Artem Speaks Out: Divorce, DWTS, Mugshot Headlines & Rebuilding His Life

You will stand right behind him so you can't be seeing the hands up here and you're going to leave the hands down here. If someone looking from the front that looks like four hands just because of one situation, one article, you haven't been called back. Actually, I haven't even talked to anybody about this, but we talk a lot about reinvention, but no one talks about how painful it is to start over when your life collapses in the public eye. What pops up on Google? The mug shot. Divorce, career uncertainty, becoming a co-parent. Today's episode is about resilience, rebuilding, and what full circle really looks like. It's a pitch black and like which way do I go? I'm rebuilding the house. I'm rebuilding myself. Because sometimes you get asked to return to the very stage that wants to find you. And for our special guest today, that stage is literal is back with us today. Should I go whoop whoop? These are the audience questions. Cuz we got a lot of them. Surprise me. From lovely0612. Lovely 0612. Hi dating. Welcome back to the Glamorous Grind where we talk about the real work behind the reinvention, not just the highlight reel. You asked to see how he's doing, not just professionally, but personally. Artem has done so much in the last year since we saw him and we're thrilled to sit down and catch up with him. This is about healing, fatherhood, co-parenting, and earning your way back. Not just onto a dance floor, but into yourself. All right. I feel like we should have champagne, not coffee. Hang on. I do have some. Hold on. Can I Is that okay if I go grab some? All right. There you go. We should have videoed that. Thank you for having me. It's always fun. Thank you for joining us. Let's cheers. Cheers. Thank you for having me. It's always fun. That's a full glass. So, your life is full. Yes. Of all the good things. Amen to that. I think that New Year of the Horse is starting like now any day now cuz the Chinese New Year starts in February. This is my year apparently. I'm like, "Oh, mine too. When does it start?" You're the year of the horse, too. Well, I'm not, but apparently for my birthday, for like when I'm born, like. This is the year where it's going to be good. Awesome. Good. Like, at least that's what I've read. I hope it's true. I manifest that every year is my year and you guys should. Not a bad thing to do. Not a bad thing to do. So, tell us what has been going on in your life. What hasn't the question? Teaching, traveling on the weekends, teaching. I mean, obviously taking care of my son. Building home. You're building a home yourself? Yes, myself. I haven't posted anything about it. I probably will. Trying to collect some things to post, but yeah, just really bought a property that's a big time fixer uper and just fixing myself up. So, how much of your time does this new project take? They complete every day, all day long, unless I have Matteo. Have you learned new skills in construction you hadn't possessed before? Oh yeah, like electrical wiring and roofing and Yeah, like you name it. Plumbing. Like I could be a good handyman. I think you could be handyman to a lot of women for many reasons. Yeah. Anybody out there? Here you go. Dancing, cooking, babysitting, watching, doing fun activities with your son. I am a catch. Ladies, where are you? I always I always think that every time we face a challenge like in the in the house I think is a perfect example. At first it's really scary and then once you get through it you're like wow I could do this again. That's my that is like eyes being afraid but it's like it's a thing. I'm not sure translate in English this but it's eyes always scared of the of the job but your hands actually doing it. So yeah your hands. Yeah. My dad's been absolute champ. He's actually here now too in US with me and my and his wife, my mom and they all living with me and yeah, it's it's been cool to spend time with my parents cuz like I haven't lived with them. When I moved out, I was god probably like 15. Wow. I lived without them longer than I lived with them. Oh my goodness. And there's a challenge to live back with your parents. I can imagine. It's a it's a thing to get used to, let me tell you. I think I kind of like Americanized myself through the years of being in the United States and just kind of getting back into the kind of where I come from. Interesting, challenging, rewarding, weird. And it must be so amazing to have Matteo around his grandparents all the time. You know what? Actually was really challenging at first because he thought that like they're replacing his mom, but now he's like very like, "Okay, cool. I get my grandma and grandpa and you know like yeah, he loves it." Is he picking up Russian? Not really. I mean, yes. My mom like him and he was like do like good morning and now he's slowly like getting into it like okay, I'm going to say that. Okay, fine. They say the basics like spices. No, you know, he probably knows it. He probably is just not saying it yet, but you'd be surprised. He loves imitating. Yeah, it makes no sense. But he just do the gibberish what Russians sound like. Like five. Okay. The one thing I realized, every single kid has their own taste, how they do it and what they do, and there's nothing you can do to change that. So, yeah, every kid is so different. I learned the hard way because my first I always tried to do everything by the book like oh by one he's supposed to do this by two he's supposed and you know by the third you're just like they'll learn like eventually they get to all the things you know. Yeah. Well you have at least an experience and you can apply experience on the on the practice. I only have one so I'm like. This is it and. This is it. So I don't know but yeah you're doing great. It sounds like It sounds like it's a I mean, look, like there's always going to be a void of the female presence in my house because of that. Obviously, we Yeah, I think we're doing good. Building Legos. Wow. I mean, it's like a talent and patience. He's He's He's at it. He loves it. Loves Legos. Loves train. Loves airplanes. And he like got this recently into what do you call them? Blimps. Blimp. Blimp. Is it one of those blown up long things? Yeah, exactly. Yes. And you know the one the Goodyear flying around. So that's what it's pretty much. It's like a hot air balloon. Yeah. But like with the engine and then there's a propeller and that's actually have the pilot in it and stuff. And he was really into that at one point. So I for Christmas I had to build because you can't buy them. There's like a toys. They just it's not that popular. I went on Amazon. I got what looked like it's a zaplank, but I didn't know it comes in like 700 parts apart and I have to build it. Wow, that was a challenge. Yeah. How many hours did that take you? It's 6 hours till Christmas. Hurry up. It took me a second, but I mean still it's like you do everything for your kid, so it's And he loved it. That was the best thing. Anyway, why am I talking about off topic? Anyway, yeah, he's he's great. That's awesome. Challenges. Does he like dancing? Loves dancing. Oh, really? So it is genetic a little bit. He loves performing. He's obsessed with the performance. He's just give him and he's not shy. Like not even an ounce of shyness. So he likes when people clap and there's big audience. Oh, loves it. Ella too, my daughter has done a performance for her whole family for my dad's birthday recently. And after that, she tells her 2-year-old, "Okay, we have to keep doing this cuz everybody will clap for us." And she was so looking forward to meeting you today. I showed her videos of you dancing and then she was so excited like, "Oh, I'm going to people are going to see me and clap for me." And she was like super excited for the audience. That's awesome. Yeah. He loves dancing to Khalinka Malinka. Really? Oh my gosh. My mom is like notorious turning all these things on and he's just h like I should probably video him one time and he should. It's I would love to see that. Wild. I mean, he legit copies everything they do. He does crazy moves. That's a fun song, though. Anybody check it out when you do Russian folk dancing? That's what it is. It's not hard. You're just like hop leg up, hop the other leg up. You think it's not hard? I would. It's hard for me. I can't do it. It's really hard. Is he good? He does a good job. Matteo. Oh, he kills it. Well, who taught him? You did a little bit. No, he just watching just copies that because there's a kids. You turn on the video and there's a kids dancing like full on in like Russian folk costumes. I'm gonna start turning at my house and see if my kids will learn. Before we keep going, we wanted to switch gears for just a minute. Artem, you are a world-class dancer, but today your toughest students are waiting backstage. I can't wait. What are we doing, guys? What are we learning? Okay, that's cool. Can you do the full turn? Not that the half, but you can go like all the way around. But I can do this. Yes. That's very nice. I can do this. Okay, that's that's a running man. That's a very He's going to have. This is the boat different. Then we clap. Then we go step clap step. Then we start running. We go running. I'm not very good. Ready? Here we go. You ready? Yes. Are you sure? Ready? Yes. Ready? Okay. Go. Change. Ready. Tap. Clap. Tap. Clap. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Go. Got it. We're going to get go. You got to go fast. You got to go. You got to keep going. You got to go quick. Go. Take your breath. Done. Good job. Good job, guys. Yeah. Got it. So, since about a year ago when you started. Is it a year ago? It's been a year. About a year. It's like 10 years ago, but yeah. Go for it. What is your day-to-day now like? Let me have a sip. My dayto-day like when I have Matteo, wake up, cook meal, breakfast, lunch, pack, drive to school, and I go to work. Well, you also teach, right? And travel. I do teach on convention. So, yeah. So, during the weekends, I usually go and travel around the country. So, it's kind of it's pretty cool gig actually. Different city every weekend. It's about 16 weekends, 15 16 weekends a year and you go a big convention so it's a lot of kids. I mean get to the point we get like few hundred kids in the room and there's different classes. So it's like comes from kids I think they're like five to seven. It's like mini called the mini groups then juniors then intermediate then there's the teens there's the seniors and every single group is like hundreds of people and these are kids who know how to dance and are they usually kids who compete in dancing they go to actual like dance schools they're part of the team and they do it not a professionally but it's like it's it's not just a little hobby that's the kids who are like a little bit more involved than just a hobby like they want to become a dancers they're much much aware of that but it's great because you get to meet a lot of talented kids and Broom became this sensation over the last two years. Dancing with the Stars been so successful and I feel like they picking up back the younger audience versus like we were known for older people who loves watching Dancing with the Stars, but now I feel like it's getting a bit more on the younger side of it. And yeah, kids love it. They really want to do it. They want to learn. And you just teach them a combo and you with microphone on stage assistants and you just teach a bunch of kids and watch them do crazy stuff. I will say after the last time you came on to our show there have been so many people reaching out. I mean to me to the podcast channel asking when you'll be back on Dancing with the Stars. So I have to ask is there any talk of that? Anything that we God no there's no talks. Well, maybe they should reconsider because clearly you have a very solid fan base who's dying to see you back on. I don't know. There haven't been any talks. I haven't really like connected to with anybody. Like I obviously have my friends who still part of the show and I talk to them and see what they up to, but not in the context of me coming back or doing anything. So, I saw something pop up on my Instagram in January that said, "You were back on Dancing with the Star." So, I told people at the office, "You're back." And turns out I was wrong. And then we learned that it you were simply invited to like the 20th anniversary that show they were having. It was a big big like an episode where they brought like every single person from the past. And did they invite you back to that? I guess but your invitation got lost, right? There's something that went wrong. You got lost. It's not so much my invitation got lost. So, actually haven't even talked to anybody about this, but few people reached out to me prior that episode like, "Hey, are you going to be there? When are you coming?" Blah, blah. It's like, "Hey, actually, I haven't got any invites. Like, I actually don't know." And then it got to the point where it's like it closes to the date where it's going to be the actual show. And then anyway, a few people reach out and then I guess there was maybe some communication with maybe executive producers and they're like, "Oh, no, you are invited." So, I guess the invitation's been sent. Not sure. Is it a paper invitation or electronic? We'll have to call and find out. I'm I'm not going to reveal all the little details. But anyway, by the time it was an official like yes, I had Matteo and like I just couldn't find like a nanny like the night before to like hey can you stay overnight with my son like I wouldn't do I wouldn't do that like just to go you know even though it's was a it's a big deal like look I have been part of the show for a long time. I didn't want the show. Like it kind of it kind of makes sense to be there and then seeing all my partners from the past and like it would have been great. It really would have been great and but it's just Yeah. So let me ask you if I can Yeah. Do you think and we talked about this in our last episode of like how public opin the court of public opinion and what that does to a person. Yeah. Do you think that the situation with your ex and the magazine article affected their decision to bring you back on and all of these other things that have followed such as this invitation getting lost in the mail? If you know if you I mean I don't want you to speculate, but if you have a feeling. It's tough for you to answer that question because I think some people have seen it for what it is and kind of like offered and was there for me and I think some people maybe did not want to get involved. Now in society it's easier to believe in something that's more juicy than something that's like oh you know and it was the headline like the headline is what catches the attention and the headline was just awful. I still think to till nowadays it's I mean I still get like a weird messages on social media where people like mean things. It's it's not so much mean. It's like they're talking like they know like it's it's it's wild to me. Like obviously I would never reply to anybody who was never part of it or was there. But that's unfortunate the reality of it you know. I mean, if anyone wants to know true facts, they can go to the court file and copy all the pleadings or read the full story. That's where the full story has been disclosed. Instead of speculating based on short headlines. Well, that's the thing. I've seen so much. And I'm not a family law attorney. I don't practice in that area. So, for me, it's still pretty like crazy seeing what goes on. But so many times I see people, you know, they have personal feelings against each other after a divorce or a separation and then they use the kids as a way to kind of get back at the other parent and take advantage of things. You don't do that. I think it can easily go that route. But then again, you see like you have to be truly believe that you're just using that against it because I think sometimes people think that what is right for the kid and that like you might see it as like oh you just use a kid against me and some people think like no. This is actually like you're too nice. No people he's very calm and well you're very calm and easy to deal with. I think you're like a dreamful parent for me. I think I'm nice. I think I'm like trying to be very reasonable with empathetic. That's what it But at the same time, like I don't want to be taken advantage of in the certain things where it's what I don't think it's okay. Yeah. You know, I can work a lot more in LA teaching people how to dance. I can really do the same thing in Napa. I can be a coach and teach and maybe go a little bit more into what I know quite well, you know, being that I can't do that in Napa. In Napa, there is no there is no show like Dancing with the Stars is running, right? There's going to be constant people who would want to have lessons who would want to like let's say celebrity wants to be on a show and they're like hey I want to get a crush course real quick before I go on the season so can you help me out teach like I remember when I was teaching Nicole Scherzinger for her season when she did the season of Dancing with the Stars and I remember teaching her like few weeks before she was partner up with Derek and they did their season. There is a lot more opportunities for me as what I do. LA would be a much better place to be. So it's like unfortunate for me like I have to travel for my work. I cannot really be in Napa unless I grow wine or I'm like in the wine industry or in hospitality or you know and it's possible like I'm not saying like that's not something that I would do. Yeah. If opportunity presents itself and it's something I'm going to be curious and interesting at I would I would go for it. I would jump on I will I will see if that's something that I'll be willing to pursue. Right. But as far as dance, it's dead. So, it makes sense for you to live in LA because you'll be able to make more money. You don't have to travel. It saves you time. Now, you ended up in Napa because it was Nikki's dream to have a she wanted to be in Napa. And it's not even her dream. It's their dream. It's her and her sister. So, they always want to be Napa. And they always dreamed to have a winery and having wine labels and that was the made sense you know as a as a as a family as a couple like cool you want to pursue your dreams let's go fine like I didn't care the time to move anywhere because I know that my work was going to be in LA would be travel to LA to do a season of dancing I will come back so it's a kind of nice to have that balance of like I go there for work for 12 weeks I work really hard I do everything that I need to do I come back and then I have my time off until the next season starts It worked that way because you have a certain gig you do it's a short period of time and you can be sad for the rest of the year and you do side gigs just to kind of I don't know like things of interest you can do at this point I am not aware you don't have to be you know you can ask don't temp me don't temp you can ask for a move away to LA because now that you're not together there's really no reason for you to be there she's traveling the Well now he has his new house yeah but it's a fixer upper and fix better things. Who knows? I mean, he already got construction skills, but he has more opportunities in LA. I would have a better like a social life, better connection, but I think I'm still at the stage of like I'm not quite sure what the life is going to be. LA is great and tempting for certain things. Yeah, it's great for maybe like I get more work or I get much better social life. My friends are there. I can, you know, like there is life outside of the bubble that I'm in right now. But how good is it for my kid? Answer. You would have to consider but you see but. This is the question you have. Yeah. If it's would be like way better for my kid too, then it's something to consider. Yeah. Remember that a large part of a kid's happiness depends on his parents happiness. That the best thing for your kid is for you to be happy. But it's I know it's hard as a parent because our innate nature is to be selfless and want to do everything to make them happy and often times we don't think about ourselves but and maybe you are happy. Maybe you're happy enough and that doesn't matter to you but I'm happy if he's happy. Kids grow and they change interest and they move on and the stuff it's like yes I know he needs me now to the full capacity what I'm giving him. Yes, 100%. Yeah, when he's getting 15, 16, 14, like he was with his life, but I'm going to be left with the life I just contribute to him. And that's what the big question is like, do I try to invest into that as well that after he bounce on his own journey like what is my life going to be? He's so young. You can rebuild everything again. It seems like it like everybody said like, "Oh, you like you fine, you'll figure it out all that." But it's like even dating world is not that simple. No. Are you another full-time job? I'm not. But like had I had a conversation with you know with people I have and it's the first thing pops up what pops up on Google. Oh no. And then you have to explain yourself. And I honestly I don't I don't want to do that. Like uncomfortable. I don't have a time to explain myself. I don't I actually I don't want because I don't feel like I need to explain myself, right? Just send them the link to this podcast. And the fact is that people even like have that and of course like I don't judge them by having because literally the first thing you Google is my mugshot pops up like how would people feel? Of course if I would for example go on date with someone and I decide to Google them and I see the mugsh shot in the thing I'd be like let's have that conversation but being on the other side of it I'm like I it's it's draining even to get to that point and it's it's not fair to you. I mean, one situation that was completely out of context, but you see the thing is like fair, not fair. That's the reality. Like if you if you base your opinion on like it's not fair, it's not this. You're just going to constantly like feel sorry for yourself. Yeah, you can be a victim. But look, you have millions of fans that love you and support. Is there millions of fans? Yes. And they believe in you. Even despite all that, until you proved your case in court, they still love you. They support you and I bet there'd be women throwing themselves at your feet right now that are smart. I don't know what I really have to offer to anyone at this point because I'm not kid you like my focus is so much solely like on what I have to do to work to get into the like the house and I don't know maybe like the house I got and I got in a certain state where I want to rebuild it and make it my own because I want to like create the things with my son and it's going to be for him and it's it's probably more of driven in that sense than me just want to get into the house. I think it was more like I'm rebuilding the house. I'm rebuilding my it's like correlate to rebuilding myself within that thing and it's been it's been it's been a thing like it was great in the theory. I'm going to finish that. I promise to myself I will make sure that house will be standing and it'll be perfect great and perfect and be there for a long time. But again like thinking about dating and stuff like I don't how you have time for any of that. But I think honestly like correct me if you disagree but I think most women like real I mean there are women who are going to chase you for fame or for looks but the women who would actually want to build a life with you are going to be so attracted to you because you're a good dad. I think a lot of normal good women who want relationships that's what they look at before anything else of like what kind of father what kind of nurturer is this person going to be. I mean I hope so. I mean this will sound great in the paper. I mean if people truly think that way that's I mean it's hard this society when people submit resumes to the glamour's grind to do a performance index and culture index to see if you're a good match. God, from what I'm hearing, you're so fresh out of it. You've dealt with a lot of pain, loss of relationship, readjusting to being a single parent. You have two parents that came that you haven't in a long time. The way you look at it, right? This is like the two worlds of this. So like looking at this like there's guy who like take care of his parents, he has a kid and this and there's also a guy who living with his parents and have a kid. Do you know what I mean? It depends. It depends how you look at it. That's the desirable part of like who you are. Like cool, you know, you can't just think for yourself anymore. And it's really important because you always have to realize how is going to affect my son by bringing someone even in a picture of that because I would not want my son to like feel oh like that's someone who is going to tell him off or like I would be so much protective of that I don't think I would never choose anyone else but him over. I love that. That's so cute. Like and no, I should never make that choice. I should never be put in to even choose, right? But if I would have to, there is no. Doubt that it's going to be my kid. My cousin is dating a woman with three kids. And he came to me and he was like, you know, it's so strange. Every time I call her, they're all screaming in the background and she always picks them over me. And he's like sitting there and it was almost like there was tears rolling down his eyes. And he's like, I want her to. She's like, what kind of mom would she be if he she didn't pick them over me? Your son is very lucky. Like you said before, life becomes in stages, right? You're in this stage that eventually time will be right. You're in more peace now than you were. I mean, not having. Hanging over you definitely make you more like, okay, I think I can start like be my own self. But it's the new yourself. There is no like I like being in LA last night. I spent night in LA with a friend of mine. And it's like I've I actually he lived in the house in the area like two blocks away where my house used to be when I lived in LA when I owned the house. And it's like walking on that street is like a resemblance of that life what it was before even moving out of LA. Like me, the show, the like the career, the you know the challenges that I faced then it sounds like a. Dream. Was it a good dream? Oh, it was a great dream because like it's carefree success like growth in your career, making great income, thinking of like what the f like those skies were. Limits, you know, like it was that mindset be like young, you driven, you like have goal, you want to like it's very like clear because I can't really like justify myself right now. I was like, I am a dancer from Dancing with the Stars. Even that still is kind of like it. No one can take that away from you, but you don't have the current title of like. This is who I am today. I'm the I'm a pro dancer from the show. Like I used to be on the show. Like that thing started shifting and people coming. It's like, oh, like it's it's just a very different reality that hits you and it's I don't know. It's just different. So, it's finding yourself again. It's a pitch black and like which way do I go right now? You're in comfort zone because you are where you are and you're not making any risky moves. You got out of a difficult situation finally like swimming up to get some air to reconsider your options. Long way up there. So, I think that what we're learning here today is that the sky is still the limit. Sum that up. Come on. Right. Because it really broke my heart when you were thinking back to your pre-baby days and saying how the sky was the limit and you were so ambitious and so full of hope and I see this a lot with people especially moms but dads too when they have children it's inevitable that a child becomes sort of an anchor on your dreams in some ways right it's like yeah but it's like it's it's it's worth it's a good anchor because like what are you ging like you're getting this human who is like. So there's positives and negatives. From one perspective, like at least from my experience, you have purpose that you've never seen before, that you've never felt before, that's unlike anything you will ever experience. Like I finally have something to live for and I know my purpose in this world. Yeah. But at the same time, it's an anchor of like I can't do so many things that I could have done had I not had kids. Right. There is always what? But there it comes with for a lot of people it comes with a little bit of an identity crisis because you have a kid or you have kids and you're like who am I now? You don't have to be one thing or another. This is what I've learned at least. I don't know if this will be helpful to you. Maybe, maybe not. But a lot of times I was like, I can't be this like ambitious lawyer. I'm a mom now. I have to calm down. But then I realized I can be both. And you can be both. You can be a great dancer, follow your dreams, whatever they may be. Maybe stay in Napa if that's the best thing for your child. You see, I have a I have a really bad disadvantage on this. And I'll tell you what my disadvantage is. I learned about myself. I can't focus on many things at once. Like I'm so used to I so trained myself like being a dancer, right? Like being in dancing world. I train myself for that. And that's why you were so good because you become obsessed with what you're doing. Yes. Right. And then if anything I touch like whatever that is actually my dad is the same way like this crazy story I'll say I'll say he wanted to paint one day he woke up he's like I want to I want to paint and he painted freaking Mona Lisa that's the painting he chose to do I'll show you a picture after this it's unbelievable like it was he never painted ever in his life and not painting like drawing I'm talking like oil paint and he painted this Mona Lisa. It's like it's back at my parents house. It's looking phenomenal. Never paint a thing. And then he's done. He's like, I did this one off and I was done. I'm so like him. Like I focus like if I get really curious about something, I put all my focus into this little like whatever that is. And I have to execute that. I cannot multifunction different things. And I feel like with my son, it's the same way. When he's with me like my brain just like shuts off and goes into this direction and it's I get it be like consistent Monday Tuesday you take care of this Monday Thursday Wednesday you take care whatever you need to take care like you can create that like okay I can switch now with me it's it's like with my schedule it doesn't work this way so it's like I get them when it's always different right and in a distracted world that's actually such a skill set, but it's like such a disadvantage because I can't like it's hard for me to switch from one to another that fast. Like I actually like in a perfect world what I would do perfect world whatever that is. I would like leave for two weeks and get something done and I'll be I'll be doing 247 and that's how with Dancing with the Stars for me and that's I think that's why it was such a perfect gig for my mindset and even though like it was very hard because I know myself like I was just diving even deeper than I should have done and take way too serious than I should have actually. Like my time like when I started a season it was like I everything that I did during the day was to be better at that whether it's good whether it's bad I don't know was it effective I don't know I felt satisfied with that purpose and that's what because then I can just for the rest of the year I can relax and just do things that's kind of like I'm interested in you know and now I don't really like I'm finding those parts maybe that's why I got build a house because I'm like, "Okay, maybe like. This is my thing. This is my calling." I really enjoy doing, don't get me wrong, I love doing that. Whether it's a career, I don't know. I don't It's I think I'm just scared to like let's just jump and do it as a career. Let's find an investor, find a house, flip it, and sell it. That makes mean you have a skill you worked since on since you we're a teenager. You can't give it up honestly for construction. You see like it's also like makes like no down to like construction like I admire people who does that for a living and I it's it's a hard work. It's really is a hard work but it's like I also can neglect something that I've done for years. People who are great at anything like exceptional like the top of the top in any industry they have that disadvantage as you call it I would call it an advantage but they are able to focus in like a tank with no peripheral vision and all they see is their goals. They don't see anything else and that is why that is a huge competitive advantage over everyone else in the game. That's how Kobe Bryant was. That's how I mean anyone you think about who has been exceptional at anything has had that skill set. But he is an arena where that can be shown and used. I don't know if I'm ready to just like close that chapter completely because I also know myself unless I'm doing it how I want to do it and where I want to be. I don't know if I want to do it at all. I don't know if it's something in me speaking of like still feeling hurt maybe a little bit or it's like legit how I feel but I know that I don't want to continuously like go let's say on social media and see like things pop up from the show that I've been part of for a long time because it does make you feel like why am I not doing this you know it does have that the feeling of like I. This is what I'm good at why am I not you know like how come you know it's such a small it's such a small world like it's it's very the circle is very small and I'm sure you are hurt by it because you didn't just do it as a job you put your heart and soul and full energy into it and just because of one situation one article you haven't been called back you we're amazing on that but even saying that I was I still wasn't back even before anything happened they didn't brought me back that season Let's Get Gritty is the audience Q&A portion of our show. Oh my goodness. Is that this question? These are the audience questions. We got a lot of them. Oh yeah. No, let's do it. Shockingly a lot of them. Oh god. I hope they like this. Did you read them before you put them down there? I sent them to you. Okay, good. Surprise me. Okay. You ready? Let's see. From lovely0612. Lovely 0612. Hi. Dating. Am I dating? I'm not dating. Sorry. Lovely. I mean, not sorry. It's probably good for lovely. Have you date been on any dating websites? Yes and no. I've attempt, but I just quickly was like probably I probably I don't want to be there. Yeah. But like do you put your real picture on there if you sign up on a No. What happened is like I used to have this Rya app that I was on it like a while ago and it's like it still exists apparently. I didn't even know it still exists. Is Rya a dating app? Yeah, it's it still exists. So, I guess I am on that still, but I'm not like I'm not in the You're not in the place to date right now. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I'm there. It's okay. Focus on yourself. Okay. Next question from Singister Sang. How have you grown as a divorced man? Kind of a personal question. Sing sister. It's a very deep one. Have you grown as a divorced man? I don't think you can like I mean it's like it's it's it's bound to be a grow like you just got to figure it out how to be single parent. I mean in the end of the day that's what you call single parent. Single parent. Mhm. Even if single dad single dad. Yeah. Not single parent. Single dad. I don't know how to answer that to be honest because it's you can't really like justify like oh I've grown. I've done this better or this better. It's from what I there's a whole different circumstances of existing. Yeah. And you just do like there's now an option to fail. Just go with the flow. Yeah. But you don't just do you do exceptionally. I mean from what you talk about, you sound like an amazing dad because there are single dads that we see all the time that don't take it very seriously. They do what they're supposed to do. They keep their kids alive, but they don't think about their interests, their well-being, their needs. Do you think about all those things? I came across few people in my like re not recently but I don't again pinpoint anybody but I came through a few dads who are again a single dad that have their kid like once a week and they like hang out with them after school and then they off to do whatever they need to do. I don't think I can do that. Yeah. I don't know. I guess I'm way too emotionally evolved with my son. Like I it's he's part of you. Yeah. Like I don't know if I can like it like I would it would be sad to me if my like oh I just want to go hang out somewhere else. Like it I would actually get genuinely sad. I would be like oh you don't want to hang out with me? Like let's be like let's social like let's let's do things together you know. Like I'm always like I want that experience with my son, you know? I don't think I could ever give up. I would never even be able to imagine life without him. Yeah. I tell my kids are never allowed to move out. Even when they're married, I'm like, I will work so hard so that I can buy a compound for you to bring out cuz I don't ever want to be without them. They're my best friends. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. From Desi Sam. What has life been like outside of Dancing with the Stars? God, this is like a hardcore question. What has life been like? Boring regular life. I mean, grocery shopping. Cooking. Where do you grocery shop? Trader Joe's, the Whole Foods, the Ralphs. I mean, there's so many stores. Costco. I discovered Costco. Oh my god. Just now? Yeah. Not I mean, not just now, like probably a year. Like in the recent whatever time. Oh my god. This is like an experience. When we first came to America, my family was shocked by they were like, "What is this place?" My son is obsessed. You know, stands where you try things. Oh my god. Yes. My kids are like, "Can we go to the place where they give us food for free?" I know. But was literally like in the B like, "Oh, I want to try that. " I'm like, "Are you sure?" Like, "Oh, yeah, yeah, I want." I'm like, "Okay." And he's just he's obs he's obsessed. Okay. So from DD Rambler, I would love to hear an update on your house building and remodeling progress. Oh god, it's coming. A lot of curve to learn again. Like I'm doing everything myself. Well, me and my dad like we have I do have help that I can ask how things been done, whatever. But all the work in labor we're doing ourselves, but what I'm doing is getting permits, getting an architect, getting an engineer, get them together, get the plans, get sorted, get submitted. It's like that's a whole another part of the world that I've never dealt before those logistics and I think that's really frustrating because it's a it takes a long time and sometimes it's people being very difficult. It's a lot of red tape. Red tape up the Yeah. So you're like a general contractor for yourself. I really like I actually like really like I would do that if I would get some investors who wants to invest in the project or flip. Please sign me and I'm all in. Like you can imagine legitimately. Yeah. Because again, I actually enjoy that process. Yeah. Now, how long do you think it'll take you to complete the entire once? Because you're very committed to finishing it. Yeah. I would love to be done before summer. Wow. All right. I anticipate I mean I would love to be done within two months to be honest. Okay. Now, realistically, realistically, if it's all really up to me, I think two months I can move in. They will be done in 2026. Yes. Every episode we do a glam tip of the week, but. This week we thought it would be great to come from you. So, you've started a new and you're rebuilding. So, for any person rebuilding their life. Yeah. What is your glam tip? Glamship for building your life. You know, I think I think the best tip you can have really surround yourself with people who have like believe in you. I think that's the one. Surround with the right people yourself because that is I think going to be the key because you will focus on that positivity and I think it's important to remind yourself of how far you've come because forget you're very self-aware that's what I've seen you're extremely self-aware I remind myself of this every day that I have to consciously look for abundance what in my life is there and I have a great life but I'm exhausted all the time there's so much and I'm always like, "Oh, I'm so tired. I'm so tired. " And I'm like, "No, Mila, re-shift." But you have so much. You have some, you know, even just waking up or like I've been forcing myself to like before I take my first sip of coffee. I love my coffee. But I never notice how much I love it because I'm so tired. And I'm like, "No, stop and remember like what a privilege it is to have this coffee that you love." Yeah. No, I do that. But you're right. Like you're taking for granted a lot of privileges you have and you never recognize them until you hit the point where you're like, "Oh, I used to have so much time or I used to do this and I used to do that. " But you only really appreciate when you're actually missing that online. And that's the really like a shitty nature I guess being a human like you don't necessarily you do have a tens of taking for granted things that just easy and like oh you just think that's normal. You only see that otherwise when you don't have that anymore. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us. No, thank you for having me. So, it was so great to catch up. Hopefully you come back again soon. Let's do it. This wasn't a comeback story. It was a continuation. Girls doesn't erase the past, it integrates. So, thanks for joining us today. Don't forget to like, follow, and subscribe. We'll see you next time on the Glamorous Grind.