Michael Jackson’s Estate, Plasma Treatments, Cruise Chaos & Skincare

Chalene Johnson: [00:00:00] Hey, before we get too far, I know I’ve talked a lot about the supplements that I take in powder form. There’s a lot of them, and there’s, of course, the things I take in capsule form, but I also take a few things in gummy form. And one of the things that I started taking about a year ago, actually, when we were in Europe last year, is saffron.

And I started taking it because I heard about quite a few studies that demonstrated that saffron made significant improvements in people’s– their ability to reduce their anxiety, to feel more relaxed, to have mental clarity, and of course, that’s gonna improve your sleep, right? Because that’s one of the main reasons why so many of us struggle to sleep at night.

You lay down, and your brain just doesn’t stop spinning. So anyways, I looked into it. You know me, I love to see a good study, and there’s been a ton of them. In fact, April through July twenty twenty-five, this [00:01:00] is brand new, a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study looking at the impact of taking saffron daily for just three months, and the results, I can tell you, were pretty astonishing.

A marked decrease in depression, anxiety, and stress. Seventy-two point three percent of the participants in the saffron group achieved significant improvements on their mental state, so talking about having less anxiety, and of course, that, I think, is one of the reasons why it contributes to fewer sleep disturbances for those especially who are taking the saffron.

So listen, I’m definitely not telling you to go off your SSRIs, and if you’re on an antidepressant, that’s awesome. But if you’re one of those people who you’ve been thinking like, “I don’t know. I don’t know what it is, I just… I don’t feel as happy as I usually am,” or, “I just feel kinda meh,” you know what I’m talking about.

You can’t put your finger on it, but you’re like, “I’m just not as happy,” or, “Maybe I’m dealing with [00:02:00] more anxiety,” or, “Things are bugging me more than they usually do.” You’ve heard me talk about Organifi for years, and Organifi came out with a saffron gummy that’s actually very, very tasty. So I am going to encourage you, if, if you’re s- already a customer of Organifi, next time you go to place an order, go to organifi.com/chalene.

Use code Chalene. That always gets you twenty percent off. I take their Immunity daily. I take Pure daily. I take their collagen daily. All of these things are on the regular, and again, I started taking the Happy Drops. I don’t take those daily, but I’d say I take them, like, three, four times a week And I’ve noticed a difference.

So I want you to check ’em out. Try them the next time you’re over at Organifi, or, or just go there right now. Go to organifi.com/chalene. You get 20% off when you use code Chalene, and we love Organifi. So it’s [00:03:00] O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com/chalene for 20% off. What is up, buttercup? I’ve got quite the episode for you today.

First of all, can you imagine that you’ve sold everything you own to tour the world by ship, only to find out that the ship no longer wants you on the ship, and you have nothing to go home to and no home to return to, and you’re just kicked off the ship? Can you believe that Michael Jackson died 17 years ago?

Today, we’re gonna talk about what’s going on with his estate. Have you ever wondered, like, okay, so who’s getting the money? What about all these lawsuits? What about all these movies and the music? Every time you hear a Michael Jackson song being played, who’s getting that money? Who’s managing that money?

What is going on with the estate? I went down a rabbit hole this week when I heard that Paris Jackson [00:04:00] was back in court trying to retain rights to funds that she believes the family trust is owed, and I answered some of these questions that maybe you’ve had, too, and it’s pretty frigging fascinating.

Everyone in the last couple years has been raving about estrogen facial cream and how it really improves collagen production, but what’s the alternative if you don’t wanna do something that has hormones in it? What’s the alternative if you don’t really wanna have to book an appointment with a clinician in order to get your hands on some estrogen cream?

What other treatments are there available that are giving women incredible results when it comes to, like, thicker skin with fewer lines and wrinkles that doesn’t cost $600 a jar? We’re also going to talk about a treatment that my husband and I did this summer in Spain that I, I only talked about on the Patreon, but I’m gonna share some of the details of it with you here, mainly because I wanna tie it back to the story that apparently Jenny [00:05:00] McCarthy…

Remember Jenny McCarthy from MTV, from The Masked Singer? Well, apparently she’s been exposed to mold, and she’s partnering with a company that charges anywhere from 5,000 to $60,000 for a procedure that Jenny’s claiming has helped turn her health around. What do we think about this? Is there a conflict of interest?

Is it responsible? Is it the right thing to do? I’ve got some thoughts, and I wanna share them with you here today on The Chalene Show, so let’s get to it. Listen, I’ve made no bones about it. I’ve been very transparent in the fact that, like, cruises are just, they’re not for me. That’s great if that’s something you love to do.

I guess it’s kind of like Disney. You either absolutely love it and you don’t understand people who don’t, or you’re the opposite, and you think nothing sounds worse. But I’ve got a story I gotta tell you.

Chalene Johnson: [00:05:30 ] Okay, so have you heard about the ViaV Odyssey Cruise? Okay, so after more than two years, the Odyssey, which was a cruise line that was developed to be like your residence.

Basically, you could buy a cabin, and that was like your residence, okay? People bought into this, the residence. They offered them long-term life abroad, the Odyssey. And once you bought your space to be on this ship, basically, you were touring the world, right? And so apparently, like, their first odyssey, if you will, was gonna be three and a half years, and they were going to visit 150 countries.

The voyage started in Belfast back in October of twenty twenty-four, and th- there were lots of delays. There were lots of stories in the news about it at the time, and I get it. I understand, like, if you love cruising, and you’re thinking about retiring, maybe you’re considering, I don’t know, a retirement village or a condo or house or [00:07:00] whatever.

Like, sounds kind of perfect, where all of your restaurants are built in your neighborhood, and you’re literally in your condo, if you will, or your cabin and touring the world. I can see how it would appeal to many. Now, the cabins ranged in price from 120K Up to about 450K. With rental options, meaning you, you could basically rent a month at 3,500.

Dude, I mean, if I was fresh out of college, if I wasn’t married, wanted to tour the world, that might be kind of interesting. For that price, that’s kind of insane. It’s, it’s not a bad idea, right? Well, apparently it wasn’t a great business idea. So here’s what happened. The ship parked… Is that what it calls when they pull into port and they park the thing?

Chalene Johnson: [00:07:42] What’s that called? They dropped anchor? Okay, they dropped anchor in Cambodia. At the time, they had 203 passengers/residents on the ship. They all were told, [00:08:00] “Okay, you need to go ashore.” Like, all 200-plus residences, but not just the residences, like 156 crew. Well, first of all, that’s kind of crazy. Think about that.

There’s 203 guests and 156 crew. You need that many crew for 200 guests? Anyways, they are ordered off the ship, and apparently they’re told, “You’ve got seven hours right now to pack. Pack up everything.” Now, that might seem easy-peasy if you’re just, like, staying in a hotel room, but, like, these people moved in, and the company basically once people got off, were like, “Okay, this is over.

There is no more ViaV.” And ViaV basically said that its monthly fuel expenses were too high, and the amount that they were paying per cabin for fuel basically went from about $1,800 when they [00:09:00] first set sail to between $6,000 and $8,000 in parts of Asia, all attributed to the cost of fuel. So basically they were literally a sinking ship from a financial standpoint So what did the company try?

Well, apparently they tried to slow the itinerary down. They tried to stay longer in ports. They tried to offset their costs. They announced a 60-day effort to restructure and try to raise money with no financing finalized, and obviously no guarantee. And the residents had already been asked for their money.

One of the passengers said that the cruise line basically asked each occupant for $1,800 just in fuel just to leave Cambodia. I’m a punk rock girl from the ’80s, and there was a song called Holiday in Cambodia, and right now it’s the only song I can think of, but I don’t think [00:10:00] this was probably a holiday for these people.

Chalene Johnson: [00:10:03] So I searched for and found a blog called residentialcruising.com. And I found this blog written by a guy, him and his wife basically sold everything they owned and bought into this dream, so they’ve been on this ship. So here’s something that I thought was pretty interesting. In his blog, he says, “This was hardly a luxury ship.”

I’m quoting. He says, “Marketing hype notwithstanding, the cabins were small, they were sparse, but, you know, that was okay. Cabins were really like our bedrooms, a place to sleep, a place to shower. The living room area was spacious because that was the lounges, the restaurants to meet and talk, but it definitely wasn’t luxury.

It was promoted after all as, quote, affordable, and it was, until the company started begging us for money.” So, okay, I understand what he’s saying. The cabins were basically a bedroom and a shower. And if you’ve ever done a [00:11:00] cruise, a- and maybe there’s different levels, I have only cruised, I think twice… Yeah, twice in my life.

Once was probably 25 years ago, and then another time, I don’t know, 18 years ago, so maybe things have changed. But I just remember thinking, like, “This is so tiny and so awkward and so claustrophobic and so not luxurious.” And to think about the fact that the way that I can relax out in my living room is actually with, like, a bunch of other people on the same cruise line, that d- no, that’s definitely n- you, you would have to be an extrovert, I guess.

So anyways, the cruise line basically ran out of money and told everybody to pack up and get off the boat And then they left them stranded there. Randy Cassingham, that’s the guy who I’m reading his blog, he says, “The company did nothing to help. We couldn’t even walk out of the port. So there we were, shuttle buses that dropped us off in the middle of [00:12:00] town in Cambodia.

They didn’t even give us a list of hotels, let alone help us get there or pay for them.” So then I found a couple of different articles where reporters were asking residents of the ship, “So what are you gonna do now? Like, are you, are you going home? Are you gonna get on another ship? Like, what’s the plan?”

And one of the people that were interviewed, or a husband and wife were interviewed, and they said, “We can’t. We sold our house. We sold our cars. We got rid of virtually everything we own, all of our belongings, to live here. And while we still have a legal residence and address in the US, we don’t feel like our address is our home, so we actually have no true home to go home to, so effectively we’re homeless.”

Which apparently you’re not supposed to say, because they went on to say, “Which is not to say that we live on the streets. We know. We know. Everyone don’t be so sensitive.” Except maybe Martha Stewart, maybe you could be a little bit more sensitive. They said, “We could [00:13:00] live indefinitely in a five-star hotel in Southeast Asia for significantly less than what we were paying on the ship.

Chalene Johnson: [00:13:21] But living forever in a hotel? Yeah, not really our ideal home either.” But frankly, my opinion, I would rather live in a hotel indefinitely than to live on a ship indefinitely, but that’s just me. What would you do? Let’s just assume that this idea worked and it didn’t become a financial nightmare for the cruise line and for the people who decided to do this.

I mean, $3,500 a month, that’s not bad. To tour the world, like, that’s not bad. If you’re an extrovert and you love cruising, I can see why people would wanna do that. Here’s my prediction. These kinds of things are gonna pop up again and again and again, but now that they’ve learned, what’s going to happen, I suspect, is it’s gonna look a little bit more like an adjustable mortgage, where your [00:14:00] rate that you’re paying per month, annually, et cetera, will be determined by fuel prices.

I don’t know. So I’m curious, if you love to cruise, no judgment, I get it. For that price, not luxury, but like they’ve described, you know, whatever, Best Western level of luxury, $3,500 a month touring the world. You’ve got a cabin, a shower, and built-in entertainment. Would you do it? It is very disjointing to feel like you don’t have a place to call your own, so I understand what they’re saying when they say you f- you feel homeless.

Not homeless as in destitute on the street, but, like, you don’t know where you belong. Like, you don’t have a place that you call home. That is a peculiar feeling. It’s unsettling. It’s a hard thing to explain to people when you can afford to. You can afford to put a roof over your head, you can afford to stay in a hotel, but yet you don’t have a place that’s yours, a place that you’re, [00:15:00] you’re going home to.

It’s like your nest. When you don’t have a nest, it’s such a weird feeling. We experienced that only once before when we had a kind of emergency move out of our home in Miami. The one, it was, like it was much older home on an island, and a lot of the homes in those, especially the homes that are, like, built in the ’30s, they’ve got mold.

And this one had black mold, and we had to move out suddenly, urgently, and we moved into a hotel, and we just couldn’t find the right place for a little bit there. And we have a house in California, but somebody was renting it. So it wasn’t like we were homeless homeless, but we were without a home, without a home base.

That’s what it is So we need a word for that, because obviously there’s a difference between being homeless in the sense that most people think of it, and being without a home base. But it is unsettling. It does feel weird.

Chalene Johnson: [00:15:53] So I caught a story in the news this week about Paris Jackson, as in Michael Jackson’s daughter, who by the way, [00:16:00] she’s just beautiful.

And the story just made me suddenly realize, wait a second, I have so many questions about what happened and his family after he died. So I went down a little rabbit hole, and I thought I’d share some of this information with you because it’s actually quite fascinating. Okay, first, before I go there, I want you to just guess two things I want you to guess.

Number one, how much money do you think Michael Jackson, his estate had when he passed? So when he died, how much money did Michael Jackson have? Okay, now what was he worth? How much money did he have? Take a moment, lodge your guess. What do you think? What’s your guess? Just random number. Okay, did you write that down?

Okay, here’s the next question. How much money do you think his estate has earned since he passed away? When did he pass away? 2009. 2009, so 17 years. How much [00:17:00] money has his estate made since then? Now, remember when I say estate, I’m not talking about, like, how much has his house made. Like, his estate, like his music rights and every asset that his estate owned at the time.

So 17 years, what, what would your guess be? Go ahead, guess. Guess, guess, guess. $2.5 billion. $2.5 billion. That blew my mind. But if you think about it, 17 years, that’s about $147 million a year, and I mean, I have no idea what percentage of that is him, his estate licensing merchandising, his name, his image, or if that’s music rights.

I have no idea, but that’s a lot of coin. So where’s that money going? Oh, by the way, the answer to how much money did [00:18:00] Michael Jackson have when he died? None. He was deeply in debt. So that 2.5 billion, that is after paying off the debt.

Chalene Johnson: [00:18:09] Okay, and so here’s why I went down this rabbit hole. When Michael died, he was 50, and his kids, Prince was 12, Paris was 11, and then the child that was known as Blanket, who goes by a different name now, I think Bigi is what Blanket goes by now, but Blanket was 7.

Okay, so who raised them? Well, Katherine raised them. She became their guardian, and guardianship of the children was separate from control of the money. So what did Michael Jackson leave behind? Well, obviously, he left the very valuable rights to his publishing, you know, his music rights, his recordings, his trademarks, other assets.

I’m sure there were lots of properties, and think of all the assets that were in… Like, he was a major collector. He [00:19:00] was like a luxury hoarder. Later, his estate Put up filings for debts and creditor claims that were worth more than $500 million. So in other words, he was $500 million in debt when he died.

To say that he died in debt is accurate, but to say that he died without assets is inaccurate. Does that make sense? So who was controlling the money since that time? Well, Michael Jackson, in 2002, named his attorney and another music executive, John McClain, as executors of his, his will and trust, okay? And they managed the estate under court supervision.

McClain, in 2026, May of this year, he died, leaving Branca as the only remaining executor. Now, remember Branca… I think that… Branca, Branca, Branca. Anyways, he was Michael’s [00:20:00] attorney. The children were listed as beneficiaries, but they don’t run the estate. His mother was also listed as a beneficiary, but she doesn’t run the estate.

The money came from music royalties and licensing and productions and assets and sales, and it’s gone towards first paying off all the debt, then all the taxes, then the legal fees, then the business costs, then the management, what it costs to have all this managed. Then, you know, the team of employees that are still part of this estate, and basically all of this money, like the 2.5 billion, I know that sounds like a lot, but it has to be divided up, up amongst all of these people.
All, everybody wants to get a cut, in addition to the family members, right? So when you hear 2.5 billion, that’s before everybody takes their… It’s before costs, if you will. Oh, correction on this one. Apparently, Forbes estimated that [00:21:00] his estate had earned more than 3.5… I was only off by a billion. Don’t come at me.

Yeah, 3.5 billion since his death. And the reason why this caught my eye is because Paris Jackson was in the news this week, and I’ll explain why. There was a plan in place for the kids. The will directed the assets into the Michael Jackson Family Trust, and that was reportedly supposed to go 40% to his kids, 40% to his mother, and 20% to charities.

Now, Katherine’s is kind of interesting because she was to get 40% of the estate during her lifetime Which means, I think, that they set up her to be taken care of while she was alive, but once she passed, it wasn’t going to whoever she wanted to leave [00:22:00] it to. Does that make sense? Okay. So the remaining 20%, if you’re doing your math, he wanted that to go to charities.
I do love that about him. Even though we know Michael Jackson I mean, I know some of you are g- disagree with this, but I believe anyway, I believe the victims who’ve come forward and said that they were molested by Michael Jackson. Anyways, Katherine’s remaining shares ultimately were supposed to pass to Michael’s children, but Paris has been in the news because she’s been saying that the children should have started receiving their trust at age 21, and they haven’t.
They’re supposed to be getting a principal distribution starting at age 30. I’m not even really sure what that means, but I think it means a lot more money. Then later stages at 35 and 40. Prince turns 30 in February. Have they received anything? Yes. The estate says that more than 200 million has been [00:23:00] spent or set aside for the children.

What does that mean? ‘Cause it sure sounds like a lot of money, and it is, but it’s not nearly, I think, as much as it sounds like. Okay, so if we take that gross amount and we divide it by 17 years and then divide it by four children, now we’re looking at, like, 2.7 million per child. I mean, the kids aren’t struggling, that’s for sure.

But it does also make me curious, like, what do they have to pay in security? What do they have to pay, I don’t know. It’s a lot of money, it’s just not as… Like, 200 million is a lot different. When you hear that the estate has paid the kids 200 million, you’re like, “200 million?” But then when, when you look at it and you’re like, “Mm, actually it’s more like 2.9 per year per kid,” it’s still a lot.

Chalene Johnson: [00:23:58] I’m just saying, it’s not 200. Okay. Major battle. So in 2012, Michael’s siblings tried to bring a legal action against the executors. They asked the executors to resign. Their allegations didn’t necessarily establish forgery, and they didn’t remove the executors. And you know what? To be honest, listen, I, I’m not saying yay or nay about his siblings, but if a big chunk of what the estate is paying for is legal fees and one of the executors is his attorney, isn’t that a conflict of interest?

I don’t know. Anyways, in 2016, Sony bought the estate’s remaining 50% of Sony/ATV for 750 million. In 2024, in a separate deal, Sony bought approximately half of Michael’s own music rights for about 600 million. I kinda wanna dig into this, but what I learned was that Katherine opposed that deal. She did not want those rights being sold She alleged that the executors [00:25:00] didn’t have the authority to sell those assets, but the court said that the outstanding taxes and other litigation had delayed moving the estate’s assets into the trust.

So in other words, Katherine was trying to say, “Wait a second, these things are assets of the trust,” and the court said, “No, due to all these other delays, they actually weren’t.” So in 2026, that’s this year, Paris, his daughter, challenged the management compensation and legal fees and reporting, and a judge ordered $625,000 in bonuses to outside lawyers to be returned.
What? Come on. The lawyers were getting bonuses? Give me a break. Go Paris. That’s what I’m saying. Go Paris. In my opinion, this isn’t about a kid wanting more and being greedy. This is… And listen, I, I don’t know all the ins and outs, but, like, just this little bit that I did a research for today’s episode, to me, I’m like, no, this is a kid who’s like, “You [00:26:00] don’t just get to screw us over.

This is, this is money my father, his estate, is entitled to.” So a bunch of attorneys giving themselves bonuses? Ew, gross. She also challenged the approximately, are you ready for this, $109 million in compensation that was going to Branca & Mclain, the lawyers, just for the years 2023 to 2024. Give me a break.

You gotta be kidding me. That was, quote, “A management fee arrangement.” Paris is back in the news this week because she filed in court, or she’s petitioning the court to move 600 million of the estate’s money into the family trust. She’s not saying, you know, “You need to pay me directly.” She’s saying that this shouldn’t be part of the joint estate.

This should be the family’s trust. And Paris’ argument is there’s enough money to fund the trust substantially [00:27:00] now while retaining the reserves, and I think this is probably really smart. I know that there are unresolved taxes and litigation, that means money that needs to be available to pay out for those liabilities, some of which might be paid to victims.

But I, I think what she’s doing is saying, “Listen, if somebody doesn’t step in, these lawyers are going to suck up every last penny of this,” and she’s just not okay with it. Bottom line, in my opinion, is these are a bunch of attorneys and people who were once on Michael’s payroll who’ve turned an executive or as executors, they, they’ve turned this estate, which was heavily in debt at the time, they’ve turned into a major, a huge business And yeah, the children and the family definitely received some support, but should all of this still be being controlled by the attorneys?

Chalene Johnson: [00:28:07] And when should the money actually move into the trust to take care of his family the way Michael intended it to? What do you think? So this week, I posted a couple of stories. I’m gonna tell you, I had good lighting. I was in front of a, a window. That’s always the best lighting, at the right time of day, where it’s not, like, bright light, and your skin really can look fantastic in the right light.

Now, and I, I have to say thank you that I have a community, and I wanna point out the fact… I know I’ve done a couple of episodes recently where I said, “Why do women have to put other women down? Why do we have to attack each other?” And I don’t want to overgeneralize, because I don’t think that’s true of this community.

I think if it was, you wouldn’t listen to this show. You’d listen to those podcasters who do tear apart other women. And I’m, I’m not saying that we can’t have opinions about other people, a- and I’ve got a major opinion that I’m gonna share today, and I’m gonna share why I have this opinion, and it is about another woman.

I am gonna name her [00:29:00] by name. But before I go there, I do wanna just say that I respect and I appreciate and I’d like to normalize that there are so many women in this community who compliment each other. I see the compliments you leave on each other’s posts on, in the Facebook group, in my Patreon comments, you know, in the groups that I have with my royals for camp, and just the compliments I get when I post on…

Like, again, the other day, I, I posted talking about my skin, and yeah, the lighting was great and I had so many women saying, like, “Okay, Chalene, forget about the lighting. Your skin definitely looks better.” So thank you for those compliments, and I will say that I want to answer some questions. I’m still using estrogen cream on my face I intend to, I just have been out of it.

So I did a little experiment where I stopped using it for… I was gonna just stop using it for 30 days, but I forgot to reorder. So I was out of the estrogen. So it- it’s been like, I don’t know, three or four months now since I’ve used [00:30:00] estrogen cream. I’ve reordered it, but I have not used it for like three or four months.

Chalene Johnson: [00:30:05] And I did that because I was testing a product from OneSkin. It’s called Rich Cream. And the reason why I was testing it is because I heard from so many of you. Every time I talked about the estrogen cream, many of you would say, “I just, I don’t wanna do something with hormones. I don’t want to have to have a skincare product that requires me to book an appointment with a clinician, and my insurance doesn’t cover it,” and you know, all the reasons why women were like, “Is there an alternative?”

So then I started doing my research and trying to find other products that I can’t list by name, but there are quite a few of them out there that are like 400 to $650. If you wanna know the names of them, I did a TikTok and an Instagram saying, “These are luxury products not worth the money,” and I actually listed the names of those brands, ’cause these are the big ones that all the celebrities talk about.

And even when I made that video, I still had people saying, “I disagree with you. I think it’s worth [00:31:00] the money.” What are you talking about? $650 worth of face cream for one month? Oprah, are you okay? Like, what? And at that same time, I get early version of a product that OneSkin was formulating and testing, and it wasn’t available to the market, and they sent it to me and said, “Listen, everything that you’re talking about, this is called Rich Cream, and it can do all of those things.”

It’s designed to attack senescent cells, which is just a fancy word that means old lady cells. Like, our skin just doesn’t turn over cells the same way it did when we’re younger, number one. Number two, we don’t produce collagen. So that’s why I was using the estrogen cream. But is there a product out there that produces, helps you increase the thickness of your skin that doesn’t just say it does, that has scientific lab reports proving that it does so?

And OneSkin was doing all the testing. I’m like, “Well, you know, [00:32:00] while I’m waiting for you guys to come back with your results,” which I really appreciate that they do that. We also appreciate that OneSkin was founded by two females. We love women in science. So anyways, I start testing this stuff, and I kid you not, within two, three weeks, I’m like, “Okay” Something’s going on with my skin.

Like, not to brag, but, like, my skin has not looked this good. I wasn’t expecting to see results so fast. I’m like, “Could it… Maybe it’s just my mind. Like, is, is my skin really looking that good?” I’m telling you, I started getting all these compliments. I noticed a difference very quickly, whereas using the other cream, like the estrogen cream, I definitely saw a difference, but it took much longer, like six months.

So anyways, I’m loving this stuff. Now I’ve used it for almost four months, and my skin has never looked better It is not drugstore priced, if you know what I’m saying. Like, it’s pricey. So a couple things I wanna tell you [00:33:00] that are gonna make this much more affordable. Number one, don’t just buy a single serve or whatever.

Like, get on the subscription. You’re gonna save a ton of money. Number two, go to Amazon and buy yourself what’s called a makeup spatula, okay? And then when you get down to the very nitty-gritty bottom of the jar, you’re gonna take that makeup spatula, and you’re gonna scrape out every single last drop.

It is that good. This message is not endorsed by OneSkin, but I’m telling you, that’s my hooker hack. And I’m also gonna tell you that you’re gonna get 15% off right now when you go to cheline.com/cream, and girl, this stuff is going to blow you away. Oh, by the way, the 15% is only good for new customers, unless of course you get on auto delivery, then you get the 15% off your orders indefinitely.

And those clinical studies that they did, here’s what they found. 100% of the participants said that their skin had far more hydration [00:34:00] after just six weeks. 97% saw reduced fine lines and wrinkles after six weeks. Girl, I’m telling you, listen, maybe my results are not typical, but I saw a difference after, like, two and a half weeks, a crazy difference.

93% said that they could see visible firmness and elasticity. Now, this is not a company-wide study. It’s called the Study of One, and Chalene Johnson right now is on day, I think it’s 15 of applying it to my hands. This is off-label use. They don’t market it for use on your hands, but, like, my face is looking so young, and then my hands look like the crypt keeper.

So I’m just telling you, I’m putting this stuff on my hands, and I will report back. But on my face, I just put a little bit, a very little bit on at night, and then in the morning before I put on my makeup, I just let it soak in. Girl. Yes, of course, I’ve had a facelift, but a facelift does not give you better skin.

If anything, it gives you thinner skin. I want thicker skin on [00:35:00] my face. I want thick skin on my face, and that’s why I’m using Rich Cream. Anyways, I would love for you to try it and tell me what you think, and I would love for you to get that 15% discount, so be sure to get on the auto delivery, chalene.com/cream.

Chalene Johnson: [00:35:28] And by the way, every single time I talk about this on social, I should screenshot all the messages I’m getting from women that are like, “You were not kidding. My skin looks so good.” Okay. I know I mentioned this earlier, and I know I’ve mentioned this many times in the past that I’m not a fan of take down pieces where we’ve decided to, as they say, punch up because a woman is doing better than you, and I get that.

I don’t think it serves any of us to call out another woman because she’s making money or because she’s doing better than us. However There are incidences, in my opinion, where women are taking advantage of other women, and that I don’t like, that I don’t appreciate. [00:36:00] It’s one of the reasons why you probably have noticed on the show, I don’t talk about a lot of what I feel are the very trendy, over-hyped, integrative health protocols that are on every single show that’s kind of like the Chalene Show.

Like, for several years there, I was headed down that path. Basically, it was after I had my brain diagnosis, and I was trying to get healthy. It was also when I was in perimenopause, and I, I just was like, “What is going on? Why am I just so inflamed? Why does everything hurt? Why? Why? Why?” Like, I was experiencing all these things, and that’s when I found this great integrative medical doctor, and she was great, but I also feel like I was looking for answers.

And, and if your body isn’t cooperating, if it doesn’t feel like yourself and you just want answers and you’re, you know, going to your s- GP and they can’t figure it out, and then you’ve, you know, meet this doctor who has answers for [00:37:00] you, and they’re telling you, “You know, traditional medicine doesn’t want you to know these things.

And, you know, standard medical doctors, they’re the enemy.” Not that they’re the enemy, but, like, healthcare is the enemy. “And we’re gonna actually find out what’s going on inside of you. We’re gonna figure this out, and doctors don’t want you to know this. So here, why don’t you pay for this leaky gut test?

You know what this might be? This might be related to food sensitivities.” So then I’m spending all this money on dozens of different tests on food sensitivities, and then there’s the suggested parasite panels and mycotoxin testing and adrenal fatigue and, “What about heavy metals? We need to have you test for heavy metals and your gut m- microbiome, and w- let’s do a hair mineral analysis to figure out what deficiencies you have and, uh, let’s take this saliva [00:38:00] test to figure out your hormone panels and this biological age test, and now you should try a coffee enema.”

And dude, I did it all. I did it all because I was desperate for answers. Did I get some of my answers? I guess some. I guess some things got better, but it also makes me wonder in retrospect, and I talked about all of it on the show But in retrospect, I have to wonder how much of it was perimenopause. How much of these things were accurate?

I don’t know. But in recent years, you’ve probably noticed I haven’t talked about these things anymore. I just don’t, and there’s a couple of reasons why. Number one, the average person can’t afford these things. I know there’s exceptions to the rules, but when you start seeing most integrative medical doctors, it’s like a never-ending battery of very expensive out-of-pocket testing.

And it just, at a certain point, didn’t feel right to me [00:39:00] to keep talking about these things and taking other people down this path when I think there’s more important things you should be doing to fix your health. Like, I have no business talking to you about doing a leaky gut test if you, you don’t have your sleep right, if you’re still drinking every night.

So I talk about the basics now, and you don’t hear me talking, and you don’t hear me putting those people on my show. And I also think there’s a lot of people who have seen that realm, integrative health, as a money grab. And when people want answers, they’re desperate, and they’ll put themselves in debt to get answers, and a lot of this stuff just isn’t proven.

Like, we’re seeing it right now with these peptides And some of them are remarkable. And like I said, a lot of these tests, I’m sure there are people listening right now that are like, “Well, doing a parasite test saved me,” or, “Doing a coffee enema is the greatest thing I’d ever done with my health.” I’m just saying, [00:40:00] for me, from my perspective, I still do a ton of these things, and I just don’t talk about them.

And the reason why is because I know I have a platform, I know I have influence, and just because it’s something I’m willing to test and something I can afford to spend money on doesn’t mean that I think it’s responsible of me to encourage others to do the same. In fact, a lot of this stuff I don’t even talk about on the regular show anymore, again, because this is a much larger audience, and for me, I don’t feel like it’s responsible to talk about those things when I can do far more good by talking about j- just the basics of health.

Chalene Johnson: [00:40:41] Okay, so one of the things I talked about on my Patreon that Brett and I did this summer is we flew to Spain to do a treatment in Mallorca. This is a treatment that was recommended by our integrative medical doctor, and it was related, something he thought would be in our best interest [00:41:00] because of our exposure to black mold.

By the way, we’ve done lots of protocols and have spent a small fortune trying to rid our bodies of these mycotoxins, these mold exposures, and I haven’t talked about it here on the show because for all the reasons I just said, and I won’t repeat myself. Anyways, so we flew to Spain, and we paid $3,000 a person, and the procedure that we did in Spain is something, they do something similar here in the US, but our doctor felt like what they’re doing in Spain is safer.

And this is basically what’s known as a plasma filtration exchange. And when they do it in Spain, what they’re doing is basically filtering your plasma and then replacing it With your own plasma, but with any of the impurities having been removed. Now, they are doing something similar here in [00:42:00] the US.

They’re filtering out your plasma, but then they’re not replacing it with your own plasma. And our doctor, again, I’m not an expert, I’m not recommending anyone do this, that’s why I didn’t talk about it on the regular show, and, uh, you’re gonna understand in wh- in just a minute, like, why I’m talking about it now.

But our doctor felt like there are far more risks with replacing it not with your own plasma, number one. Number two, in his opinion, he’s like, “What they’re charging here in the United States is ridiculous.” It’s highway robbery, in his opinion. They charge anywhere from 15 to $50,000 to do this treatment, which in his opinion is not as good and not as safe here in the United States.

So we’re like, “Okay, well, you know, it certainly doesn’t hurt.” Okay, so we flew to Mallorca, and you can listen to this episode of the Patreon. It’s from the Between Friends level, okay? And you can hear the whole thing, and it’s a pretty funny episode, and I’m not gonna spoil the whole thing. But I’m just gonna tell you this.

Brett ended up getting it. Shalene ended up flying [00:43:00] to Mallorca, Spain, and my treatment was a total and utter bust. So if you want the details, you definitely wanna tune into that episode of Between Friends. I will put it in our show description.

Chalene Johnson: [00:43:14] Okay. Why am I telling you all this? Well, because Jenny McCarthy…

And by the way, Jenny McCarthy, do you guys know who Jenny McC- of course you know who Jenny McCarthy is. She’s a former, like, Playboy Playmate. She was on MTV back in the day. She’s been in quite a few movies. She’s just done a lot of real- not reality TV, but, like, you know, like, entertainment-type TV, The Masked Singer.

She’s currently married to one of the Wahlbergs. She famously dated Jim Carrey for a little while, and she’s also became really well known for being an outspoken spokesperson for autism because apparently her son, I can’t think of his name right now, was diagnosed with [00:44:00] autism back in 2007 And when that happened, she wrote a book about healing autism and her son’s diagnosis.

She claims, it’s kind of confusing, and I tried to do as much solid research for this episode as possible, ’cause I, I don’t wanna misstate anything, but in 2007, she appeared on the Larry King Live show, and she basically said that vaccines, it wasn’t the only thing responsible for autism, but she believed that it was definitely a trigger.

And that made her, you know, when you talk about vaccines, people are either on one side of the fence or another, and it became very triggering, and her position was a vaccine trigger claim, not simply an opposition to every vaccine. But people still see her as, like, anti-vax. Okay. So September same year, she also talked about how important it was to go gluten-free in order to heal her [00:45:00] son’s autism.

And over the years, there’s been countless integrative approaches that Jenny has basically said helped to heal her son, and I don’t know if she says one in particular fixed or cured him, as she says, but there’s things like talking about candida, and then she, of course, was promoting an antifungal treatment And by the way, I might have just said cured.

I don’t think she uses the word cured. I think she says recovered, that her son has recovered from it. Anyways, from 2007 and onward, she has openly talked about the different ways to take a natural integrative approach to helping your child recover from autism, and she’s written many books like Healing and Preventing Autism, which she co-authored.

In 2009, she went on Larry King and said that her son had completely [00:46:00] recovered, even though in that same interview, it was kinda confusing, she also said that her son was undiagnosed. So, kind of unclear. But even the language that she’s used as it relates to her son, like using recovered or cured or, you know, all of these things, even the words that she’s used, has drawn criticism by many in the autism community.

Chalene Johnson: [00:46:38] But over the last, basically, two decades, she’s just been very consistent in talking about, and I don’t wanna say always promoting, but definitely giving a platform to every integrative approach to her health and her son’s health, et cetera. But at the same time, she’s also, kinda like myself, been one who’s talked about Botox and hair extensions and cosmetic procedures that she’s done.

And we all get criticized. We’re like, “Wait a second. So you don’t wanna put toxins in your body, but yet you’re doing Botox?” And that’s one of the reasons why, like, [00:47:00] you don’t hear me taking that kind of a stance because, yeah, I know, I know that makes me sound like a hypocrite, and my stance is I balance the things.

Like, I try to do as much as possible to be as healthy as possible, but I just, I’m not one of those black or white kinda people. And there are certain things that I’m sure are toxic-laden and probably aren’t great for me that I do them anyways, like Botox, like breast implants, like fake nails. But I also know with this platform I have a responsibility to talk about the fact that none of these things are safe.

I hope I’ve done a bang-up job of explaining that one of the most dangerous things you can do is consider plastic surgery without an advocate who’s guiding you and protecting you and looking out for you, and I’ve never done any kind of affiliate or kickback or percentage or discount or anything like that.

Nothing. If I shout out somebody who’s done a procedure for me, [00:48:00] like, I’m not, I’m not taking a discount. I, I’m not doing that because I believe we have a responsibility, and that becomes a conflict of interest. And it’s complicated. I know these things are continuing to develop, but that, that’s just, that’s the line for me Jenny’s kind of done a little bit of both.

Like in 2023, I, I was kind of surprised when she created a, a deal with a company called AirSculpt, and she basically promoted doing, it’s called Renuvion, where she had abdominal fat removed and then skin tightening, and then she had fat transfers to her hands, which by the way, that sounds good. Although with my luck, I would just have big, fat, puffy, old-looking hands.

Anyways, you know, she created an affiliate deal for that. I think it’s fantastic when celebrities are open and honest and transparent about their procedures. I think that’s wise. But I [00:49:00] would think I would just have a problem if Kim Kardashian or anyone with a platform, if they’re also at the same time creating financial incentive for women to do things like that.

My own personal opinion, I just, I take my platform too serious, and the responsibility I have for you to… ‘Cause now I’m encouraging you to do something that I know is dangerous. And it’s one thing if I do it and it’s dangerous for me, but, like, I don’t think I should be encouraging other women to do that.

And also, at the same time, to be encouraging women to do, you know, to pay for this cleanse or that parasite cleanse or, you know, this full moon cell core timed parasite cleanse, you know, where the worms are coming out to play. She literally said that in one of her podcasts and promoted a cell core protocol and encouraged people to do a parasite cleanse.

And while I’m sure there is anecdotal reasons why [00:50:00] one might want to do a parasite cleanse, there’s no credible evidence that supports a DIY parasite cleansing diet. But I do also appreciate that she’s talked about her workouts, and she’s talked about doing infrared sauna and red light and the carnivore diet, and she had quit drinking alcohol, and also that she promotes formless beauty as a cleaner makeup and, and skincare for people with, you know, chronic skin conditions and allergies.

Chalene Johnson: [00:50:26] Okay, so then earlier this year, in one of her podcasts, she starts talking about how she, she woke up one day and she had this, like, dull ache in her jaw from, like, tooth pain and, and then eventually it turned into, like, all these other crazy weird symptoms. Like, she had eye growths and dental problems and fatigue and, and just a jawbone infection.

And then she had this inability to heal, and her functional integrative medical doctor told her, “Oh, well, you know, this is because you have been exposed to mold and [00:51:00] mycotoxins.” He tells her that this is making her resistant to antibiotics. And she goes on to ex- you know, tell her whole story on the podcast and explain how now she’s working with MD Lifespan, and you can go to the link, and you can do her same plasma infusion treatment that she did.

And there’s so many people in the United States who are experiencing similar symptoms I mean, like when I talked about my mold exposure and all the things my, you know, doctor said were signs of exposure to mold, I’m like, these are also the same exact symptoms I had when I was in perimenopause. And these are some of the same symptoms that people describe having when they have fibromyalgia and they have Lyme disease.

So it’s like there’s this whole like cluster of symptoms that kind of show up under countless Possibil– like, could it be Lyme disease? Could it be mold exposure? Could it [00:52:00] be perimenopause? Could it be fibromyalgia? Could it be, you know, many of these things? And so she has been actively promoting just how remarkable she feels and what a turnaround she’s experienced since going through this treatment with MD Lifespan, where they do the plasma infusion.

When you go to the page, the starting treatment starts at $5,000 and goes up to $60,000. $60,000. And she’s a formal partnership with them. Now, how do I feel about that? Personally, I like Jenny McCarthy. I think it’s important we hear about these things. I just think when we have a platform like this, and people are desperate for answers, and there’s no scientific proof, and we’re suggesting, like, that it’s healed us, I just…

I, I don’t know. I’m not comfortable with it, and I wanna point it out because I want you– I’m not saying that Jenny… I know there’s lots [00:53:00] of people saying that’s the ultimate grift.

Chalene Johnson: [00:53:07] I don’t know that that’s true. Maybe she 1,000% believes in it. I just want to point this out to you. Just because someone has a lot of followers, because someone is a celebrity, because you trust someone, and you like them, and you’re looking for answers, and you’re, and you’re looking for help, I just think it’s really important, I need to say this, that health advice from anyone who’s not a medical doctor deserves scrutiny, including mine, including any person you listen to, any podcaster, no matter where they are on the charts, no matter how many followers they have.

I think it’s really important that you go slow, be skeptical, do your research, and just know because it’s right for one person doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s going to be right for you. And most importantly, before you spend your hard-earned money on anything I say or any other podcaster or any other celebrity or [00:54:00] any, any other anyone says, just do your research.
And before you spend that money, make sure you’ve done the things that are free first. Like, I talked about a skincare product today on the show with a sponsor, OneSkin, and I love the stuff. And yeah, it’s done amazing wonders for my skin. But if you aren’t getting adequate sleep, if you’re a smoker, if you’re drinking, if you’re not washing your face and cleansing it and wearing quality products and you’re not exercising, like, those are the basics.

Just doing all of those things are basically free, and that’s gonna improve the quality of your skin. Like, there’s so many things you don’t need to spend money on until you’ve exhausted the solutions that are free to you first. That’s all. Just trying to show you the other side of the coin and just- Remind everybody, it is really important that you just, you do the thing that’s right for you, and anyone who’s got [00:55:00] a decent sized following has influence, and we need to take it very seriously.

All right, that’s all for this episode of The Chalene Show. Don’t forget to join us over on Patreon. It is chalene.com/more, and I’d love to have you as part of that community. All right. I love you, and I’ll talk to you soon.