00:00 Do you feel hopeful with your parents' case,
00:02 especially now that their sentence
00:04 has been reduced slightly?
00:06 - Yes, so their sentence,
00:08 what a lot of people don't necessarily understand
00:11 with their sentences being reduced,
00:12 dad's was reduced by two years, mom's like 18 months,
00:17 and that was all due to the First Step Act.
00:20 And the First Step Act was actually introduced
00:23 under the Trump administration,
00:24 and it was to give incarcerated individuals a second chance.
00:29 So there are classes that you can take
00:30 while you're in prison,
00:31 and you can do all of these different things
00:35 to help better yourself to enter back into society.
00:38 And so that's what that was,
00:41 was just the classes that they're taking
00:42 to reduce their sentence.
00:44 And so that has helped drastically,
00:46 but there's also huge reform things
00:48 that are coming down the pipeline,
00:50 which is a huge two-point reduction
00:52 that in February will come into effect,
00:54 which could very easily reduce their sentences
00:57 by a few years each.
01:00 So it just depends on how it works out,
01:02 but obviously we have an open appeal
01:04 that we're waiting to see what happens with.
01:06 - I was gonna ask what the status was with the appeals.
01:08 - Yeah, so it's all been filed,
01:11 and now we just sit and wait.
01:13 And we have asked for oral arguments.
01:16 The government obviously has said
01:18 we don't want oral arguments,
01:20 which that's now for an appeals court to rule on.
01:24 So there's a lot of different things in play
01:26 that we just now sit and wait.
01:28 - How often are you able to speak to your parents
01:32 and see that?
01:32 - Yeah, so I speak to them multiple times a day.
01:35 Like, they'll call me, and then I see 'em every weekend.
01:39 So there has not been a weekend,
01:40 other than like two or three weekends
01:42 to where I've been working,
01:43 that I have not seen one of them.
01:45 So I go back and forth,
01:47 which is also not a sustainable lifestyle
01:51 to just be playing ping pong between Florida and Kentucky.
01:56 But I do it, and it's so great seeing them
01:59 because I get to hug on them, love on them.
02:02 Like, we get to catch up on all the things.
02:04 - You said your dad's sporting a new look.
02:06 - Oh yes.
02:07 Dad, you know, dad is just, he's such a champ.
02:10 And I like to say, like, where he's at,
02:13 I mean, he has a great barber,
02:15 and he is hot as all get out.
02:17 He takes it in strides.
02:18 Like, he's like, I'm gonna do the best that I can,
02:21 but also this experience.
02:23 It's like, if we can take this
02:24 and make a difference in other people's lives,
02:26 then that's what we're willing to do.
02:28 I mean, I just got an email last night
02:31 from another man's son that's in there with dad
02:34 talking about the mistreatment of him.
02:36 And he was like,
02:36 "Can you please help me do something about this?"
02:39 And I look at our whole situation,
02:40 I'm like, that's why this is happening.
02:42 Like, this is happening so we can make a difference
02:45 in millions of lives.
02:46 Even if it makes hours harder along the way,
02:49 you have these men, also women where my mom's at,
02:52 where you have no air conditioning,
02:54 it can be 115 degrees inside,
02:57 you're padlocking ice machines,
02:59 you're not giving proper medical care,
03:01 and they're doing nothing about it.
03:03 And that's the hard part is I've spoken out about it,
03:06 and obviously there's been some retaliation here and there
03:09 between mom and dad, which is really sad
03:12 because it's just like, let's speak out about the truth.
03:15 Let's change these people's lives.
03:17 - It's so admirable too,
03:18 because you could take one of two approaches.
03:20 You could just be like, I am going in a corner,
03:22 I don't wanna talk to anybody, but you're not.
03:24 You're using this platform to now help others
03:27 who are going through tough times.
03:29 - I've had a lot of people come at me and say,
03:31 oh, well, like, you never cared about prison reform
03:34 before this whole thing happened, and it's just life.
03:38 We don't care about anything, really,
03:39 until it affects us personally.
03:41 And then when it affects us personally,
03:43 we're like, oh, I had no idea
03:46 that these things were happening.
03:47 And now I'm in a place to where I see people
03:49 being mistreated, and I see it on a daily basis
03:52 in my parents and all these people involved,
03:54 and I'm like, all right, I have a platform,
03:56 and now that I know better,
03:58 it's my responsibility to do better.
04:00 - And also, you're 26 years old.
04:03 That's what strikes me the most, is you are 26 years old,
04:06 you're so young, you are having to step up in a way
04:09 that most 26-year-olds don't ever see in their lifetime.
04:12 Do you feel like you have the weight of the world
04:14 on your shoulders?
04:15 - You know, I feel like God never gives you more
04:18 than you can bear, and I feel like
04:21 what is happening right now is exactly what I needed
04:24 to not be this spoiled, entitled whatever,
04:29 because what's happening now is
04:31 it's testing who I am as a person.
04:33 It took away a lot of things.
04:35 I mean, for about a year,
04:38 anything work-wise disappeared.
04:41 Meanwhile, the public has been grabbing on
04:44 to every little thing, and they're like,
04:46 we wanna see it, we wanna see it,
04:48 and that's where we partnered with Scout Productions,
04:51 which we're doing a whole new show
04:52 just about everything happening.
04:54 It's definitely tested me, but helping to be,
04:58 I like to call it a bonus parent for my siblings.
05:01 It's been the hardest but most rewarding job
05:04 I will ever have.
05:05 - Of course there's a grieving process in the sense,
05:08 losing your parents to prison.
05:10 There's the anger, the sadness,
05:12 but I feel like you're on the other side,
05:14 closer to that side. - For sure.
05:15 I'm definitely, I think the hardest part
05:18 was the first holiday with them leaving.
05:21 It was Grayson's birthday, Chloe's first day of school.
05:26 All the firsts that happen, it's still a grieving process.
05:30 Whether they're passed away or not,
05:32 they're still not there.
05:34 We're kind of in the groove of things,
05:36 and luckily kids have a way of turning pain into humor.
05:41 I mean, Chloe, poor kid.
05:43 I'm like, she has gone through so much,
05:45 so many traumatic experiences in her life,
05:48 but she got in trouble at school because she was talking.
05:51 And the teacher was like, "If you keep talking,
05:54 "I'm gonna have to email your parents."
05:56 And Chloe comes home and she goes,
05:59 "I thought to myself, go ahead and email them.
06:02 "Good luck getting a response."
06:04 - Oh my gosh. - And I died,
06:06 because I was like, that just goes to show
06:08 how kids turn pain into humor. - And they adapt.
06:12 - I made a big drop, hope you prepare for this.
06:14 (dramatic music)
06:17 - What have you learned about yourself on this show?
06:23 Because you are put through it mentally,
06:26 physically, emotionally, all of it.
06:29 - I thought I would be like a rockstar
06:32 at something like this, but then when the emotions set in,
06:35 and I remember sitting there and I was like,
06:38 for once in my life, I love two people
06:41 more than I love myself, which is Chloe and Grayson.
06:45 And being away from them for so long,
06:47 it was completely ripping me apart.
06:50 I was like, I was not prepared for this,
06:52 to feel what I was feeling.
06:54 So it was a tough challenge.
06:56 It was more of a mental challenge than physical, for sure.
06:59 - And in those moments, I imagine having a cast
07:02 that you grow close with served as a huge help.
07:07 I see you on social media with Kelly Rizzo now.
07:10 - Yes, I would say the closest friendships that I made
07:13 were definitely JoJo, Kelly, Robert Ory,
07:17 I will say forever.
07:18 I have so much love and respect for him.
07:20 He's like the Jolly Green Giant.
07:23 The sweetest, our beds were next to each other,
07:26 so we laid in bed at night after the lights went off
07:29 and talked and had deep, heartfelt conversations.
07:32 And then Brian Austin Green, just an angel.
07:37 And we had some, even off camera,
07:39 he and I had some tough conversations
07:42 of just like disagreeing,
07:44 but understanding where each other was coming from.
07:46 And it just made me realize that as a society,
07:49 that's where we all need to get to,
07:51 that we can have productive conversations
07:54 while believing in our own values and beliefs.
07:56 It was just an awesome overall experience.
07:59 (upbeat music)
08:01 (upbeat music)
08:04 (upbeat music)
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