INTERVIEW: Paul Walter Hauser On Getting Sober, Finding Clarity & Understanding Hollywood

0:00This is an I Heart podcast guaranteed human CBS Tuesday from the executive producer of the pit comes a new vision of elite teamwork with New York Swagger and the all new CBS original NCIS New York LL cool J stars is legendary agent Sam Hannah returning to his hometown in New York City where he teams up with Scott Khan Jennifer Beals and a crew of the very best to tackle high stakes missions in the city that never sleeps. Don't miss the new series NCIS New York Tuesday at 9.8 Central Part of CBS premier week and screaming on Paramount Plus. The weight was worth it the keys to your dream home have been secured now comes time to fill it with memories but first furniture and movers wins the housewarming who's cooking or should you cater all that planning can be stressful but ensuring your home shouldn't be and that's where stay farm comes in because state farm agents can help you choose the coverage you need just call go online or check out the app an agent is ready to help so you can focus on just showing off your new home if you know you know like a good neighbor

1:04stay farm is there maintenance fee overdraft fee minimum balance fee maximum balance fee banking fees are just a part of modern life or are they they're not at ally bank at ally bank there are no tricks no hidden fine print or jumping through hoops for a better rate they just want to help you save automatically while you spend with spending accounts and savings tools with great rates no tricks no hidden fees banking built for life today learn more at ally dot com ally bank member FDIC get ready for unforgettable night of comedy Jamie Fox is back with a brand new hilarious stand up special Jamie Foxx take care of yourself one of comedy's most beloved storytellers brings his signature hammer unforgettable impressions personal reflections and sharp observations to the stage for what might be his most honest special yet don't miss Jamie Foxx take care of yourself streaming October 7th only on Hulu terms apply

2:08morning everybody is DJ and V just hilarious show the main the guy we are the breakfast club got a special guest in the building yes indeed yeah poor Walter house and welcome hey how you feeling spoiled man got as good I'm just trying not to sit spoiled up yeah life is good I think you can fuck it up can we curse yes what is that it's nicotine pouch oh it's for silver people who are still addicted to something yeah like a oral fixation or you just need to tell people I got a normal fixation I appreciate that's what you got to do with Hollywood that was out of pocket no this was out of my pocket I am I am five years sober next month thanks dude I was just one of those people who like you give me pizza I want seven slices you give me weed I want to rip the bong nine times you give me alcohol I want to you know go online

3:14shopping while drunk and then forget I bought concert tickets hey I was I was you know that was me Monday gets to the point where you knew you had to stop I was at a strip club in the French quarter in Nola by myself and I was just throwing money away and I was like thinking about suicide and I was drunken high and lonely and I said this is this got too dark and so I was that bad that you just may shut the fuck away what the hell is your problem you're like I didn't know white people had issues it was not it was not fun it was not like make it rain I yeah no this was like right like Charlie Brown the rain cloud following yeah that kind of rain and you did it how did you get out of that that that plan um I pivoted I like I just like made some life choices I stopped watching

4:15I stopped watching porn and I stopped drinking July of 2021 and then uh and then like three months later I was in one of these uh you know meetings or whatever with all the dudes and I was like I've been lined y'all I've been getting high I'm still hot like I've been high in meetings and I cried and broke down and I was like I'm gonna start my day count over I'm gonna start over I'm getting rid of weed and so October 26 is my first day like clean of all the things congratulations um and I still got we all got issues and drama and problems but like at least I can deal with them without having those million crutches which is what it was for me and I don't vilify uh weed or alcohol I think if you can handle it like dude follow your bliss and enjoy Coachella I couldn't do it I think what clarity has it given you as a man and as active I didn't know how selfish I was until I was sober I just I was like it's like one of those things you know I'm

5:16just giving an example but like somebody somebody who like will buy somebody a birthday gift and it's a gift they would buy themself it's like you both bought someone a gift and you are both shining a light on your own selfishness to not know what that person really wants it's like it's like that kind of a thing so um yeah no I just I have more clarity I'm I'm I'm able to be a father I got three kids and if I was dude I'm telling you if I was getting high eating a bag of Frito Lay Cheetos or whatever up till three in the morning watching stand up on YouTube I I could not wake up and be a good father and that was like how I was banging yeah I commend you because even even being that honest to talk about it is difficult because a lot of people oh god honest to talk about man got to be more vulnerable men men you know the fruits of the spirit in the Bible or love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control and gentleness is something that dudes just are not on yet we're not even gentle with ourselves

6:19the way that we supposed to give yourself christ give yourself grace like we're too hard on ourselves I think so absolutely true yeah I did this talk show it's called the boy talk talk show we got Blake Griffin Becky Lynch Teddy swims rob rouse who won traders we got all these amazing guests for the first eight episodes are dropping but but it's it's kind of shining a light on toxin masculinity and one of the things with toxin masculinity is like dudes not feeling they it's like when a dude hugs another dude and they feel they got a path they're back or say no homo it's like dude y'all need to chill out no nobody nobody thinks they're trying to unsit my pants because we hugged her because you told me your feelings like calm down in this room is total opposite of that oh good no y'all y'all always think that y'all is trying to rear end each other like that's just what it is you come up on the end room and I purposely I do a thing in every episode where each

7:24male a coast I always grab their inner thigh when I grew with them like yeah man just make them comfortable just just to make them feel uncomfortable dude it's so funny though it gets the best reaction I don't think I don't think I don't know that I did I want to be brought I want to come back but I chuck ladell the UFC fighter I don't know that I touched his thigh but I definitely I think I think at one point we like high five and I interlink my fingers with them like a marital couple yeah but but just making people on a comfortable that kind of between two ferns thing was that California kiss I love that's me too I like a good just put a little good joke just place the star cool nice in there somewhere in the conversation that's me man I'm the same guy you know quote in the book of Ephesians but also making 40 dick jokes today

8:24no we go far like you know the turns now when you leave the you know the glass doors I'll jump in it behind them and be the same one going around all time yeah yeah just good for me I love I love elevators man I'm always trying to make people uncomfortable in the elevator I'll just be like how's everybody doing today everyone I'm just doing a wellness check are you like I'll make them look up from their phones I love stuff I know there's a lot of married men who are completely favorable today wives right like we are they end up flirting with each other it's just a primal instinct they got to flirt with somebody you know it's just it's fun it's funny um but but yeah no I think and once again a lot of people get really pissed off they're like we talk about talking masculinity men are supposed to it's like dude femininity masculinity these are good things I'm putting an adjective on it because I'm calling out the nature with which it becomes wayward or perverse um these dudes like Patrick Bet David who are like money is the greatest thing in the world dudes like Andrew Tate like it's like you're you're sending messaging out to young men to

9:29tell them that if you're an entrepreneur at 19 and you have a bunch of followers and you're it's putting videos out of you at a nightclub you're cool it's like it's not cool bro you might think it's cool but that's perception reality is is you are probably very scared and you are probably very uh what's the word you're probably very insecure I agree with you but you avoided the question you think married men who are faithful flirt with other men just because I don't flirt with men I flirt with everybody um no no no no I can't never be a man but yeah, not on that I saw you you wore a you wore a co-ordinate to Jeff Jeffrey Epstein's old ranch to the Revenue Evil from marijuana why I was trying to stir the pop bro my heroes are people like like Kendrick Lamar and Cat Williams. I like truth tellers. Okay, okay. Yeah. I'm not saying they're perfect.

10:30Cats, cats on some, some other chits sometimes. Right. I'm not sure I fully buy the narrative, but I still, I like pointing out like, hey, give this a Google search. Do your own research as they say. I heard a church bought that Zorro Ranch. Really? Yeah, and that's sketchy, bro. Like, uh, I'm a Catholic church. Shut up, man. Don't even have to be Catholic. Let's call one of these. Some people are doing some awful things in the name of Jesus. And they're going to get it the worst when the game is over, bro. Right. Yeah, absolutely right. They're going to get it the worst. Yeah, that conversation other day, because we were talking about, you know, our God D1 was up here and he was saying how, you know, people who, um, I hear some of our rappers and they promote like negative things in their music. Like, you know, those are the ones that are probably in line for Hell first, but then, you know, Lauren LaRosa was like, well, what about the pastors who are preaching? Yeah, what about all the time? But they're not living like that. Yeah, what up? Absolutely. And you know, God, dude, God's love and graces abundant, bro.

11:33Like, you don't have to be perfect, but I think there's a difference between evil people and sinners. I think we're all sinners, but I think there's some evil people who are, are just strategically hurting people their entire life. I completely agree with that. I never thought about that. There's a difference between evil and, like, and we all sin, right? We all have to show them this. But I'm, I'm, I'm admitted to evil. I'm, uh, I'm a free man surrounded by slave mason's, bro. That's, that's, um, I'm, I'm okay being way less famous, a way less powerful. If I don't got those, uh, chains on me. Was more man evil or a sinner? He was evil as shit in those comic books. When the comic book, yeah, nothing to move. He was not a good dude. They made, yeah, they made them kind of a more teddy bear than grizzly bear in that movie. Mm-hmm. But, uh, but that was fun, man. I love getting to play in the Marvel world for a little bit. And I wrestling too. You jumped into the wrestling. Oh, real quick, because you said something, right? Like you said, you, you, you, you're happy you have

12:33and way less money being way less famous. Paul, you have an Emmy. You have a golden globe. Got a hot, you've been in Marvel movies. Jesus loving wife and three dope kids. You're in like, you're in a resident, like, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way, way. You're doing very, very, very well. Some may say you're in the Illuminati. Illuminati, that's a cute word. Premasons run the world. That's what's going on. And your votes don't count. And your, uh, your opinion is cute. That's why you got to, you got to get down with God and you got to have community and you got to take care of each other. Because the, the world is, um, one big puppetry thing and, uh, they're trying to distract you. You don't think both count even after what we've seen right now? Oh, thanks. Thank you. I'm still riding for people like I'm, I'm still making fun of Ken Paxton on the today show earlier. And, uh, given love to James Salarico, like, also, I'll still, like, vote and ride for people. But I also, I think there's a ceiling. There, there are, there are, it is constructed so that there

13:34are boundaries and a ceiling with how much, uh, change can actually be made. Yeah, you think, I, you think everything that's happening right now is by design. Uh, to some degree, not, not, not everything. And, you know, we can, we can kind of decode or break the matrix a little bit with how, how we roll. And, uh, we've seen that the weight was worth it, positive affirmations in all the hard work. The keys to your dream home from the vision board has been secured. I see you a whole new future awaits your planning from top notch decor, but on a budget to the late night back your summer cookouts. Life feels good. Now comes time to fill it with memories. What will you host first? Maybe a movie night, game night stories that make us laugh and space tournaments that make us cry. First, you need to get movers in furniture. And what about the party favors? Whether it be a theme, of course, it's theme because you're always doing the most. Oh, yeah, the food to cook or to order out. Don't forget to put that in the group chat so everybody can

14:35already see who going to all be there. All the planning can be stressful, but ensuring your home shouldn't be. And that's where state farm comes in. Because state farm agents can help you choose the coverage you need. Just call, go online or check out the ad. And agent is ready to help. So you can focus on showing off your new home. If you know, you know, like a good neighbor, stay farm is there. CBS Tuesday from the executive producer of the pit comes a new vision of elite teamwork with New York swagger and the all new CBS original NCIS New York. LL Cool J stars is legendary agent Sam Hannah returning to his hometown in New York City, where he teams up with Scott Conn, Jennifer Beals and a crew of the very best to tackle high stakes missions in the city that never sleeps. Don't miss the new series NCIS New York Tuesday at nine eight central part of CBS premiere week and screaming on Paramount Plus. Our mission is 24 seven access to fresh food for all. Hey, what up? Y'all is DJ and me from the breakfast club. And that was Jelaia Hemings. She and her husband created nourish and blue market. When we decided to open this 24 seven AI grocery store, people

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16:41contact limits on who can contact them and time management tools like daily time limit reminders as well as sleep mode, which mute notification from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Plus teens under 16 need a parents permission to change any of these settings to be less strict. Instagram continues to work on building new safety features to help create age appropriate experiences for teens. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to help protect teens online at Instagram.com slash teen accounts with you know MLK. We've seen that with hashtag me too. Like there have been things where like we saw actual change and it was like, oh yeah. So so I don't mean to say that you are not powerful. You watching like you are you're more powerful than you know, but just know the game you're playing. The the game is rigged, but the God is real. Absolutely. I was asking, what got you into rest of why did you jump back into rest? I love wrestling. I just never fell out of love with it. I think it's so fun. What did your wife say when you said? She's not a fan. Not a fan. And I'm lipping around. I had an easy match like four days ago and Charles the South

17:45Carolina simple, simple match, but I, oh, for real. Yeah, it was nice. I really liked it. The short time I was there and I had a match and against this guy. He's, um, it's part of like the male cheer squad for the Savannah bananas. You all know about that. Speaking of, yeah, speaking of things that would make some tight dude be like, no, no, homo. Absolutely. But this guy Cody Fluffman had a great like five minute match for them. And I just dude, I can barely walk. I don't know what happened to my hip. I think it's the gluteus medius. The muscle from the top of your ass to the side of your thigh. I can barely walk without taking 1200 milligrams of head bill. Why would he do the ass? Nothing. It was nothing happened, man. It's from what you made. As Cat Williams said, I got a virgin booty hole. Oh, good. Okay. Okay. It is interesting. You're in a war wounding act. Like I just said, right?

18:47You got a whole family. You're doing fine and Hollywood. Why you don't need independent wrestling? Why are you really doing this? What are you doing? I put it like to do. I put it. Yeah, it's just about, it's about having fun while you're alive on earth. I put out a hip hop EP in 2022. I wrestle. I write screenplays. I, you know, watch cooking videos on YouTube and try to meet my family dope stuff. Like I just love having fun, man. And there are no, there are no, I'm a firm believer in like there are no guilty pleasures. There's only pleasures. Just got on it. At what point did wrestling stop being a hobby and it became something you need to prove to yourself? You could actually do. Yeah, I got asked this guy, Sammy Callahan asked me to do a fundraiser to raise money for the people affected by the wildfires in Maui back in 2023. And they had Ronda Rousey, John Moxley, Jacob Fattu. Like they had real awesome people on that card. And he said, do you want to wrestle a 10 minute match? And I was like, all right, man.

19:49Yeah, sure. And I did it in the adrenaline spike you get, dude. I mean, some of y'all were athletes back in the day, probably. So maybe you already know what it feels like. But I wasn't much of an athlete. So like for me, like my high is acting and getting that high in the ring of, of proving you can do something, taking a suplex off the top rope. Like, did you have a horse, though? Did you have a horse before you went out there and we either rehearse for her. So we verbally rehearse. It depends on who it is and what you're doing. But, but I love it, man. I see guys like bad bunny and jelly roll doing matches in WWE. And I'm like, I can do that. I want to do that. So, so is it the adrenaline rush? Is that what a wrestling gives you to acting? Adrenaline rush and just instant gratification. You know, I did stand up comedy for a number of years. And there's something great about getting that immediate response. Same with cooking, though, too. It's like people are eating that thing once it's cooled off. Right. And there's something nice to that. Paul hasn't got to have them. They've been hitting me like crazy.

20:50Oh, really? Oh, damn. No, I got a couple more minutes. I'm perfect. And you're playing, uh, McFolley, I saw an unlimited series. Yeah. I'm attached to play McFolley in a limited series about the life of that wrestler and what he went through between WCW and WWE trying to find his way and find his voice. And he ended up going to Japan having these crazy like death matches are called with C4 explosives and barbed wire and stuff him in this dude Terry funk. Just beat the shit out of each other. And so we're we're telling that story. And we're just trying to assemble the team to pitch it. No, I was going to say, man, you know, playing that character could probably take you to a dark place, but I feel like you've already kind of been there. Yeah. Play the serial killer for an Apple show. That was darkest. I don't know about you. I'm not talking about the character. You play on me. Yeah. No straight up. Yeah. I was in the dark place on a shot that yeah. Yeah. Lately, I've been in a much lighter place. It's a nice place to be. What's one thing that you want to do that you haven't done?

21:50I mean, you did an album. You've done movies, you've done stand only need to be. I got an album coming next year. The AP. So what's one thing that you want to do that you haven't got a chance to do as a yet? And why? I wrap under the name, Signet Ringer. I have put out this EP murder for higher, higher spelled H I G H E R. And I talk about spiritual warfare and that I'm looking to put out an album next year under the same name. I want to direct. I have a script I wrote a Christmas movie that I'm hoping to direct in the next year, year and a half. And just like keep producing the more I produced, the more I realize I'm weirdly a really good producer. I believe that because I both advocate for my cast and crew and I take care of people. But I also know how to get on the phone and get us more money or I know how to take a script and give it notes and make it better creatively. Though I think you also probably make a great producer because your world view is completely different than a lot of people. How so you think the being in it, but not of it type of thing?

22:53Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What does your wife want to stand about you that Holly would never will? Wow, that's a really good question. I wish I had like an immediate, like good answer for a question that thoughtful. I think my wife understands what a teddy bear I am. Some people, you know, like to dude's point, what was it dude? Deonte, who's on the phone? Yeah. Yeah, he's like a cool guy. He, you know, if I say something about the Palestinian conflict or I say something about, like I have a letter box account where I review movies I've seen and stuff and it got way too much attention because I didn't give five stars out of five stars to some of my own movies. But like I'm always telling, I'm telling the truth. Like, like y'all can get mad and people do. But at the end of the day, I am a teddy bear and I'm telling the truth. And I think my wife knows that whereas I think public perception can get very caught up.

23:54Kind of the sin of not being congruent with someone else's mindset. Everybody goes crazy. I mean, you seem very comfortable being the guy who's thirsty. Is that courage? Are you just, you just sometimes enjoy, enjoy the fight? Well, Kat said to he's like, I served up the Hornets Nest or Bees Nest and then he was like, I got stung enough times that I backed off. So like I'm, I haven't, I haven't been stung yet, but I'm sure when I do, maybe I'll get a little quieter. But, but at the end of the day, I don't, I don't fear men. I don't fear tech companies. I fear God. And, and so I don't want to be a whistleblower because whistleblowers get killed, but I want to be a truth teller and love people. And I got God. So I don't need to worry about somebody taking me out or trying to take me off a platform. I got God, dude. Did you always feel like that? Or when you were dealing with sobriety, that's, you started to say more that more that. Yeah. Put you into different lights before that. It was like, oh, I got to talk to Brad Pitt at the BAFTA Tea Party.

24:57It's like, dude. What you learn is like the people that ride with you ride with you, you have your crew and everything else is just noise, basically. But, you know, we chase and, and we, you know, real currency is a chosen pace. When you choose, when you choose how you are going to walk and live, and you believe God's got you, you don't have to run after stuff. That's right. All the good stuff in my life, from my wife to some of my really cool roles I've gotten to do. It all fell into the lap. They give actors too much credit, man. We are just recipients of grace and gifts a lot of times where I'll just wake up on a Monday and my business manager is like, you got to make some money. And then a week later on a Tuesday, I got an offer in my email from somebody I respect. Oh, sick. What was my last question? What's something about Hollywood? You understand now that would have disappointed you when you were trying to get in.

26:02Something I understand now about Hollywood that would have disappointed me when I got into it would be it's never enough. You can win the Emmy. You still want the Oscar. You can make a million dollars. You still want three million. All that stuff that never goes away. But at the end of the day, I'm starting to make peace with the idea that like, it's okay that I'm not Michael B. Jordan. It's okay that I'm not Austin Butler. I may never be the dude on the poster, whatever. But that's not my calling. My calling is to love people, to take care of my family, and to entertain you and try to treat you well. So at the end of the day, that has to take precedence, which I'm trying to get there. That's crazy. I love that. It's crazy because you've seen your soul's successful. Thanks, man. Yeah, I also just want to do a good job. I want to be the guy like, there's certain actors and actresses like, I'm trying to think in names like Peter Sarsgard who's in New Yorker, I think.

27:03He's not the most famous dude in the world. He's not making the most money, but he's always good. Every time you see him, it's like, thank God this dude showed up. Man, I just want to be that guy at the end of the day. Yeah. Well, we appreciate you for joining us this morning. Absolutely. So sad that you got to leave sore early. You got to come back if you're in town. This is a treat, man. I've been watching y'all for a long time. And like, being a Sharon space of you is not lost to me. Thank you. No, thank you. Thank you. Appreciate you. Congratulations on all your success. It's Paul Walter-Hauser. It's the Breakfast Club. Good morning. Where's the breakfast? Oh no. Yeah. Every day I wake up. Make your last up breakfast. Good. You're all finished with y'all done. Have you ever ordered an ice cold Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and told yourself, I'm just going to take one sip while away from my food. But somehow that first sip always turns into a second. And before you know it, your meal arrives and you're looking at an empty glass. We've all been there. That's the thing about Coca-Cola Zero Sugar. It has the delicious Coca-Cola taste you love with Zero Sugar.

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