Perez Hilton on Surviving Sepsis, Finding God & Being Gay

This week on Duke’s Download, I sit down with the one and only Perez Hilton — and we go way deeper than celebrity gossip.

Perez opens up about his recent life-threatening health crisis: three weeks hospitalized with severe sepsis after an ulcer and perforation caused by taking NSAIDs on an empty stomach — followed by a terrifying deep vein thrombosis scare.

It was serious. It was humbling. And it changed everything.

Perez shares a profound spiritual experience he had in the hospital — one that brought him back to faith.

We talk about:

• Reading the Bible on his own terms
• Visiting an Episcopalian church
• Navigating Christianity as a proudly gay man
• Why he believes God made him exactly as he is

It’s honest. It’s nuanced. And yes — we talk about the backlash.

This conversation is about survival — physically, spiritually, and publicly.

And trust me, you’ve never heard Perez like this before.

You can write to us at: Questions@DukesDownload.com

And follow us onInstagram: 

• @jamesdukemason
• @PrideHouseMedia

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

Welcome to Duke's Download, my newweekly podcast. I'm Duke Basin here. And each week I'll bring you candid thought-provoking conversations with incredible guests in the worlds of politics and pop culture. Together we'll explore the stories, ideas, and moments that shape our lives and drive change. I'm so glad you're here. Now let's get started. Hey everybody, welcome back to Duke's Download. Um, today I am incredibly grateful to be talking to Perez Hilton. Once again, I've had the pleasure of interviewing him a few times over the years, and you've always brought raw honesty, sharp insight, and a deep commitment to LGBTQ visibility and just you know bringing some real substance to every conversation. For those who might not know, Perez is the legendary celebrity gossip blogger and commentator who's been a fixture in pop culture for two decades, often unfiltered, always outspoken, and a trailblazer in queer media. Recently, though, Perez went through a major health crisis. He was hospitalized for three weeks with severe sepsis and complications, followed by another scare with deep vein thrombosis. During that terrifying time, he had a profound spiritual encounter with God that has completely shifted his perspective. He's been openly sharing his faith journey, reading the Bible from start to finish, and addressing how this experience intersects with his identity as a proudly gay man and father. Perez, welcome back to the show. It's truly an honor to have you, especially during this transformative chapter in your life. Okay, Perez, um, let's dive in. Um just tell us about everything that happened and how you felt going through uh that entire ordeal.

SPEAKER_00 1:55

It was like being shattered into a thousand pieces and having to be put back together again. It was a slow process, and I'm still not back to normal, even though it's been now almost two months since I was discharged the first time. But I've left that experience so grateful because I've made so many positive changes in my life as a result of it. You know, what landed me in the hospital in the first place, like I'm never making that mistake again. And I I'll talk about it till I, you know, can't talk anymore because it's it's so simple and so stupid of me, but maybe other people do it as well. You know, prior to my hospitalization at the end of February, I had the flu, and I was taking flu medication, and I'm not one to abuse anything, except like myself. Like, uh like I I uh I'll get to that in a moment. Like, I'm not one to abuse anything. So I was taking the flu medication and I was also having headaches. So the flu medication and headache medication as prescribed, but I wasn't taking it with food. And some medicine you don't have to take with food, but things like you know, uh what was I taking? I was taking not tyro ibuprofen, I was taking ibuprofen and a leave. Those are I called, I believe, NSIDs, something like that. And you had to take those with food, and because I didn't, and I was sick for a week, I developed an ulcer, and then that led to a perforation, and then that led to sepsis, and it could have been so easily preventable. So now, you know, even my antibiotic, I'm still on a ton of medication now. I'm taking two different antibiotics, still two months later. I'm taking um a blood thinner, I have to wear my compression socks. But now, like for for any medicine that I take, I'm always having it with food, unless it specifically says to not. And, you know, going back to what I said just a little second ago, you know, I would abuse myself. Like what I meant by that is prior to all of this, I I never prioritized self-care. Like I was getting four to five hours of sleep a night, and now I'm getting my eight hours every night, maybe on a bad night, seven and a half, but I'm getting eight hours of sleep a night, and making so many other changes as well that I don't know if I would have had this all not happened to me. So, yes, I was shattered into a thousand pieces, but I'm leaving this all with so much gratitude because I've been given a second chance at life, you know, like sepsis is a very serious thing. A lot of people die because of it, and blood clots also, people can die from that also. And you know, I'm I'm I'm just happier. I I am more committed to not just self-care, but also tied to that. Like I'm back in the gym every single day, and I'm so grateful to be there, and I'm doing a better job of not letting the noise affect me. And to go back to what you started with, you know, I recently saw an interview that Meg Stalter did. She is one of the stars of Hacks and is a queer woman and also a Christian. And I love that she was having that conversation, and I'm sharing my journey, which is both a homecoming, because I was raised Catholic, but it's a homecoming on my own terms. Like I don't call myself Catholic anymore. I call myself Catholic-ish because there's a you know, there's things that I don't agree with, and I don't have to. You know, I remember Joe Biden infamously was Catholic is Catholic, and you know, he's pro-choice, even though the Catholic Church says that's awful and we're against that, and all of these things. Um you know, I'm I'm actually going to go to an Episcopalian church this Sunday because the Episcopalian church allows gay priests, female priests, priests can marry, and they actually perform same-sex marriages also. Uh, but I've gone to non-Catholic churches recently, and it's so interesting. It's like, wow, I'm like at a musical. It's like production and lights, and it's dark, and um, it's a show. But I liked it. I'm like, you know, what matters to me is knowing that God is real and having a relationship with him and fostering that within myself and deepening my faith. I'm even listening to worship music every day. I freaking love it. My two favorites, Brandon Lake and Forrest Frank. They're both like that's really good. It's not like some cheesy god music. It's they're great musicians.

SPEAKER_01 7:32

There's a couple, uh, I would pull out my phone, but there's a couple that uh Army has introduced me to recently that are really beautiful. Um, but it's true. I mean, and you know, and I think it's you know, Army and I have talked a lot about this kind of stuff, but it's it's a shame to me that you know, I mean, it's this is obviously a long-running uh issue and debate, and and but you know, this is such a shame to me that that um you know, I it seems sometimes, you know, especially whether it's in the LGBTQ community, that there is such a conflict there, or that a lot of people have that conflict within them. At least as far as I'm concerned, those two things, whether you know being gay and having a and you know, believing in God and and Jesus and all that, to me, those two things shouldn't be so shouldn't be shouldn't be in conflict. And yet, and I understand it, but a lot of people when you even bring up faith in the in the in the LGBTQ community, there's a lot of sort of yeah, sort of reflexive uh you know cynicism, you know, and and I think that that's an unfortunate thing, but I get it because people have been through horrible experiences as a result of judgment and criticism and from within from their church, or so I think it's really refreshing that you know, and I know I know you've I was gonna get to this after, but you know, you've actually talked and spoken about how you know you your mother has talked about me you wanting to have a a partner, and you know, and um you know, and how you've said that you're you know, I'm laughing because the way you but like you're still you're like I'm gay, I'm still gay, I'm very gay. Well, yeah, because those two things, those two things can both both be true. You can be a Christian and you can be very gay at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 9:20

Because, you know, I remember the first moment I realized I was different. Um, it was I was six years old. Like I just knew I was gay at six, and it only deepened after that. Like, oh my god, by the time I was 11 or 12, looking at those Marky Mark Calvin Klein ads, it was intense. And ever since I had this, you know, spiritual awakening in the hospital, a lot of people are like, so that does that mean you're gonna stop same-sex attraction? First of all, same-sex attraction is not real, that is not a thing. There is attraction. Same-sex attraction and same-sex attraction is just like what people say to keep you chained, I believe. Because, like I said just 30 seconds ago, I would, I would, I, for me, some people, everybody's different. You know, there are some people who can be very fluid and choose whom they're attracted to, or maybe not that maybe that's not the word, but like they can they can happily be in a relationship with somebody of the same sex or not. I am gay. I was born this way. God made me this way. When I was young, I used to pray that I wasn't gay because life would have been easier for me. And actually, listen, I'm so flawed. If you Google Perez Hilton, you know, you carry so much of the trauma and baggage of your youth and your upbringing and the church and all of these things with you. You know, I um I've said in the past, like, if I if I would prefer if my son was not gay, but I would love him either way, just because it's an easier life not being gay. It's still hard. I mean, unless, and and even if you're even if you're in Los Angeles or New York City in this bubble, it's still hard. Like in Manhattan, Manhattan is massive and it's so compact. And if you go up to a certain area, people might say things at you if you're presenting flamboyantly, which I love that. Be who you are and and don't diminish your light, but it's still a harder path. Or even things like you know, I I think man, I could be wrong, but if if I wasn't gay, I would probably be married by now with a woman, you know, like a lot of gay men are immature with relationships, or and I'm not a lot could be, you know, 20% or a lot could be 50%. A lot of gay men also, and this is great for them. A lot of them are very cool with an open relationship. I'm not like I'd I'd I that's not for me. And uh, I'd rather be alone with my kids, and that's my priority, you know, raising them and they're still really young. And um, yeah, so life is life is life is lifing.

SPEAKER_01 12:46

Yeah, no, I mean it's it's um it's it's it's it's it's true. I mean, my mom always used to say, you know, like when I and then Grants Light came out now 20 years ago, but which is insane. But uh, but she said she always used to say, you know, it's not that you're gay that is why I'm having this emotional reaction. It's more that you know, I'm I've I'm I'm worried about the world that you're gonna have to you know deal with around you.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

And it is there, it is especially back then, but even so now, you know, in any ways, it's uh well and your mom too, you know, like and my mom also, you know, they're older than us, and you know, when I came out in the 90s, there was still that real fear that he might die of AIDS, you know. Yeah, uh, and in '96, people were still really dying of AIDS. Uh, so it's just is that when you came out in '96, yeah. 30 years ago.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

I'm old. Hey, well, I'm not far off. 20 years here. So, you know, I mean, but it is crazy. And it's crazy to have witnessed both how things how much things have changed, but also in some ways how they haven't changed, you know.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah, and actually, that just brought back something that happened last year. No, it might have even been at the beginning. It was either sometime towards the end of 25 or the beginning of 26. You know, I believe in having conversations with anyone. And and actually, ever since I've, you know, been speaking about my faith journey, a lot of people are like, oh, is he MAGA now? Is he a Republican? No. No. But I'll have conversations with anyone, and I'll even praise somebody if for something positive. For example, I got a lot of blowback recently when I said in an interview that I believe Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump's daughter, is a great role model for young women. Like, I would love it if my daughters grew up to be like Ivanka Trump, you know, accomplished, way more so than her brothers. You know, her brothers were your traditional Nepo babies, and she's obviously Uber privileged, but she had more ambition than them and went and did more. And just the way she carries herself and is self-sufficient, but and is, you know, a mom and all of these things if they want to do that. So I I I can do that. But um, yeah, I don't even remember the first.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Well, you hey, you and I both one thing I was gonna talk about a little bit was you and I both got uh flacked uh for you know a few years ago for supporting Rick Laruto when he was mayor of LA. And you know, what I find so interesting, and it goes to your point about just in general, like there's no nuance anymore in the public discourse, and that's you know, and and and no, it's like if you even veer just a tiny bit from some from the mainstream point of view or the traditional you know progressive or whatever point of view, then even at least a tiny bit, you're immediately sort of passing.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

I'm a centrist, and I actually think if there was a viable centrist party, Pete Budej would be in that party. Like I think he would leave the Democratic Party and he would be in the centrist party. But I remember what I was gonna say now. So either late last year, the beginning of this year, I was on a Catholic podcast. This was before everything happened. And it was these two women, and I went in open-hearted and left that experience so saddened because these two Catholics were saying, I don't, we we don't believe that gay men should have children or lesbians should have children. And taking it a step further, we don't believe that anyone, gay or stray, should use IVF or surrogacy to have children. And I'm like, oh, that's just such a if God did not want me to have children, I wouldn't have had children. Because even with the advancements of modern technology, every child is a miracle. It's hard to get pregnant. Um, what was that?

SPEAKER_01 17:21

What was that experience like, by the way? I was curious about, I know what pretty recently you did that interview with CBN, the Christian Broadcasting Network, which you know traditionally is uh you know known to be anyway, a pretty conservative. Was it on TBN?

SPEAKER_00 17:37

I don't know. It was the the only reason I agreed to do it was um Carrie Prijan was the co-host. And you know, I really believe I I walk the walk. It's just not it's not just talking the talk. Like I believe in karmic cleansing and trying to do better and be better. And in the past, she and I were linked because in 2008 I was a judge on Miss USA, and I asked Carrie Prijan, then Miss California, a question about what we used to describe then as gay marriage, but now it's just marriage, right? Like I wouldn't even say same-sex marriage, I would just say it's just marriage, right? Um so I asked her a question about gay marriage in 2008, and she gave an answer that was very faith-based, and I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And then, you know, in 2008, I was in my enfante terrible phase, as they say. So I called her a dumb bee. And listen, me doing that though, definitely helped explode that story even more so because it was like the mean gay and and the sweet beauty pageant queen. Uh, but I I wanted to try to continue to heal that moment for her and do better. So I agreed to do it, and I'm like, oh god. And then leave what they want, and you know, it doesn't affect me, it doesn't, it doesn't weigh me down. I'm doing a better job across the board of, like I said, not letting the noise affect me from other people's opinions about how I parent to politics. Like, I still care, but I'm not I'm not gonna be upset every day and like fighting with people on social media. There's no need for that. I'm also not going to, and I didn't do this in the past. Like, I remember I used to follow a beloved teacher of mine on Facebook. And in 2016, she was talking about voting for Donald Trump, and I was younger then, and I and I said, I'm gonna unfollow her. Now, you know what? If so, if somebody is gonna vote for somebody that I believe is a horrible person, okay, fine. I'm not gonna unfollow that person because of it, unless they're saying horrible things themselves, then sure, then I don't need to be consuming that and like why am I you know friends with them? But I think one of the things that started me really making an effort of of trying to build bridges is leaving Los Angeles, and I'm living in Vegas now. I've been here for three and a half years. I've been here for three and a half years, and Vegas is a really purple city, whereas LA is super blue, Vegas is purple, and I love that, you know, like I'm surrounded by people of all different beliefs, and we can coexist peacefully because it's a smaller city, and you have to be more civil because you're gonna run into people more, and there is just a sense of being from being from here and like living in the desert that unites us. Like we're Las Vegas, and that's more important than any political differences or any other differences that we might have. No, it's so true.

SPEAKER_01 21:31

I think, you know, not to get into the weeds on on California LA politics, but you know, it's like uh I don't know how you're familiar you are with this guy. I'm working, I'm actually working on his campaign, Matt Mayhan, who's running for governor in California. He's like a moderate preg Caruso endorsed him. But what I find so interesting about our political discourse now is you've got half the people saying like he's a secret MAGA candidate because he's like a moderate, basically, that you have the Mogan people saying he's a Democrat and therefore he's like, you know, he's he's like just like the rest of them. He's like a liberal, blah blah blah. But the problem is like when you're in a state like California, where, you know, or in a city like LA where every, every, you know, it's been, you know, there's it's been one party sort of control now for what, 16 years or something. Which, you know, again, I'm a Democrat. I believe, you know, I basically always I've always voted Democrat. But the problem becomes that when you have the luxury of a party just being in control, there's no like it becomes like, you know, there's the when you're in a state like Nevada, Nevada, Nevada, Nevada. It becomes the Democratic Party is kind of forced to, you know, to be moderate and to be pragmatic because you have to cater to these other constituencies and people with different points of view. And that doesn't really exist here, which is why I find the whole uh mayor's race here in LA this time around so interesting because I was at the uh I went to the NBC news debate that you know Spencer Pratt and uh and uh Karen Bass and If you're run were at and you know I'm not I know I know how you feel I'm not gonna weigh in on it right uh at this moment because I'm working on another campaign but I will say it's gonna be really interesting to see how the whole Spencer Pratt thing plays out because he if Caruso couldn't win and Caruso was a relatively mild in terms of his persona it'll be interesting to see whether being yeah whether being more outwardly populist and uh and sort of uh aggressive whether it'll be interesting to see whether that works better than being sort of a milder figurative for Crusoe if that makes sense I think he's incredibly smart Spencer and just I don't know how calculated it is I think it's just going from the gut but like this week I saw a clip of him saying I've got the support of mothers of Los Angeles and I'm like wow that's so brilliant because then if you're a mother you're thinking all these mothers are supporting him and I'm not why am I not supporting him?

SPEAKER_00 24:22

Should I be supporting him? Should I actually pay attention to what he's saying because I just dismissed him because he's a reality TV star. You know I I love Spencer. I I know him very well he's a dear friend a loyal friend somebody whom I've helped in the past and he's helped me um he's made a lot of mistakes in the past but he doesn't hide from his mistakes he doesn't pretend to be perfect and he's really been putting in the work also it's not just I I don't think it's a publicity stunt to get himself more attention and be more famous. Like he was baptized by fire he lost his homes in the Palisades fire he lost his parents home as well he was angry he basically became this community activist and then it became bigger than that and correct me if I'm wrong.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

I mean that's one thing that's the one thing I'll say like anybody that says you know regardless of whether you like him or not when people when when Karen Bass said you know he's he's uh using people's grievances or whatever for her or his own benefit I'm his own there are I'm like uh the guy lost his home and his parents' home like it's kind of absurd for for for her to to say that wouldn't you know so and you might know more than me but the mayor of Los Angeles it's it's like the county commissioners have more power than the mayor so it's like who cares?

SPEAKER_00 25:57

Like the commission or maybe not county commissioners but the LA commissioners um so it's like you need somebody to shake things up and like push and to your point I don't know if Karen Bass will push it'll obviously be more of the status quo.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

I wanted to ask you know I wanted to without being too uh repetitive I did I was curious though about you know I mean you've talked about it on your on your Instagram but what was that what was that moment in the context of sort of this uh this re um what's the right word this this this re prioritization of your faith um in the in the in the aftermath of of your health care i i know you talked a little on your social media about the moment when you had this this moment of clarity but how would maybe you could talk a little bit about it but I'll also talk about how if it if it has at all affected your daily life and also your approach to your to your to your I don't I don't mean to say that like you're you know you're you're talking about it in the context of your brand or your persona but I just mean how's it affected your business and your sort of your are you making are you considering maybe yeah projects or things that that you know are prioritizing things that are relate to this the new part of your your your identity so you know a lot of people who have near death experiences talk about that moment in different ways and for me like I it wasn't a feeling it was so real like God was in the room with me and I don't want to get into the details because one of the things that is different from before is I don't want to and need to share everything and also like prior to my hospitalization one of the many reasons I was getting four to five hours of sleep a night is I was first filling my brain with just toxic thoughts you're not good enough you're not working hard enough you need to make more money you're not making enough money you're a failure you know anxiety fear doubt all these things and also I was living a very busy life with going to all of these events and having fun but now I happily purposefully am living a quieter smaller life I've got all that I need in my house with my kids and prior you know prioritizing sleep and all these things and prioritizing getting to the gym every day.

SPEAKER_00 28:49

So that moment in the in the hospital what was so transformative and it was towards the end of my hospital stay because the first week and a half two weeks I was on so many pain meds like I was out of it but I was so lucid and clear towards the end because but the first two weeks I was just bedridden and the last 10 days I was you know getting up and sitting in the recliner and um starting to get really antsy like every day telling the doctor because well I had a main doctor and then I had all these specialists because you know with sepsis like your body starts attacking itself and shutting down. So I had a kidney specialist I had an anti-infectious disease specialist I had a heart specialist I had all these doctors seeing me every day but I was telling the main doctor who oversaw everybody okay I think I'm ready to go home I'm ready to go home and they're like no your white blood cells are your your your white blood cell counts is still extremely high it'd be very dangerous for you to go home like oh my God but um yeah it was the whole experience was so transformative and the last week and a half I was also so it was so healing in so many ways not just physically but like I said it was spiritually healing and emotionally healing I had so many powerful conversations with my mother about so many different topics because I think people take for granted that I mean maybe they don't take it for granted like you're always aware that life can change on a dime but you naively foolishly think it's not gonna happen to you. So you all you often think you're gonna have more time to have conversations like this with your parents and I'm so grateful that I never had until now just asking things like you know towards the beginning we talked about you know like I used to pray that I wasn't gay when I was young because growing up Catholic in an overwhelmingly Cuban community which in the 90s was very machista and probably still is that was so hard and my dad died when I was 15 years old and it always plagued me the thought would my dad have accepted me or would he have cut off communication and abandoned me for being gay and I I raised that thought to my mother and she assured me because she knew my dad so well they were together for decades he would have absolutely accepted it. I mean it might have been hard but he he loved you and he would continue to love you and accept you. And then this was like it's so funny because sometimes we in the back of our head the back of our brain are aware of things and it's right in front of us but we can't see it. And my mom reminded me that a generation older than me I have cousins and I cannot it feels so dumb even saying it but I'm not close to those cousins because they're a generation older and they're my mother's first cousins. She's like I have first cousins who are gay several of them and their parents their Cuban parents did not abandon them and I'm like wow you're right so that was very healing for me and like I said like this moment of complete vulnerability where I could have very easily died and I I I really I truly thought I was going to the night that I was by my my my sweet dear mother was in the hospital with me every day but she would go home at night and this one night my I went apib it's called a fibrial what something like whatever it's like I was having like real heart issues like your heart should be like 100 BPM or lower and mine was at 140 and getting higher they had to put me on heart medication and the rapid response team was in my room and I'm like are they gonna rush me into surgery now? Like what's going on? Like oh my God anyways um so the last week and a half was healing and also really inspiring and creative. Like I even had ideas of things to do professionally which I would still love to do but I talked to my manager about it after I got released from the hospital and he's like I don't like your ideas because you know so and and I'm not precious about it. If it's meant to be it'll be if you know God willing as they say I really would love to do something in the food space because I'm a big foodie. I love food and I have an Instagram account that's pretty food focused uh my Vegas account where I share all the the delicious meals that we have and he's like whenever a celebrity wants to do television they want to do something in the food space and I'm like yeah but I would do it better it would be cooler. So I want to be doing something in food and travel and you know just can I'll just continue to grow it on my own and continue to talk about it and try to manifest it and have meetings and if it's meant to be it'll it'll it'll be um and and yeah I'm I'm I'm totally open to pivoting and doing things differently but for the meantime I've still got three children and my mother that I financially support so I've got bills to pay and I wasn't able to work for over a month and you don't even want to know how much I had to pay in hospital fees even with insurance I have good insurance and I still had to pay tens of thousands of dollars.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Well you know it it it it when I was watching all of your videos in the aftermath of everything was going on I was just blown away you know most on a in a positive way in terms of the reaction because the comments and the people were so you know not not just obviously supportive of your of your recovery but also supportive of you talking about the faith experience with faith we've been having and but you know also on top of all that it must be credible to me and and so cool is yeah what 20 years after you first or even more than 20 years after you first emerged with the forefront of pop culture uh in America and around the world your influence is still so gigantic and massive and the amount of light and comments and and I mean I was really floored at the amount of press that it all got right and it wasn't just one thing it was like updates and a lot of press for several weeks and you know it it was getting like a hundred like hundreds of thousands of likes and stuff on on posts and I mean it was uh yeah it's just and and but yeah it wasn't like you were trying to to generate no I I was just being honest and sharing what I'd gone through and um there's still a lot of people who think I'm disgusting and awful and that's fine.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

You know I I I love talking to young people because listen they're still gonna do whatever they want to do but maybe if one or two out of a hundred are listening and it affects them and inspired to do or not do because of something that I tell them then I've done my my part you know like that cliched expression a first impression is often a lasting impression it's really hard for people to see you a different way other than how they first were introduced to you. So you know I would say the majority of folks still think of me as the 2006 version of me or the 2007 version of me. And um that's not who I am anymore.

SPEAKER_01 37:36

Yeah I think you've proven that I mean and also you know I know I think I mean you know you've always my mom by the way wanted me to say hello and uh and uh how how great and how kind you've always been to her and uh and and and by the way thank you for doing this you have no idea how much it means to me I've really enjoyed it and uh and uh just uh you know continue you know good luck for your continued recovery I'm so happy for you and you're you're so happy and uh doing your thing and and uh your journey and love love is such a blessing you're you're blessed you're so blessed love is such a blessing it is a blessing it is a blessing thank you for us really appreciate it thank you thank you everybody for tuning in please like subscribe share feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions please email us at questions at dukesdownload.com thanks so much see you next week thank you for joining me today on Duke's Download this podcast is part of Pridehouse Media hosted by me Duke Mason produced and edited by Josh Rosen's wife original music composed by Nell Balaban if you enjoyed this episode please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts while you're there leave us a rating and review it really helps others to discover the show. I'd love to stay connected with you so join the conversation by following me at James Duke Mason on Instagram and X or by emailing me at questions at Dukesdownload.com