Comedy & Courage: Breaking Stigmas with Kym Whitley

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You're listening to Make Unplug hosted by the one and only make hunt. This is where purpose meets power and story sparked transformation. Make takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning. Open you discover your because and becoming unstoppable. I'm Rudy Rush and trust me, you're in the right place.

Let's get Unpluged. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another exciting episode of Make Unpluged. And today, I have a bucket list guest of bucket list guests. We're talking about someone who is a force of nature, a brilliant comedic mind who is grace, our screens and stages,

bringing joy and insight to millions. She is known for her undeniable presence and groundbreaking career. Join me in welcoming the vivacious, the hilarious, the absolutely unforgettable. My queen Miss Kim Whitley. Kim, how are you doing today?

I'm doing good. That was a great introduction. I will definitely said the team because I'm in every word of that. You're someone who not only is brought joy to millions of people, but you've also been a standard in what I love about Kim Whitley.

Every time I talk about you, it's just that standard that you have for yourself.

It's something I'm proud of for you and just knowing that you are always who you are.

“It's so important to me and I know that's important to you as well.”

Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate that. When you say that and you think about this business, how quickly it goes, it feels like I just started yesterday. So, you know, I just appreciate you having me on today. And I love your background and I mean, that's just that whole little jealous.

I'm like, oh my gosh, I love the lighting. That is so nice. I've been on a lot of podcasts and I will say you might be. You might be number one with the with the look in the lighting. Hey, Kim, don't make me come find you and give you a hug now.

I don't don't make me do that, but I will love it. Oh, get myself together.

So, Kim, I always ask my guess this one question first.

And that question is, what is your because? I like to call it that thing that's deeper than your why your true purpose. And I know that it changes over time. So, if I were to say now in 2026, Kim, what is your because? What is your purpose? What is your mission?

Now, when you say because and you're saying in life, just why am I here in my because? Because it is what, how do we say the gift that was in me that is in me? The because is because I can't do anything else. The because is because I was made to bring joy and laughter to this world from day one.

I don't know why, but that would be my because. My mother said, I came out laughing every time she looked at me. I was laughing and I would say that's my because. My because is because that is how I was made.

“That is so, so beautiful. Like, I think that's the only way to say that to respond to that is that is just beautiful.”

And again, it goes to your soul. And I think anyone who's ever seen anything you've been a part of, where there's to show where there's some stage, where that you know some of the shows that you've had. I think that's the definition of view is just beautiful.

I truly mean that it's just you have this calming presence. I feel like obviously, you know, I don't know you personally, but I feel like when people are around you, they feel like they're imported because you give them that focus that joy. Has that always been like something that you've paid attention to about yourself? No, no, no, I didn't know this about me.

And how you school, I was a class clown, you know, and just a tomboy and, you know, I didn't realize that I got a little old. I knew that I was funny, but there's a difference like you said. I love the way you asked that question because you don't understand that it's a gift to give. Not a gift a gift for you to hold on, but to share with the world.

And I didn't realize that until I saw that it brought change that I would change someone's day that I could change someone's life that everyone is going through different things at different times. And by me just sharing a joke or laughter,

but I was in the unemployment line at the unemployment office.

And there was a woman and she told me this horrible, deep dark story in the line. And you know, I loved on her and I was pretty young, but I felt like the situation. I was like, I got to change this. I have to bring light to her.

And I just remember being funny and cracking jokes with her, telling her, girl, that ain't nothing, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I saw it changed her and changed her day. And I was like, this is what I'm supposed to be doing. So I think that's definitely what I have.

I love it and that truly is you. That genuinely is you. You know, another thing when I talk to my family, my friends, and we talk about Miss Kim Whitley, we talk about just how courageous you are,

not just being authentic, but you know, in your line of work,

“you have to live your life publicly a lot of times.”

And maybe with a lot of stars, they don't, they don't talk about their parenthood. They don't talk about things that are going on personally in their lives, whether it struggles or things that they're trying to accomplish or new goals that they set for themselves.

You've been very courageous to live publicly, but also have a voice. And I want to start by just talking about motherhood and what that means to you because you've inspired my sister to be a great mom because she's like,

"What would Kim do in this situation?"

And so we always laugh about that,

but they talk to us just about motherhood and what that means to Kim Whitley. Oh my gosh, that's a good question. Motherhood, didn't you tell you something? Motherhood means you got to grow up.

That was like, this is not a game. I think motherhood may be go from, "Oh, I'm just having fun, I'm in Hollywood, but you have a human being that you are shaping for the next generation."

My motherhood meant to me, you know,

“women we complain about the men that we date,”

but if you have a son, are you raising that son to be the man that you would want to date? So all these things, but motherhood changed me for the better. And I hope that I lead by example,

that it is not easy. It is not easy. You know, the days are long, but the years are short. Yes, you look up, and my son is, yeah, he's 15.

And I'm like, "Oh my God, did I run out of time? Did I teach him everything he needs to do?" Did I give him enough hugs? So if we just lead with every day, think about what you wanted as a child.

I want more hugs, I want to be validated. Those are the things that make children thrive, the confidence we put in them. They feel like they could do anything. And so motherhood means like what my parents did to me.

And they were like, you could be anything. You can do it, no matter what. No matter what size I was, no matter what, nationality, they were saying you can do it. And I think that's what motherhood is.

Even though it's hard, you've got to love on these kids. Just love them, love them, and tell them they can do anything. Support them. That's it. And so as busy as you are, and as busy as you have been, right?

Not just today, but I'm talking, you know, the last several years of your career. How have you been able to balance motherhood with all the other commitments that you have, like with comedy shows and filming and everything?

Because, you know, regular people like me, we feel like, oh, I'm busy. I'm busy. But Kim has got to go from this city to the next city. And we record this and do that, but you still have your child with you, too.

Right? Like, how do you balance all of that? It is a balance. And I'm not saying I'm great at it.

“But I think as parents, we have to stop.”

And what my people know is that my son comes first.

Free thing, a lot of mothers do this, but everything decision making, my son has to be a part of it. Does he have spring break? Well, then I can't do that.

Is he doing this? Does he have a basketball game? Someone told me yesterday, which I was like, is that true? Obama made it to dinner every night. So those are the things that was like,

what if the president of the United States can make it to dinner? Then, truly, I can make some time for my son. And that they say that if you have, like, a weekly dinner with your kids or you have dinner with them every night,

these are the children that they were scoring like high and the SAT scores. It's all crazy. But once again, that's what I said. And I had to stop.

And I was like, I have to, even though I'm like, I'm working, I'm working. I got a video. That's not what's important to a kid. So I try.

It's not easy. I have a village. And that means not that I got, oh, I can hire all these people. I go to my friends. Hey, I need you to be the auntie.

I need you to be the uncle. He's got God parents.

I'm not going to, but he's so happy to have the people

that are surrounding him in his life. So I say, even if you're a busy parent,

“you've got to put people in their lives that can support them”

and that are there for them. I feel sometimes, but I try to make sure, if I'm on the phone, Oprah told me that, honey, she's like, if you're on the phone, or whatever she said, your child comes in the room,

she's like, stop. I said, okay, I'm listening. Yeah. I believe that. And I've heard you say that, not the Oprah part,

but just how being present matters. And that was something for me that I had to realize, as my children got older, being present matters. Because the worst thing you can do, especially now, you know,

you can't let social media or social media topics raise your children. It's going to try. But if you're not present, it's almost the worst neglect that you can give a child. So I applaud you for being present.

I also heard, you know, you talked about Obama,

making sure he was there for dinner every night. I thought you were going to tell the world about your private jet and how you make it home to your son every night for dinner. I thought, that's where you were going. Maybe I was, I couldn't.

I was just like, yeah, I am on that private jet, and I'm making up now. I'm making home and I try to schedule things, things around it. But like I said, you're not perfect,

“but it will come back one thing we have to remember”

is time. You cannot get time back. You can't wait until they're 20 something years old and saying, you know, I just want it more time. You're like, oh, well, let me, let me turn the clock back

and go back to when you were 15 and give you that time. So sometimes you just got to stop and say, let me do this now. They meant that. Man of that.

You know, can we've also been, you've been public. You've been a voice of positive for all of us. And I'm including myself in this that have struggled or gone through weight changes, right?

Like, I only want to say anything on the negative side because it's just weight changes that that we go through. And you've been a voice. You've been a partner that we've all needed because you're talking about it where a lot of us aren't.

Like, tell us a little bit about your partnership with, with Lily and Zetbound and all the things that you're doing to be this beautiful queen that you are over there. Thank you so much. And you know what?

I am absolutely excited about my paid partnership with Zetbound and Lily, because it was the tool that I needed. And you're right. I am a person who's passionate about,

do you call me,

“I didn't realize that obesity is a disease.”

Did you know that? I did. I didn't realize it's a chronic disease. Just like any other disease until I went to my doctor. And for some reason, I know people were like,

no, once I found out that obesity is a disease and that there was a medication on Zetbound that was a tool that can help me with it. You know, I really said, okay, I am excited that they found me and I found them

and that my doctor directed me to this. And you know, when you become a partnership with people, you want to share it. I want, I mean, any kind of disease,

but you know, especially friends and people that I meet that are struggling with obesity. And I've struggled with obesity. My entire adult life.

So to find a tool, you know, to help me through this weight loss journey

has definitely been incredible.

And I want to live out loud. I want, if I would, you know, sit back and hide that. I want to live out loud.

And, you know, so people can go talk to their doctors and find out about it. Could you imagine holding this? I got a tool that will help you with obesity.

But, you know, I'm not going to share it with the world. Right. Right. And I love that you call it a tool because a lot of folks think that,

you know, whether it's out on or whatever, that there's like a magic bullet. Right. There's still things you need to do.

Like you've got to be active. Physically active. Yes, you do. But like you've got to be proactive with diet. You've got to be proactive with exercise. Like you still have to make those mental changes

because it's not easy. And it's not, well, let me do this. And all of a sudden,

30 pounds lighter or 50 pounds lighter. Like, like doesn't work that way. I'd love for you to educate us on some of the things that you're doing,

as it relates to diet and exercise as well. That mouth with a healthy diet and exercise, you know, is part of my weight loss journey. And I think about,

you know, you know, when you think about, you can go through this, you know,

I've used other products. I've been, you know, I remember I had a group of friends. We got together.

We do that, you know, hey, let's all lose weight. We got to do this in that.

But when I talk about the tool,

first of all, let me encourage, I am not a medical professional,

“but I encourage everyone to talk to their doctor.”

We sometimes, we're afraid to ask questions. And when I say, I have to educate people. I want people to go to z-BoundLily.com

or go to your doctor. We know both. I think you got to go to both. But I would start z-BoundLily.com

just to read up on it. And ask questions. We'll go into our doctor's office. And we just might say, we won't even say anything.

We'll go to the scale of the doctor. We'll say, you know, we have obesity. And we feel some kind of shame.

There is no shame. You know, that's what we got to do. We got to take away this stigma that it is just like any other disease.

So the first thing is to ask questions.

And tell your doctor how you're feeling. That's why I want to be, like when you say, a best friend to everyone. I want to really encourage people to sit down with their doctor.

And say, look, this is how I'm feeling. This is how it's been going. And can you help me out?

And you can even say, hey, I heard about z-BoundLily. You know, point me,

point me, you know, in the right direction. So that, and when we say a tool,

you think about, we use tools for all kind of things. Do you know, I've been stuck. You know,

if you felt stuck in your life, I don't know what to do. And that has been, for me, and even my friends that you don't know what to do.

And you've, you've done this your whole adult life. I say, go over, talk to your doctor.

And hey, here's this tool. For me, it got me unstuck. If that makes sense,

make, it is definitely, it totally makes sense. And I think that's an, an encouraging word because,

you know, there's somebody that's watching or listening to this right now, that that feels stuck. And they also feel, some a shame,

right? It's like, I don't know, like, should I try this?

I hear what Kim's saying, but, you know, I could do it on my own, and they've been trying it on their own for 10,

15, 20 years. And they know on their own, it's not there. I tell people this,

“this is the time that you should be selfish for yourself,”

and not have shame, and not care what anyone thinks or knows and be proud of it. You know, I have this, it's not a joke,

but I told this to my friends all the time, like, I'm so glad that chatGPT and AI came out, because I remember what their social media posts used to look like, right?

Like, they couldn't type two sentences together on their social posts. Now they're writing novels. They respond to people, and they saw educated.

And to me, that's the same thing that, like, Zapbound Lily is, it's like,

let it help you, let it put you in the right direction, might let it be a tool, and if you feel ashamed, then maybe you need to change the people that are around you then,

because if they're not supporting you,

then they were never on your side anyway.

But I love to hear your take on. I love that you said that, you know, and it's not about vanity or the number on the scale. You got to make a decision that I am going to,

not about anybody else, you know, I'm going to take on this journey, think about any other disease. Why?

When it comes to obesity, why is it that, oh, I can't, I can't say anything.

Any other disease you're telling everyone, you know, you're like, hey, can you help me?

Get me this. What about that? It's the same thing when obesity. It just is.

“And so that's why a Zapbound is such a great tool,”

because the people don't know about it. You know, I know a lot of people don't know about it. And you feel like you're hiding a secret, and I really encourage other people,

because it's not about vanity, it's not about, oh, look how I look, you know,

so it's just about going on that lifestyle that you're doing exercise, you have a healthy diet, and you've got that tool, Zapbound that you have talked to your doctor about, and they have guided you in the way,

or you go to Zapbound Lily.com. And find out the information, you don't read for yourself, because sometimes, you know,

other friends, they'll lead you wrong. That's why you're stuck, and listen to your friends. They've made it that,

and you've made it that. So I'll make sure I have links to Zapbound Lily, and everything, I'm the show notes and the descriptions. Kim,

I gotta ask you this, because for the past six months, there's been this buzz, a special Instagram about Barnel Hill show, and it's making,

it's gonna make a debut, it's gonna be a real thing, and I'm like, no, that's not real.

That would be so amazing if it's real,

but that can't be real. That would change the game, and sit, and just things that are going on today. Kim,

so I'm asking you, is it real? Telling people on the make, on show, listen,

I'm just gonna say this. We filmed eight episodes, so it's pretty real. Martin Lawrence, Tommy Davidson,

Wendy Rockshire Robinson, one of those guy named Noah, and my friend Christopher Williams, not the singer, but the actor,

Vanessa Williams, brother who's hysterical, they put this amazing, it's Barnel Hill, the spin off from the Martin Lawrence show,

and when I tell you, it is so funny, and if we're supposed to have it come out,

I'm waiting for the word,

so I hope I'm not jumping the gun, but I want people to keep, you know, listening for it, you know,

and looking out for it. Look,

“you don't know how excited you just got me,”

because I miss just funny. I think you know what I mean. I just miss funny. Like, there's things that silly,

but silly isn't funny to me, and I know the cast that you're talking about, and I know because you are a part of it, it's about funny, not silly,

and I know that there's also going to be some good story lines in there. Like, talk to us about how you got the call or the audition,

and you were just like, yep, I'm doing it. You know, you get calls a lot for different things,

but when they say it, first is it, Tommy Davidson, I love Tommy. I was like,

well, that sounds great, but then they were like, Martin Lawrence, I was like,

Martin's really going to be in it,

Wendy Brock Hill Robinson is one of my dear friends. I was like, wait a minute, Christopher Williams, the cast is fire.

And think about old school comedy, like you're saying, the sitcom, I read the script, and I was like,

this is laugh out loud, funny. So, you know, I don't,

I don't think I thought about it long. I said, let's do it. And we're all very excited about it. So,

you know, I just, yeah, you make it me.

“I feel like I've got to have a moment of prayer.”

I feel like I need everybody to pray on this, and I'm sure it comes out. So, it's, it's going to happen. I'm definitely going to do my part,

because all the things I heard, I was just like, there's no way. But when I saw the, the cast list that you just mentioned,

too, I was like, there's no way. Like, this isn't real.

Like, you know, Instagram will tell you lies. If you're listening or watching this, Instagram will lie to you every once.

I was like, there's no way that this is happening. And it was like, this is happening. I'm so excited.

And I'm so proud of you for, for being in that. And just I know it's going to be fire, because you're a part of it. I'm just excited.

So we're going to make sure that, that everybody knows, I think every, every week, I'll just do a breakdown,

so people continue to watch it. Like, we'll, we'll have a little episode already on Mick and Pluck.

Oh, and I, and I will tell you, there are parts that I'm a little silly. Because sometimes,

Bentley, he would just let us go. Can you imagine Tommy Davidson? Oh, my God, he's so silly. So silly.

So fun. Fun, fun, fun. And thank you, Mick. I want to thank you, even for this interview.

Because I like to, I like to live out loud. And I want to make sure that anybody who is struggling with weight loss or obesity, that they go to their doctor,

or go to zetbound.lily.com. It's so important, because I just, really, you know,

people say it, but they afraid to make that first, you know, initial move. And that would be like,

if you can't get your doctor's appointment immediately, or you can't talk to your doctor immediately, I really encourage people to go to the website, and read on it. And it'll probably excite them

and give them, you know, questions to, that they can ask their doctor. And for me,

yeah, and that's what people, I just want to make sure I know that people know, also that I use the self-pay option for my, zetbound,

and it ships directly to me,

because people always wonder,

you know, how you can get it. Once you talk to your doctor, so there's all kinds of ways, but it's the first step.

There's to go check out the website and to call you doctor. Because I have friends, I'm still encouraging to do that. So I want to make sure I tell the people who are my new friends and new fans

to go down and go to the website. I will have links there. I love the fact that you said that their self-pay options, as well, too.

That's really important. We'll have links to that. We'll have a little spot on our website as well, that I'll have this link,

“because I believe it's extremely important.”

In any way that I can support Miss Kim Whitley, you can promise, you can believe I'm going to do that. I'll have links to your website too, because I know you are still touring and tearing up the stage.

So we'll make sure that everybody can see where you were at. I appreciate that. I got a show coming up, Felington. I'll leave it in Texas at the,

it's Arlington improv in March, March 5, 6 and 7, and then I know I go to Cleveland, and Louisville could talk to you. I forgot about that one.

That's going to take it. Maybe I'll see you on Louisville. But you can come on Louisville. That would be great. All right.

Just, just, I'd like you remember me. I'd like you remember me. You didn't got to really remember me. Just, just like,

oh yeah, I know Mick, yeah. I'm not going for each. I actually wrote your name down as a person to come back and visit your podcast.

I love it. I love it. Well, Kim, I know how busy you are. I'm just grateful that you could take a moment.

I do your busy schedule to spend with us. Thank you for the education. Zapbound Lily. Appreciate what you're doing there. We will again have links to everything.

Barnell Hill. When it's ready, we'll have links to that too. Just excited about all the positive things that you're doing. And thank you for being an inspiration to millions.

And thank you, Mick. Thank you so much. You got it. To all the viewers and listeners,

Go, when we should.

“That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplug.”

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