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[0:12] Robert Bannon: It's the round table with me, Robert Bannon. Well, as we celebrate pride and we continue talking about art and what creates great art, I watched a documentary the other day that had me boo boohoo tears. Listen, if I had a job, I'm from Jersey. So if this state, if we had a dollar for every time we listen to our next guest music, I'd be retired on a beach somewhere. I don't know, 400, 500 million records, a brand new autobiography that's out, the soundtrack to all of our lives, and maybe we'll find out what FINE find really means. Let's go. Desmond Child is here.

[0:46] Desmond Child: Hey.

[0:50] Robert Bannon: I think I have an idea what it means. Um, but I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you for being here. And you're such an inspiration. Your music is everything.

[0:58] Desmond Child: Oh, thank you for saying so.

[1:01] Robert Bannon: So before we get started and talk about the music, you have the most beautiful family.

[1:07] Desmond Child: Aw, thank you for saying that.

[1:09] Robert Bannon: You're they are beautiful. That's true. You you have a uh a wonderful husband, you have two beautiful boys, and you documented this journey, and everybody can check it out and watch it. What was the decision to make this journey public?

[1:25] Desmond Child: Well, actually, somebody, it was actually Gene Simmons, who I had run into at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Um, they have a fountain bar downstairs in the basement. And it was like a very strange um moment because there was no one there, and I was just sitting there by myself and I was reading the New York Times, and all of a sudden I felt the strange feeling on my hips, you know, like like all of a sudden somebody was grabbing me. And Gene Simmons had seen me there, and I was immersed in the paper, and he had crawled on the floor under the fountain, came underneath my chair and grabbed my butt.

[1:40] Robert Bannon: Okay.

[1:40] Desmond Child: And it was like, what? And it was like him, right? And so he sat next to me and we talked, and he said, you know, something about, you know, you really should get um, you know, do what I did. He did a uh a show called Family Jewels, right? And in that show, you know, it lasted for seven seasons. It was like an amazing show. And he said, you should do that with your family. And so we had just moved to Nashville, and we thought, wow, maybe we should do something sort of like, you know, like a gay green acres kind of thing. You know, we and and we sort of um we got a deal at Fox, and then we started um you know, I gotta show you the the poster for it.

[3:00] Robert Bannon: Yeah.

[3:01] Desmond Child: Oh my gosh, you really did have you really did have the show. How and look at Angela, our surrogate mom, she's looking like Sophia Vergara, right?

[3:13] Robert Bannon: She does.

[3:14] Desmond Child: She does. And there's Juan, our chef, and there's my Bentley behind uh us, and then the shack we still live in, you know, you know, because basically like it's like Green Acres, it's like Curtis is like from Missouri, you know, from Columbia, Missouri. And I I mean, I grew up on Miami Beach, which is I may as well have grown up on Long Island, right? Um, or New York City. Uh, and so we got a deal at Fox, and then we started filming the this, you know, reality show. And I could see it was really, you know, wearing and tearing on our family. You know, the kids didn't really want to do it, uh, but they were good sports. And um, you know, we we did a pilot and it was hilarious, really. And uh we went to have dinner at these very, you know, kind of like right wing Republican um soccer family that that we knew from the travel soccer, and um, you know, uh, you know, it was like everything went like completely wrong, and I said all the wrong things. I mean, it was really funny, but in the end, we didn't get picked up because it was maybe too too too soon, right? For something like that.

[4:39] Desmond Child: And um, so what we did was we said, well, why don't we do something that we control? And then we we met Heather Winters, uh, our director, and she had been the executive producer of Super Size Me, one of the most um successful documentaries, and we began a very long journey with her, and we gathered together kind of all the footage that we had, home footage, and then we did interviews where we told our story. And it's funny because it looks like we don't we go from party to party because that's the only time the camera was out. So it looks like these people don't do anything but party, right? But uh one of the wonderful things that we had, we had filmed the birth of our sons, and it was at Mount Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach. And you know, we had difficulties even, you know, leaving the hospital because they weren't used to letting fathers leave the hospital with the children because they assumed that fathers wouldn't know how to take care of a baby.

[5:49] Desmond Child: So we had to go and get a court order to let us leave the hospital. And Elizabeth Schwartz, this fantastic lawyer that was responsible for so much uh legislation that helped gay families. For instance, our birth certificate of our sons didn't have a place for Curtis to put his name. So now, because of her efforts, it says parent one, parent two. And it's not doesn't say mother-father. And so what we ended up having to do was move to California for two years in order to get our um uh Curtis to be a legal, you know, parent. And he he had to adopt our kids. And it was like the strangest like moment because they made us, you know, have these like social workers come and look through our drawers and you know, these you know, inspections to make sure that, you know, I don't know what.

I mean, do they do that to to straight couples that have like guns? I mean, you know, thankfully there were no, you know, sex toys in the drawers or whatever. We we we didn't need them then you make yeah so so anyway uh when they were two and a half years old we had a beautiful uh ceremony where we went and the judge officially you know made Curtis um co-parent and all of that and you know it was very meaningful to us you know we it's in the movie we tried to go to get married and um we we got there the day that they stopped gay marriages and got and it was mayor gavin Newsom of San Francisco who then received us in his office and apologized for the fact that you know it had been canceled that day and we had arrived in a in a white limousine all dressed in white our sons were dressed in little little white suits we were we were all ready to be married and it was so disappointing um but you know we've gone through it and um, you know, thank god our sons just turned 22 they just graduated from NYU and uh they've decided to become lawyers so you know I hope they get into you know social justice and those kinds of things right too they're 22 I just saw the documentary they're babies.

[7:12] Robert Bannon: I know, I know and so we're you know they're home now because uh they just graduated for this week and it's so wonderful to have them you know in the house you know nothing but urban rap music going on night and day thump thump thump you know earplugs in to try to sleep but grateful that they are there and they're safe and you know they've turned into wonderful exemplary young men.

[7:12] Desmond Child: What a beautiful... I'm getting married next year, and my partner and I are getting married next year. My friends who are in California went through the foster-to-adoption process. They went through years to try to legally adopt their foster children. The work that you've done in putting this publicly, people don't understand the struggle in 2024 in this country for same-sex couples to still adopt or have children. And now this whole movement to prevent IVF from happening, which really affects straight couples more than gay couples, but they really don't want us to have families. Our sons were... we had an egg donor, and then we had a friend of ours carry the embryos. It was because of the miracle of in vitro fertilization that we were able to start our family, and that was, you know, 22 years ago.

The thing is, it's like they don't want abortion because they don't want to kill embryos, but they also don't want us to start embryos either, right? So like, which way do you want it, right? You know, and it's really targeted at us because, you know, they don't want us. I guess they think we're, you know, like having children and they're all turning into like, you know, contestants for, you know, the RuPaul's, you know, and it's like our sons, you know, could not be more jocks.

[10:37] Desmond Child: I don't know how how that happened. I mean, we took them to every Broadway show, starting with you know, Billy Elliott, you know, in London. We we dressed them up in matching outfits with kooky hats. We went to every museum, we took them to Paris, and they are only interested in football, soccer, and basketball and hockey. They both have like amazing, gorgeous girlfriends. Now, they heard the word gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay, gay every day of their growing up lives. And saying gay did not turn them gay. So that is proof that you're born this way or you're not born that way. You know, that's that's I mean, it's just so ridiculous. And just this trend of hatred, you know, that you know, this I don't understand it.

It doesn't make any sense. And you know, now that they had success, you know, knocking down Roe versus Quade, they're gonna come after us next. They are, you know, I mean, Alito has said it, you know, he's against gay marriage. So if they can do it to that, they can rescind our marriages, and you know, it's like we're you know honest tax paying citizens, and we've you know, we we've done so many things to help our communities, and you know, I can't understand, you know, why they would come after us. Like we like we don't deserve that. Right. We we contribute so much to the world, and you know, my husband in particular, in per particularly, my husband Curtis, he's like the community, you know, wellspring of joy and happiness, and we do benefits.

We're doing a Del Shores benefit, you know, next month, I think it's June 2nd at our home. And we're like um, you know, constantly doing things for you know, teens get uh LGBT teens at risk. We also work with Thistle Farms, which is not particularly LGBT. It's it's women that are in danger coming out of uh you know drug abuse or or prison or um you know human trafficking or um you know family abuse, violence, and they formed a beautiful organization called Thistle Farms, and uh our Reverend Becca Stevens, she runs it, and they have such an amazing um success rate. So we always contributing and always you know being a part of that that community as well. So like what else do you want from us?

I I don't know. We're not taking anything away from anyone. And our sons went to school at high school at at Endsworth here in Nashville, and we never heard one thing negative towards, they never heard anything negative towards them or towards us. And you know, that school is mixed. You know, it has Republicans and Democrats, and and it's a beautiful community where people can talk about things and and not live in a world of hatred. So, you know, I'm very concerned about this, you know, drift towards handmaid's tale.

[14:19] Robert Bannon: Me too. You know, where I heard that some somebody, you know, a legislator in Texas is talking about, well, they should stop people at the border and do um pregnancy tests for of any woman trying to leave the state.

[14:35] Desmond Child: Now, is that really practical? But I mean, imagine the long lines to get out of the state. And then what do you do? Aren't you gonna prove that that person was off to get an abortion? Maybe they were off to grandma's in Arkansas just to see grandma and then come back and have the baby. You know, it's like it's so the thoughts that these people have are diabolical.

[15:02] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[15:03] Desmond Child: And it's men, straight men that come up with this shit. So I mean, I can go on and on about it, but I'm very, very um, very concerned about it, you know, because I don't want to live in that kind of world.

[15:18] Robert Bannon: Me either.

[15:19] Desmond Child: And I mean, I grew up in the 60s, you know, I was going to peace rallies with flowers in my hair, you know. I thought that by now the world would be all just multicolored and a melting pot, and everybody would be happy and we'd have, you know, gotten over our civil rights problems and human rights problems, and we'd live in this paradise.

[15:44] Robert Bannon: And it seems like we're back to the what you know, what they're calling the unified Reich.

[15:52] Desmond Child: Yeah. You know, it's like, really? Have you seen any Holocaust movies?

[15:57] Robert Bannon: Mm-hmm.

[15:59] Desmond Child: Yes. Is that okay? Is that okay with you guys? I mean, we saw one called We Were The Lucky Ones that just came out on Netflix. And oh my God, it's about a family in Poland. They all got separated. And you know, all the tortuous, difficult things that happened to this, you know, beautiful Jewish family. And luckily, they found each other at the end. It just brings you to tears, but there's so many where they don't find each other. And I would just so hate for that to be our future. And I just don't see how, you know, when I hear that, you know, the African American community and the Latino community are trending towards the right. It's like, wait a second, you've been called vermin. You've been told that you are going to poison the blood of our country.

You know, like echoes of Mussolini and Hitler. You've been told all these things. And you're still trending towards the right. To what end? To maybe have your taxes be less by what? 5%? You would sell out your country and your freedom?

[17:20] Desmond Child: Look, I came from two parents, one from Cuba, which was a country that was, you know, very influenced by the Soviet Union and you know, supported by, and you know, that that country has not been free, you know, since you know 1959, you know, truly free and you know my father came from Hungary and you know he was in World War II he you know escaped he lived in Venezuela and and Puerto Rico he let he met my mother in Venezuela and and you know that was a country that up until I don't know how long ago um maybe a few decades ago the the Iron Curtain was still up and Hungary was totally controlled by the Soviet Union and honestly it was like an empire of evil and you know and you know I had thought that they had kind of broken free you know when the wall came down that they had broken free from all that but not so fast you know not so fast it seems like human beings tend to want us you know a strong man at the helm and in our country you know because we have the ability to change leaders every four years you know it you know the the strong men don't have if there's democracy time to really put in deep roots in those directions but now we're talking about you know being indefinite and um you know our parents my parents suffered so much from countries that were not free and so I was taught early on to to really cherish freedom.

[19:21] Robert Bannon: Why would we want to lose that in any shape or form? If we have disagreements, hey, let's vote for or against it. You know, and and agree to disagree or whatever. But I'm like, I don't get it. I'm like, I'm like everybody else I know. It's like, what do we do?

[19:48] Desmond Child: I don't either. You know, yeah. You talk, you talk about voting, please vote and vote and vote and vote. Um, your story is so inspirational. You talk about your parents coming here and coming from Cuba, coming from from Europe. We all come from somewhere. Our families are all immigrated here from somewhere. We we gotta everyone needs to watch this while you're watching. Go to desmondchild.com because your book, which chronicles your growing up story, your your book, Livin' On A Prayer: Big Songs Big Life is out wherever books are sold. And if you go to DesmondChild.com, you can actually order a signed copy of the book. What was it like to uh to write and put all of these stories to paper and actually get it out and see it up on shelves in bookstores?

[20:30] Desmond Child: It's out right here. I haven't actually seen it up in a shelf in a bookstore. I think I might sneak into some bookstores and just like put in some copies, you know, up on a bookshelf in a in a store. Uh, you know, it's you, you know, people order the books and and all of that. And um, you know, it took seven years. I found the most uh extraordinary co-writer, uh, Mr. David Ritz, who's, you know, he's written over 60 something biographies of uh entertainers, musicians, and sports figures, um, you know, throughout his career. And he had written a book called Respect that was about Aretha Franklin. And they made an incredible movie with Jennifer Hudson based on his book. And I had read the review of the book in the New York Times, and I just got this feeling.

I said, this is the guy who should write the book with me. So I went to see him in his house in Hollywood. And, you know, he has a little guest house where his office is, and it's all full of books and chatcas, and it's amazing. It looks like a little thrift store. And so he's very special. He's, you know, shave balled and and he wears robes, like almost like he's a uh Tibetan monk. And then he has tattoos all over that are like like copies of Moreau paintings. Like he's so artsy, he's like a piece of art. And he's just the most wonderful person. And he was interviewing me as to whether I should I was worthy of you know spending all that time with. Not so much that I knew he was going to be good.

And um he asked me two questions and I started crying. You know, they were so, you know, he got like right in to to the core of who I am. And I said, yes, this is the guy I'm willing to tell everything to. So we spent seven years and we wrote in in New York and Nashville and Miami. We wrote in LA, we wrote um in Athens. We wrote in the little island of Philegandros, where we go every summer. And um it was extraordinary, an extraordinary journey, painful. It hurts to look back. I'm like a forward looking person. I am because my past, there was a lot of sad things. If I started thinking about it all too much, I don't know. I just would not be happy. So I thought, well, as soon as I get it out, then all will be well.

And I don't have to think about it anymore. I don't even have to remember it anymore. It's in the book. That's not how it works. Once you start stirring it up, more little details start coming out that can just like, you know, in one moment go through your mind and go, oh, oh, I'd forgotten about that. That hurts. You know, things that happened to me, and and also things I did that were not nice and and hurt other people because I didn't know any better. And it took me a long time to get my head together. I mean, it really did. I had so much injury as a child, you know, including, you know, sexual assaults and things that happened when we lived in the in the ghetto in the projects of Liberty City in Miami, where we, you know, I mean, that little how it was like these connected houses, you know, they were kind of two story apartment kind of things, two bedroom. Did you see a movie called Moonlight?

[24:30] Robert Bannon: Yes, I did.

[24:32] Desmond Child: Those were them. Okay. And when they showed that apartment where he lived with his mother, and I saw that staircase up, it was exactly like the apartment we lived in. Exactly. And you know, we always came in the back door and all that kind of stuff. And you know, it was very, very difficult. It was very scary. And, you know, you know, one of the good things though is that out in the back, there was kind of a big yard between the two set sets of rows of houses, and they had like this kind of wheel that on metal wheel that we would push and go around, and then they had some swing sets and stuff. And there was always some kid that had the radio on. And in those days in the 60s, there was only one station.

And that one station played every kind of music. So you'd hear Aretha Franklin, you'd hear Dion Warwick, you'd hear The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, the Everly Brothers. Uh and it was constantly rotating different styles of music. And we loved everything. So I think that uh exposure to different kinds of music was really um beneficial to me later on in my life when I was able to write with many artists of different genres. And um for me, it's all about story, and the style of music is always secondary. So, you know, the first album I bought was Dion Warwick's Um Greatest Hits.

[26:09] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[26:10] Desmond Child: So I was listening to that Burke Backrack and Hal David music, and with its like jazzy Brazilian feeling, and then the first single I bought was um Lulu singing To Sir With Love. That was my first single. And so I got to meet Lulu and I got to sing with her in London. And then I actually produced a song for her. It was the theme song for a movie called Oive, My Son is Gay. Yeah, I heard all about it. And my the song is called The Word is Love, which I co-wrote with Gary Go. And um, you know, it was just so wonderful. Like after my whole life had gone by to actually uh get to meet her, and she was so sweet. She brought me to her birthday party that Elton John had thrown in this kind of gentleman's club.

I mean, I know he spent a quarter of a million dollars on this party because the flower arrangements were like huge, and the the food was incredible, and everything about it was so exquisite, and it was like I got led into this very you know special world of the London scene and all of that. So, you know, it's funny how one song, you know, made me reach out to Lulu many years later, and we sang Angel Together in a special soiree that I threw at the Draycott Hotel. I rented a piano, and it was so cute because all during the day we were setting up for the party, and there was a guy kind of playing like cocktail music, and it's like, who's that guy? And he was one of the people that was staying in the hotel, Gary Oldman.

[27:57] Robert Bannon: Oh, and he stayed through the party and everything, just playing cocktail music, nobody even knew who he was. You know, I said, Well, I'm pretty cool, you know, that uh my my cocktail pianist is Gary Oldman. Well, what I a Lulu, uh, I grew up with Lulu Dion. I was gay from the go. That was it. That was it.

[28:17] Robert Bannon: When we can we take a moment, people, you all know every song that Desmond Child has put out. I mean, um, I'm in Jersey uh always, so of course, we you can't live without this album. Um it is eternal. It I don't know, a billion streams of you know, livin' on a prayer, and you and you give love a bad name. Also went a billion. You give love a bad name. I I personally I'm a faith, I uh faith is a good ass song, Desmond Child, and Bad Medicine, um, all of those songs. Bon Jovi's uh documentary is out. What do you think about him telling his story?

[28:53] Desmond Child: He's very honest about how I'm in the I'm in the documentary in episodes two and three. So I haven't I have to be honest, I haven't seen episode three and four yet. You know, I saw I saw, you know, like me being a lot in episode two, and I was like, okay, I'm done.

[29:10] Desmond Child: Because I know how the rest of the story goes, but actually, I really want to carve out the time and see it from beginning to end because, you know, I just adore Bon Jovi and the guys in the band, of course.

[29:27] Desmond Child: And um, you know, I owe them so much, you know, and especially John, and he's one of the godfathers of our sons.

[29:36] Desmond Child: So um, he's been a terrific godfather, and um, you know, he never forgets a birthday, you know, sent them gifts for their graduation last week, and you know, it's wonderful when your godfather is actually from New Jersey.

[29:53] Robert Bannon: Yeah, that's true.

[29:54] Desmond Child: Um, uh, I uh Tommy and Gina will live on forever, they'll be sung everywhere for the rest of time.

[30:01] Desmond Child: That music will be there.

[30:02] Robert Bannon: My favorite bands, Desmond.

[30:04] Robert Bannon: I am an Aerosmith Forever fan, forever and a day.

[30:08] Robert Bannon: Um, dude looks like a lady and crazy, like you just mentioned, or beautiful.

[30:12] Robert Bannon: But I admit it, what it takes is my favorite Aerosmith song of all time.

[30:16] Robert Bannon: Yeah, that chord structure and that lyric with Steven's voice is just an emotional heartbreak roller coaster.

[30:24] Desmond Child: It is songwriting perfection.

[30:27] Robert Bannon: I know.

[30:30] Desmond Child: I love it, I love it.

[30:31] Desmond Child: You know, I can tell you a little bit about the writing of that song.

[30:34] Desmond Child: I had gone up to Massachusetts where Joe Perry's house was, and his studio was downstairs.

[30:42] Desmond Child: And uh Steven that day was a little bit kind of aloof, and he in fact was sat at the drums and he put on this football helmet that had speakers on the inside.

[30:52] Desmond Child: That was his speaker.

[30:53] Desmond Child: So he was like the sunglasses, you know, or visor or something, and then the helmet on, and he was like um, you know, playing drums, and I started playing some chords, and Joe was playing some guitar, and we had the tape recorder on, and he started, you know, going on this like long like maybe 25 minute like rant.

[31:18] Desmond Child: I could call it that, and he never repeated a section, and then he would be, you know, all of a sudden would modulate, and then he would go somewhere else, and then it was up and down and different rhythms and everything, and then he like threw the helmet off and says, I'm going home for dinner.

[31:37] Desmond Child: So Joe and I got busy and we started extrapolating our favorite parts.

[31:43] Desmond Child: So then what we did is we found okay, this sounds like the verse, this sounds like the B section, this sounds like the chorus.

[31:50] Desmond Child: And then we repeated it.

[31:52] Desmond Child: And then we found another amazing section that became like the bridge.

[31:56] Desmond Child: And then we went back to the chorus.

[31:58] Desmond Child: So by the time um Steven came back later on, you know, he sat back and he was like, I like it.

[32:09] Desmond Child: I like that.

[32:10] Desmond Child: You know, and so then the next day we got busy like drilling into the lyrics and all of that.

[32:17] Desmond Child: But that's how that song was born.

[32:19] Robert Bannon: Well, from what I understand, you wrote a song called Fine.

[32:22] Robert Bannon: F-I-N-E Fine, it's fucked up insecure, neurotic and emotional.

[32:25] Desmond Child: Is that what it stands for?

[32:27] Desmond Child: Yes, yes.

[32:29] Desmond Child: Well, Steven always was, you know, wanted to write that title, you know.

[32:34] Desmond Child: And so we did it.

[32:35] Desmond Child: You know, they brought me into it, and you know, I helped them to finish the song.

[32:40] Desmond Child: You talk about another, I don't know, the hundreds and hundreds of millions of streams was the debut for Ricky Martin and Cup of Life and Living La Vida Loca.

[32:49] Desmond Child: And in your book, you tell a very personal story about Ricky Martin.

[32:52] Desmond Child: I mean, Ricky Martin confided in you.

[32:54] Desmond Child: You were there for him throughout his own personal journey.

[32:58] Desmond Child: That the business has not always been kind and let him have his privacy.

[33:02] Desmond Child: They've been very intrusive about his life.

[33:04] Robert Bannon: What was it like to work with him?

[33:07] Desmond Child: Well, he was always an angel, the most polite person ever.

[33:12] Desmond Child: And um, we never even in the day, we never spoke about his, you know, sexual orientation or anything like that.

[33:22] Desmond Child: I mean, I was, you know, strictly just writing for him.

[33:27] Desmond Child: And um, you know, I would put in, you know, some things into the songs that were a little bit like, you know, um, like in She Bangs, you know, uh switching sides like a gemina, you know, things like that.

[33:42] Desmond Child: And um, it wasn't until like 10 years later that I started working on an album called Mas, Música Alma y Sexo.

[33:56] Desmond Child: And it really was something he wanted to do.

[34:00] Desmond Child: It was like his coming out album.

[34:03] Desmond Child: And he had written um a song called Bastaya, which was like enough, which was very emotional, like enough with the lies, enough with hiding who I am and all this kind of stuff.

[34:18] Desmond Child: It's an incredible song.

[34:19] Desmond Child: And um, when we got ready to, you know, start the record, he took me back to, you know, he lived on the bay in this beautiful mansion with his sons, and um we sat, watched the sunset go down, and uh he said, How do you think I should come out?

[34:40] Desmond Child: And it was like, is he coming out to me?

[34:43] Desmond Child: Like I never had spoken to him about anything.

[34:46] Desmond Child: And I said, first words out of my mouth is Oprah.

[34:52] Desmond Child: You should go on Oprah.

[34:53] Desmond Child: She's the, you know, the nation's number one therapist, and that's where you should come out.

[35:01] Desmond Child: So by the time I got on the plane, he actually posted uh something on his, I don't know if it was Instagram yet or what it was, on his website, you know, professing that you know, he like came out like when I was on the plane, like that same day, right?

[35:22] Desmond Child: And so in the end, Oprah was his first stop, and um he sang a hit that we had, it was number one um called uh the best thing about me is you, which we wrote about our children, right?

[35:38] Desmond Child: And um, you know, he like came out, you know, you know, it's like the one uncomfortable one was with Larry King.

[35:48] Desmond Child: I mean, I'm not talking about, you know, the famous Barbara Walters, like, I mean, even in her, you know, she drilled down, like, are you gay?

[35:48] Desmond Child: Are you gay?

[35:56] Desmond Child: Uh like over and over again.

[35:58] Desmond Child: And he hadn't even come out to his family, to his mother.

[36:03] Desmond Child: How was he gonna come out to her on national television?

[36:08] Desmond Child: And he kept saying, Well, I think people should, you know, love whoever they want to love, you know, was kind of like a soft answer like that.

[36:16] Desmond Child: And everyone was like, Oh, whatever, he's gay, you know.

[36:20] Desmond Child: Um, it was very, and because of that, he pulled into himself for many years.

[36:25] Desmond Child: And during that interim time is when he decided to have children because we live near each other, like six blocks away, and he would see us with our little baby carriages, and so he would always be running and stopping by and saying, Hey, and this and that.

[36:40] Desmond Child: And so he's such a copycat, he went and had twins of his own.

[36:46] Desmond Child: And so, and so um, you know, the thing Larry King was like, so um, uh, so tell me now, like you're gay now, like are you really gay?

[37:01] Desmond Child: I mean, is it something you know you might not be later or grow out of, or you know, like ridiculous things like that.

[37:10] Desmond Child: And he said, Larry, I'm gay, gay, gay.

[37:15] Desmond Child: G A Y.

[37:19] Desmond Child: I mean, it was so insulting, yes, you know, and awkward.

[37:25] Desmond Child: How do you treat an international icon like that?

[37:30] Desmond Child: Would he have said that to Boy George?

[37:34] Desmond Child: No, never.

[37:35] Desmond Child: A hundred percent right.

[37:37] Desmond Child: You know, I mean, are you kidding me?

[37:40] Desmond Child: You know, we, and it was so cruel, and it was such a hetero, like bullying that he did to him.

[37:51] Robert Bannon: Yeah, and so you know, and Ricky does not deserve that.

[37:55] Desmond Child: He does so he brings beauty and love to the world on stage and with his music and all the charities that he gets behind and everything.

[38:07] Desmond Child: It's like how he stood behind his country after Hurricane Maria, and how, you know, I can't say enough good about him.

[38:18] Desmond Child: I mean, I've never seen him cross.

[38:21] Desmond Child: I've never seen him in a negative state of mind.

[38:26] Desmond Child: Yeah, and that's extraordinary.

[38:30] Desmond Child: You know who he reminds me of in a way, uh, because he was a child star is Brooke Shields.

[38:35] Desmond Child: Also, also like one of the most wonderful human beings I've ever met.

[38:40] Desmond Child: You know, I knew her mother, and uh, you know, wow.

[38:44] Desmond Child: You know, she was strong.

[38:47] Desmond Child: Um, but uh Brooke, you know, she's maybe it's one of those things where it's like some people can maybe turn into brats being child stars and you know, impetuous and all this kind of stuff.

[39:03] Desmond Child: But with those two individuals, it just made them deepen their appreciation and love of the world that loved them back.

[39:12] Desmond Child: Yes, you know, I just, you know, and I, you know, I just love those two people like that.

[39:19] Robert Bannon: Well, I saw Ricky last year.

[39:21] Robert Bannon: When I turned 40 and we went to see Ricky Martin, and he is as insane and talented as always.

[39:26] Robert Bannon: We're gonna run down.

[39:27] Robert Bannon: I'm gonna run down.

[39:28] Robert Bannon: Look so that you know, because you could go to Spotify, you can listen to all of the Desmond Child hits, you can go to his website, you can get the book and hear all about it.

[39:35] Desmond Child: If it's the Thong Song.

[39:36] Robert Bannon: Oh, you mean wait, wait, wait.

[39:39] Robert Bannon: Okay, you mean this little thing?

[39:41] Desmond Child: There it is.

[39:42] Robert Bannon: Come on, get a sign there.

[39:45] Desmond Child: Yeah, with all hits.

[39:49] Robert Bannon: Oh, come on, that's it.

[39:52] Robert Bannon: And that's just there's more you gotta know.

[39:55] Desmond Child: That's all that would fit on this back cover.

[39:58] Desmond Child: You know, but the book, the book is special.

[40:00] Desmond Child: It has a hundred pictures in it.

[40:02] Robert Bannon: Woo!

[40:02] Robert Bannon: You gotta, I have my copy coming.

[40:04] Robert Bannon: I ordered my signed copy.

[40:06] Robert Bannon: I wasn't waiting.

[40:07] Robert Bannon: I wanted the signed Desmond Child copy.

[40:09] Desmond Child: Oh, you hear how does he write from Bon Jovi to the Thong Song to Katy Perry to Carrie Underwood, the Joan Jett to Cher to Kiss to Hansen.

[40:19] Desmond Child: Look, there's Brooke.

[40:22] Desmond Child: There's my date with Brooke Shields.

[40:24] Desmond Child: There's Brooke.

[40:25] Robert Bannon: Come on.

[40:27] Robert Bannon: I love it.

[40:29] Robert Bannon: I love her.

[40:30] Robert Bannon: I love Leon Rhymes.

[40:32] Robert Bannon: And I Desmond, I love this song because I think the lyrics for How Can We Be Lovers is good ass lyrics.

[40:32] Robert Bannon: How can we be lovers if we can't be friends?

[40:40] Robert Bannon: How can we start over if the fight never ends?

[40:43] Robert Bannon: That's Desmond Child right there.

[40:47] Desmond Child: I love the hair.

[40:48] Robert Bannon: Hello.

[40:49] Robert Bannon: The hair.

[40:50] Robert Bannon: The hair happened to the hair.

[40:52] Desmond Child: Ponytail, Desmond Child.

[40:56] Robert Bannon: You, but before I let you go, because you've given us so much time, and you're such a, we adore you, and we adore what you stand for, and we adore the music.

[41:03] Robert Bannon: And you are such a purveyor of the arts.

[41:05] Robert Bannon: I have seen you out in New York.

[41:06] Robert Bannon: You hit the red carpets for Broadway shows, you promote young artists.

[41:09] Robert Bannon: You have songs out right now.

[41:11] Robert Bannon: New artists, or not new, but you know, like Beautiful Now by Zedd and all music that you put out is all the time.

[41:17] Desmond Child: Yeah, a Kings and Queens, Ava Max.

[41:20] Desmond Child: That song is such a bopity bop.

[41:22] Desmond Child: That song is fire.

[41:23] Robert Bannon: What about JoJo C was Karma's a bitch?

[41:28] Desmond Child: I I've lived that story, and you know that song is my latest hit.

[41:33] Desmond Child: But the thing I'm most proud of is actually having been able to work with Barbra Streisand.

[41:39] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[41:41] Desmond Child: And um I wrote a song, yes, solely wrote a song for her called Lady Liberty.

[41:47] Desmond Child: And if you go on YouTube, you can see the lyric video that she and I produced together.

[41:52] Desmond Child: And it was an extraordinary journey.

[41:55] Desmond Child: And uh, there's a chapter in my book called Barbara Land, where I tell the whole entire story, like every minuscule moment of meeting her and recording with her, and it's so great.

[42:09] Robert Bannon: I can't wait to finish your book.

[42:11] Robert Bannon: It's on its way, and when I'm finished, I'm gonna send you a message, and I'm gonna find all the scoop.

[42:15] Robert Bannon: I believe that song is on the Walls album, the Streisand album that about this country and breaking down walls.

[42:21] Robert Bannon: And see, Desmond, I know your, I know you.

[42:24] Robert Bannon: I've got, I'm, I don't have any notes.

[42:26] Robert Bannon: I am, I know this career right here.

[42:29] Robert Bannon: I know this music.

[42:31] Desmond Child: Thank you for the music.

[42:33] Robert Bannon: Thank you for the time you've spent to make us, you know, this music is the chapter of our lives, and thank you for being so public about your life because there are people like me and my husband and my future that stand on your shoulders, and it's, you're very brave and very courageous, and we owe you a debt of gratitude for all the work you did.

[42:50] Desmond Child: Thank you very much.

[42:52] Robert Bannon: So thank you.

[42:53] Desmond Child: Thank you.

[42:54] Desmond Child: The book is out.

[42:56] Robert Bannon: Follow him on the Instagram.

[42:57] Robert Bannon: Go to Desmond.child on Instagram.

[43:02] Robert Bannon: You could order the book and make sure that um it's wherever books are sold.

[43:07] Robert Bannon: And then you can watch the documentary about the boys too.

[43:10] Robert Bannon: The story of De Niro on Amazon Prime.

[43:12] Robert Bannon: You could rent it today and you can get it.

[43:14] Robert Bannon: It's great, great for pride season.

[43:16] Robert Bannon: Great with your partner and enjoy an honor.

[43:19] Robert Bannon: Thank you so much.

[43:20] Robert Bannon: Happy Pride, Desmond Child, to you and your family.

[43:22] Desmond Child: Love you guys.