Tracy Anderson: Fitness Renegade, Checklist Liberator & Marriage Proposal Magnet

Tracy Anderson is bringing balance to The Coop today. For over 25 years, this fitness pioneer and innovator has been transforming the health and wellness landscape with the Tracy Anderson Method, helping her followers reconnect with their bodies—and yes, even enhancing their sex lives along the way. 

Her holistic approach to health and listening to our bodies, not societal pressures, gives us chickens a much-needed perspective.

Even more fascinating than her approach to fitness is the woman behind it all. We go deep on her conscious parenting philosophy, her journey through overcoming toxic relationships, and the incredible story of her nine marriage proposals, culminating in her unexpected path to finding love again.

Tracy Anderson begs us to chuck aside those checklists and discover that true strength comes from embracing every part of our journey—loving ourselves, appreciating the bodies we've been given, and finding liberation in aging.

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This episode was produced by Kit Hoover and Harper McDonald. Our Technical Producer is Christian Brown, and this episode was edited by Christian Brown. Writing by Harper McDonald. Business Development by Casey Ladd.

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Transcript

This transcript was generated by AI. Inaccuracies may be present.
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Kit Hoover:

Welcome to the Coop with Kit. My name is Kit Hoover and I have been lucky enough in my 30 years in this business to interview some of the most iconic badass women out there. We all know that girlfriends give the best advice and they're all coming to the coop. We're talking career, marriage, kids, sex, aging, all of it. I truly believe we are just hitting our stride. Alright, my chickens. Let's get into it. Tracy Anderson is bringing balance to the coop today. Don't we all need that? For over 25 years, this fitness pioneer has been transforming the health and wellness landscape with the Tracy Anderson method, helping millions of followers across the globe reconnect with their bodies, and yes, even enhancing their sex lives along the way. Booya. Now she's worked with some famous names that you may or may not have heard of. Gwyneth J-Lo and Madonna.

No last names required. Even more fascinating though than her approach to fitness is the woman behind it all. We go deep on her conscious parenting philosophy, her journey through overcoming toxic, abusive relationships and the incredible story of her nine marriage proposals. She is so lovable, culminating in her unexpected path to finding true love again. Tracy begs us to throw away this damn checklist that we all have and discover that true strength comes from embracing every part of our journey, loving ourselves wholly and appreciating the bodies we've been giving. And most importantly, here we go, finding liberation and aging. Here are my chickens, is the one and only Tracy Anderson. There you

Tracy Anderson:

Are here. How are you? I haven't seen you in so long and you look so amazing. Oh my. Wait, who is this little puppy with you? Look at my baby. Who's this? This is my new baby. I have a lot of dogs. Kit, what kind is she? She is a mostly Pomeranian, but she also has a tiny bit of miniature Husky in her.

Kit Hoover:

I know you've probably already named her, but I want you to name her Paul Newman with those blue eyes like the devil. Oh,

Tracy Anderson:

Right. Oh, Newman would be very cute, but her name is June.

Kit Hoover:

June. Look at her. How many dogs do you have? Who was the other one that came in? Oh,

Tracy Anderson:

You might want to ask me that on the program. Are we recording? Roll, roll, roll. Oh my

Kit Hoover:

Gosh. Wait, Tracy, look at you. Okay, first of all, how cute is Penny? I love seeing you as a mom. But Tracy, isn't that what it's all about? Look how cool Penny is. Penny is.

Tracy Anderson:

Yes. She is so cool. She is the light of my life as is Sam Sam, her older brother is going to be 26.

Kit Hoover:

So you and I are somewhere, so I have a 2221 and then a 17-year-old. Isn't it cool the dichotomy of the ages? How's it different for you with both of them?

Tracy Anderson:

I was a really young mom when I had Sam, so I was 23 and I was becoming that person that was going to share things outside of my immediate world. And because I was building and researching, I was staying home with him. But then I would make sure that I built him the most amazing chocho track come morning. Right? We had a closet under the stairs and we made this whole world under there and I felt like I could really play with him a lot because I was such a young mom. And then when I had Penny, I had so many years of already becoming who I am in my career and to the point that I was already serving so many people that relied on me as part of their wellbeing practice. So I think I was just a lot more serious and it was such an amazing reminder to hold tight and close the things that make you really human, the things that are the most magical. And so as Penny has aged, I have made it a point to play young again, I want all the friends over and I'm like, what are we going to do? Is it an art party? Is it a Taylor Swift party? I took a ton of her friends to the Harry Styles concert.

Kit Hoover:

You will never regret all of that. That's the good stuff. And we're going to get into all of this. I love talking about parenting and motherhood, especially for such an icon like yourself that has built the most unbelievable business from scratch. Literally, you are the fitness pioneer, but to have a baby at 23, do you ever laugh, Tracy? I mean, again, at 23 I was barely combining my hair, I think here.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah, when I look at my son who's going to be 26 and I'm like, oh my gosh. I mean I'm still nurturing him and he's still becoming and exploring and I just think I was a child. I didn't even have my adult brain. But that's part of the system that I try so hard to participate in evolving us out of because that system, I grew up in Noblesville, Indiana, and it was like, get married, have a kid as fast. It was like a checklist. And I did fall in love with this dad for sure, but I liked that we're evolving

Kit Hoover:

A hundred percent and learning through all of it. Okay, wait, so we start the coop with everybody that comes on. One word to describe where you are in your life right now, Tracy.

Tracy Anderson:

Oh wow. I would say right now I am the closest to a pure awareness that I've ever felt in my life.

Kit Hoover:

I love this so much. What do you mean?

Tracy Anderson:

Yes, I feel like we do. We come into this world under our parents' roof with a set of checklists, and then we go to school with a set of checklists. We go to church. If your parents send you with a set of checklists, it's like you come into this world with so much intuition ingrained into you and almost immediately you get distanced from it. And one of the things that I somehow intuitively knew 25 years ago when I was doing my first research project was that to get people the balance that they desire in their body and that feeling of feeling comfortable in their body, I had to return them to their body that had been pulled so far apart by all of these checklists. And so as I've stayed very focused to my craft and to the research and lived also in the culture because I'm a community girl too, for me to do my job well and actually make the difference that I care to make in the world, I have realized that it is very important to contribute to bringing people really home to their somatic selves, that we are able to hear our body.

And so I've been doing a lot of research and development in that area, getting people to actually hear their body. And because I've been doing that and I have always cared to walk the walk, and it has been the most healing thing for me and brought to light so much awareness to where I can calm down, I can hear my body, I can make choices, I can remove myself from the chaos of the world. And I haven't lost that sense of myself or my compass.

Kit Hoover:

I know you got a big birthday coming up in March. I'm actually 54, Tracy. I love aging. It is like I'm coming a little sliding sideways. I'm listening to this body that's saying, hang on. But it's so much fun. Do you think part of why you feel like that is because of your age?

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah. Well first of all, looking at you, because I have known you for years, you're so gorgeous and you are legit reverse aging, so you're doing all the things right, clearly. I certainly feel a sense of groundedness in you and an inherent sense of kindness and someone that cares so much to connect. So I don't think that you can really connect to others in a meaningful way if you're not connected to yourself. So I do think that with aging, being connected to yourself is the key.

Kit Hoover:

I think you're right.

Tracy Anderson:

I will look in the mirror and I've got a 12-year-old daughter and I'll be like, okay, so alright, this is not where it was before or this or that in my face, or I've got these wrinkles here and here. Oh yeah.

Kit Hoover:

Wait till the jowls, honey. They start coming. No, I know I have a lot of lights on me. I was looking down at a menu, I'm like, look up when you look at a menu. That's a trick I can give you. Look

Tracy Anderson:

Up. Oh my gosh. My children love to do the thing where they zoom in and take the photo of me where I'm like, how? I'm like, okay, then I'm going to go get a facelift. And they're like, no, no, no, no. Don't go get a facelift. You don't. So I'm like, well, I'm going to get a facelift if you keep taking photos of me like that. I agree with you though. Full stop. I agree with you that it gets better. I mean, I still get my menstrual cycle regularly, but I know it's coming for me. And even with people talking about perimenopause or menopause or all the things, to me it's like that great Rui poem. It's like the guest house meet each challenge at the door laughing, almost let it come in, let it do its thing. I think that I'm not afraid of it, basically. I'm not afraid of aging. I'm also not afraid of having wrinkles. I am not afraid of skin changing and collagen leaving and all of the things because I think that one of the biggest disservices that our society has done to itself is say that youth is somehow much more beautiful than aging and that wrinkles can't be gorgeous and beautiful and that skin should even be looked at in a way that is really not connected to the nature of who we are, how we love or how we see beauty.

Kit Hoover:

I was just saying to a girlfriend, I was like, here's my deal. I'm not chasing youth or beauty. I mean probably a part of me, but I am chasing endorphins or that feeling of when I feel connected to my body, even I'm just walking outside or I love to play sports or whatever I'm doing. That's what I'm chasing that feeling. Now, do I like to try to look halfway deep? Yeah. That makes me feel good. But yeah, I'm not chasing that because you know what you're going to lose.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah. That's the thing that I feel my heart kind of aches for the people that, look, I'm all for changing whatever you want to change in you. If you've really thought about it, if you really have dug deep and it's coming from a place of not, again, not top down, but you don't feel home in something and you've really thought about it and it's for you and nothing else, then fine. But I do see a lot of women who that's not the case. They're just doing the things because they have subscribed to society telling them that youth is beautiful and then they don't look like themselves anymore and they also don't look young. Right.

Kit Hoover:

Yeah. Well, that's the irony of it all.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah.

Kit Hoover:

Let's go back to your childhood, Tracy. I love that you grew up in Indiana a certain way. What was your childhood like and what was little Tracy? Have you always been driven and know what you want?

Tracy Anderson:

Oh my gosh, this is so fun. So yeah, little Tracy was painfully shy.

Kit Hoover:

What?

Tracy Anderson:

Painfully shy. I was so shy until fifth grade. My dad was an artist. And when I was in fifth grade and I had to do a book project and mine was Charlotte's Web and my dad drew the most amazing book. We had to wear the poster board on stage, like Little Ropes. I love Charlotte's Web, everyone. Yes. And so I think that that was where I finally sort of felt confident. But I have a beautiful mother. She was a ballerina and she took all the stages by storm in our community theater. She was like the lead in everything and beautiful and magnetic, amazing. And I just looked up to her with awe. But I was very shy and she was also really adventuresome and I always kind of had a little compass of cautiousness in me. I was careful. I was very careful. I was not wild. And then,

Kit Hoover:

Oh, we would've been friends, Tracy. I would've dragged you all over that school

Tracy Anderson:

In high school. We're fixing to get in trouble. In high school we would've totally been friends because when I got into high school, I got wild. So I was way over the shy and I loved to be in nature, so we, we didn't live in the popular subdivisions that all my friends lived in. We lived a little bit out in the country and had goats and sheep and all kinds of things.

Kit Hoover:

That's awesome.

Tracy Anderson:

We had one bathroom for five of us and no air conditioning. So I just remember doing my hair and makeup for school, sweating in the summer and trying to, you guys have to get air conditioning

Kit Hoover:

And so were you going to be a ballerina like your mom, right? You studied dance and take me inside that journey. So you went really far with it.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah. My mom still owns the same dance studio that I started at today. We all joke, she's almost 80, and we're like, don't you want to just travel? My brother and sister and I, we all have kids. We're like, don't you want to retire? And just be like, you've got nine grandkids. Come on. And she's like, no, no. This year I'm doing gay Parisian. She just, she's fabulous. She's fabulous. She still teaches and she is amazing. So I grew up dancing and I'm not as tall as my mom. How tall are you? I'm five feet. I'm just under you. If I'm being completely honest. I have to say I'm barely five feet,

Kit Hoover:

So I'm a

Tracy Anderson:

Little under you. Yeah,

Kit Hoover:

Truth be told. I might be too. I sort of keep

Tracy Anderson:

Sort. I'm around there trying to, when anybody ask me, I just go, I'm barely five feet. I don't think I'm actually five

Kit Hoover:

Feet,

Tracy Anderson:

But I don't care. I feel great.

Kit Hoover:

This is one thing that I'm teaching my kids and when I kind of look back at my career, sort of the art of the pivot, and so here you are, you're on one trajectory, you're going to be a dancer. And then what happens?

Tracy Anderson:

I gained 40 pounds on a dance scholarship in New York City.

Kit Hoover:

I told you we'd be best friends. Yep.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah. I just boom out of nowhere. I also couldn't even really afford food. So I was like, how is this happening? I ate a lot of bagels with mustard and tomato in New York City.

Kit Hoover:

Well, do you remember back in the day I gained 30 on road rolls in my twenties and I lost my neck. And again, at five feet we, you and I with weight. Yeah, no neck. It was head. And the producers on the show were like, the little one is putting weight on by the buckets. And I was like, what's up? But do you remember trace back in the day, it wasn't about fat, you didn't want protein. It was fat free. So I'd be like three bagels, bring on the rice, hold the protein. You know what I mean? Baked potato, no fat. Totally.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah. Was all, and I used to love those entons fat free cookies and stuff. Snack. You could eat the whole box. They were fat free snack. Well, fat free frozen yogurt. Yeah, that was really evil. I think that's what did it to us actually.

Kit Hoover:

No,

Tracy Anderson:

They lied to us.

Kit Hoover:

We are around the same. And it was that time and everything was fat free, so we just ballooned up like a giant tick.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah, totally. That's exactly it. So anyway, the fat free lie got to me and ruined my life. Oh, so great. Ruined my life. No, but I went to school with Jason Raz and Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and I was still kind of shy there because there was such talent and they made us act, sing and dance, and I really only felt confident dancing. And then I gained the weight and then I was like, well, now I don't feel confident dancing anymore.

Kit Hoover:

I look back and I think about it a little bit, Tracy, especially with my daughters, even when I was, I was probably 35. Same with you. Heavier than I am now. And I remember putting on my pants and being like, Ooh, they're a little snug. But I was like, I mama's going to have fun tonight. And my body just sort of evolved to where it was supposed to be. So I always tell my daughters in college, I'm like, please come back. Beer, fat, swollen. You're in college once your body's going to go through all types of things. So I want kids to learn that their body's going to go through tons of different stages on

Tracy Anderson:

That. Well, listen, any kids that are listening or parents that have kids that are listening to this episode, let me tell you the one thing that I love the most about that moment for me is I loved myself still and I still felt at my core happy. I leaned into the people that didn't care about what I looked like or what I weighed, and it expanded my mind and opened me up to other possibilities and also made me aware that it's actually really cruel what they do in dance programs and anything in the world that says that, okay, you want to do this? Here's the checklist for this. And by the way, you have to look like this.

Kit Hoover:

There's the checklist,

Tracy Anderson:

And if you don't look like this, then good luck to you. You're not going to be,

Kit Hoover:

You just nailed it too. I think as parents, what we could do, looking back at that time in my life, my mom, my dad, my brother, nobody made comments about it, which I think maybe would've changed. So I felt so I just thought I was as darling as ever. You know what I mean? Again, the no neck and the giant head. Here I come.

Tracy Anderson:

Yes, absolutely. But also I feel really bad because a lot of my friends, they did drugs or they had eating disorders, and it's very easy to feel like there's something wrong with you and that you need to go to some kind of extreme measure. If you have a tendency to do that and you're vulnerable, it can happen. So I think that to get help from people, anybody that you get turned to for advice that says that you need to be a certain weight, those are the people you don't take the advice from. You find the people that will help you find your way through feeling good in your body in a healthy way.

Kit Hoover:

I love that. Find the ones with the intimates. Oh God, I'm teasing. Okay, so there you are. It's time for a pivot in your life. How old are you when you start the Tracy Anderson method? Give me the first steps.

Tracy Anderson:

Oh gosh. Yeah. So when I was pregnant with Sam, his dad played for the New York Knicks and he was rehabbing his back in Puerto Rico. And I met this extraordinary doctor who had done all of this research on pro athletes and their spines and keeping them out of injuries. I worked with him because I was so good at choreography. Choreography has always been my strong point in dance, which I kind of loved leaning into that too, because it meant that I didn't have to be the performer that was like, didn't have the body for it, but I could create. And so I learned from him, and then I was coming up with movements and he was like, wow, gosh, you really have a knack for this. And I was like, if this is possible for the inner spine by way of tending to it and coming up with these different kinds of movements that incorporate it in this way, is it possible to create this kind of balance through the whole body? He was like, yeah, but no one's ever going to come up with that much movement because there are mechanisms in the body that if they're not utilized all of the time, they basically get desensitized and they're important to our actual relationship with ourselves and they get also drowned out when you move the body in a very conventional way. And when he served me up that challenge, I never looked back.

Kit Hoover:

How old were you when this was happening?

Tracy Anderson:

I was 22.

Kit Hoover:

22. You're like a doctor therapist. You have all these things going on in your brain that no one had thought about doing, probably didn't believe in it either. Like you said, no one's going to be able to come up with this. How would you describe what the Tracy Anderson method is?

Tracy Anderson:

Right. It's creating balance where there's imbalance in your body, which is a constant tending to it is every experience that I create is for you to be closer to your home, your body, your center, and it's also for you to actually meditate through your whole body. Because the thing about meditation is meditation focuses on the breath, but it leaves out 99% of the body's lived experiences or its journey or its feelings or what it's having to say. And with the Tracy Anderson method, it will be impossible for you to not hear your body as you hear your mind. And there isn't anything else in the world that is able to do that. I love yoga. I have a great respect for yoga, but they didn't have the understanding and the science that we had when I was 22 even. So every single week when I create choreography for the online studio and the mat, that is a journey of mobility, neurobiological, connections, emotional connection and expression, me knowing how to design your muscles because that I know how to do the back of my hand.

Keeping the relationship between your muscles and your skin tight as we age, which becomes more and more challenging. I'm obsessed with that because why not? And then protecting our joints, protecting our spines, being able to work and expand through all of the things that become compressed over time so that we can really live our fullest human potential. So there's that, but then a very forward thinking, kind of pioneering way. I care very much about our environment and I care very much about being able to use different planes for the body. So I created this thing called a MI mode, and then most recently I created an experience called heart stone love, which creates sound, healing, grounding, slow movement, and meditation. It's so incredibly powerful. For me, the thing that's always the most difficult is, oh gosh, how do you explain what Tracy Anderson just did? How do you make the weird look normal? So that's always the most challenging for me.

Kit Hoover:

Well, I love that you've really slowed down as you're getting older. I love, we haven't even talked about your magazine, your podcast, everything. How do you stay motivated? How do you constantly come up with the next thing? Is it all in evolution or right now when I'm looking at you, what do you got Cooking up top there, Tracy. You know me

Tracy Anderson:

So well.

Kit Hoover:

I know you so well. What's cooking up there? Oh my

Tracy Anderson:

Gosh. I have this extraordinary community of women in 53 different countries that have been moving with me for 20 years. And so for me, I listen to my audience and I do these calls with them that last seven hours sometimes with my mode founders, I do these two times a month, I'll do a call, but that's where I get most of my awareness and creativity because I'm so well studied for 20 years in this to use my expertise to say this is what they need. Heart Stone completely came from me hearing so many of they do the moves, they've got the results, they've got the body, and now they're like, I'm seeking something so much deeper. And I'm like, yes, you are. Yes, far. That's why the GU

Kit Hoover:

Guru.

Yeah. I just want to brag about you. And for our listeners that aren't aware of you, which are be very few of them, but just for our listeners out there, you have trained some of the most iconic women that go by one name. Guys, I'm talking J-Lo, Madonna, Gwyneth. But what I love about this bragging about you, Tracy, is not only the women trained, but the longevity you have with them because that shows substance like you are in their life. What's been the key to maintaining all those wonderful relationships? Because that at tribute to you, my friend.

Tracy Anderson:

Oh, well thank you so much. Well, Madonna and I don't speak anymore. Okay. XR out go to Gwyneth and Jayla, but I see on her Instagram, she still has my bands hanging up and I always wish her the best in the world. Perfect. But we don't hang out anymore. But Gwyneth, we were just together in the Hamptons. And I really believe that when people come into your life anytime, and you're a really pure hearted good person with a growth mindset that the people that are like that as well and they're really truly pure hearted and well intended, and they like to grow and seek, that you can get through anything together. And my relationship with Gwyneth is one of those relationships that makes me trust. It makes me trust, it makes me believe in the good world. It makes me feel safe on the journey that we're all on and that there's a real sisterhood that persists and we've just been through so, so much together.

We've learned so much together and we have always, always had a pure love for each other. She's extraordinary. And Jennifer Lopez has also been a friend of mine for so many years, and again, another incredible woman, such a force, such a beautiful mother. And I just think that's the key is we all go through so many things. We all go through so many ups and downs, and when you're somebody that is willing to amplify so much of you to so many people that you will never really even probably meet, and to still have your feet on the ground and be a loving, amazing person, it just makes you believe in just the good and beautiful things in the world.

Kit Hoover:

I love that. Wait, I want to get back to motherhood as I hear a penny clucking back there. Did you always want to be a mom?

Tracy Anderson:

I always wanted to be a mom.

Kit Hoover:

Same. Okay. In your podcast, the Longevity Game, you spoke with Dr. Shefa, the leading authority on conscious parenting. I was really intrigued by your conversation. Can you talk a little bit about that for our listeners?

Tracy Anderson:

Dr. Shefa is brilliant. I have so much respect for this woman and anyone that is going out and calling bullshit on the checklists and systems that have been imposed upon us and probably built with good intentions some of the time. But they have to be dismantled for our health, for our children's health. And people are so afraid to go against their checklists. They're so afraid to go against the norm that if people afraid of doing that, then we will not evolve healthier. In fact, with all the tech now and all of the distractions to our actual primal and genome, we will be gone. The environment will still be here. I'm not trying to be a fear monger or anything like that, but the environment will still be here, but we will not be able to survive if we are so checked out. And part of this with conscious parenting is parents just live through their children and they live through their ego with their children. My child, my child, oh, my child will will look this. Or your child's throwing a fit, and you're like, oh my gosh, you act like this, don't you? You're going to make me look like a bad parent. It's ridiculous. And I have always intuitively parented very similarly to her concept, but always felt like I was like a hippie parent or something. I nursed both of my kids combined eight years. I mean, they're far apart. But I nurse Sam for three years and Penny nursed for five years. I am all about,

Kit Hoover:

Did you get shame for that? You hear that all the time.

Tracy Anderson:

I was shamed for it when she was nursing people were going to have an intervention. I'm like, listen, it's only at night. I want her to wean herself. I'm like, I just want her to ween herself. Period. Back off. It feels right in my nature. I don't know. But this idea that your child has to finish things or you started soccer season, you'll finish it. All these, I don't parent like that. I'm like, you want to play soccer? Play soccer? I'm like, you don't want to play soccer anymore? Let's talk about why you don't want to play soccer. Let me hear the reasons. And if it's because a child hurt their feelings or a coach hurt their feelings, then I believe it's our job to advocate for growing the coach. I'm the parent that will be like, oh, the coach made her feel this way, or She never got this. Didn't happen. Penny doesn't play soccer.

Kit Hoover:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No,

Tracy Anderson:

But I'm hypothetically saying the things that I would do. Right. It's fascinating because part of why people get distanced from their bodies is because of these coaches and things that don't play the kids or tell the kids like, oh, you're not really built for this, or the parent will. It's all these ridiculous things.

Kit Hoover:

Back to the checklist,

Tracy Anderson:

I would go up and I would grow the coach and then I would ask her to try it again, and then if she really didn't want to do it, I'd let her quit. So I let them do their things.

Kit Hoover:

How were your pregnancies? As I'm talking to you, I'm thinking, please tell me. I feel like you went Oh, natural and just pulled the baby out. Oh gosh. Oh, absolutely not.

Tracy Anderson:

So with

Kit Hoover:

Penny, I asked for epidural before I got in the hospital. You have to actually come into the building. I just was so scared of pain. So

Tracy Anderson:

You and I are exactly the same. Well, I did go in with Sam. I was like, I don't want anything. I'm going to do same at three centimeters. I was like, give me that thing called an epidural. They were like, you need to wait until four. I was like, I'm not waiting until four. Same. We're tiny. We're tiny. Yeah. So with Sam, I gained 60 pounds. Same the edge pizza from Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen every day. But this was before my nutritional philosophy changed. I was 22 and I was like, give it all to me. And I had to be induced with him. And then with Penny, I gained 38 pounds, but I had to have a C-section with her. So it was a scheduled, I got gestational diabetes of all things because of stress. I do too. That's crazy.

Kit Hoover:

Isn't that weird? And you and I are same healthy. I had that and I had three C-sections. My body just wasn't a fan.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah, no. I did the first one naturally, but I had to have a fourth degree app episiotomy, and they were like, you can't heal from that twice. So they told me I had to have a C-section because of that. And she was like, with the gestational diabetes too, let's just do it. So anyway, but this is the one thing. It's so funny, I'm looking at my shirt that I have. This is the one thing about me as a parent. I am a safe school safety patrol. I am a safe. Is that real? That's the one thing I am, my kids cannot do dangerous things. I'm a safety fanatic. So that is one thing. Yeah, they can be whatever they want to be. They can take whatever they want to take. They can, but they have to be safe. I have zero expectations of them. I don't give a shit if they go to Yale or anything like that. I don't care about any of those things at all. They have to have kind hearts. Kind hearts loving, respectful, or you know what? If they're not going to be respectful, the world will show them.

Kit Hoover:

Yes. Or you will show them. That's the growth thing. I'll show them. Okay, wait, let's talk about love.

Tracy Anderson:

Okay.

Kit Hoover:

Is it true, Tracy, were you proposed to nine times? Oh

Tracy Anderson:

My gosh. How did you hear that?

Kit Hoover:

I do my research and I was like, please let this be true. It's true. And can we go deep into this? It's true. Tell me everything.

Tracy Anderson:

It's true. Well, here's the thing. One of my best friends, Sally Pressman, she once told me when I was dating somebody, and she was like, and I was telling her, I was like, but we have such good chemistry. And she was like, Tracy, you could have good chemistry with a tree. She was like, you have to stop falling in love and getting engaged off of chemistry. She was like, you're a physical person. She was like, this is like your thing. So you can't, that's not it. So she really opened my eyes years ago. She's like, yeah, maybe it's not the physical chemistry that should be the thing.

Kit Hoover:

All the producers here in the Cooper are like, she must have a magic. This woman is magical from top to

Tracy Anderson:

Bottom. Well, it's true, but in Indiana, they start proposing young. They start proposing young. I was proposed to three times before Sam's dad at 22. Yeah.

Kit Hoover:

Oh my goodness. Okay. Did you keep all the rings? Tell me the, okay, you were so young then. What was the wildest proposal story? Was there one that really sticks out and did you see them all coming? You're like, oh, here comes Jack.

Tracy Anderson:

Actually. Okay. I'll say a very sweet proposal because this person was really a sweetheart. So I just feel like if they're listening, I'm really, really truly kind, kind soul. I love Garth Brooks, and he proposed to me at the Garth Brooks concert.

Kit Hoover:

That's so sweet.

Tracy Anderson:

And I was like, that's adorable. Oh my god. Garth Brooks music is like, oh my gosh.

Kit Hoover:

Was there one proposal that was really dippy that you're like, okay, this one was a little weird?

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah, one person proposed me without a ring and then proposed me again with the ring later, but it was kind of really rushed and shocking and it just felt like he just was like, I need to propose right now and then I'll fix it later with the ring. And then later proposed to me in a sweet way with the ring.

Kit Hoover:

One thing I love that I'm learning as we're talking is that you're very connected, mind, body, soul. So when I think back to your divorces, which anybody that's been through it will know it is one of the hardest things you'll ever go through. What was the moment, the aha moment for you where you knew, okay, I need to get out of this?

Tracy Anderson:

This is a great question. I think that one of the systems that we have to as women really not subscribe to is that we have to be married or that we can't get divorced. That divorce is somehow a failure. I disagree with all of those things. I think that first of all, I have been in healthy relationships that just ended. They just ran their course or their term. And I think that life is precious and as long as you do things properly, and also you're going to be learning too. With Sam's dad, we never should have been divorced. We loved each other so much, but my dad cheated on my mom and I caught him cheating twice when I was 17 years old.

And in Indiana, I was like, they took us to therapy and the guy gave us vitamins. That was therapy. That was therapy. In Indiana, you're cured. He was like, you guys taking vitamin K? And he gave us some liquid vitamin K. And I'm in my gut, I was like, this doesn't seem like something doesn't feel right. Not the help I thought we were going to get. Right. So unfortunately, Eric, Sam's dad had to deal with my immaturity in terms of not knowing how to deal with the breakup of my own parents. So the only reason why Eric and I didn't make it was because of me, because I didn't have the therapy that I needed. And I also had a lot of Dr. Sadie calls them mis identifications. So because I wasn't able to identify and have closure with my father over here and learn how to align myself with that the best I can and work through it with Eric, instead, I misidentified a lot of things from my father and placed it unfairly onto Eric. And then just was playing out in my head that he was somehow going to become my father, which he never would've done. He was a gem of a man.

And so I messed that up. And so sometimes I think that because I messed that up, that the world was like, I'll show you what bad men look like. So I do know what bad men look like, and unfortunately, and I've been in abusive relationships and emotionally and physically, and the one thing I can say about myself that I, and Dr. Siggy said this to me, he said, if you didn't do what you do for your job, I don't think you would've been able to get out of these things or survive them. And because I am connected to my body and I do have a very, I'll pick up any animal wounded on the side of the road, kind of like heart, right? This bleeding heart. And I love to connect and I love people. So as soon as I found myself in any abusive relationship, I was never of the mind that I want to stay and I will fix this. I was just like, how do I exit safely? I don't want to be in this, that the Maya Angelou saying, when someone shows you who they are, believe them

Kit Hoover:

Believe it.

Tracy Anderson:

My gut was always like, but somehow, and this is something that abusers really do, they find a way to entangle themselves kind of deeply into your world to create further fear. And so I had to get out of some very, very, very difficult situations with different people that I was in a relationship with. And I always just tried to do it with a loving heart where my side of the fence was clean, kind, and didn't want to, just couldn't handle playing in that arena. Couldn't do it.

Kit Hoover:

So applaud you navigating those relationships and even just toxic relationships that different sorts of abuse. I see so many friends in them and it becomes the norm, and then you can justify or you say this or there's all the reasons. So again, that's the connection you have with your body that's guiding you, which has led you, my friend to your current love that you said is different than all of the others. Tell me about your new love.

Tracy Anderson:

Yes. Well, I think I got it right the first time and I got it right the last time. I got it right. That's the bookend. My bookends are, they're just perfect for my soul. But that's part of working on yourself and only recently able to forgive myself for failing with Sam's dad, who was an amazing man. I think that that's what women need to understand is if you just repeat bad mistakes and you don't work towards pure awareness, you don't work towards a sense of self-love, then you will just make the same mistakes. And sometimes you can check all the boxes where you're like, I'm not making the same mistakes. I've really, really, really learned. I've grown. I've worked on myself. I know this is different or I've got this and people can just be disappointing.

When I was set up with my current husband, I didn't want to date anymore. The last breakup was so difficult for me. It rocked me so deep to my core that I felt like in my life, I looked towards all of the things that I have to be so grateful for. I love my work, I love my friends, I love my community, I love my children, and I'm going to just dedicate all of me to those things. And maybe when both of my children are grown, I'll find a companion, right? Even though I do believe that it's part of our human need to be in a healthy relationship with someone. And I have one client and she just kept talking about Chris and she was very persistent. And so then I said, I'll talk to him on the phone. We talked on the phone for three months before we ever met

Kit Hoover:

For listeners. Do you hear that she was not chasing, she wasn't even trying to attract. This is the narrative you hear over and over.

Tracy Anderson:

Yes, yes. I wasn't. I really, really wasn't. And on our first date, in fact, I had a panic attack. I was not myself. And I would say also that I was kind of rude because I wanted to find the red flag that had to be in him on night one, so I didn't have to be bothered. So I was asking him a lot of questions about, I was like, I know, okay, this is a non-starter and this is a non-starter. So I was sort of quizzing him like this. And so then I texted him being the kind person that I am saying, thank you so much. Maybe next time we could meet for a T-shirt and jeans for lunch. And then we literally walked New York City for three hours together the next day and we've been together ever since. And he lets me have a lot of animals. So it's all good, which I love.

Kit Hoover:

Now, in my mind, Tracy, and you don't have to answer this, but in my mind, you have sex nine days a week. You are just a sexual dynamo. You just seem so healthy and vibrant. Are you somewhere in the middle with that?

Tracy Anderson:

So I like to make love. I like love. I like connection. I am not a performer.

Kit Hoover:

Couldn't agree more. None of us want to be performers, but I imagine your method of true connection with your body has to help with intimacy.

Tracy Anderson:

But when you know your body, when you do know your body and you're connected to your body, nine women out of 10 come up to me and tell me that my workout has improved their sex life enormously. They're like even before it changes their body. They're like, I enjoy sex so much more and my sex life has improved. So for me, really it's

Kit Hoover:

By the way, what a compliment. That might be the greatest compliment of all time. Okay, let's play a little game, Tracy. Let's get random. What scares you? Oh my

Tracy Anderson:

Gosh. Wow. Gosh. Not being preventative

Kit Hoover:

With everything.

Tracy Anderson:

Well, I knew that Sam's dad didn't look right when we were in Indiana for Thanksgiving, the Thanksgiving before he passed and was misdiagnosed with pneumonia, but he was really having heart attacks. But at the same time, Penny's biological father had had seizures from his brain tumor. And I was dealing with that. And I remember looking across the room at him going, he doesn't look totally right. And I challenged him a little bit and he was like, I'm on an antibiotic. It's fine. I think for me, when you have the opportunity to save someone or to be preventative and you're not preventative, that scares me the most.

Kit Hoover:

It goes with your shirt, you're the patrol for everything Trace. I love you're the health patrol. Switching gears, what does your family make fun of you about?

Tracy Anderson:

Well, my brother growing up made fun of me because I have two different thumbs. So he would What do you mean he would make fun of my thumb? I have so difference. Einstein, do you see one is short is shorter. Shorter. But so was Einstein. So I always remind them that C one is shorter.

Kit Hoover:

No one is like a toe thumb. My sister-in-law has that. I love a toe. Thumb. One is

Tracy Anderson:

A toe.

Kit Hoover:

Thumb one is, so does my producer Harper. She has the best two, two. Oh,

Tracy Anderson:

We'll show it to you. Yeah, if I put my hand here, I always say it's like a toe. It's like a five-year-old's toe. So my brother used to always make fun of me on that, but my family now makes fun of me because I have to have snacks. Benadryl, water. If we go anywhere, even for a normal excursion, they're like, we can live here for a week.

Kit Hoover:

Thanks. We can live here. It's in Tracy's purse.

Tracy Anderson:

Exactly.

Kit Hoover:

What was your nickname growing up?

Tracy Anderson:

Noodle. Bugger. You weren't ready

Kit Hoover:

For that. You weren't ready. Noodle bugger is you're going to be your new name in my phone. Oh my God. How did you become noodle? Bugger.

Tracy Anderson:

Bugger. I have no idea. My dad gave everyone the cutest names and mine was noodle bugger,

Kit Hoover:

Noodle bugger.

Tracy Anderson:

And he would scream it on the sides of the sports arenas. If I was cheerleading or anything, noodle, bugger, noodle, bugger. And all my friends made fun of me for that too.

Kit Hoover:

I love it. My dad called me Junkyard Dog from the Jim Crow cheese song, from my Grit and Toughness. I love playing sports and I was so tiny, and so yeah, I think bugger is kind of cuter than Junkyard dog. No, I think you went what is in your bedside drawer.

Tracy Anderson:

Oh, that's so interesting.

Kit Hoover:

Do you have any of Gwyneth's fun toys?

Tracy Anderson:

I do have some of Gwyneth's fun toys. Actually. I love Gwyneth for her fun toys. And me too. You know what? Let me tell you something. Her sex oil is amazing. What? I got to get it. Sex oil. Oh, you have to get it. It's

Kit Hoover:

Amazing. Especially guys write that down. Literally my producers are writing it down. Oh yeah.

Tracy Anderson:

When

Kit Hoover:

Paltrow puts

Tracy Anderson:

Out a sex oil and y'all have it, come on, let's go. We got research we doing over here, ladies. Let's go actually books on my bedside table. I have stack of books quite honestly, this big.

Kit Hoover:

Always. I believe that. Is there one you're reading right now that I need to know about? What's at the top of the heap?

Tracy Anderson:

Oh, that's so interesting. I'm reading one called Enlightenment is an Accident.

Kit Hoover:

Oh, you write that down Harper. Got it. Okay. We're stealing everything. See, you're that great girlfriend. I want everybody to know, and I love this about you. So inclusive and sharing everything like, okay, I don't mean to sound vacuous with this next question. I'm being it. Seriously. What is your favorite body part? Oh, I love my ankles. You just had to pick the neck's. Always a tough one for me, but if I just had to pick one,

Tracy Anderson:

I'm happy about my ankles too.

Kit Hoover:

We give great ankles. Don't sleep on our five foot four 11 ankles.

Tracy Anderson:

This is going to sound completely ridiculous, but I really do love my whole body. I do. I love that it's balanced and it's in proportion and it's good to me and it feels good. And I really do love it all. Even my thumb.

Kit Hoover:

You know what? I went on a run the other day, I love to run, and I got so overcome with emotion at gratitude for my body, and I was like, wow. It got me into college. I got to have my babies. I'm 54 and I just like it. And it's not even really about the outside look. I just feel very grateful for it. So I know exactly what you're saying.

Tracy Anderson:

Listen up. Women listen up because you've always stayed connected and moving. Yeah.

Kit Hoover:

If you were not in the field that you were in, what would your side hustle be?

Tracy Anderson:

I would love to be a professor.

Kit Hoover:

Wait, what was your nickname again?

Tracy Anderson:

Noodle bugger. Noodle bugger.

Kit Hoover:

I was going to say, you're going to be my phone as noodle Bugger, but I kind of want to put you in as professor.

Tracy Anderson:

Professor noodle bugger. Professor noodle bugger. Well, actually right now, I would like to be president If Kamala is not, if Kamala doesn't become president, then I want to be president. There we go.

Kit Hoover:

President Noodle. Bugger right there. What is your relationship with alcohol? Do you still like your rose all day? Not all day, but fun rose occasionally when it hits.

Tracy Anderson:

Yeah. I only drink wine and I can take it or leave it sometimes. But if I want a glass of wine, I'm having a glass of wine. And actually if I want two, I'm going to have two. But I love that it comes from the body up for me. Sometimes it'll come from the mind, but then I always ask my body if it's down with it, I'm never overriding one or the other.

Kit Hoover:

Yes, I'll go weeks and months forgetting. I just don't drink. It's just not in my, but then sometimes I'm like, oh, that feels really good. But sometimes I'll take a sip and it doesn't taste good to me. Me too. And sometimes it's like, oh my gosh, that glass is perfect. So it's just listening to your body.

Tracy Anderson:

It's so true. It's so true. And I won't just drink because other people drink. But also I'm like, if everybody's delighting in it and it's part of the experience and I'm not feeling like it's not a good idea, then I'm fine. Yeah, totally. But I would never drink or drive because I'm

Kit Hoover:

A safety

Tracy Anderson:

Kid.

Kit Hoover:

Your safety. She's got the shirt. Pay attention. Kids. True. Fill in this blank. Aging is what liberating. Best answer yet. I love it. Okay, and final question for the coop, which has been so much fun. Professor Noodle bugger. What makes you happy?

Tracy Anderson:

My family. I really am so lucky that I just stayed true to myself and kept focused on leaning into the light. That's the thing is I always leaned into the light. Everything that I ever went through with anybody in business I was having issues with or in my bed that I was having issues with, I always leaned into the light. And I never put motherhood second ever. And that has really paid off for me. And I do have the best family. I love you. Really do.

Kit Hoover:

Just love and light to you. Keep creating, keep doing everything. You got cooking, professor. And then I'll come do your class when you're out here,

Tracy Anderson:

Please. Let's do it. This has been a joy. You're really the greatest. I mean, I get interviewed by a lot of people and you're extraordinary in what you do.

Kit Hoover:

Thanks, trace. Well, big hug and I will see you soon, my love.

Tracy Anderson:

Okay, honey. Thank you. Okay, bye.

Kit Hoover:

Sweet. Bye. Okay, let me bring in my producer, Harper McDonald. Wow. I know. We always say, wow. Wow. But it is, wow. It is a

Harper McDonald:

Wowser. Yes. Okay.

Kit Hoover:

I love that. She says about aging for fill in the blank, liberating.

Harper McDonald:

What's incredible about every aspect of the work she's done and the things that she's trying to teach is it is about liberating everything. It is about liberating ourselves from all of the things that we believe that we had to do with our bodies, with our lives,

Kit Hoover:

Those

Harper McDonald:

Checklists with our children, with getting married. And her work is to liberate women. I mean, I know she works with a lot of men too, but liberating women to embody who they are and loving who they are and being centered in who they are. I loved that word.

Kit Hoover:

I love sort of the rule breaker that she is. If you want to use that, what a renegade. Because she's so out of the box from her conscious parenting to the way she thinks. It just sort of taps into that. Every part of us that can listen to that little thing that's a little different, like, oh, I haven't thought about it from that perspective.

Harper McDonald:

And when she spoke about how we've been pulled away from our intuition. So from the moment that we were born, we were handed these checklists. I mean, theoretically,

Kit Hoover:

Here's what you do.

Harper McDonald:

Here's what you do. You go to school, you go to church, you get married, you have babies. All the things. And to give ourselves the ability to tap back into our intuition and realize that that actually is a thing that's guiding us in our life. The checklist

Kit Hoover:

Are bullshit. But easier been done though. Completely. I've totally lived by a checklist. I'm a checklist

Harper McDonald:

Girl

Kit Hoover:

To hear

Harper McDonald:

Well, we live, live in, we all live in communities and in these communities, these checklists exist. And so as to your point about her being the renegade, that she's just like Uhuh. No, you don't have to do that.

Kit Hoover:

Yeah. Her life is so fascinating. How about engaged nine times times? Oh, my Harper and I on the side, we're going, that's a magic, magic situation. But you know what, it's not. It's a magical being.

Harper McDonald:

Right?

Kit Hoover:

And she just has chemistry with everybody. She has this way

Harper McDonald:

About her and that story that she told about her friend, we her friends. Like, okay, being physically attracted and having that kind of chemistry does not designate you needing to get engaged. And she's like, oh, are you sure? Okay. Okay. Well, I mean maybe, but I just love that that made her giggle. That was really funny. But leading to a couple of times that she was divorced and the learning she had from

Kit Hoover:

That, I love that she talked about, sorry, we always say, I love blah, blah, blah. I got to use a different, something new in my vocabulary here. But it was so interesting that she talks about getting the bookends with her life, her first love and where she is now. And she didn't learn enough about herself and her first marriage that she wished she'd done things differently.

Harper McDonald:

And she said we would still be married. And also that marriages and relationships sometimes run their course. And that's actually a very healthy way to think about relationships. And marriages is sometimes they just, there's a stopping point. There's

Kit Hoover:

Stopping point.

Harper McDonald:

As long as you do everything right,

Kit Hoover:

As long as you do everything right. That can be a healthy thing that we need to reshift again. Get rid of that old checklist. What about her nickname Noodle Bugger.

Harper McDonald:

Oh my God. President Noodle bugger. Professor bugger. Professor noodle bugger. And that just rolled straight off her tongue. I mean, she knows exactly what her nickname is. It was so

Kit Hoover:

Cute. I've known you for so long, but I don't even know. Do you have a nickname?

Harper McDonald:

Why are you pausing? So my mom gave me a nickname. I don't really understand pussy. What? No, Sy. I know. What does it mean? I don't know. Junkyard Dog. I know. I've never given the background on it. Mine didn't come from a Jim Croci song. What? I don't know. Well, I'm meeting your mom today. I don't think I've ever told anybody that before. Sie, how do you spell it? Oie. oie. I think it's O-O-S-I-E. You sure? It's not USSY. I know. Well, she didn't spell it that way. I don't know. I think we could do it whatever we want's. So great. I know. It's super funny. So the only moving on, the only other thing that I loved that, well, there's so many things. The other thing that she spoke about, anytime anyone quotes Rumi, is it's a moment to stop and listen. And when she spoke about, when Rumi talks about it, when guests come to your house, you're going to get all different kinds of guests and you welcome them in. And that obviously is a bridge to challenges in life. And so she was talking about menopause in that moment. But obviously it relates to everything, right? I mean, when a challenge comes knocking at your door, you say, yes, come in

Kit Hoover:

With a smile.

Harper McDonald:

With a smile, with a laugh. You greet them laughing, greet them. Laughing is what I take. I feel like that's such a philosophy of yours. So many things that in your life and things that have happened, you're just like, all right, let's roll you make me feel good. I don't know.

Kit Hoover:

Keep me laughing, Harper.

Harper McDonald:

It's true. It's true.

Kit Hoover:

Harper and I were also laughing back with her talking about aging being liberating. Harper. And I did one interview early in the morning and my right eyelid would not open. And we did video it so Harper and I were dying. We're like, what happened? The lid just closed the right eye. Well it,

Harper McDonald:

It's happening to all of us.

Kit Hoover:

No, I love that quote. Thank you for saying that about me. And I think we should leave today with our listeners in the coop. Can we Gwyneth Paltrow's sex oil? Was it sex oil? Well, I think we have to.

Harper McDonald:

And she was

Kit Hoover:

Very

Harper McDonald:

Disappointed. She's like, girls, how do you not have the sex oil? I mean, let's go

Kit Hoover:

Listeners report back to us on that. Please get the oil and let us know.

Harper McDonald:

And most especially if you have not seen how incredible this woman is in her, I mean amazingly, she comes up with seven hours of new choreography every single week for her workout. So it is constantly evolving and she's adding new things to it all the time. The my mode and her heart, I mean she's all of these pieces of the puzzle, but God, to watch her do these

Kit Hoover:

Workouts, okay, wait, Harper and I did her workout other day. That's inspiration alone. And she is so awesome to look at. Harper and I were looking and she's just sweaty and fabulous and the way she moves and she doesn't really talk. And it's like you get into,

Harper McDonald:

No, she doesn't speak at all. Rhythm, which is why it was so incredible to have this hour with her because I learned so much about her. I've known about her for decades, literally. And she embodies everything that she's teaching in her silent

Kit Hoover:

Classes. She's such a lovely human being. I'm so glad that we're friends and please take her class and tell Harper and I what you think. But you can see in us a couple of times, har and I just stopped and stared at her. I just stops. I'm like, look it, God, she's so hot. Okay, ankle weight. Back on. Let's go. Back on. Let's go. Alright, hope y'all enjoyed it as much as we did. We'll see you next time in the coop. Thank you for joining us, my chickens. If you like this episode, please give us a five star rating, drop in a great review, and tag us at the coop with Kit Hoover as well. You can follow us on social media at the coop with Kit Hoover for behind the scenes content and updates. We will see you next time in the coop. And remember, as my mom bug always says, life is not a dress rehearsal. Make it count. Today's episode was produced by me, kit Hoover and Harper McDonald. Our technical producer is Christian Brown, and today's episode was edited by Christian Brown, business Development by Casey Lad. And a special thank you to all of our sponsors.