Russell Brand’s Conviction, AI Holiday Scams, ChatGPT Lawsuit & SKIMS Backlash

[00:00:00] Chalene Johnson : Okay, I promise we’ll get to the juiciest of the juice in just a moment, but first I feel like I need to give you a little bit of a, a lifer update, what’s been going on in our lives. Obviously, if you listen to the Patreon, you probably know all the ins and outs, but there are some of you who just pop in and out sometimes of the regular podcast.

[00:00:21] Chalene Johnson : I do intentionally try to keep those separate so that if you are a Patreon member, you know, like, that’s where you’re getting, I don’t know, the more personal stuff. But I do appreciate that many of you who listen to the show like to hear like, “Okay, where are you living? What’s the latest?” So I thought I would share a little bit of that with you, ’cause sometimes I show it on my Instagram Stories, and I just wanna give you guys an update too.

[00:00:42] Chalene Johnson : Because obviously, if you listen to the Chalene Show, I assume you’re at least moderately curious. I don’t know. Bottom line, we have moved. Yes, we have. We’re still in Florida. We’re in Miami Beach. We’re in South Beach. We just moved a block down the street from where we were living, because the building that we were in, we were in the penthouse, and the roof above it had a pool.

[00:01:07] Chalene Johnson : They were basically demolishing it , so you couldn’t even live there. It was crazy. It’s not even funny how freaking loud it was. It felt like they were inside my head. But the long and short of it is it wasn’t easy getting out of that lease. It was a nightmare. And I can’t go into too many details here.

[00:01:27] Chalene Johnson : I’ll just leave it at that. But I will say that we are legally out of that lease, and we’ve moved. So we’ve moved down the street a block, and what a blessing in disguise. Holy cow. This place is… I’m so happy. I’m just so happy. It’s… Like, the energy is so good. It’s a much, much, much bigger space. Someone commented on my Instagram Stories.

[00:01:52] Chalene Johnson : They’re like, “Why do you need such a big place?” I’m like, “We don’t, but why do you care?” I mean, if we can afford it, we love hosting people. At the moment, I have guests here, and when these guests leave, I’ll have two days solo, and then w- we have more guests coming to town, some of my girlfriends, and we love hosting.

[00:02:15] Chalene Johnson : There’s not a lot of places… I’m kinda picky. And, you know, here’s the other thing. We’ve worked very hard, and you can’t die with it, so what’s the point? Like, you gotta enjoy the fruits of your labor. People are so judgy. Whatever. Anyways, I love it. It’s very white and it’s very Miami. We will add color, we will add dimension, we will soften it up, we will make it ours.

[00:02:44] Chalene Johnson : It does not have to be done overnight. But at the moment, it’s got these hard floors. They’re white, polished marble. Perfection for roller skating. It is my own personal Xanadu. I’m not kidding. And I’ve been roller skating like crazy inside. It has this huge open room that’s like, I don’t know, 2,000 square feet just open, no furniture because it hasn’t arrived yet, and these beautiful pristine marble floors.

[00:03:13] Chalene Johnson : So of course I’m roller skating on them. And I had a bunch of people say, like, “Aren’t you leaving marks all over that floor?” Come on. Do you really think I would be roller skating and leaving marks all over? No. They don’t leave any marks. What am I, like a nine-year-old boy? Can I have a little bit more credit, please, for the love?

[00:03:34] Chalene Johnson : We have had to completely furnish this place, and I’m learning patience. And I’m actually learning to embrace the fact how much I love that that big open room doesn’t have any furniture, and it probably won’t arrive until after Christmas break. We are going to California for Christmas. Southern Cal- we, we still have a place in Southern Cal, so we will be enjoying that, and that’s being remodeled at the moment.

[00:04:01] Chalene Johnson : A lot of you were kind enough to ask how the storms affected that area. We live in… or our house is in Dana Point. We’re Florida residents, but anyways, the house is doing great, but a lot of the homes on the street got completely demolished. And can I just say for a moment, it’s so sad to see the comments that people make when people assume someone is wealthy.

[00:04:26] Chalene Johnson : Like, some of our neighbors, they’re not wealthy, that lived on that street. The homes that were demolished, many of them were, like, little tiny cottages that had been in the family for decades and decades and decades, like, handed down from the grandparents to the parents to the siblings and shared by, you know, multiple family members, and it was their special, special place in the summer.

[00:04:49] Chalene Johnson : And because those homes were on the ocean, I was looking at video footage or whatever you call it, like on Instagram, where they’re showing, like, news footage of those homes getting demolished. And in the comments, such losers saying things like, “They deserve it. Who cares? It’s the rich people. They deserve it.”

[00:05:08] Chalene Johnson : Like, what? I remember seeing the same kinds of things when there were the Malibu fires, people literally saying, “Those are evil, wealthy people, and that’s what they get for building in that area. They deserve it.” That is just so dehumanizing. Because they have money? Actually, because you assume they have money.

[00:05:29] Chalene Johnson : Like, someone sees a beautiful home or a home built in a certain area or people who you assume have a certain level of wealth, without knowing anything about them or how they earned their money or what they’ve already survived or who they’ve taken care of or any of those things. I mean, even if someone had inherited all of their wealth, how is it okay to say that they deserve devastation?

[00:05:59] Chalene Johnson : I mean, obviously s- a lot of that is resentment, it’s envy, it’s anger, it’s about inequality, which I understand. A lot of times people will say, “Oh, well, they can afford to rebuild,” like, as if that gives people permission or, like, it’s okay for them to suffer. It’s very strange. It’s a very telling state of affairs in the United States, where I think, for whatever reason, people believe there are the haves and the have-nots, and there’s supposed to be this anger towards whatever it is you are not.

[00:06:34] Chalene Johnson : But even if someone can afford to rebuild a family home, they can’t replace their sense of safety. They can’t replace family photos, pets, things that they lost that they’ll never get back. It, it just– It’s very much a scarcity mindset. It’s almost like this belief that people who have wealth must be bad It’s a very limiting belief.

[00:06:57] Chalene Johnson : People don’t realize the opposite would never happen. We would never say, “Ugh, look at those people. They’re living in a trailer. They’re good for nothing. They deserve the devastation.” And we would never tolerate that because we expect empathy, we expect understanding. And I think you can criticize unfair systems and you can also…

[00:07:19] Chalene Johnson : You know, you can talk about privilege without celebrating people’s devastation. Not a fan. How did I get on that tangent? Oh, yeah, I was talking about the move, talking about our house in California. Speaking of the move, dude, it is exhausting. My back hurts so bad. I’ve skipped so many workouts, which then puts me in a bad mood.

[00:07:38] Chalene Johnson : So bad mood with a bad back and a lot of echo in the house, and just Amazon package after Amazon package. Like, I don’t understand. Every time we move, where did our broom go? Where did our dustpan go? Why am I buying new flatware? Where did all of our cups go? Like, I just have to remind myself it doesn’t all have to be done at once.

[00:08:01] Chalene Johnson : I can just chill. I don’t have to furnish every room. I don’t have to empty every box. Simmer down, Chalene. Go to bed. You can do a little bit each day. It’s hard for me, though. It really is. Anybody? Like, I just… I can’t get to the work I need to get to until I’ve fully nested. I want things put away and I wanna know what is in this box.

[00:08:24] Chalene Johnson : What is in this box? I want it emptied. I remember as a kid, have you done this, where, like, you move and you’ve got this, like, these group of boxes that you move to your new house, and then you move again and you, you still have that same group of boxes that never get opened. What are in those boxes? I want them opened now.

[00:08:44] Chalene Johnson : Allow me to take just a moment to interrupt myself to talk to you about your skin. As we age, one of the things at least that I found most frustrating was just looking down at my skin and going like, “What happened? What is going on?” You know, as we start to lose collagen and estrogen, your skin texture and the way that it holds moisture, it completely changes.

[00:09:05] Chalene Johnson : I was drenching myself in lotions and just not seeing a difference. And then I had a friend recommend a product called OneSkin. You’ve heard me talk about it before. This stuff makes a huge difference. So if that’s something you’re struggling with, just skin that feels really dry or crepey, trust me when I say you wanna try OneSkin.

[00:09:24] Chalene Johnson : I love their full-body lotion. It just goes on so nicely. It’s light. There’s no fragrance. There’s no toxic ingredients. That’s very, very important. It works wonderfully for sensitive skin. It’s been dermatologist tested, and the stuff is just amazing. It’s loaded with peptides, so you’re just gonna feel a difference.

[00:09:42] Chalene Johnson : Trust me when I say this. But here’s the key. This is my recommendation. This is girlfriend to girlfriend. Get the SPF tinted moisturizer for your face. It is amazing. I’ve tried a bunch of tinted SPFs and- I didn’t feel like they were tinted. Do you know what I mean? Like, this literally kinda smooths out your complexion.

[00:10:00] Chalene Johnson : You don’t even need to wear makeup, I swear. I’m saying that, then you know it’s really good. I also love their full body SPF, which is really important if you’re out walking in the sun or even if you’re just exposed in the snow. You’re still getting exposed to sun, and you wanna make sure that your face stays nice and young.

[00:10:17] Chalene Johnson : You don’t want age spots or sunspots, and OneSkin has amazing products. Because they are a show sponsor, you get a nice little discount. Go to cheline.com/SPF. It’s also a wonderful way to support the show, and I really appreciate that. Again, it’s cheline.com/SPF, but you can find all of their products from that link.

[00:10:38] Chalene Johnson : Check it out Would love to have you join Patreon if you want more of the behind-the-scenes, you know, kind of the, some of the stuff I don’t talk about here on the show. Some pretty juicy stories. I even had my staff texting me last week like, “Who is this story about this woman who beat up another woman?

[00:10:55] Chalene Johnson : Like, what?” Anyways, that’s where all the personal stuff is. It’s on Patreon by going to chalene.com/more. And just to be completely transparent, the Patreon is… Like, I’m not covering current events or hormone replacement therapy or interviews. It’s like dear diary. It’s as if I’ve got some time to kill, and you’re driving in your car, and I call you up, and we just shoot the shit.

[00:11:20] Chalene Johnson : That’s what Patreon’s all about. So if you want some content to keep you company, that’s what I call it, keep you company content, we’d love to have you as a member. I’ll put the link at the top of our show notes. But now let’s get to some stories that have caught my attention this week. So first of all, Russell Brand.

[00:11:36] Chalene Johnson : Do you remember Russell Brand? I feel like he’s almost best well-known for having been married to Katy Perry. Am I wrong? Like, when I think of him, that’s what I think of. But also, he was in the movie, like, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. What else has he done? I don’t know. I’ve, I’ve never been a fan of his, and apparently not a real good dude.

[00:11:57] Chalene Johnson : In fact, he’s said himself he wasn’t a very nice individual. But he was just convicted of raping at least one woman and sexually assaulting three others. He was sentenced on Monday to 10 years and six months, and not a lot of people are surprised by this. In fact, there’s a lot of rumors that these certainly weren’t the only ones.

[00:12:24] Chalene Johnson : And let me just say, having been involved in two criminal trials myself in the last two years, some of which I’ve talked about here on the show and some of which I’m no longer able to talk about. But yeah, the two things I was involved in have resulted in criminal trials, and I’ve learned a lot. I can tell you this, by the time something goes to trial, prosecutors…

[00:12:50] Chalene Johnson : When you hear about charges that are being brought or charges that people are being tried for, especially if it’s a high-profile case like it would be with, like, Russell Brand Prosecutors don’t even attempt to bring charges, criminal charges against someone unless they’re almost like 99.9% certain that they can get a conviction.

[00:13:10] Chalene Johnson : If there’s any room for doubt, they just drop that charge because it messes with their reputation. It’s just like a whole thing, especially when they know who they’re up against, and if the people that they’re up against, if the defendants have money, yeah, they just don’t mess around. So in a lot of these high-profile cases, by the time they go to court, they’re trying them for like just a couple of things, even though they may have had countless other accusations made against them.

[00:13:38] Chalene Johnson : But prosecutors, l- again, like if there isn’t concrete evidence, indisputable evidence, they’re probably gonna drop those charges. And I can just tell you from personal experience, it is the most frustrating, infuriating thing to know that a, to believe, I have to say allegedly, that someone is a disgusting monster, a criminal deviant, and some of those charges are dropped because we have a lot of evidence, but we have maybe something that’s missing here that could introduce a degree of doubt.

[00:14:13] Chalene Johnson : Or we have a witness who it’s been so long since these alleged crimes were committed against them, they just want it to go away. They just don’t wanna relive it again. They don’t wanna testify, so therefore those charges get dropped, and these jerks get away with some of these things. Anyways, in this particular case, Russell Brand, even he himself has been on this kinda like PR tour like the last five or so years just talking about how he’s a completely changed person and that he was a horrible person, and he was basically drugs, sex, and rock and roll, and he’s made no bones about it that he was a pretty horrible human.

[00:14:51] Chalene Johnson : Like he talks about his wayward ways, and he’s made the rounds on all the podcasts talking about how he’s completely changed, and he’s given his life to Christ, and he’s a new man, and he has repented for his sins But also, people have questioned the authenticity of that transformation. People have wondered and even speculated that some of that is just, like, for show.

[00:15:16] Chalene Johnson : It’s because he knew that the law was coming for him and that he started moving financial assets around. People have said that throughout the years, women have come forward. So he knew some of these things, they were going to resurface. So a lot of people have said, like, this whole revelation, this transformation, this awakening, this turning your life over to God, that it’s not real.

[00:15:41] Chalene Johnson : It’s hard to say. I mean, I like to think that people have the ability to change and become better people. I don’t know if that’s the case with Russell Brand. His wife, his current wife certainly thinks it is. Now, his current wife, this is kind of interesting. By the way, authorities have said that there are more women who have brought forward charges, and so I’m not exactly sure how that works.

[00:16:05] Chalene Johnson : If you’re in prison for sexual assault and rape, and other women come forward, would that be like a new trial? I guess so, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It absolutely can be. You could be tried even though you’re already in jail, and they would just, like, tack onto your sentencing. Anyways, it is alleged that some of these other instances of sexual assault and rape were with really young women, and that’s seems to be his MO.

[00:16:35] Chalene Johnson : So the woman that he’s married to now, apparently he dated when she was, like, 19 and he was 30-something. She claims that she was treated wonderfully by him except that he couldn’t stay faithful. He, quote, “struggled with monogamy.” So they break up. He eventually marries Katy Perry, right? And we know how Katy Perry feels about him ’cause she’s told us.

[00:16:57] Chalene Johnson : And then they meet up again and get married and have kids. I don’t know the whole timeline. I know that he and she have been doing a Christian-based podcast for the last couple of years. I know that he got baptized in 2024, and I know that she is standing by her man. Here is a statement that she provided after his sentencing.

[00:17:22] Clip: “I am well aware that my husband has addictive behaviors and has had very chaotic relationships with many women. Even when we were dating, he never conducted himself properly. But I never dismissed who he is entirely because of this. I fell in love with him when I was 19. Whether during his marriage to Katy Perry or from when we got married in 2017 until now, over these 19 years, I know better than anyone how thoughtful and kind he is.

[00:17:48] Clip: Those acts were only mistakes he made when he was trapped in addictive psychology and lost control in the past, and they do not define all of him. Besides, my husband has already explained to me that all of his intimate relationships were consensual, and he never forced anyone or ignored anyone’s refusal.

[00:18:04] Clip: I cannot speak for those women. I can only speak to what I have seen with my own eyes. Russell was baptized in the River Thames in 2024 with Bear Grylls as his witness. He resolved to seek redemption. We made our marriage vows before God, and this covenant will not easily be broken by a 10-year prison sentence.

[00:18:23] Clip: I do not ask anyone to understand my choice. I will simply stay by his side, bear all the consequences together with him, and hold onto our family.”

[00:18:31] Chalene Johnson : Yeah, so she is 39. They got married when she was 30. They’ve been married for nine years. They have three kids together. They host this Christian podcast called Sunday Service with the Brands.

[00:18:42] Chalene Johnson : Apparently, they originally dated back in 2006, and she has literally testified that monogamy was, quote, “difficult for him.” Oh, geez Clearly she is standing by her man. Apparently when he was sentenced, she mouthed the words to him, “I love you,” and he mouthed back, “I love you. I’ll be okay.” I will say it’s encouraging that I’ve been able to share a couple of, like, quite a few times in the last couple of months, stories of these guys who are absolute predators, monsters, who get money and fame, and then they use drugs and their influence to take advantage of and harm women in this way.

[00:19:31] Chalene Johnson : The encouraging piece is that it does look like something’s being done. It does seem like justice is headed in the right direction. Do I think it’s going to change? Do I think that because there are these cases, you know, like the brothers, the real estate brothers I talked about last week, or any of these other crimes, or Russell Brand, do I think that men are gonna change?

[00:19:56] Chalene Johnson : No, I don’t, actually. I think, I’m so sorry if I’m offending you, but you can’t deny the fact that these stories are– they’re so similar. It’s these men who are weak little boys I don’t know what happened to them when they were children, but for whatever reason, they turn into predators, and they get a little bit of money, and a little bit of power, and a little bit of fame, and it goes to their heads, and then they think they’re above the law.

[00:20:24] Chalene Johnson : They really are so shocked when they get arrested, and even more shocked when they get sentenced. And so for that reason, do I think we’re gonna see less of it? I wish I could say yes. I also think learning what I have in the last year about the infiltration of pornography that’s just being flooded on both young men and young women.

[00:20:51] Chalene Johnson : When I say young men, I mean, like, Gen Alpha and Gen Z. Like, they just have been inundated. They’ve just grown up with just porn being exposed to them by accident. That’s how they’re learning about what they think a woman wants, or how a woman should perform, or what relationships look like, and it’s just so skewed.

[00:21:13] Chalene Johnson : And yeah, I, I’m not real hopeful. I mean, I try to be a very positive person, but I don’t know if it’s gonna change. What do you think?

[00:21:21] Clip: Okay, I have to interrupt for just a second to tell you this story. So I’m having this conversation

[00:21:25] Chalene Johnson : with a woman who’s a few years older than me this weekend, and she was telling me that she’s past menopause.

[00:21:32] Chalene Johnson : I’m like, “But once you’re in menopause, you’re in it forever.” And she’s like, “Well, I don’t have to worry about it. I’m not having symptoms anymore.” And it made me realize how many women don’t realize before you hit menopause and after you hit menopause, you still need to think about your hormones. The reason why you need to think about your hormones, and if they’re not normal, we don’t want normal.

[00:21:54] Chalene Johnson : Normal’s not good. We want optimized. Because normal in the United States means we’ve been forgotten about. You want optimized because when your hormones are optimized, it’s going to impact your body composition It’s gonna affect the way your body stores fat, the way that your body holds onto muscle or loses it.

[00:22:12] Chalene Johnson : It’s gonna help you to recover quicker. You’re gonna have less joint pain. You’ll have stronger bones. The reason why you need to think about your hormones is because it’s responsible for so many of the things that impact your mood, sleep, motivation, brain fog. I mean, obviously, there’s the physical things, too, like I said, bone density, your cardiovascular health, your insulin sensitivity, vaginal and urinary health.

[00:22:38] Chalene Johnson : Like, it is not normal that we have rows and rows and rows of adult diapers. That is because urinary incontinence, vaginal health, all these things are tied to hormones. It’s not just about hot flashes. You need to speak with a clinician to figure out where are your hormones and how to put together a plan for you.

[00:22:59] Chalene Johnson : But most importantly, I want you to talk to a clinician who this is all that they do, and they’re not easy to find. It’s why I’m proud to tell you that a sponsor for our show is Midi Health. Midi Health is a company that I use, and I’ve recommended it to thousands of you, and I just keep hearing amazing stories.

[00:23:18] Chalene Johnson : Like yesterday, I got a DM from a woman who said, “Getting on hormone replacement therapy saved my life.” Not to be dramatic, but girl, what are you waiting for? Midi Health is a telehealth company, but all they do is specialize in women’s hormone health and care. They’re up to date on the latest research.

[00:23:37] Chalene Johnson : They will work with your local doctor, your local pharmacy, and they work with almost every single major insurance company, and they’re adding new ones every single day. So I’d love for you to call and just learn more. Get yourself a consult by going to chalene.com/midi, M-I-D-I. I know these things are important to you, everything I listed, and it’s never too early, and it’s never too late.

[00:24:01] Chalene Johnson : The earlier you start, the better, and the sooner you start, if you’re already in menopause, the better. There are options for you, even if you’re in your 70s and 80s. Chalene.com/midi Speaking of social media, because we’re coming up on the holidays and because of the message I received from my mom today, I just wanna warn everybody that these AI videos are getting better and better and better.

[00:24:31] Chalene Johnson : And because we’re coming up on the holidays, I wanna bring it to your attention that the biggest area where these AI scams are happening isn’t with the AI videos. Guess where it’s happening? It’s happening when you’re doing a search, right? So you go online, you go to your ChatGPT, you go to your Claude, you go to whatever AI tool you use, and let’s say you’re trying to come up with a super creative gift idea for your daughter-in-law.

[00:24:54] Chalene Johnson : And let’s just say, okay, she collects hand-knitted berets. Where did I come up with that? I don’t know. Okay, so she collects hand-knitted berets, and so you’re like, “Where do I find a hand-knitted beret?” Or whatever it is, is you just go to AI, and you’re searching for the thing. Like I bought Brock a very, very, very creative Christmas present this year where I had this idea, and I did exactly that.

[00:25:18] Chalene Johnson : I went to ChatGPT, and I typed in, “Where can I find a fill in the blank?” I’m not gonna say it just in case somebody reports back to him ’cause it still needs to be a surprise. But anyways, I typed it, and ChatGPT gave me several recommendations, and I bought it off of those recommendations. Okay, that’s what you’re probably doing too, right?

[00:25:34] Chalene Johnson : So you could go onto ChatGPT or Claude or wherever, and you’re typing in the thing that it is you’re looking for, and then it populates different websites, different sources. I’m sure you’ve done this for one thing or another. I’ve done it a million times this week having, you know, just moved. I’m like, “W- where’s the best place to buy a flat-screen TV?”

[00:25:54] Chalene Johnson : And of course, it populates some sites for me. Well, you’ve gotta be very careful because scammers now have figured out how to game AI They have figured out how to trick the system so that they’re almost like… Re-re-remember when you would get Google results? Why was that so hard to say? Google results.

[00:26:18] Chalene Johnson : Well, it’s like that, but it’s tricking the AI systems, so it’s populating a name of a store. And like let’s say maybe it pops up Walmart, and you’re like, “Okay. Well, yeah, Walmart’s a real store. That’s not a scam. I’m gonna buy my flat-screen TV from Walmart.” But what an example might be is when you’re looking at the AI results, it says the official walmart.com, and what that is is a scammer site that looks exactly like the original site.

[00:26:49] Chalene Johnson : So you think you’re on, and I’m just making up this example, you think you’re on Walmart’s site and you’re giving them your credit card information for this flat-screen TV. Well, you just gave your credit card information to a bogus website who’s taking your payment and never shipping your item, and this is the number one scam right now for the holiday seasons.

[00:27:15] Chalene Johnson : So if you’re searching for anything online and you’re using AI, kind of like a Google search, right? You’re asking it to scour the internet and find for you the best source of blah blah blah, be very careful. Don’t click on… Look at the URL, and if for any reason, even if it says .com, if it’s got any extra words or an underscore, a space, a letter, the official, the only, anything you’re not sure of, don’t click on the link Just type in the name of that store in a separate browser window.

[00:27:48] Chalene Johnson : Does that make sense? Just to be safe, because it’s crazy how many stories just in the last week have been reported of people being absolutely scammed. So those are a scam where you think you’re clicking on the store that you’re familiar with, but it’s not. The second type of scam that you need to be aware of, I shouldn’t laugh, but some of these scams I’ve watched people make TikTok videos and YouTube videos talking about how they were scammed.

[00:28:18] Chalene Johnson : And in these particular cases, you’ll get an ad for something where you’re like, “Oh my God, that looks so nice. Wow, it’s a couch that looks so comfy and so oversized, and I can’t believe it’s only $1,000 and it, it’s huge and it’s beautiful.” And you’re watching this video and you’re, you know, you’re looking at the quality of it and you’re reading the reviews, and all the reviews are really, really high.

[00:28:46] Chalene Johnson : And then you order the item. And then when it arrives to people’s homes, it’s like a doll size. Well, first of all, it doesn’t even show up for months. And when it does arrive from China, it’s nothing like what was advertised. In one of these instances, I saw this person where they thought they were ordering this like I don’t know how to describe it, but almost like a couch for your dog, but the couch looked like a dog.

[00:29:16] Chalene Johnson : So it looked like this big, giant, oversized, fluffy, plush couch with fur all over it, and then your dog would lay on it. It was just like the cutest thing ever. You’re like, “Oh my God, that is so adorable. I need it.” And, you know, it was expensive for a dog bed, like 150 bucks. And I watched these videos of so many people who bought it, and when it arrived, it was all printed.

[00:29:39] Chalene Johnson : It wasn’t a, like a furry couch. It was basically like a sleeping bag with a print of a dog on it. So dumb. I saw one of this woman. She had… She was excited to buy this, or she did purchase what she thought was going to be this very elaborate pink castle. I mean, it was the size of a small bedroom, absolutely beautiful, and it was basically gonna be set up outside, and it was being manufactured in China, and it was like a dollhouse for all of her daughters and, and it wasn’t cheap.

[00:30:10] Chalene Johnson : And when it arrived, it was like pink cardboard, and it was so small. So what they’re doing is they’re using AI videos to make the product look so amazing and beautiful. It’s fake. It’s completely fake. I don’t even know why they’re bothering to ship anything, and they’re completely taking advantage of people.

[00:30:32] Chalene Johnson : And so these are really common scams. Be so careful. And the reviews are there, so you can’t even use the reviews. You just can’t. Ugh, this stuff. I- we knew this was gonna happen, and we know that AI is awesome in many ways, and we also know it’s sketchy and scary, and unfortunately, we have to go slow. The one that my mom and dad fall for all the time, so please warn your parents, is the one where it’s always about a drug or a supplement or a vitamin or something that is very common.

[00:31:06] Chalene Johnson : Or it could be s- like a common food product, and they’ll just say, “You can’t eat this as it is so unhealthy. Here’s what you need to do instead.” And if you watch the video to the end, they’re always selling you some alternative, like, “Eat these gummies instead.” But it’s a very reputable AI doctor or a integrative health practitioner, and so th- they’re very believable, and they prey on the fears of the audience.

[00:31:33] Chalene Johnson : So you need to know this is happening. 85% of these fake stores, fake businesses are gone within two weeks because once people start reporting that this is happening, and then they disappear. So you’ve gotta just be so, so, so careful. These types of holiday scams are up 500% this time of year. Speaking of OpenAI, oh my gosh, this story also involves OpenAI, ChatGPT, and it is Wild.

[00:32:04] Chalene Johnson : Okay, so husband and wife going through a rough patch, as many couples do, and the wife starts losing weight rapidly, and her personality is changing, and something is not quite right. And then the husband just gets super sick, like violently ill. Eventually, they divorce. Eventually, he finds her journal. He finds notes, and in the notes, what he realizes, it’s like he’s reading basically her plan to try to kill him by poisoning him.

[00:32:45] Chalene Johnson : And the notes that he’s reading also talk about how she should try to cover her tracks, and there was also part of the plan was to physically harm him. I mean, it’s like really sad. Okay, so he contacts the authorities, turns this over to the police. The police start doing an investigation, and pretty quickly, he finds out that his wife, as many people do, as their relationship was struggling, she goes to ChatGPT for advice, and so many people do this.

[00:33:16] Chalene Johnson : They think that ChatGPT is a qualified therapist, but what ChatGPT is, is not a qualified therapist. If you want a qualified therapist, may I suggest my dear friend, Dr. Michaela Sarno. Remember the therapy that I’m always saying changed our lives, Brett and I, is EMDR, EMDR therapy. Anyways, I digress. There’s a little plug for Dr.

[00:33:42] Chalene Johnson : Michaela. You can go to drmichaela.com. ChatGPT is not a therapist. ChatGPT is there to agree with you, to keep you online longer. All of these AI platforms, that’s their goal. Their goal is to get you to use them longer, to become more reliant upon them, to block out other people, to not need your employees, to not need your therapist, to not need your doctor, to just rely on AI.

[00:34:10] Chalene Johnson : It’s where we’re headed. And so here she is, struggling with her partner, and she’s turning to ChatGPT to give her advice.

[00:34:18] Clip: From the onset, I knew, I knew ChatGPT was, had something to do with it, but I didn’t know, you know, to what extent. There were, you know, thousands of conversations over months.

[00:34:27] Clip: Conversations went from an upset wife to being encouraged and infirm pretty mu- affirmed pretty much throughout each conversation, resulting in detailed plans produced by the product to, y- you know, to lethally poison me, tailored to my specific weight, how to cover it up, how to avoid autopsy. I think my wife is still culpable.

[00:34:49] Clip: She’s still responsible for what she did But I don’t believe she would’ve done this or been able to do this had it not been for, for ChatGPT.

[00:34:57] Chalene Johnson : What’s kind of interesting about this guy and this case is he actually doesn’t blame his wife. He blames OpenAI, and that’s what his lawsuit, his lawsuit is against, OpenAI.

[00:35:10] Chalene Johnson : Now, police indicted her, and she spent six months in jail. Eventually charges were dropped. I don’t know if he dropped the charges, but he’s been making the rounds doing press and explaining how it was and why it is he thinks that it was OpenAI that took his wife down this rabbit hole. And this is really kind of interesting, ’cause he says he was, like, watching some other story where families were testifying in front of Congress about the impacts that these AI platforms have had on their children.

[00:35:46] Chalene Johnson : Their children had engaged in self-harm. And I mentioned this documentary a couple of weeks ago. It is so good. May I Have Your Attention Please, it’s worth watching, you guys. It is so good. I mean, there’s parts of it that’s sad because these families were featured, but he talked about seeing, I think it was probably the same family testifying, and he noticed…

[00:36:11] Chalene Johnson : He just picked up on, like, one little pattern that made him go, like, “Wait a second, is that what was happening with my wife?” Take a listen.

[00:36:19] Clip: It wasn’t until January 2026 I saw an article in, about teenagers that inflicted self-harm or committed suicide using these chatbots, and there was a link into it, link in the article that linked to a congressional hearing where several parents were testifying.

[00:36:36] Clip: And one of the parents testifying, I just had it on in the background, but one of them was testifying and they were talking about how their son had been using chatbot. His, his behavior had become strange. Right. He’d lost 20 pounds, and that immediately Piqued my interest because the photo you showed of my wife, that’s not my wife.

[00:36:53] Clip: She lost 20 pounds during the exact same time, and that’s what kind of piqued my interest and got me going down the rabbit hole of what’s going on here. And the more I read the transcripts of these other cases, the more it sounded like what I had been told about my wife’s chats.

[00:37:10] Chalene Johnson : I think this is an interesting story, and I think it’s important for us all to remember these tools come with consequences.

[00:37:16] Chalene Johnson : They come with important guardrails that we need to have in place, and every single one of them, some more than others, they just, they gas you up. You know, they tell you, “That’s a really good question. Good catch.” I love it when you realize it’s made a major mistake and you’re like, “Wait, this is really outdated.”

[00:37:35] Chalene Johnson : And it’s like, “Yeah, good catch.” And then it reprimands itself. It’s like, “I gave you an answer without checking further, and now you’ve booked your flight on the wrong day. I apologize. What I should have done is checked your calendar.” You’re like, “Ugh. Okay. Thank you for taking responsibility. Thank you for saying you’re sorry, but, like, do better But they are absolutely, they are designed to flatter you, to make you stay on longer, for you to feel good about your interaction.

[00:38:07] Chalene Johnson : So keep that in mind. I have a acquaintance I know who was going through a divorce. When we talked about the divorce, he told me, he’s like, “Chalene, I can show you pages and pages and pages I’ve printed from my conversations with ChatGPT confirming that my ex is a narcissist.” And I’m like, “I don’t know that that’s where you should be.”

[00:38:33] Chalene Johnson : Like, so what? You’re, you’re telling your chat about interactions with your wife, which is your side of the story, and like, well, yeah, of course ChatGPT is gonna agree with you, take your side. Obviously, I’m grateful that this friend of mine didn’t stay on OpenAI long enough to have OpenAI suggest a plan to poison his wife.

[00:38:55] Chalene Johnson : I mean, these stories are, they’re not terribly uncommon. I mean, we’re hearing more and more of them. And will they fix these problems in the models? Probably, but who knows? Remember, the goal is always to keep us on longer, whether it’s AI or any social media platform. They want to steal our attention. Do you think we’ll ever completely revert, like the younger generation will be, just be like rebel against everything online and go back?

[00:39:24] Chalene Johnson : Have you heard about these new clubs that have started in different cities where you… It’s basically like a no cell phone, no digital device kind of club. Isn’t that crazy to think that like we actually need a club where the rules are you cannot bring your phone? And I’m gonna be honest and tell you, I don’t know that I’d wanna join because I don’t know if I could do it.

[00:39:47] Chalene Johnson : I mean, I don’t know if I could be forced to do it. What if people are really boring? What do you do when you’re standing in an elevator? What do you do when you just have to sit there and wait and you don’t have your phone? It’s pathetic, I know. I know. At least I’m admitting to it. Have you heard about the Skims, as in Kim Kardashian, advent calendar debacle?

[00:40:10] Chalene Johnson : Okay, so first of all, when did advent calendars become all of the freaking rage? I don’t get ’em. I’m not interested. I don’t want one. Don’t buy me one. I’m not gonna buy one myself. They just seem like the ultimate consumerism joke is on us. So an advent calendar, in case you’re living under a rock, is basically a company will market to their customers a box or, like, little baggies, and you open up one present or one little box per day for the month of December.

[00:40:46] Chalene Johnson : Well, hello, we’re not even in December, so why is everybody opening up their advent calendars, huh? Why? Well, they’re all the rage. And so Skims did one last year that was $500. These aren’t cheap. Some of them are really expensive. And in the Skims advent calendar last year, each and every day was a different pair of underwear Okay, so $500.

[00:41:09] Chalene Johnson : At first I was like, boy, that’s crazy expensive underwear. But it’s really not. It’s 30 pair of underwear, so it’s like $16 per Skims underwear. Not that crazy. This year, Skims releases their advent calendar, and it’s supposed to be little accessories. Now, influencers, they’ll order these advent calendars and then they do an unboxing, and they show you what every single day is.

[00:41:34] Chalene Johnson : So I don’t know where the surprise is, but they’ll do that because then you’re like, “Oh, I wanna buy that,” and then of course that influencer gets a percentage of the sale, the, right, the affiliate sale. So this one mega influencer creates an unboxing video of the Skims advent calendar for 2026, right? This year they wanted to make it more affordable ’cause people complained, as you would think that they would, last year, like, “Wait, $500 for an advent calendar?

[00:42:02] Chalene Johnson : Are you joking?” So this year they offered it at $150. Okay. She starts off her video by saying that the box was $150 and that based on her math, that means that each and every item should be at, worth at least $12. I’m like, I mean, I’m not great at math, but that’s not accurate. And Brett’s not in the room right now, so I can’t confirm this with him, but, like, ask your AI.

[00:42:30] Chalene Johnson : Isn’t 150 divided by 30, isn’t that $5? So doesn’t that mean that each little gift should be worth at least $5? Am I wrong? Okay, wait, I just watched a bunch of videos, and apparently the advent calendar is only 12 days. And then I realized most advent calendars are 24 or 25 days, meaning, like, you’re counting down from December 1st to Christmas Day.

[00:42:53] Chalene Johnson : And then apparently it’s the brands that went to a 12-day advent calendar, so it’s like a kind of a play on the 12 days of Christmas because then they could sell something for more but put less in it. Okay, so anyways, last year Skims does the… Apparently it was 12 days of Christmas, so those were pretty pricey in terms of thongs.

[00:43:14] Chalene Johnson : I guess that makes them, like, what? Like 26 bucks, maybe more. 28 bucks. Wait, I’m not a mathematician over here. Who cares? On to this year. This year it’s $150, and this influencer, she is, does an unboxing, and her video currently has 22 million views on it. Why, you might ask? Well, because as she’s opening up this box, she’s having a, a real reaction.

[00:43:38] Chalene Johnson : Like, it, you know, advent calendars, when you open the box- Well, you can tell it’s been opened, so she didn’t look at the things in advance. She just filmed herself as, herself as she’s opening them, and it’s the kind of crap you would find in the bottom of your purse. It’s like, I swear to God I am not making this up Three bobby pins, three hair ties, like a super cheap-looking stuffed tiny little teddy bear, a plaid teddy bear that’s supposed to be a keychain but it looks, like, so dumb and so cheap, and then, like, an oversized comb.

[00:44:12] Chalene Johnson : Those hair ties that kind of look like a scrunchie, but they’re, like, small. Two random bra straps, like, just extra bra straps. Like, what are you attaching those to? And all these key chains, and she’s opening it up, and you can see she’s just like, “What is this? Did someone just clean out their junk drawer?”

[00:44:32] Chalene Johnson : And it went viral, and everybody else was making their own unboxing videos. Like, I watched this one chick. She was like, “I was gonna buy the Skims advent calendar. I thought it would be cute. I work in a hair salon. I’m the owner of a hair salon. I thought I would buy it for all the girls in the salon.”

[00:44:46] Chalene Johnson : She’s like, “Thank God I opened this thing before I bought it for everybody else. This is embarrassing. These things are so dumb.” And how did Skims reply? How did they respond? Well, as you might expect, AI has created a video that’s supposed to be Kim issuing a statement addressing the whole advent calendar thing, which is crazy because it isn’t Kim.

[00:45:10] Chalene Johnson : Kim has not publicly made a statement. She hasn’t made a video, and then people are stitching the AI video and criticizing the way that she responded, but it’s not even her. It’s AI. You guys, what are we gonna do? I mean, AI is, it’s making us crazy. So anyways, the statement, I was gonna use it here on the show, and then I discovered, oh, wait, this is AI.

[00:45:35] Chalene Johnson : Can’t use that. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that Skims the company has responded, and guess what they’ve done? They’ve said, “If you send the calendar back, we will fully refund your money.” Okay, that’s good. Or they said, “We will issue to you a $150 store credit,” which if you think about it, is really kind of just, okay, well, now this is just a gift with purchase.

[00:46:03] Chalene Johnson : Most of the influencers who opened their advent calendars said it’s not even, like, $12 worth of product, even if you’re, like, paying retail for it. Like, it’s that bad. So bad. I can see why Kim is staying above it. Is this gonna damage the Skims brand at all? No. If anything, what’s gonna happen next year is their advent calendar is going to be so good.

[00:46:29] Chalene Johnson : Mark my words. They’re gonna take a hit next year to come back hard from this year’s debacle, but it hasn’t damaged their brand. Like, they just got millions and millions of dollars worth of people talking about the brand, and that’s worth something. By the way, update on the Jensen Huang story. So many of you were like, “Why do you keep flip-flopping back and forth with the pronunciation?”

[00:46:56] Chalene Johnson : I know. I’m so sorry. I did not mean to. It’s Jensen Huang, like, as in he’s wrong, rhymes with wrong, rhymes with song. Okay. So he did resign. He resigned from Nvidia today. I’m recording this on November 12th. So they have a new interim CEO that is Colette Kress. There’s also been more alleged affairs that have surfaced.

[00:47:23] Chalene Johnson : One of them, one of them is with Nvidia’s healthcare executive. Her name is Kimberly Powell. Like, they have the names, and Reuters is now reporting that another employee has come forward and said that she was also having an affair with Jensen. I mean, it seems as though ladies just could not resist. I bet you a million bucks now I’m thinking we’re gonna hear about other affairs.

[00:47:47] Chalene Johnson : When I recorded Wednesday’s episode, at the time, we didn’t know about these other affairs yet. I think, like, just a couple of hours later we did, but I took a position of like, guy’s a family man. He’s up against a country that’s put this little sex kitten in front of him who’s preying on all of his insecurities.

[00:48:09] Chalene Johnson : Yes, the man cheated, but, I mean, what would you expect him to do? He’s a man. You know, he was definitely wrong for doing it, but Did he ever stand a chance? I actually think I said, “Did he ever stand a chance?” Well, I’d like to retract those statements because this is one of the reasons why I probably shouldn’t cover stories the minute they come out, because you really don’t know until we know, and now we know a lot more.

[00:48:35] Chalene Johnson : And are you kidding me? This guy was a, he was a serial cheater. I mean, this is his pattern, and some of these things were at Nvidia. So, I don’t know, it just makes me wonder, like, how many people at Nvidia were surprised. P- like, people gossip as it is. How many people actually knew? And were people selling the stock before this was all announced?

[00:49:00] Chalene Johnson : Like, ’cause there’s gonna be major fallout with, like, insider trading and stuff like that. But the stock is starting to climb back up, and it’ll be interesting to see what happens. So he resigned, and he is gonna have to testify, I believe. But because so much of this revolves around national security, I’m sure it’s all gonna be private.

[00:49:21] Chalene Johnson : So the guy rides off into the sunset as a trillionaire. And I stand by what I said in Wednesday’s episode. This is devastating for his wife, absolutely devastating. I’m sure she could go public and absolutely destroy him, but she is a classy lady and she has two grown children, so she probably won’t do that.

[00:49:42] Chalene Johnson : But it is sad. It really is sad. I know these are very, very wealthy people, but being a multi-trillionaire doesn’t make you exempt from depression, anxiety. I mean, these kinds of things are devastating to go through privately. Can you imagine the whole entire world talking about the worst day, possibly the worst day of her life?

[00:50:11] Chalene Johnson : Him, I don’t care about him. This guy, he basically took a grenade, pulled the pin, and then let his wife, his kids, his employees, the shareholders, and all of the AI bros left to absorb the blast. I mean, he built an empire for 33 years and th- and then he makes these kinds of choices to put everything and everyone around him at risk?

[00:50:38] Chalene Johnson : It’s one thing to destroy your own life, but to destroy all these other people’s lives. His wife didn’t cheat, his kids didn’t cheat, his employees didn’t cheat, but somehow they all are gonna have to pay the price for his decisions, and that’s really sad. What a loser. Loser. Anyways, that’s how I feel about that.

[00:51:00] Chalene Johnson : I would love to invite you to become a member of Patreon. If you don’t love it, you can cancel. At this moment, this show ends, and you’re still looking for something to, to listen to to keep you company. I got you. Head over to chalene.com/more and join us on Patreon. Thank you so much for listening to this edition of The Chalene Show.

[00:51:21] Chalene Johnson : I love you, I mean it, and I’ll talk to you soon.