Life Beyond the Labels

What’s it like to be a “hockey wife,” a reality TV alum, and a new mom all at once?

Emily Karlsson, formerly Emily Ferguson from The Bachelor, chats with Emily about her life’s transformations—from her Vegas nightlife days to finding love, navigating intense hockey seasons, and adjusting to motherhood.

Emily opens up about her relationship with her husband, NHL player William Karlsson, the joys and hardships of raising a family in the public eye, and the power of supportive friendships.

This conversation glimpses into Emily’s world, where life’s most beautiful moments often come with challenges—and where strong friendships and resilience make all the difference.

Listen For:
2:39 - Emily Karlsson’s Journey to The Bachelor
8:42 - Handling Fame and Criticism as a Hockey Wife
29:44 - Pregnancy, Motherhood, and Family Support
34:57 - Emily’s Supportive Role During Sister’s IVF Journey

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Guest: Emily Karlsson
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Contact Emily:
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Transcript

Emily Cave Boit (00:01):

I am so excited for today's special guest. But before we start, I just wanted to read two reviews. I read all your guys' reviews and dms, and I appreciate them so much. This one says, being a young widow myself, you have brought a warmth to my heart. I still haven't gotten through your book as it floods me with memories and tears. You're an incredible woman. Please keep doing what you're doing. You're an inspiration honestly. Thank you so much. Freaky nester. It's comments like these that remind me why I'm doing what I'm doing on the hard days. And this one from Gypsy 0 3 0 literally made me want to tear up as someone who has followed your journey since 2020. So proud of the person you have become your strength is an ongoing inspiration showing the world that you can survive. The unimaginable. Thanks for sharing your story and making grief and mental health normalized.

(01:04):

You are so much more than your story, but I wanted to thank you for normalizing grief and loss of any kind. You are changing the world one thing at a time. Thank you. That comment reminds me of why Colby called me his little world changer and why I started this podcast and wrote the book and have been so open on Instagram and sharing my story, and I made that promise to him to continue to be his little world changer. So thank you to everyone. Whether you followed me in 2020, are just hearing the podcast for the first time today. Thank you for helping me fulfill that battle. But today's special guest is a special one. She is one of my hockey sisters, but one of you, or many of you guys may know her as Emily Ferguson or now Emily Karlsson. She was on the Bachelor, bachelor in Paradise and is now married to William Karlsson of the Vegas Golden Knights and also a mom to Beckham and another baby boy on the Way. So I'm excited for you guys to hear a little bit more of her journey and get to know the M that I know because I love her and I'm so grateful for her. So yeah, welcome to episode number three

Emily Karlsson (02:39):

For people who don't know me, my name is Emily Karlsson, and before I was Emily Karlsson, I was Emily Ferguson and I have an identical twin sister and her and I are glued to the hip. We do everything together and we got, ever since I can remember, just high school, we would do cheerleading together. We turned 21 and we started working. We live in Las Vegas and as soon as we turned 21, we started working in the nightclubs and just the total Vegas Vegasy girls, I guess you can say. And then we got an opportunity to go onto the Bachelor, which was something that Haley and I kind of always wanted to do. We always thought reality TV was cool and we watched The Bachelor our whole lives and we thought, oh my gosh, this is going to be the greatest coolest opportunity ever. And totally The Bachelor was such a fun time in my life and just making new friends and of course it's scary to put yourself on national television like that, and with reality TV you kind of leave it up to the producers what kind of edit you're going to get and how they're going to portray you.

(03:45):

But nonetheless, I don't regret it at all. It was such a great experience that we got to do Bachelor in Paradise and then we got our own spinoff show. So things kind of just went well for us after that. And then it was a lot of fun. And then literally two years later I met Will and then the rest is literally history.

Emily Cave Boit (04:05):

How did you meet Will Again,

Emily Karlsson (04:09):

When we got a hockey team, which I knew nothing about hockey, I was going to say hockey, coming to Las Vegas made no sense. I didn't care. I didn't think it was going to be cool or anything. It was great. Just more traffic in our city. And I love Vegas because there's no traffic, there's no sports teams, there's nothing. And then they came and then we got invited to a game and I was like, oh, hockey is cool. And then I found Will on Instagram and I love boys with long blonde hair, totally my type. So I sent him a DM and I literally just said, Hey, because everybody always asks me, what do I DM somebody if I want to shoot my shot? And I'm always like, I just say, Hey, and they're going to go creep your profile and if they like you, they're going to respond. It's so easy. You don't have to have a cheesy pickup line, you don't have to be like whatever. And he responded and then we just started talking. Now mind you, he was very shy, so I held most of the conversation, but I think that's why

Emily Cave Boit (05:08):

We can, will speak good English.

Emily Karlsson (05:11):

He speaks really good English. Honestly, he lost a lot of his accent, so I don't even know if people would think he's Swedish, but some of his words get a little up mangled and mixed up. So sometimes his interviews are really cute and I'm like, oh honey, that's not good English. But yeah, he speaks good English and yeah, the rest is history. He was such a gentleman, so sweet. And that's what I always say about there's that stigma about athletes. They're players, they're not good people, they're this, they're that. But I do think hockey players are, and I don't know much about other sports, but I do think hockey players are some of the most down to earth kind, private, don't really want to be in the public eye kind of people. They just love what they do and where they grew up, hockey was their thing and they just love what they do. So yeah, he's a really, really sweet boy and I love him so much. That's amazing. And

Emily Cave Boit (06:13):

Now you guys are expecting baby number two.

Emily Karlsson (06:15):

Yeah, it happened quick. Yeah, if time flies, it's just so weird.

Emily Cave Boit (06:20):

That's so exciting. Looking back to The Bachelor a bit, what was the difference? So I don't really watch The Bachelor. Sorry. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I am watching a few episodes of the Golden Bachelor right now and it is melting my heart the way that they handle widowhood and are so supportive of each other's late spouses. I have cried the little bit that I've seen. You may have gotten me hooked to The Bachelor through the Golden Bachelor.

Emily Karlsson (06:51):

Well, the Golden Bachelor is a whole different level. Totally. It is so authentic. It is so real. It is so raw. They are just great. They grew up in a completely different generation and they're not looking for fame. They're truly just trying to find someone to grow old with. And yeah, the stories are always just make you want to just cry so hard. Yeah, every time I watch the Golden Bachelor, I'm bawling. So they do a great job.

Emily Cave Boit (07:23):

Yeah, they do. Amazing job. Are you still good? I think you're still good friends with some of the people you've met on the Bachelor and Bachelor Paradise.

Emily Karlsson (07:30):

Yeah, it's easy to fall out of contact with them because we all live in different places, but definitely it's people like my friend Lauren Lane and Amanda Fogel. We all got married, we all have kids, but if we text each other, it's just the same old, same old, so it's cool. But yeah, most of the other girls I've definitely lost contact with follow them on social media and kind of follow along their journey and their life and otherwise, yeah, you just in the beginning busy, you're close, you're close and you're like, oh, we shared this experience together that no one really understands. And then we all become washed up and then the next group of girls come through and then you get to follow their lives and their chaos and it's fun. I'm glad that no one remembers me from that. Well, maybe they do, but I'm just kind of glad it's like 10 years behind me.

Emily Cave Boit (08:23):

Do you think the Bachelor and the Bachelorette in a way prepared you for the quote fans? I know hockey fans are a little bit different or Instagram fans and trolls. Do you think it kind of prepared you for that or do you think it's different in all aspects with your Instagram, your Bachelor and then hockey?

Emily Karlsson (08:42):

That's a good question. I do think that The Bachelor prepared me for the fans and stuff because when the Vegas Golden Knights came to Vegas and they were so good to that Stanley Cup final Vegas fans went absolutely nuts. Me and Will could not go out to dinner without being stopped. But because I was so used to it, I, it just was kind of normal for me. So that's I think worked out great. And then when I go to hockey games now and people stop me and ask for pictures, I love doing it. I love our fans. We have such a good fan base. But yeah, I think it really did prepare me. It helped me grow some thick skin because people are going to say things about hockey wives like, oh, you only love him for his money. She wouldn't date him if he wasn't making that kind of money or if he wasn't an athlete and all that stuff. So it definitely helps you grow thick skin because the Bachelor fans can be nasty online,

Emily Cave Boit (09:39):

I feel like. Wait, did Will ever watch your episodes?

Emily Karlsson (09:42):

Yeah, we watched them. Really? He thought I was very funny. He said as soon as me and Hailey got eliminated, it wasn't fun anymore. And I was like, thank you. I think me and Hailey were just, they portrayed us as the dumb blondes, comic relief kind of

Emily Cave Boit (09:56):

Thing.

Emily Karlsson (09:57):

I like to play that role to be totally honest. It does not bother me at all.

Emily Cave Boit (10:02):

When you were talking about the hockey life, I remember in my book I talk about the stigma around hockey wives as you're saying, it's kind of we're just with them for their money. We have it so easy. But I feel like a lot of hockey wives that I've had the privilege to meet are some of the most amazing girls I've ever met and their stories of coming from wherever, whether it's Canada or over in Europe, and you kind of don't know anyone and you're a forced family, but it's honestly some of the best memories I've ever had was our time in the hockey life because you just respect the girls so much. I feel like either when you're on waivers or trades or any of that that's going on and your life is about pre-game naps and everything revolves around hockey and yeah, I feel like, I mean I wouldn't have met you without the hockey life and I feel like we're such a close knit group. Is that something that you expected when you first walked in or

Emily Karlsson (11:14):

Absolutely not Something I expected. I would have expected the complete opposite of how close the girls would be and how amazing the girls would be. And we're just so supportive of each other and I feel like my situation is slightly different because I am from Vegas, so I have my family here. I've been so lucky that since the moment I met Will, we've still been in Vegas and so I still have my support outside of the hockey girls. But when we go away for the summers, I miss my hockey girls. I'm excited to come back and be with them because we do so many outings together. We do so much stuff together. We watch away games together, we do everything together. It's so funny. I don't know. It's such a great little family and now that I have kids, it's I felt like all of us were getting engaged at the same time and then married at the same time.

(12:10):

And now all of us are having kids at the same time. And so some of us have kids that are only three weeks apart from each other. And again, I'm pregnant with my second and one of the same group of girls that I was pregnant with are pregnant again. So we get to raise our second babies together. So it's kind of fun to just go through these milestones in life with them and be going through like, oh my God, our husbands are gone for the whole month of November and we're about to give birth to these babies and they're going to probably, who knows if they'll make it to the birth, you don't know. But yeah, it's not as easy as it looks. The guys are gone all the

Emily Cave Boit (12:49):

Time.

Emily Karlsson (12:50):

They have a game every other day and you want to go and support them. But now with kids it's hard because it's seven o'clock, eight o'clock games and their bedtimes are seven eight. So it's just definitely not as exciting and fun as it kind of is in the beginning when you've just met them and you don't have kids and you can make it to all the games and I don't know, I do miss all that. You go for drinks

Emily Cave Boit (13:11):

With the girls before

Emily Karlsson (13:13):

Sometimes you're not even watching the hockey game, you're just too busy chatting with the girls. Yeah, I don't know. So you're in the family room fun. Yes, I feel it really is the

Emily Cave Boit (13:22):

Best. Yeah, I loved, I love those years. I miss them quite a bit

Emily Karlsson (13:31):

Sometimes I think I look forward to retirement and then I feel like I'll miss it when I'm retired. You will not. I'm retired when Will's retired, but I'll look back at all those young girls and be like, oh, their lives are just starting.

Emily Cave Boit (13:44):

That's amazing. What was your experience? So I saw you right before, I also love that you have Butchy as a coach. We had Butchy and Julie is like Julie Cassidy is one of my favorite people on the entire planet.

Emily Karlsson (14:03):

An absolute angel and just you wouldn't even believe it. I feel like that's crazy to me that the coach Bruce is so nice When we have babies, he's always congratulating us and checking in. I don't know how sweet. That doesn't seem like normal.

Emily Cave Boit (14:22):

No, I remember one of my favorite, we saw them when I saw you in Vegas and we knew Butchy very well during our time at the Bruins and one of the, actually it was hands down the hardest call when Colby died was calling Butchy and telling him that morning and I was frantic and one of the videos that Butchy sent Colby during the week or the four days, he was in a coma. We were trying to get Colby to hear things and butcher's video, I still have, and he's telling him that he's got to wake up and he's got to respond. And I just feel like, I don't know, I'm like, I love much. So when he won my cup greatest when you guys won the cup, I texted him and I was like, your hall of fame and me and Colby's

Emily Karlsson (15:17):

Books. So sweet.

Emily Cave Boit (15:20):

What a good

Emily Karlsson (15:20):

Guy.

Emily Cave Boit (15:21):

Yeah, he's such, but it's so crazy to think how crazy the hockey life is connected. You have a coach and then we had the same coach and the girls and Yeah,

Emily Karlsson (15:33):

I know for sure whenever Will and I get traded, we will go to a team and I'll at least know somebody somehow. It's a big world, but also a small world. There is a lot of teams, but also we've met so many people through the hockey world, so yeah, it's going to be crazy.

Emily Cave Boit (15:54):

What was it like for you leading up to and then winning the Stanley Cup, if you can describe that in words because you were also fresh newborn mom and everything with Beckham.

Emily Karlsson (16:08):

Yeah. Honestly, I'm super sad that because I was so postpartum when we won the Stanley Cup, and I think that maybe for some people it's not a big of a shock because maybe they've had surgeries or have been through some sort of traumatic event before they give birth, and I kind of never had any of that. So for me, having Beckham was extremely traumatic somehow, but it was a great birth. It went really well, but I think my hormones also just really screwed me over. It's all mostly a blur, but from what I can remember, I remember I scheduled to make sure that Will could be there for this birth. I wanted him to watch me suffer. I wanted him to watch me get this baby out.

(17:00):

It's our first baby. I needed him to see this, to see what I put my body through, and I needed him to respect it. So we made sure of that. He flew home from an away game, got off the plane, met me at the hospital. I got induced and had the baby 12 hours later in the middle of the night, 3:00 AM I went back to recovery. He was there for a couple hours and went home, slept. They let me leave the hospital early. I wanted that drive home with my family. I wanted to drive home slow with our baby, have that moment together. Then he gone on a plane and left and I was at home alone with our newborn baby. And then three weeks later we won the Stanley Cup and I brought Beckham with me and we put him in the gosh dang cup. And that moment was all just, you couldn't believe it. I could not believe we won the Stanley Cup. It still doesn't feel real because when I think about it, that was two years ago now.

Emily Cave Boit (18:07):

Yeah, it was a while ago.

Emily Karlsson (18:09):

And I still think when I look at the little trophy that will has of the Stanley Cup, I'm like, that's crazy. She won the Stanley Cup. That's what you dream of in

Emily Cave Boit (18:17):

Vegas, the city that you never thought would have hockey.

Emily Karlsson (18:20):

And you want to know what's even better is we won it at home. I know some people win away, but I'm so thankful that we won it at home so I could be there. There's no way I was going to fly to wherever. I don't even remember who we played. Who was it? Vegas first? Yes, yes. I would've not gone on a flight to do that with a three week old baby. Oh my gosh. I remember all the hate I got for putting my three week old baby in the Stanley Cup after really guys have been kissing it and germs and passing it around. The amount of hate that I got for putting my baby in the cup. I'm like, I think I'll be okay. But he ended up fine. But I told Will that he has to win the Stanley Cup this year now so that I can put this baby in the Stanley

Emily Cave Boit (19:07):

Cup because otherwise, yeah, got to be fair for the kids.

Emily Karlsson (19:08):

It's not fair. But yeah, no, that's not no pressure, honey. But you have to win.

Emily Cave Boit (19:15):

Yeah, come on.

Emily Karlsson (19:17):

It was truly just the greatest time ever. As much as I blacked out because I was just bawling every single day. It was hard to take care of a newborn and sleep deprived. I do remember it just being absolutely a dream come true.

Emily Cave Boit (19:33):

That's amazing. And your family was obviously there and all of that, which is

Emily Karlsson (19:38):

Yeah, Will's family, but Will's family didn't come because they were still in Sweden. They couldn't make it, but all of his friends from Sweden were there.

Emily Cave Boit (19:48):

That's awesome.

Emily Karlsson (19:49):

It was a full house for sure.

Emily Cave Boit (19:53):

You were running on fumes, but that's okay. You looked great. You looked great. Which is such a Emily,

Emily Karlsson (20:01):

You're too nice

Emily Cave Boit (20:02):

Instagram reality versus the truth,

Emily Karlsson (20:07):

How you feel a hundred percent. I'm wearing a diaper in those photos.

Emily Cave Boit (20:13):

Are you actually,

Emily Karlsson (20:14):

No, a hundred percent you're, you bleed for weeks, so you're just praying that everything goes fine. Oh my gosh. I'm wearing a blazer that covers all the way down to my butt making sure all of that is secured.

Emily Cave Boit (20:29):

That is, yeah, that's a classic Instagram versus reality right

Emily Karlsson (20:32):

There. Oh, totally. But yeah, it looks picture perfect.

Emily Cave Boit (20:35):

Great. You did it for the Gram, you did it.

Emily Karlsson (20:39):

It really does. I did.

Emily Cave Boit (20:42):

Do you think, well actually is your, when you're talking about hate, obviously you've experienced it and then I have experienced that on a different level in the beginning, did you fight back or have you always been trying to be brush it off or how do you handle it or does it kind of depend on what it's about?

Emily Karlsson (21:05):

I've always been able to brush it off because my comments were always stupid, dumb, blonde, never anything that I took super personally because I don't know, I just never did. But the hate comments were stupid. Yeah, there's definitely been like, you should go kill yourself comments, which I even hate saying out loud because that's just horrible for people to say. That's so horrible. That feels, even like I said, just so uncomfortable to say, I can't believe people DM people. That's so horrible. But yeah, there has been that, but I don't ever fight back because I always, I'm not confrontational, but sometimes I want to, but my friends will do it for me in the comments. I remember back in the day, my friends were like, I'm going to go to battle for you. And then I'll just like the comments. But sometimes I just like the comment of someone saying something rude and

Emily Cave Boit (21:55):

Then your followers see that I've done that, I've liked it. And then your followers see that you've liked it and they'll go fight for you on the top for, and then I'm like, thank you for your service.

Emily Karlsson (22:07):

But I will say since becoming a mom, I've been very, very much more sensitive to comments. Just people saying mom things or just even just dumb stuff. If someone said, oh, you date will for the wrong reasons or whatever, that stuff makes me upset nowadays for some reason. But I think it's because I'm so sensitive. I've become sensitive since having babies for sure.

Emily Cave Boit (22:35):

I don't know why. Interesting.

Emily Karlsson (22:37):

I know it's weird and I just want to cry when people send mean comments. But then again, I don't ever respond back, but

Emily Cave Boit (22:46):

Does Will respond.

Emily Karlsson (22:47):

No, will is so easygoing. Me and my sister were just talking this morning and she's like, God Will is just such an easygoing guy. He could give two shits about anything. And I'm like, yeah, I wish I kind of had that attitude. Someone was like, does will get mad after a bad game? And I'm like, no. He comes home and he's totally fine. He's bummed out. Yeah, that sucked. But we'll wake up the next day and be just the sweetest, greatest, best dad. So it's nice that he doesn't get super moody and I don't have to deal with that.

Emily Cave Boit (23:18):

Yeah, that reminds me, Cole was the least moody person I think I've ever met in my life. It's

Emily Karlsson (23:25):

Kind of nice. I know some people have to

Emily Cave Boit (23:29):

Help

Emily Karlsson (23:29):

Be more supportive, but probably words of affirmation and stuff, but I don't have to do that, which is nice.

Emily Cave Boit (23:37):

Yeah, cool. It was a very, very much Sounds a lot. Well,

Emily Karlsson (23:42):

Sometimes you're like, can you have a Bos

Emily Cave Boit (23:46):

Laid back get mad? Very like, oh no. I would actually, it's so funny that you just said that. I remember one time he was a little annoyed and it wasn't anything like game related going to a game and I told him, I'm like, get pissed. And when he walked it there, I'm like, go have a good game and get pissed. And he scored multiple goals, got a sis. I'm pretty sure he got in a fight. It was like whatever. So it was always my joke after that when he locked out the door, my God. And some of the text messages when he was on the road, I'd be like, love you. Good luck. Get pissed.

Emily Karlsson (24:25):

Yeah, that's cute. I kind of like that. Would Colby fight a lot? He didn't seem like he'd be a fighter.

Emily Cave Boit (24:32):

He didn't fight. I mean he did fight, but then he had that, it was actually the memory on fans were tagging me in on it a few years ago. He got into a fight. This was the whole story of his character when he died and he knocked the guy out was out, lights out. And I remember texting his agent being like, because I thought the guy was dead on the ice. He was out. And I remember texting his agent being like, is he going to go to jail? So scared if he didn't wake up or what happens. And one of the most amazing stories was after that Colby was panicking and it just happened to be the way that he hit him. And he texted the player as soon as he got off the ice and was like, Hey, I'm so sorry man, I hope you're okay, et cetera. So when he passed or no, the next day, I think the player posted it on Twitter and was like, thanks for just showing Colby's character. You can fight on the ice or you can be a competitor or competing against each other on the ice, but off the ice, who he kind of was. So when he passed away, that story kind of went around quite a bit,

(25:52):

But I never liked fighting. Neither do

Emily Karlsson (25:56):

I. Don't think it's sexy or hot. I'm like, please just

Emily Cave Boit (25:59):

Call. Something could go wrong. Yeah.

(26:05):

And I feel like, yeah, looking at back at that now, I'm always like, oh, his brain, even though I'll say this for the million time because the news get it wrong. His death was not hockey related. But I just think now actually when he passed away, one of the one things I couldn't touch and I still can't touch, I can't go near, I can't even look at it, is his helmet because I just feel like it reminds me of his brain and the tumor and it's just suck. I can look at everything else, but I can't go near his.

Emily Karlsson (26:42):

That totally makes sense because yeah. Oh, so can't believe that.

Emily Cave Boit (26:47):

I will say you have been, I feel like the hockey world is so small and was really supportive when Colby passed away, but I have a very appreciated how you just continue to follow my story and show up and be supportive. And even years, almost five years just still checking in means a lot. And I feel like that shows a lot of who you're as a person.

Emily Karlsson (27:15):

You're so sweet. There's something about you and I don't know what it is and I can't explain it, but something just drew me to you when obviously I didn't know you before all this happened, but the way you handled things, the way you held yourself so high through it all, the most tragic story you could truly ever hear. I was like, this girl handles it so well and now you shouldn't have to. And the shit that you've had to go through is completely, it blows my mind. And the way that you can be today through all of it still blows my mind. Because you are high class, Emily high class.

Emily Cave Boit (28:01):

I try, but yeah, no, I'm wearing my, I still wear it. The 12 necklace you got us. I think I have 12 and you have 85? 84. Yeah. Is that Will's 71 70. Why do I feel like he was 84? Close enough.

Emily Karlsson (28:14):

No, that might be my sister's husband. I don't know. He's been a couple numbers, but we're like the same person.

Emily Cave Boit (28:21):

No. Yeah, you've

Emily Karlsson (28:23):

Been amazing. So thank you. You're so sweet. Yeah, no, I would do anything for you. And I know we don't live close together, but I would support you in any way I possibly can.

Emily Cave Boit (28:34):

I got to come back and visit you and Julie in Vegas. I

Emily Karlsson (28:37):

Know. Please do.

Emily Cave Boit (28:39):

I got to see Beckham.

Emily Karlsson (28:40):

Oh my god, you would die. He's so cute. I know. I'm his mom and I'm so biased, but my God, that baby is so cute.

Emily Cave Boit (28:49):

Well obviously I feel like your second is going to have blonde hair and blue eyes.

Emily Karlsson (28:53):

Yeah, I don't know. So Beckham came out strawberry blonde and then he turned to that toe head, which that was with will. Same with me and my sister. We were all little strawberry blondes and then turned out blonde hair. So I'm curious if this one will just have blonde hair or will be also strawberry blonde. I can't wait to see, but I'm like a crazy person and I do those, I go and pay out of pocket for ultrasounds and I do the 3D four D and this baby looks different. So I'm curious what he's going to look like. I can't wait. He looks like more masculine somehow. And I know that sounds weird based off ultrasounds,

Emily Cave Boit (29:31):

But

Emily Karlsson (29:32):

When I compare them, I mean when I see the ultrasound I'm like, that looks like Becca. So I don't know. But this baby does look different, so I can't wait to see him. I really can't. It's so fun.

Emily Cave Boit (29:44):

So

Emily Karlsson (29:44):

I also can't believe I'm having another boy because Will to me seems like such a girl dad.

Emily Cave Boit (29:50):

Yeah. Okay. Speaking of that, so Hailey had a girl.

Emily Karlsson (29:55):

Yeah.

Emily Cave Boit (29:56):

How for those that don't know? Twin sister, I feel like who's also married to a hockey player. And where do they currently play? Right

Emily Karlsson (30:06):

Now they're in Switzerland right now. So he's been all over. He's been in Texas, he's been in Pittsburgh, he's been in Sweden, Finland now Switzerland.

Emily Cave Boit (30:17):

Okay, so you guys kind of switched, you're in America during the winter and she's in Europe and then you

Emily Karlsson (30:24):

Switch. Yeah. Yeah. And then I go there in the summer. So it's sad because me and Hailey are glued to the hip, do everything together, like I said. So I never expected this life for us, but I always remind myself hockey careers are actually pretty short. They'll retire like what? 35? Some are playing until they're like 40. That's kind of crazy and unheard of. But we always tell each other soon enough we're going to be able to raise our kids together. We're going to be living next to each other. It'll happen, it'll happen. So we just keep reminding ourselves of that.

Emily Cave Boit (30:59):

So obviously there's a few questions I have here. Hailey has been very vocal about her journey to having your niece and her IVF process being twins and being so close and you not experiencing that, but obviously watching your sister experience that and she bravely and shared her story. Is there anything that you would say to loved ones who are supporting their loved one through IVF or what was your journey? Being in it with her, but obviously not being, it makes

Emily Karlsson (31:41):

Me

Emily Cave Boit (31:41):

Emotional,

Emily Karlsson (31:42):

Stupid. I just remember when they really wanted a baby and I was pregnant, they would just come home crying all the time because they started with IUI so silly, not so at all. And even just like her husband seeing her husband cry, they just really wanted a baby. It was so, so hard to watch them go through that. But my sister is so strong to me because she went through it all and they got their miracle baby, and now everything's like great. She's perfect, she's healthy. But it was just so annoying because people would always say, oh, when you stop caring, you'll get pregnant. When you just go on a vacation and do whatever you want and you'll get pregnant. It's so stupid because that's not true in that people who make comments like that, they don't get it. So that was hard for me to watch her go through and

Emily Cave Boit (32:46):

There's nothing

Emily Karlsson (32:47):

You

Emily Cave Boit (32:47):

Can

Emily Karlsson (32:48):

Do. No, I always told her though, if she couldn't have a baby, I will have her babies for her. I will put her embryos in me and I'll have her babies for her. But we always knew she could carry the baby. She was just having issues getting pregnant. She has a blocked fallopian tube. She's been very vocal about her infertility stuff and there was just a lot of issues going on. And of course I do think stress does play a role into all of that and stress does cause issues, but it's definitely not the core issue. She had genuine issues like blocked fallopian tubes. Her eggs were not maturing and stuff. So thank God for IBF because people who cannot have babies and want babies, it's like a miracle that IBF exists so people can have babies because babies are miracles and yes, there's literally, what is it, a 20% chance of getting pregnant every cycle? It's insane. Your chances are pretty gosh dang low. So thank goodness for IBF because it's amazing. But I was talking to her about this and I was like, how do you want people to support you because I don't want to ever want you to think that I don't care or that I'm not understanding and stuff. And she just was like, I just want someone to listen to me. I just maybe want to come home and cry and you listen.

(34:10):

And so I was just always just trying to listen to her and be supportive and yeah, that's a hard, babies are such a touchy subject I feel because there is a lot of women who struggle with infertility and you might not know about it. Some women don't want to talk about it. And that's something I totally respect. And if I know someone's going through IVF and I know they don't want to talk about it, I won't bring it up. I just know people's personalities. If someone wants to talk, I'm here to listen. I'm here to support. But it's a tough journey. People who go through IVF, it's not easy. Your hormones are out of control. All the hormones they pump into you. It's crazy. But yeah, she's a trooper.

Emily Cave Boit (34:57):

Did you ever, how can I word this? Was it one of those things until you saw her go through it, did you read books about five VF yourself or was it just kind of Haley educating you? How can you help kind of,

Emily Karlsson (35:14):

Yeah. No, never read books on it, but it was Haley just educating me on how to do it. And I would see, so they lived with us during this process because they travel for the hockey season and just, she would come home with all these boxes of medicine and we would just sit and go. We would have to watch YouTube videos on how to put these shots in her stomach and in her butt. And we would, she'd be like, I'm so scared. What if I put it in the wrong place or this or that? And then once she started getting comfortable with the shots, she would let me do them. But I got scared to do them because I don't want to

Emily Cave Boit (35:50):

Hurt. I think I saw a video of you doing one.

Emily Karlsson (35:52):

Yeah, her husband would help her mostly. But I was scared because the one time I did it, I must've put it in a vein and blood came squirting out and I was like, I am never doing this again. This is horrifying. Of course, the one time I do it, this happens. And she had to call the doctor, the nurses and make sure it was terrible. But she was, yeah, her whole butt was bruised up. Her stomach was full of bruises. The needle part is definitely got to be the worst part. But yeah, I just learned all the IVF stuff through her and I feel like Haley's pretty chill and open and not so sensitive about the process. So she was been able to be understanding of me not understanding.

Emily Cave Boit (36:47):

Yeah,

Emily Karlsson (36:48):

I'll never understand what she went through because I wasn't having to put shots in my butt. I didn't have to go under anesthesia to get all my eggs out. I didn't have to pump a ton of hormones in my body and be a little bit crazy for weeks. Hormones are crazy. They make you crazy. She was a bit crazy. Sorry Hailey. Yeah, her husband too was like, you were, and she's like, I know I was. She can admit it. Now.

Emily Cave Boit (37:15):

Do you get to see your niece a lot on FaceTime or?

Emily Karlsson (37:20):

Oh, every morning. So it's like a nine hour time difference. So every morning I get to see Lovie and Beckham gets to see Lovie and we try to make them talk to each other, but Beckham's two psycho, he's just all over the place, but I get to see her and she is the funniest little thing. She is so chatty, likes the sound of her own voice. She looks so much like Ola Haley's husband. It's actually insane when Haley holds her. I'm like, is that your baby? She has black hair. She still has those really gorgeous blue eyes, but wow, she is a cutie patootie. I'm like, she's going to be the next Megan box or something. She's so stunning.

Emily Cave Boit (38:01):

It's kind of nice. You have a mixture of both. You get to be an auntie to a girl and then you're like, boy, mom too.

Emily Karlsson (38:08):

Totally. Everybody always says that I do really, really want a girl. And everyone's like, well, if you don't have a girl, at least you have lovie. And I'm like, a hundred percent I have lovie. I would love to have a girl of my own, but I'm not the type of person who I'll have, I won't have five babies, I will just have three. And if it's all boys, then that's my fate.

Emily Cave Boit (38:27):

You're you're kind of making a hockey team there.

Emily Karlsson (38:30):

Seriously. I truly cannot believe it. If I could have guessed what we would have, it would be two girls and a boy. But maybe I got it wrong. I thought I was intuitive. Clearly I'm not having two boys and then possibly a third when I have a third. But yeah, three is my max. Being pregnant is hard.

Emily Cave Boit (38:54):

Will you get to see, will your sister, I think when you had Beckham, your sister was in the room, is your sister flying back?

Emily Karlsson (39:01):

She's not flying back for this birth. And I'm kind of stressed out because my favorite part of my birth experience was having the videos to look back on because my sister, obviously, I feel comfortable with her being around her. She filmed my birth, I filmed her birth. And I love looking back on my birth video and seeing life come out because it's being in the room when you watch someone give birth is one of the most insane experiences ever because babies are coming earth side and it's wild to see life come out of someone. It's so fricking cool. I'm sad because I don't know who's going to record my birth. I don't know if I'm going to be able to see him coming back because you totally black out during that and

Emily Cave Boit (39:52):

Go

Emily Karlsson (39:52):

Back and watch

Emily Cave Boit (39:52):

It. Could we set up one of those selfie stick?

Emily Karlsson (39:54):

You're right. I could do that.

Emily Cave Boit (39:57):

He's a little bit different than Hailey,

Emily Karlsson (39:58):

But I know, I'm just sad that she's not going to be there in general. She's going to be wanting to know every detail, and I'm probably going to be so out of it that I don't even know if I'll have the energy to call her right after. But I'll try my best. I want her to know what he looks like and how my birth went and all that. But yeah, it's sad, but it's understandable because Switzerland is probably a 14 hour flight that doesn't even include layovers. And with the baby, she'd have to bring lovie with her because Ola will be playing hockey. Yeah, but it makes sense, but it's just sad. Yeah, no,

Emily Cave Boit (40:35):

That makes sense. But I guess you'll have your mom there too.

Emily Karlsson (40:39):

Yeah. Okay. My mom's not coming into the, I let my mom come watch the Birth of Beckham and it was too chaotic, too many people in the room. So this time it will just be me and Will, and I'm excited for that experience.

Emily Cave Boit (40:53):

Okay.

Emily Karlsson (40:54):

Yeah. If Will makes it. I feel like this baby, is he on the road during that plan? Actual day? No, I don't think so, but I can bet money that this baby is coming before December 12th. That's my due date. And this baby's measuring way bigger. I just can feel it. I know he is coming sooner than that, and they're gone the whole month of November. So if I deliver any sooner than that, he could make it home. Right. They'll fly him back, but they say the second one comes quick. So I don't know. I just hope he makes it. Beckham

Emily Cave Boit (41:31):

Will help you. He'll be there carrying you alive.

Emily Karlsson (41:32):

I'm also panicked, like who's going to sleep with Beckham at night? He's so clingy to me. Who's going to be there for him? I have to figure all that out. My mom's going to have to be doing that, so I will be literally giving birth alone probably.

Emily Cave Boit (41:45):

It's crazy how once I feel like the cliche saying, once you have a kid, everything changes. If you were to look back on your Vegas nightclub to your bachelor days, to your early hockey days, to now, life is such a wild ride.

Emily Karlsson (42:04):

Oh, you're telling me there is no greater joy in this world than being a mother though. I'm telling you, I have always wanted to be a mom since I was 21 working in the clubs. I've always dreamed about this is not the life for me working in the clubs. Me and my sister hated it. I'm like, but the money was so good and I always knew I just wanted to be a mom. I thought I'd have babies at 21. I thought I'd have babies at 25. I had my first baby at 30 years old. I would've never guessed that. But I'm glad I waited because now I know who I got to enjoy my twenties and I got to really find out who I was. And I'm glad I waited to get married older too, because let's say I would've married someone from my previous relationships when I was younger. I would've been divorced by now. I know that for a fact. Or if I would've had kids with those people, I'd be really upset. I'm so thankful I had babies with Will. Yeah. So I'm very, very grateful for how everything worked out and how life has panned out for me. And being a mom is the greatest joy. It's the hardest thing in the entire world, but the greatest ever.

Emily Cave Boit (43:14):

Do you think if you, looking back on the last 10 years, obviously being a mom is the greatest. Is there any other memories, whether that was Bachelor, bachelor in Paradise Hockey, the Stanley Cup being one that you're like, of course. That is so cool, and I'm so grateful I got to experience that.

Emily Karlsson (43:38):

This is cheesy, but obviously your wedding day is the most special day of your life. That was really, really wonderful. But I think I love the moments of just meeting Will the butterflies. Love Will. When I met Will, he was totally like the guy I knew I wanted to marry, and I miss those moments of just him and I miss those moments of just being able to enjoy that and living in an apartment together and being so the feeling of being in love with someone in the beginning and you're so glued to each other and so attached to each other, can't get enough of each other. I miss those feelings too. You get married, you have kids. It's not like your relationship changed. You still love them, but it is different. Kids do make things like you're busy and focused on your kids too. And now Will's gone all the time. I feel like I barely see him, and I know I barely saw him before too when we were dating, but I just had more time for him and when he was home, I'd be glued to him. Now my baby's glued to me. He does not even had undivided attention.

Emily Cave Boit (44:48):

And then now it's sharing attention, and now it's about to get less with the second.

Emily Karlsson (44:53):

And then I think about it though. I always just hope that we can just grow old together and have those moments again when we're older. So I always just try to look forward to that and stay really positive that we get to, we're so lucky. We'll hopefully get to watch our kids grow up and grow old and I don't know. I think about my parents. I'm 30 something and they're like, they got to watch me do everything. It's kind of crazy. Seriously, you always post. I feel like birthdays. I'm always reminded on my birthday that being alive is such a privilege. Growing old is what a privilege.

Emily Cave Boit (45:34):

I always

Emily Karlsson (45:34):

Say that what it is to truly, and that quote always hits me so deep because what a privilege it will be to be able to watch my children grow old. That's all I'll wish for. Every birthday, every eyelash, every dandelion. I'll wish for that. So I just want to be able to not miss any of it.

Emily Cave Boit (45:55):

That's so true. Okay, last question for you. What is the favorite, oh my gosh, we have talked about this. Just remember this. My favorite, I'll tell you, my favorite thing that I have learned from players that we played with in Sweden is Gala. Kaka.

Emily Karlsson (46:15):

Gca. What the heck is that?

Emily Cave Boit (46:16):

It's like that chocolate.

Emily Karlsson (46:18):

Oh, not like bu, right?

Emily Cave Boit (46:21):

It's like, no, it's like chocolate brownie. Chocolate cake.

Emily Karlsson (46:25):

Oh, the chocolate balls with the coconut on them?

Emily Cave Boit (46:30):

No, I hope I'm known. It's like glut. I swear it's Swedish. Anton bleed in us would have it,

Emily Karlsson (46:38):

I'm sure. I'm sure it is. And I just don't know what it is because my gosh, I love everything sweet from Sweden.

Emily Cave Boit (46:45):

You ought to ask Will when he gets home because it's called the Glock. I'm like trying to Glock. Glock cake. Got chocolate Swedish. Okay, here we go.

Emily Karlsson (46:59):

Does it have raspberries on top?

Emily Cave Boit (47:02):

I think so. Okay. It's K-L-A-D-K-A

Emily Karlsson (47:06):

Cla. Yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Emily Cave Boit (47:07):

Am I saying this wrong?

Emily Karlsson (47:08):

No, I don't. You're probably saying it right. I think I call it like cocoa clad Claude cocoa cake. I know what you're talking about. Yes. It's amazing.

Emily Cave Boit (47:17):

The Swedish chocolate cake.

Emily Karlsson (47:19):

Yes, yes, yes. And it's

Emily Cave Boit (47:21):

Like a thin Yes. Yes. So good. So good. Is there anything else that you've learned, whether a word or food or something that you love that you've now experienced?

Emily Karlsson (47:34):

Oh, everything about Sweden is my favorite. When I go there, I eat everything in sight. I don't care if it's full of sugar. I'll go to the picking candy and I'll have picking candy. I love their chips. Everything about Sweeting, Barnet, I can't live without Barnet. I'll pack sixes of 'em with me when we travel back home, and I don't care if they're expired. I will still eat them as long as they smell good. What? Well barnet, it's Barnet sauce and you eat it with your meat. And I love meat, which is so weird. I like chicken, I like steak, and I only can eat it with Bne sauce, so I will pack so much bne sauce with me. Also, their cheese is amazing. I mean, literally everything about Sweden is amazing, and I always tell Will, I would retire and live there, but Will doesn't want to live there in the winters. He said The winters are really bad. I'm sure I'd hate the winters too, but

Emily Cave Boit (48:27):

I could see you in a cute little snow

Emily Karlsson (48:30):

Outfit. I mean, yeah, for a picture. And then I'd be back inside for the Instagram for the gram. Yeah, me and Beck in our cute snow outfit, and then I'd be like, oh, we're going back in. Yeah. I'm definitely not a cold girly, so

Emily Cave Boit (48:44):

Okay. Does ham, that would be hard.

Emily Karlsson (48:45):

No,

Emily Cave Boit (48:46):

Swedish.

Emily Karlsson (48:48):

He knows a couple words in Swedish. He of course, mainly will speak English, and he's so good with English words and will's very adamant. Will's very good. He speaks only Swedish to ham, but Beckham's mostly with me and the TV shows we show like Miss Rachel, she's the best English. I do play Swedish shows, but they're not educational. They're just sing songy. So if anything, he just knows songs and stuff, so it is hard to teach him Swedish. But I do think as he gets older, we'll just have to hire a Swedish tutor to help him with Swedish words. Yeah, it's going to be hard for him to be bilingual, but I definitely think he will be very motivated to make sure that happens.

Emily Cave Boit (49:32):

Okay. Have you learned, what's the favorite word that you've want?

Emily Karlsson (49:36):

I mean, our little saying is Vmo varden, which means us against the world. G means I love you. I know the cute things and the naughty words, which I won't say. He won't say. Yeah, I just know the naughty words and I feel like I've gotten to the point where when Will has conversations with his friends or his parents, I can kind of understand what they're saying or knowing the gist of what they're talking about, but not being able to speak it back.

Emily Cave Boit (50:03):

Okay.

Emily Karlsson (50:05):

So I'm getting

Emily Cave Boit (50:05):

Better. Good for you. Good for you. You have had quite a life the last few years, girl. Yeah, it's been crazy. You have? Yeah. I love following your journey and

Emily Karlsson (50:17):

Well, I love following your journey, your wedding. You're remarried and stuff.

Emily Cave Boit (50:23):

Actually, I told

Emily Karlsson (50:24):

You that we are getting married before I You were

Emily Cave Boit (50:27):

Like at the lunch. I'm like, guess what?

Emily Karlsson (50:31):

It's kind of crazy. I mean, I loved your wedding pictures too. You've got to post more of them. I'm obsessed. Your dress was insane. Thank you. I'm very happy for you. You deserve all the good things, and I can't wait to watch you start a family. You're going to be the greatest mom. You're going to have the most beautiful children. I cannot wait to see what they look like.

Emily Cave Boit (50:54):

Oh, redheads.

Emily Karlsson (50:57):

That's going to be exciting. And I wonder if you'll have boys or girls. What is it going to be?

Emily Cave Boit (51:02):

Yeah, we'll see what happens. But yeah, thank you so much for chatting and sharing. I know you have a crazy schedule. And Greg knew.

Emily Karlsson (51:14):

It's so funny. I think in my mind I'm super flexible and I have all this time and then so much shit happens and I'm like, oh my God, I'm not flexible and I don't have time.

Emily Cave Boit (51:26):

What are you going to do for Will's Day off? Anything fun? Well, I guess it's Halloween. It's

Emily Karlsson (51:29):

Halloween. I'm just so excited for Halloween. You have no idea that now that Beckham can walk? Yeah, he probably can't really trick or treat. He's probably not going to get it, but I'm just so excited to see him in his little costume and I'm excited to see Will and Beckham. I don't know. I love parenthood. It's the best.

Emily Cave Boit (51:51):

That's awesome.

Emily Karlsson (51:52):

Yes, that's what we're going to do.

Emily Cave Boit (51:54):

Enjoy your Halloween day.

Emily Karlsson (51:56):

Yeah. Are you dressing up or anything?

Emily Cave Boit (51:59):

I don't know. Collin's working Collin's in a crazy hour work situation right now, but we have trick or treaters coming, so I'm excited about that. Chester has a little costume, so maybe I'll dress him up.

Emily Karlsson (52:14):

That's so cute. He got Chester back.

Emily Cave Boit (52:17):

Do Miss is the NHL Halloween Hockey Parties Always. The funnest are so much fun.

Emily Karlsson (52:26):

I do think those are the funnest parties every year. I think we do Christmas parties and stuff, but the Halloween ones are always the most fun. I don't know why.

Emily Cave Boit (52:37):

Yeah, no, but I'll dress Chester her up. We'll give out candy. I didn't know how much. I'm so new here. I knocked on the neighbor's door who I barely know, and I'm like, how much candy do we buy? You're so cute. You're in California, right? Em? No idea. Yeah, I'm right in between San Francisco and San Jose.

Emily Karlsson (52:55):

That's so exciting. Do you love it Silicon Valley?

Emily Cave Boit (52:59):

I do like it. I think it's a big transition. I'll be honest. I feel like I'm finally getting in the groove. It was really hard for me when I first moved here. I don't know anyone where I feel like when I lived in the States before, you have that hockey team where I literally don't know anyone. And then with my spouse visa situation, I can't fly back into Canada, so I'm kind of just like,

Emily Karlsson (53:27):

I don't get why that's a thing.

Emily Cave Boit (53:30):

Great question. I would love more answers on that. But the first few months I was really hard. I think especially when people were leaving our wedding, it was like, I'm not going to see you for at least a year, if not more. And I think with the trauma of not being there, when Colby died, there was a few people leaving my wedding that weren't super healthy that I was like, I don't even know if you pass away, I can come to your funeral. So that was really hard, but I feel like I'm getting a little bit more in the groove. I always say Manchester are a little team. We're figuring out our way.

Emily Karlsson (54:06):

So cute. Dogs really do make life so much better.

Emily Cave Boit (54:09):

I know. I know. But maybe I'll do a trip to Vegas.

Emily Karlsson (54:13):

Yeah, you're

Emily Cave Boit (54:14):

All the goods when you're postpartum.

Emily Karlsson (54:18):

Yeah. Oh my God, I'm so nervous for that. I hope this time goes a little easier since I know what to expect. It'll be great. I think I'll get to enjoy it more. Not as scared. I know what to expect. I think it'll be more enjoyable.

Emily Cave Boit (54:33):

That's awesome. Well, I'm excited. I'm excited to meet the new little guy.

Emily Karlsson (54:37):

Yeah, same. I can't wait to see his little face,

Emily Cave Boit (54:40):

His little masculine face.

Emily Karlsson (54:42):

I can't.

Emily Cave Boit (54:44):

Well, thank you.

Emily Karlsson (54:46):

Yeah, of course. Thanks for having me. Seriously. So glad we got to do this.

Emily Cave Boit (54:55):

As you guys can see, Emily is one of the most authentic people that I know, and I love her for that. She wears her heart on her sleeve, and just hearing her story and talking with her today just reminds you that Emily was so much more than what fans saw on The Bachelor, bachelor in Paradise, or now as a hockey wife or as a mom, or as an influencer. And I'm so grateful that I get to know that Emily. And I hope that you guys see that Emily a Little bit more too after hearing this episode because she is really, really special. I would really appreciate it if you guys once again left a review or rating and forward this episode to someone that you think would love to hear it. I'm looking forward to continuing these episodes. Our next special guest coming up are pretty amazing too, and I love that you guys can follow along on this journey and this platform, and I love giving people a voice to share their story and remind them that you are more.