- Our first guest, oh my gosh, is an activist,
a philanthropist and the author of a new book
that exploded in popularity the day it came out.
Okay, this is my copy.
It's been on the New York Times bestseller list
for 31 weeks in a row.
And some of its devoted fans are people
you may have heard of like Reese Witherspoon,
and Kristen Bell, oh, Chelsea Handler, Mandy Moore.
And the book is called "Untamed."
And I actually found out about it
because I was looking at Adele's Instagram
and the way that she worded it,
I knew that I had to run out that day to the bookstore
and buy it and start reading it.
So I am honored to say that the author is here,
please welcome Glennon Doyle.
(audience applauds)
- Hello, hi Drew, how are you?
- I feel like I'm meeting with the mind
and heart that has created this incredible movement.
And you are striking a chord
with people that is really large, unusual, important,
it's a wave, we're all getting incredibly swept up in it.
But, when things are so popular and zeitgeisty
and collective experience,
I either want it to have a ton of humor because I need that,
which your book does, you're so witty,
but I want it to have depth and meaning.
And this is so incredible.
You are changing people's lives.
I mean, Adele literally said, "I'm living a new life
after I've read this book."
Why did you write this book?
- Well, Drew, I found myself in kind of
a busted-up marriage to a good man,
which is a hard place to be
because women are supposed to be grateful for what we have.
And, in the midst of all of that,
of tryin' to heal the marriage,
I fell madly in love with a woman.
And when I saw her, this self rose up in me
that I recognized as the self I was
before the world told me who to be.
And it really felt like a life-or-death situation.
Am I gonna honor this self and really rock the boat?
Or am I gonna abandon myself again?
And instead I decided to abandon
everyone else's expectations of me
and to follow that love with Abby.
And what I found Drew is that sometimes
we have to go outside of the world's expectations
and ideals for us, to find a love and a family
and a faith and a nation and a world
that doesn't require us to abandon ourselves anymore.
And a revolution happens
when women stop abandoning themselves.
- I mean, this is what my copy of the book looks like.
I don't know if you can see that,
but every single line is almost annotated on a page.
There are phrases and sentences that you say,
and we're filming a time-management segment,
and there was this amazing book, "I Know How She Does It,"
where she breaks down
the time in life to an Excel spreadsheet.
And there was so much less time in life
than I would have guessed as a Pisces,
who has no concept of numbers and time.
- Me too. - Are you a Pisces?
- Yes, yes.
I think in colors.
- Oh, okay, this explains a lot.
We need guides, when books become really important
and they become a movement,
it's because they are speaking about what and how to do.
The what is something we all grapple with.
The how is something we all need.
And your book is about the how
and I must say that the relevancy of this year
and the understanding of
we have finite time here on this Earth.
We are trapped by societal boxes we are supposed to check
and the guilt of not following them.
And what does that do?
Does that have us live a life for someone or something else?
And your book, I've never read anything quite like it,
where it explains how to be aware of that,
which we are all fighting inside.
It's like you found our inner voices
and given them a megaphone.
That's what reading your book feels like.
But then it has the how, it has action.
But I feel like the person
that's screaming inside of all of us
reads this book and goes, "Oh my gosh,
there is so much value in asking ourselves,
what is the true life we want to live?
And how do we go about doing that?"
Did you intend to do that when you were writing it?
- I was trying to give voice and life
to the self inside that felt trapped beneath the ideals
and expectations that we have for women.
And I think I started recovering that self in sobriety.
You know, I think it started for me
when I got sober at 25 years old.
And I sat down next to a woman at a recovery meeting,
and I said, "Life is so hard.
And I feel like everyone else has some sort of secret
to being human that I don't have,
because it feels so much harder for me
than it looks for everyone else."
She said, "The secret of life
is not that it feels hard for you
because you're doing it wrong, it feels hard
because you're finally doing it right."
That being human is hard
and sitting with uncomfortable feelings
and not numbing them is hard.
- That's one of the things in your book
that means so much to me is you're speaking of,
and if you're in cognitive therapy
or anyone who embraces, embracing the pain
and the discomfort because we are all doing everything,
whether it's on our phone, or having a drink,
or eating food, or talking even to someone just about it,
but not really getting to the bottom of it,
we are all desperate to avoid the pain and discomfort.
And the way that you help us get excited about it
is so actionable.
And you've gotten sober.
You found a whole new life path.
I find that if you are talking about big ticket items,
this is the book for you.
If you are talking about small changes,
this is the book for you.
If you are talking about how to get in touch with your truth
and your inner voice, this is the book for you.
I mean, you are setting people free
and I can't thank you enough
for my experience with this book.
And it's so personal.
And by the way, you are the best, funniest,
wittiest writer ever.
You deserve awards everywhere for your style of writing
and your wording.
It has poetry.
It's sexy.
It's liberating.
You are just my hero.
And I can't believe I actually got to talk to you.
And I have all of my friends texting me,
jealous that I'm getting to talk to you.
So thank you, Glennon Doyle.
"Untamed," the New York Times bestselling book,
the liberation, the beauty, the poetry.
Thank you so much Glennon for coming on this show
- Drew, thank you.
And I just wanna say one thing to you.
You and your team are doing
such a beautiful job with this show.
My favorite art is art that is particular to the artist
and it's also about all of us.
And that's what you are doing with this show.
It feels like it's about all of us every single day.
I know it's not easy, keep going.
You are doing it sister, you are doing it.
- I trust in you.
Thank you for telling me that, I will carry that with me.
And that's exactly what I want people to do with the show.
Carry with you, the humor, the heart, all of it.
You are humor and heart Glennon Doyle.
I can't believe I got to meet you.
(upbeat music)