. Zapp Bound Lily, appreciate what you're doing there. We will,

again, have links to everything. Barnell Hill, when it's ready, we'll have links to that too.

Just excited about all the positive things that you're doing and thank you for being an

inspiration to millions. And thank you, Mick. Thank you so much. You got it. To all the viewers and

listeners, remember, your because is your superpower. Go on. We should.

That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplugged. If this episode moved you and I'm sure it

did, follow the show wherever you listen, share it with someone who needs that spark and leave a

review so more people can find there because I'm really rush. And until next time, stay driven,

stay focused and stay Unplugged.