“The View” co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin has revealed that her infant son underwent surgery on his skull after a pediatrician noticed a small irregularity during a routine examination. The first-time mother described the experience as the “scariest moment of [her] life,” particularly because the procedure carried a risk of blood loss and required her to authorize a possible transfusion. Thankfully, Griffin said her son, Justin Jr., has made a “perfect, full recovery.” He will now wear a corrective helmet as his skull continues to heal.

Alyssa Farah Griffin Reveals Her Son Underwent Skull Surgery

Griffin detailed the frightening medical ordeal during Wednesday’s episode of “The View: Behind the Table” podcast. “He had to have cranial facial surgery, which is performed by a neurosurgeon. It’s actually surgery on the skull,” she explained.

The television personality said the procedure was necessary because her son had a condition that could cause parts of his skull to fuse prematurely, explaining, “So what can happen is, the brain can grow into it and it can cause both physical issues and developmental.”

Griffin did not publicly identify her son’s specific diagnosis. The former White House staffer welcomed Justin Jr. with her husband, Justin Griffin, in February. The baby is their first child.

A Pediatrician Spotted A ‘Slight Inconsistency’

The medical issue was discovered when the couple brought their son to his pediatrician for a checkup. Griffin said the doctor noticed a “slight inconsistency in his head” and advised the new parents to consult a neurosurgeon immediately.

That early detection reportedly allowed doctors to operate when the procedure was less invasive and before the issue became harder to treat. “If you do it at three months, it’s a less invasive surgery and you have time to correct it before it can be more significant and harder for him to heal from,” Griffin explained.

The 37-year-old acknowledged that the situation was “terrifying” for her as a first-time mother. However, the experience taught her the importance of relying on medical professionals, her husband and the people around them. Griffin said the lesson was to “trust your partner, but also trust your community.”

Although handing her baby over for surgery was frightening, she knew she had to “trust the people who know better.”

The Risk Of Blood Loss Made The Procedure Even Scarier

Griffin said one of the most difficult parts of the experience was knowing that her baby would need to be placed under anesthesia for an operation involving his skull. “Knowing he was going under when he’s this little boy, knowing that the biggest risk for the surgery is actually not the outcome, it’s blood loss during the surgery, having to sign off on him having a blood transfusion and all that was so scary.”

The political commentator did not disclose whether her son ultimately required a transfusion.

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Despite the risk and fear surrounding the procedure, Griffin said Justin Jr. came through the surgery successfully and has fully recovered. He will wear a helmet for approximately one year to “help correct” the shape of his skull while it heals.

“He has an extra layer of protection and he doesn’t mind it one bit,” the proud mother said. “He looks so cute. He looks like an old-timey football player.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin Was ‘Excited’ And ‘Terrified’ About Motherhood

Griffin announced in October 2025 that she and her husband were expecting their first child after a difficult fertility journey. While sharing the pregnancy news, the couple opened up about the mix of excitement and nerves they felt as they prepared to become parents.

“Baby Griffin is on the way and we’re just so excited, and terrified,” Griffin told PEOPLE at the time. “It’s starting to feel very real. This past week, I felt the baby kick for the first time, and immediately I grabbed Justin’s hand and he felt and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s happening?!’ It was magical.”

The couple began dating several years before Justin proposed in July 2020. They married in November 2021 in Vero Beach, Florida. They felt “ready to have a family” about a year into their marriage, but their path to parenthood proved more difficult than they expected.

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The Couple Conceived After Five Rounds Of IVF

Griffin and her husband tried to conceive for approximately two years before becoming pregnant through in vitro fertilization. The “View” co-host revealed that the process took five rounds of IVF and approximately one year of treatment. “I’m so overjoyed. I went through IVF. It was hard. It took us about a year. It took us five rounds, but [my son is in] here. He’s coming.”

During her fertility journey, Griffin was also diagnosed with endometriosis. The condition can make becoming pregnant more difficult and involves tissue similar to the lining of the uterus growing outside the uterus. “I went undiagnosed my whole life,” she told People. “So that just added to the complications.”

Griffin later reiterated that she did not learn about the condition until she and Justin began trying to have a baby. “I went undiagnosed my whole life until I started this process,” she said. “So that just added to the complications.”

After two years of trying, five IVF rounds and a frightening surgery shortly after their son’s arrival, Griffin and her husband can now focus on his recovery.

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Nick Cannon had a few nice things to say about his ex-wife, Mariah Carey, more than a decade after their divorce.

Nearly a decade after their divorce, Cannon and Carey continue to maintain a close relationship built on mutual respect and shared parenting duties.

The two were married from 2008 until they finalized their divorce in 2016, and they have 15-year-old twins together. 

Why Nick Cannon Calls Ex Mariah Carey His ‘Greatest Friend’ and ‘Teacher’

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Speaking in a new cover story, Cannon reflected on his seven-year marriage to pop icon Carey and the strong bond they have maintained since their 2016 divorce.

He revealed that the former couple remains in constant communication regarding their twins, Moroccan and Monroe. He also praised Carey’s positive outlook, deep faith, and ability to protect her private life, saying to US Weekly,

“We were able to, kind of, move on and be amicable and be the best parents we can.”

Cannon shared that he and Carey are so close that they talk “almost every day or every other day” about their kids.

He also noted that despite this regular communication, his ex-wife still knows how to protect her privacy and keep certain meaningful things to herself. 

The entertainer further praised Carey for positively impacting his life, noting that he has learned a lot from her.

“I learned so much. I always say Mariah Carey was my greatest friend and my greatest teacher all at the same time,” he said.

Speaking on their shared parenting duties, Cannon said, “ We gotta operate as a unit, but it’s definitely departmentalized.” 

As their children grow older and begin exploring interests in the arts, he emphasized that both parents are focused on encouraging their ambitions while ensuring they stay grounded.

Nick Cannon Previously Reflected On Supporting Mariah Carey During Their Marriage

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Cannon’s revelation comes over a year after he offered insights into his past marriage with Carey. 

At the time, The Blast reported that Cannon credited their relationship’s success to the deep respect they both held for each other’s achievements. 

He noted that they were each pursuing a “boss-level trajectory” in their respective careers. As such, rather than viewing her monumental success as a challenge to his own standing, he was satisfied stepping back to uplift her when necessary.

He added that his self-confidence let him adapt effortlessly to whatever she needed, whether taking charge or yielding the spotlight.

“I went in understanding, like, wow, this is one of the most amazing people to ever grace this planet, so I was able to play my position in a way,” he stated. 

Mariah Carey Chose Discretion When Addressing Her Ex-Husband’s Personal Life 

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While Cannon has spoken openly about their enduring friendship, Carey has occasionally taken a more reserved approach regarding her ex-husband’s public life.

During an interview on “CBS Mornings” with Gayle King, the Grammy-winning singer stepped around a question about her co-parenting dynamic with Cannon, choosing not to elaborate on his activities.

She blatantly said that it would be “best” if she didn’t speak about him because he can “just be in his own world,” per The Blast.

Despite keeping details about her ex-husband private, Carey emphasized her commitment to maintaining a balanced environment for their teenage twins. 

The Singer Was Left Speechless Over Her Ex-Husband’s Multimillion-Dollar Insurance Policy

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Building on her deliberate choice to maintain distance from her ex-husband’s headlines, Carey also delivered a hilarious reaction when confronted with one of Cannon’s most unusual public revelations.

During an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” host Andy Cohen asked Carey for her reaction to learning that Cannon had insured his testicles for $10 million during a game of “Plead the Fifth.”

Visibly taken aback by the question, the singer rolled her eyes and expressed surprise at the news and said, according to The Blast, “He announced this? Lord, help me.”

Nick Cannon Addressed His Teen Daughter’s Misunderstood Social Media Post

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Connecting back to Cannon’s efforts to keep family life positive, he addressed the public spotlight on his children.

As reported by The Blast, the host addressed a viral post by his 15-year-old daughter, Monroe, in which she stated she only had one brother. 

Cannon clarified that her statement was taken out of context, explaining that she was simply shutting down online rumors from strangers claiming to be related to her rather than dismissing her younger half-siblings.

He also used the opportunity to teach Monroe to be more careful about what she says on social media because people can blow it out of proportion.

Every year, the Toronto International Film Festival introduces audiences to the fall’s hottest upcoming movies, from pending awards contenders to surprise word-of-mouth sensations. While the festival celebrates cinema across the globe, it’s always a treat when a local specialty like The Stunt Driver premieres. Directed by Canadian filmmaker Michael Dowse, best known for comedies like FUBAR, Goon, and The F Word, The Stunt Driver is a dramatized account of human daredevil Ken Carter, arguably Canada’s Evel Knievel.

Jay Baruchel reunites with Dowse 15 years after Goon to play Carter in this raucous yet heartfelt comedy about a man with lofty ambitions who died doing what he loved most: performing dangerous, live-wire stunts. It’s a story that most American audiences are oblivious to, but that will all change when viewers experience the rollicking laughs and thrills of The Stunt Driver, which also stars Ed Helms and Ben Foster as the legendary Evel Knievel.

Collider‘s Steven Weintraub hosted a Q&A session in LA with Dowse to discuss The Stunt Driver, which releases in theaters on September 25th. The film follows Carter as he prepares to pull off the most extraordinary and riskiest stunt of all: a jump in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental across a mile-wide expanse of the St. Lawrence River. Both a madcap adventure and a poignant reflection of ambition, The Stunt Driver is based on the 1981 documentary about the real Carter, The Devil at Your Heels, directed by Robert Fortier.

In the conversation below, Dowse shares the influence of the documentary on his narrative film and how he integrated archive footage into The Stunt Driver. Dowse may not have been performing death-defying stunts, but he related to Carter’s aspirational values and perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds when making this independent project.

Below is a full transcript of the conversation between Dowse and Weintraub, with the full video of the Q&A available above.

Michael Dowse Was “Blown Away” by the Documentary That Inspired ‘The Stunt Driver’

Dowse also reflects on the early days of his filmmaking career.

Image via TIFF

COLLIDER: Thank you all again for coming out tonight. Thank you to IFC for teaming up. This was your first time seeing [the movie] outside of Canada?

MICHAEL DOWSE: Yeah, it was. That’s why I watched it. It’s only screened at TIFF and a couple times in Canada. So yeah, it’s great to see with the L.A. crowd.

For people that don’t realize, the world premiere for this was just like days ago. What was it like? I saw you in Canada and you guys came into the studio. You’ll be able to watch that interview on Collider, but what was it like experiencing the TIFF crowd? Because I would imagine a lot of people in Toronto know Ken [Carter]’s story.

DOWSE: Less than you would think. He’s not very well known. He is our Evil Kneivel, but nobody really knows who he was. When I saw the documentary about [him] like 12 years ago, I was blown away by the story and wanted to bring attention to it. But yeah, I mean, it’s a home crowd for sure. When you screen it at TIFF , it helps if it’s a Canadian-themed film, for sure. So it went over great.

Before we jump into why I get to talk to you tonight, I always like going backwards. So if someone has never seen your work besides this film, what’s the one you want them watching first, and why?

DOWSE: Oh, that’s a good question. I don’t know. I think It’s All Gone Pete Tong is a pretty interesting film. It was shot in Ibiza, like, 20 years ago now–Jesus. I’m old. That one’s pretty interesting in terms of using sound in a film. And Goon would probably be the other one, if you’re a hockey fan.

Yeah, Goon is real fucking great. Which of your films changed the most in the editing room in ways you didn’t expect going in?

DOWSE: I would say Goon. Goon definitely changed the most in the edit suite. Just once you unraveled this idea that if you had a shot of a scoreboard and you could put any number in the scoreboard, and you could change the colors of jerseys, and you could really shape sort of a season of what happened from game to game, it sort of opened it up. We had Brent White come in and help on that film, who’s Judd Apatow’s and Paul Feig’s editor. He’s amazing. That’s probably the film that changed the most in the edit suite.

Let’s jump into Stunt Driver. Was there a moment when you first heard Ken’s story and said, “oh, I absolutely need to make this movie?”

DOWSE: [It was] after I watched the documentary. A lot of the doc is in this film. We used a lot of the footage from the doc to do a lot of the stunts and shots of the ramp, and stuff like that. We built the ramp, we built our own version of the ramp, like a 60 ft version of the ramp. The real ramp was about 90 ft, and we had to build our own scale version of the car. I felt I had as much challenge as Ken did, except I didn’t have to do the jump by any means. When I saw that doc, I just fell in love with the scale of the jump and just how big it was. And I just thought it would make a great story. And then once you get to know Ken and you research his story, you just fall in love with the guy. He’s such a dreamer and he’s so optimistic. You just want the guy to succeed, and he gets backstabbed. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong with him. When you see beyond it, what happened after that jump and how tragic it was, it just felt like a really compelling story about [a] “careful what you wish for” idea.

Michael Dowse Found a Clever Way to Handle ‘The Stunt Driver’s Action Sequences on a Small Budget

“It’s a nice testament to how brave the real man was and what he accomplished.”

Image via IFC

What a lot of people don’t realize is that you actually didn’t do any of the stunts.

DOWSE: No, we built a car with no motor, because we couldn’t afford it. Every single time the car is moving, it’s Robert Fortier’s documentary, The Devil at Your Heels, which you can watch on the National Film Board of Canada’s website. It’s an amazing doc. For some reason, the Australians have really taken it over, and there’s a huge Australian cult following on the doc, and they’re like, “why have you not named streets after Ken Carter in Canada?” His doc is amazing. He followed him for five years, so we were able to license the doc from the NFB and then we used it to really, as I said, set the period, and do the things that were impossible. If we had tried to do that jump, we could have ensured it, but it would have taken another six weeks of shooting to try and do all the jumps. I also think it’s a nice testament, like every single jump you see in there, that’s Ken doing them, and it’s a nice testament to how brave the real man was and what he accomplished.

Also, if you were going to do these stunts, you’d need a Fast and Furious budget.

DOWSE: Yeah, exactly. It’s insane, the scale of it. The first budget we did was like, “let’s do everything and not license anything.” And then you slowly realize you can’t do that. And then it really creatively opened up ideas in terms of trying to get behind the doc–if you flipped it on its head and usually it’s the other way around. But if you did sort of a making of the doc with a 2: 39: 1 aspect ratio, of a [Robert] Altman film from that time, what would that feel like in terms of cutting between those two formats?

You should also mention that you shot in more than one format.

DOWSE: We shot real 16 mm when we knew we were going to go into the doc footage. We kept an Aires package on the truck, and then we shot four other formats. We shot 2: 39: 1, fake 35 [mm], fake 16 [mm]. We even had a shitty video camera for when we got into the 80s that I, for some reason, was the operator on the shitty video camera.

Can I ask which camera was the shitty 80 camera?

DOWSE: I cannot remember, but it was something from the early 2000s or something.

Was there a piece of archival footage that you saw with Ken that completely changed how you and Jay played a scene or approached a scene?

DOWSE: There was an interesting story about the hypnotism off the top. That was shot, but it was never used in the documentary. Robert couldn’t find a place for it. As you researched with Robert Fortier, he would tell his stories about meeting Evel Knievel and a bunch of stuff that I can’t repeat. He told the story of this hypnotism, and it was sort of a testament to how much of a showman Ken was. He went through this entire hypnotism. It was at a radio station in Montreal where he went under and somebody burned his hand, and he kept with the bit and didn’t break out. And then at the end, he went up to see, [if he’s] okay. And he’s like, “yeah, I’m right as rain.” He had totally made up the entire thing in terms of the hypnotism and to try and raise awareness for it. We couldn’t find the archival footage of the interview, but we found an audio of it on YouTube and you can listen to it. It’s fascinating because, even though he’s sort of “making it up,” all that stuff is pulled right from that interview about why he jumps and his background of having to raise his brothers and sisters and coming from nothing in Montreal. He’s really an interesting character. He literally came from nothing. He graduated grade four at 14 and failed three years, and then went in and became just like a grease monkey and then fell into the traveling circus of.. Oh, God, what’s his name? God, I’m going to forget his name because we had to use a fake name in the movie. This very famous traveling road show, and that opened up his life, and that’s how he really defined himself, when he was nothing. His bravery was all he had. He’s a really compelling person.

How did you figure out the actual structure of the movie? Because there’s many versions of the story you could tell.

DOWSE: I started basically transcribing the documentary, and then you realize the documentary has so many repetitive bits–they do like 3 or 4 car tests. There’s like 12 characters over the five years. It’s a thing of condensing it and trying to streamline it into something. I’m extrapolating in certain scenes with Gloria [Carter], and that’s from getting to know her a little bit and talking to her. There’s obviously some extrapolations for dramatic purposes. I also kind of wanted to stick to what happened, and how those five years went down.

Why Jay Baruchel Was the Perfect Person to Bring Ken Carter to Life

“In terms of improvisation, you get to let those guys run a lot.”

Image via IFC

You bring up what I wanted to ask. How much do you feel obligated to the facts, and where did you give yourself the permission to say “this makes a better movie”?

DOWSE: Yeah, I think comedy goes a long way. Jay [Baruchel] gives such a great performance, and he really put this film on his back. He’s like a thoroughbred. In terms of improvisation, you get to let those guys run a lot. He, Ben Foster, Ed [Helms] are all brilliant actors. On the day where you let them run, they’re doing stuff. I just thought of trying to dig into the heart of the movie a little bit. We wanted to dig into Gloria a little bit, but that’s with talking to her and researching her. And then, it’s really about just finding snippets from the documentary and diving into it. In the documentary, Ken refers to the conversation he has with Bill Wilkins, who’s a combination of three characters, and he talks about what happened to him that day. The real guy’s name was Kenny Powers, which is a direct connection to Eastbound and Down. They’ll never admit to it! He talks about it, but it was extrapolating from that, and writing out those scenes that he refers to. So it’s a bit of adding a little bit of your own juice, but also trying to stay as true to what happened as possible without really making a ton of shit up.

Ken is an underdog, but he’s also incredibly stubborn and self-destructive. How important was it that the movie did not romanticize him too much?

DOWSE: I think I kind of romanticize him, but I think I wanted to keep it real to who he was, to a certain degree. I mean, what he’s doing is quixotic. It’s romantic. I think it’s baked in already. It’s insane what he’s doing. We had the car in Toronto, and [it’s not] until you stand beside a scale model of what that car is, do you really understand how fucking insane it is to to try and launch that thing. When you stand on top of the ramp, even the 60ft ramp, which is two thirds of what it is, you’re like, “this is fucking insane what he tried to do.” It wasn’t hard to romanticize what he was doing, and he’s very open about his fear. I found such a human quality in something so relatable. It was the guy. He talks about it openly–he’s scared of what he’s about to do. I just found that very relatable. I think anybody in their life has a 90ft ramp that you want to attack. For me as a filmmaker, I think every film I try to make feels like you’re trying to launch yourself off a 90ft ramp for glory.

Well, the other thing is, he was talking about his feelings and his fear in an era that people really didn’t do that.

DOWSE: For sure. In the doc, he’s very open about it. He’s not shaking or anything like that. In the movie there are more delays. There’s delays upon delays, upon delays that we truncated. You see the human aspect of it. You also see that side of people getting worn out by it as he keeps talking. He was scared, and I think the stuff about the runway is accurate. He was worried about the water. He was worried that the runway wasn’t ready, and he was correct about that. But he was not a scared man. He was a brave, brave person. I think anybody who does that for 30 years, it’s going to wear on your nerves a little bit. I think it’s all totally relatable and understandable that you’d get a little raw after a while.

Well, the other thing is, he was doing these stunts without the use of computers, physics, and math. They’re doing shit where they’re like, “I think this is going to work.”

DOWSE: There’s no real testing at all, except to send it off. There’s no 3D model or AI model of what would happen for him. There’s no real safety stuff, not really. As you can see, when it goes into the water.

In the end of the film, you show the real footage of his tragic accident. How much did you guys debate over including that, not including that, or how much to include?

DOWSE: Yeah, it’s a good question. I thought about it, and then I thought, “why pull a punch?” That’s where he gets crushed. He dies later in the ambulance. That’s what happened on that day. That’s how he died, and we should show that. He died doing what he loved. It’s awful, but it’s what happened. When you’re using archive footage, you have to respect the truth, especially when you’re dealing with that.

So I asked you this earlier, but I am curious, you have a cut that you’re happy with. How did this film get shaped in the editing room? Did anyone see an early screening and give you a note that basically said, “how did I miss this? I gotta fix this”?

DOWSE: What do you mean?

I’ve spoken to a lot of directors and they failed to mention that “this was like the 1982 race.” There’s always something that–it’s obvious to you, but maybe not obvious to the audience.

DOWSE: We screened it to lots of people. It’s just an ongoing thing. If anything, I probably cut it too short, initially. I started as an editor, so I’m very tough on that stuff. And then, we let it breathe a little bit more. In terms of things that we discovered, I think we discovered how important Gloria was to the story. That was the feedback that I got that I tried to take to heart. Laurence [Laboeuf] is an incredible actress, and she does breathe life into this part, but it’s a tough part. She does very well with some ham-fisted dialogue that I wrote for her.

I don’t know if you’ll remember this, but what was the last thing that you cut out before picture-locking? For people who don’t know, picture lock means you’re not making any more changes.

DOWSE: The scene of them in the hotel room, when he’s in the yellow sweater. That was the last thing.

Goon has a similar, lovable underdog with a dangerous obsession. What did you learn from that film that carried you into this one?

DOWSE: Just energy, and just letting actors go and trying to get that energy from improvisation In terms of the character, there’s a lot of parallels towards Doug Glatt (Sean William Scott) and Ken Carter, so it’s [about] molding that similar character. Doug Glatt is much more of a Rocky Balboa meets Chauncey the Gardener (from Being There) type. Ken is his own thing, but I think there are a few parallels to those guys, for sure.

One of the things about making a movie, and especially one that you’re making on a budget–every movie is on a budget–but you get what I mean, is that you have a set, you have a limited schedule, and a limited amount of time. Where did you feel like “we really only have time for like two takes here,” and where did you feel like you needed to deploy additional resources to make sure a certain scene really worked?

DOWSE: We shot this film in 21 days, so we hammered this fucking movie, I gotta say.

For people who don’t realize, that’s really not a lot of time.

DOWSE: I produced it with my wife. We didn’t have a studio. We were funded by some fine folks up in Canada. It was really like a mom and pop shop. 21 days was tight to begin with, but I think the Evel stuff is definitely something we wanted to make sure we had enough time for them to play around. All the Senneterre stuff was really important, because it was shot at the same location as where they shot 50 years earlier, so we wanted to make sure we had enough time there. What was interesting was that there’s that jet car thing, where he’s in a Montréal street. We only put two shots in there, and then the rest of that is the documentary. We just built 20ft of a backdrop, which is actually the Molson brewery, and put that behind the car, and then put her actors in front of that same piece of wall. And then we were able to intercut that in with most of the other footage. 21 days was possible because we knew we had some scenes that were mostly archival, and we were just putting a little bit into it.

That’s still just a crazy short schedule.

DOWSE: It’s a crazy short schedule, but I shoot fast.

What did Jay do on set that maybe surprised you?

DOWSE: He just owned it. I love Jay. He’s a great friend and a great actor, and a great writer and director himself. When I called him four years ago to do it, I just knew he was the guy. I think as a filmmaker, you get pulled a bunch of ways. Like, “oh, you need this big name, you need this big name for foreign sales, blah, blah, blah.” I saw BlackBerry and it suddenly dawned on me that Jay was 38. He was the same age as Ken Carter, and he was perfect. He’s from the same neighborhood. His parents probably ran in the same circles as Ken. He understands what it is to be an Anglo in Lower Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montreal, which is a very specific reference, but it’s a poor area, so he understood the culture. Then he just proceeded to put this film on his back like he prepped incredibly. He’ll say that it was the first movie he did a lot of homework on, and he would just send me these strange voice memos where he had repeated some of the dialogue from the doc verbatim, and I would just pop up on my phone every once in a while. He really took it to heart. For us, it wasn’t about a facsimile of the character. It was about him finding that gray area, that Venn diagram of him and Ken Carter and finding that middle ground where he’s embracing himself, but he’s also bringing in some of the characteristics of Ken. It’s just about it making it feel honest. He’s just so funny. He can ad-lib with some of the best of them, and his brain works in mysterious ways.

Michael Dowse Explains What ‘The Stunt Driver’ Is Really About

Image via IFC

I completely concur with what you just said. Ken spends years chasing one giant moment. Do you see the movie ultimately as being about pursuing a dream or about knowing when you should let one go?

DOWSE: I think it’s about pursuing a dream. I don’t think it’s about letting one go. It’s tragic what happens to him–that’s what happened to him. You could say he maybe painted himself into a corner in terms of the career he chose. I think this movie’s about a dreamer, for sure, and hopefully it’s inspiring, even though the guy dies. I think there’s something interesting about somebody just being so focused on doing that for five years. And it’s a cautionary tale, as well, I guess in the same breath.

Now that you spent years thinking about Ken Carter, do you personally understand why he needed to make that jump?

DOWSE: Absolutely. It’s the same reason why I had to make this film. It’s like it just eats away at you. This took 12 years for me to make this film, so it’s on the back of your mind as you do other movies. You’re always thinking about this movie. Yeah, I totally related to him. I think anybody who has something that feels insurmountable, if you’re writing a novel or an album or whatever you’re doing in your life. I think this story is inspiring because it shows, even though you know, it doesn’t go the way you planned, but he just has so much positivity about doing it. I recommend you guys should watch the doc, too. They’re both standalone films, but the doc is very interesting because he’s a very compelling character.

You worked on this, as you said, for 12 years. How many times were you nervous that someone else was going to make the movie before you could get it made?

DOWSE: So many times. Because another producer had the option for like ten years, they, at one point, sent me their version of the script for me to direct, and I just turned it down. I sent it right back. I didn’t even read it. I just sent it right back to my agent and was like, “Do not send me anything else to do with this. I want to make it myself. I was very nervous. Then, at one point, I think [Leonardo] DiCaprio was going to do an Evel Knievel movie with Damien Chazelle, and I thought the timing of that would have been exquisite, because it was right around when we were going into pre-production that we got wind, and we thought if there was a Leonardo DiCaprio, Evel movie to go with ours, that would be perfect.

There is so much footage of Ken from the doc, and you include some of it in the film. How much did you debate which scenes and what stuff of the real Ken to include?

DOWSE: There’s one shot where they’re walking at night, which is Ken’s back. There’s a shot where he gets pulled, and obviously all the driving and stuff is Ken. It was tough to pick the moments. The ones that we wanted to use were the ones that gave the film scale. We wanted to use anything that had the ramp in it or anything that would set the time period or the era, for sure. Ed [Helms] is sort of an amalgamation of Dick Keller in this guy called Slamming Sammy Miller. There’s a great scene in the doc where Slamming Sammy Miller tricks him and says, “oh, you’re only going to go 200 miles an hour?” There are some scenes where we lift the dialogue completely from it. The press conference was one that we lifted completely, for the most part, which I just loved how heartbroken the real Ken was in that scene. There’s a lot we grabbed directly from the doc for sure.

Image via IFC

If Ken could see this film, what do you think he’d want people to walk away understanding about him?

DOWSE: That he tried. That he wasn’t scared. Talking to his girlfriend, Gloria, who’s still alive in Montreal and going to the Montreal premiere next week, she said he would be proud of this movie. It does what he wants. He wanted people to remember his name, you know? Hopefully this film is a small part of cementing his legacy as an incredibly brave, stunt driver and daredevil. I hope he would have liked it.

I am 100% sure he would really like this. I really appreciate your work and making this on your own. It’s really fucking hard to do, and I commend anyone who can do it. For the fans of yours, are you currently writing anything? Is there another project you’ve been working on for 12 years?

DOWSE: There’s a film called, Cult-de-sac, which is about a doomsday cult that’s correct, that I’ve been trying to make. I wrote it with a bunch of other guys. It’s complicated. That’s one that I’m trying to make. And then I’m writing a horror film right now. Those are the two big ones right now that I’m trying to make.

Horror goes through a lot of ebbs and flows, but right now it’s on a very strong high. There’s so many horror films that have done so well. Does it make it any easier, or is it still always a challenge?

DOWSE: There’s obviously a massive market for it. I love the medium, just because I think some of the most creative work right now is in horror, where they also get to blend in comedy and a bunch of things. Backrooms is an amazing film, and it’s almost like a German arthouse film. And the fact that kids went out to it and supported it so wholeheartedly is so inspiring and great for the marketplace and for the business. It’s incredible that something that abstract found such a huge audience, and it’s encouraging. I like horror because it’s not necessarily cast-reliant. So you can cast the right actors, and it doesn’t need to be the most famous person. They’re super creative films, and they allow you to work on some different muscles as a director.

The other thing with the horror space is that you can really take some swings. People are willing to go along and studio people are willing to go along because you’re not spending a lot and there’s a lot of upside.

DOWSE: I think people want to get engaged. People want to feel an emotional relationship with any story. That’s what I miss about comedy–people laugh and there’s a reaction. I think people are getting that same thing from horror where they’re feeling scared and there’s an emotional connection with the project or with the film.

I think Resident Evil is playing in one of the theaters next door because it was so loud with all the people getting killed and whatever’s going on in that movie. It sounds like a beast. That’s another horror movie.

DOWSE: Exactly, and Zach Cregger is killing it. His filmmaking is insane. It’s wonderful

The Stunt Driver opens in select theaters September 25.

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Release Date

September 25, 2026

Runtime

99 minutes

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Director

Michael Dowse

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By Robert Scucci
| Published 30 seconds ago

It’s the 1980s, and you desperately need to join a frat because it’s the 1980s and that’s all anybody does in raunchy comedy films of this era. 1986’s Vamp, however, isn’t your traditional raunchy college comedy because it barely takes place on campus, but rather inside a strip club full of voluptuous vampire vixens who are ready to sink their teeth into whoever dares enter the front door.

As somebody who went to college in the early aughts, and who hadn’t seen Vamp yet, I had no idea that making friends would be so easy. There I was trying to force small talk and crack the occasional joke, when all I really had to do was what our heroes do in this movie. My way was boring and involved a disappointing lack of sexy vampires, so if you’re wondering what my “what would you do with a time machine” fantasy is, it’s now something similar to what you’d see in this movie.

Not Exactly An All-Ages Club 

In Vamp, Keith (Chris Makepeace) and AJ (Robert Rusler) are college students trying to get into a fraternity, and the best way to accomplish this, in their minds, is by hiring a stripper for a party. Wealthy classmate Duncan (Gedde Watanabe) reluctantly provides the Cadillac for transport, and the three head into the city looking for entertainment. They eventually land at the After Dark Club, where Katrina (Grace Jones) puts on the kind of performance that convinces AJ he absolutely needs to meet her backstage.

This proves to be a poor decision because Katrina is a vampire, and AJ quickly becomes much more involved with the club than he intended. When he doesn’t come back, Keith goes looking for him and runs into waitress Amaretto (Dedee Pfeiffer), who insists she knows him from somewhere. Keith soon figures out that the After Dark is crawling with vampires, while the neighborhood outside is being terrorized by a street gang led by Snow (Billy Drago), so basically every available exit comes with its own problem.

Once Keith discovers what happened to AJ, his fraternity errand becomes a fight to make it until sunrise without joining the club’s undead clientele. With Amaretto helping him navigate the increasingly hostile night, Keith has to survive vampires, his newly transformed buddy, and one extremely questionable trip into the city that could have been avoided by simply throwing a worse fraternity party.

Knows Exactly What It Is

Vamp gets by on its self-awareness because it absolutely has to. Keith trying to impale AJ’s heart with a wooden stake, only to find out that the shattered countertop he sourced it from was actually made out of Formica, is just one of several instances where it’s made abundantly clear that Vamp has no right to be taken seriously, but that’s where all the fun comes from. The other hint is all of the vampire strippers teasing their clientele into submission so they can have their next meal lined up.

That’s all you really need to know about Vamp. It’s a silly endeavor from start to finish and actually has some pretty great practical effects for a movie that was shot for just a little over $3 million. Rubber masks, prosthetics, and fog machines do most of the heavy lifting, while the streets are colored with tinges of neon and magenta, and what I imagine might be dry ice gives the air some movement. That’s all you need when you’re watching movies like Vamp.

You’re not supposed to treat movies like Vamp seriously by any stretch of the imagination. You’re supposed to throw this on when you’re drowsy and just let its ridiculousness wash over you like a spectral blanket that reminds you that you’re not always supposed to take life so seriously. Add some cheesy dialogue and undead maniacs to the mix, and you’ll have a good time if you’re familiar with the kind of schlock you’re about to get into.

As of this writing, you can stream Vamp for free on Tubi.

The Bold and the Beautiful fans know Steffy Forrester (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) is keeping the awful secret from Finn (Tanner Novlan) that she and Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor) got drunk and they had a one night stand the night that Steffy flew home alone, upset from Monaco.

And to make matters worse, as you know, Steffy is pregnant with Carter’s baby. And now Steffy and Carter are staging this fake surrogacy. But soon Finn could make a huge mistake that levels the playing field in their marriage.

Bold and the Beautiful: Steffy Beside Herself

All right. So, right now we’ve got Steffy drowning in guilt over her one night stand with Carter and the fact that she is carrying his baby. Plus, Steffy doesn’t want to give that baby up to Daphne Rose (Murielle Hilaire) and Carter. This is absolutely agonizing for Steffy even to think about it. And now Carter is forcing her to tell even more lies. Steffy is sick at the thought of having to lie to Finn and everybody else for the rest of her life. But despite all that, Steffy seems to be pushing forward with the fake surrogacy scheme because she just told her hubby Finn that she will be the one to give Carter and Daphne the baby that they so desperately want.

And of course, Finn was absolutely stunned and he tried to talk Steffy out of going through the surrogacy, saying that there are plenty of other surrogates out there and that 1 of these other women can give Daphne and Carter the family they want, that it doesn’t have to be Steffy. And Finn doesn’t like the egg donor thing either. So, he’s just not happy. But we know Steffy is going to go through with it because this surrogacy scheme is the only way to hide her and Carter’s secret one night stand and the pregnancy and to salvage both of their marriages.

Finn Blindsided on B&B

But we’ve got Finn reeling from this surrogacy news right at the moment that he is headed out of town for a medical conference and something that happens there could change everything for him and Steffy. So, if you remember, Finn told Steffy that he could bail on the medical conference. Finn said he’d stay home because of how upset that Steffy was. But she told Finn to go and have a good time. Steffy said, “Relax and have a few drinks.”

And that was before she dropped the surrogacy bomb on Finn. So, it immediately got me thinking when Steffy said, “Have fun, have a few drinks, why mention booze?” So Finn’s heading to this conference and he’s stressed out about Steffy. He may do some drinking to forget the drama. But Finn is so stressed out about this surrogacy that I kind of think The Bold and the Beautiful might be setting the stage for him to unintentionally cheat on Steffy. Not in a planned way, in a whoops way.

The same way that Steffy cheated on Finn. So, he’s quite upset about Steffy talking about being Carter and Daphne’s surrogate. And while Finn is away, Steffy may add to the stress. She may call Finn and tell him she agreed to be the surrogate. And Steffy may say, if he objects, “Oh, it’s too late. I already did the procedure.” Because time is of the essence for faking this.

Bold and Beautiful: Finn Gets Wasted?  

And for Steffy to say she did it while Finn’s gone, that absolutely makes sense because then he can’t try and go along to the appointment and Steffy and Carter have to move fast and sell this because there is no procedure because of course Steffy’s pregnant. But then I could see Finn getting really upset because Steffy was supposed to think about it and Finn wanted to discuss it more when he got back from the conference. But Steffy may lie and just say that she already did the procedure. It’s a done deal.

And that might cause Finn to have a little too much to drink and maybe he makes the same kind of mistake that Steffy made. Finn might end up having a one night stand. And this could happen a few ways. You know, Finn might be upset and do some drinking on his work trip and then just like Steffy did, Finn may wake up and realize, “Oh no, I just had a one night stand.” You know, maybe it is a random that he just meets at the bar. Or Finn may chat with a doctor he knows. You know, maybe somebody Finn knows from medical school. And Finn’s one night fling might even show up in LA later for even more drama.

B&B Twist: Finn Has a Baby on the Way Too?

Even worse, if he cheats on Steffy while stressed and drunk. The worst and most insane outcome would be if this woman from the one nighter shows up pregnant. That would be the ultimate irony with Carter having gotten Steffy pregnant on a stressed out one night stand accidentally and then her hubby does the same thing. I’m sure that Finn would be horrified if he woke up next to somebody and would want to confess to Steffy, just like she wanted to confess to Finn.

But then Carter begged her not to. But I could see Finn coming right home and confessing to Steffy, unless of course there is a 3rd twisted possibility. You know how much her mom Taylor Hayes (Krista Allen) loves to go to medical conferences. The Bold and the Beautiful has sent Taylor off on so many of them. So, it would be insane if Finn was at the conference and then Taylor showed up at the same conference where Finn is and then Taylor and Finn get drunk and have a one night stand.

Bold and the Beautiful Shocker: Finn & Taylor Turn to Each Other?

Finn is upset about this surrogacy and Taylor’s not happy that Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan) has been talking with Sheila Carter (Kimberlin Brown) and that those two have been confiding in each other and getting close again. So, Taylor might take off to the medical conference and then she and Finn talk and then they confide in each other over drinks and the liquor is flowing.

And Taylor and Finn have a few too many drinks and then whoops, the worst possible one night stand that he could have would be with his mother-in-law Taylor. That would be so messy if Finn and Taylor had a whoopsie like that. And it would certainly benefit Sheila because she would end up getting Deacon back. But in a weird way, it would also benefit Steffy because of how she has wronged Finn.

Finn & Steffy on Equal Ground on Bold

Now, I will say in her defense, Taylor’s not really the one night stand type. So, it would be out of character for her. She’s only had 1 one night stand before that I can remember, and that was James Warwick (Ian Buchanan). He was a virgin. He and Taylor were trapped because of an avalanche and James and Taylor thought they were going to die and James didn’t want to die a virgin so Taylor slept with him.

That was back in the Hunter Tylo days. So, that was a special circumstance kind of thing for Taylor. As I said, she doesn’t usually do it. So, if this happens and no matter who it’s with, a drunken one night stand, then Finn would lose the moral high ground that he has right now over Steffy.

Now, Finn doesn’t even know he needs that moral high ground. But he does have it at the moment. But if he does this, then Finn and Steffy would have both had one night stands. So, it’s even Steven, right? But Finn, I think, would still have the upper hand unless his one night stand turned up pregnant, especially if he came home and told Steffy directly. Plus, Steffy has told a lot of other lies to compound the cheating. It would be really wild if Finn not only cheated, but he cheated with Steffy’s mom.

Bold and Beautiful Repeats History?

And The Bold and the Beautiful has done things like this before. Remember Brooke Logan (Katherine Kelly Lang) cheated on Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) with his dad, Eric Forrester (John McCook)? And I think when she was with Eric, then she cheated with Ridge. I think she did it in both directions.

I’ll have to double check my memory. But I’m sure some of you guys remember. It would not be unprecedented for The Bold and the Beautiful is my point. And it would be devastating for Deacon. He’d probably end up back with Sheila and she wouldn’t be happy that Taylor slept with her son Finn.

We’ll see how it goes. But right now, Steffy is so deeply in the wrong that the Bold and the Beautiful writers might be doing something to lower Finn down to her level. It’ll be really soapy.

Tarek El Moussa filed for divorce from Christina Haack in January 2017, and she filed her own petition that August. Since then, he’s been married to Heather Rae El Moussa since October 2021. However, the HGTV star recently reflected on the separation from Haack, revealing how dark things became during that time.

Tarek El Moussa Believed He Had It All Before Divorce From Christina Haack

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El Moussa took to Instagram in September 2026 to reflect on his divorce. He did so by posting a reel of photos with a voiceover of him speaking. He captioned the post, “Divorce Story. Follow along… I’m sharing the lessons I learned the hard way!”

The 45-year-old began by noting that he was “happily” married to Haack for “about seven years” before saying, “Then my whole world came crashing down.” In discussing his life at the time, he recalled, “At the time, I thought I was just living the dream. I had a beautiful family, a thriving business and a TV career that was absolutely taking off.”

However, despite the success, the “Flip Off” star’s life was far from perfect. According to him, “But behind all the glam and all the cameras and all the fans, I was suffering with my health.” He then stated that he was “fighting two different cancers” and underwent “an awful back surgery.”

Amid the health issues and him struggling to regain his energy, El Moussa experimented with testosterone injections, after which he said, “things got worse, and I lost touch with myself.”

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Tarek Takes Accountability For His Role In Split From Christina

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El Moussa continued his Instagram reel by addressing the split from Haack directly. According to him, “My marriage fell apart, like many do, and it forced me to take a good look in the mirror and really take responsibility for a lot of the sh-t I did and made me realize what I wanted to become.”

After realizing what he wanted to become, El Moussa said the first step was to get healthier, leading him to “check [myself] into a facility and take care of my mental and physical health.” He added that the facility he entered was a halfway house, saying, “It was the help I needed.”

The HGTV star continued, “Fixed my eating habits and gained my strength back.” Regarding his life today, El Moussa said, “Today, I’m a father, a happy husband, and part of a huge modern family that I’m incredibly grateful for.”

He then offered advice at the end of the video, saying, “Listen, if you’re going through something right now, this is your reminder that you can rebuild your life, and you’ve got to remember you are no different than a house. It doesn’t matter how tired you are, how beat up you are, how angry you are. At the end, we could all use a remodel.”

Tarek And Christina Announced Their Split In 2016

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The world got to know El Moussa and Haack through their HGTV house-flipping series “Flip or Flop,” which aired from 2013 to 2022. However, the then-couple shocked the world in December 2016 when they announced their separation.

Per CBS News, they said in a statement at the time, “Like many couples, we have had challenges in our marriage.”

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They then discussed their much-talked-about altercation from that year, saying, “We had an unfortunate misunderstanding about six months ago, and the police were called to our house in an abundance of caution. There was no violence, and no charges were filed.”

They used the rest of the statement to highlight their commitment to their kids and vow to continue working together.

Tarek And His Wife Heather Rae El Moussa Recently Teased ‘The Flip Off’ Season 2

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HGTV premiered “The Flip Off” in January 2025, featuring not only Tarek and Heather, but also Haack. The competition show became a hit and was then greenlit for a second season, which is expected to air in late 2026 or early. Per TV Insider, they began filming the season in September 2025.

Heather later addressed the season in a July 2026 Instagram Stories post, saying the season was taking longer to film “because we are flipping houses, sometimes we have to take a little, tiny hiatus and let the house catch up because, you know, it’s construction and things can take a little bit longer, especially in a competition.”

He Recently Celebrated His Daughter’s 16th Birthday

El Moussa, who is very active on social media these days, recently took to Instagram to celebrate his eldest daughter’s 16th birthday. He did so by posting several photos of the teenager, both from her younger years and more recent ones.

Regarding the caption, he began, “My little Tay Tay… 16??!! This one got me. I keep watching this and seeing every version of you at once.” He then highlighted different phases from his daughter’s life, saying, “The little girl laughing while I kissed her cheek, the beach days in Newport, the birthday dresses, the family dinners, all those hugs… and then the incredible young woman standing beside me now.”

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He then ended his lengthy post, saying, “Happy 16th birthday, Taylor. I love you more than words will ever be able to say.”

A threatening video allegedly sent to Carrot Top’s former legal team has emerged amid accusations that singer Brian Evans attempted to pressure the comedian into paying hundreds of thousands of dollars. The approximately 90-second recording was reportedly sent in May 2024, more than two years before Carrot Top, whose real name is Scott Thompson, was hospitalized following a reported suicide attempt on September 18.

Although Thompson’s attorneys have connected the video to a broader pattern of alleged threats and settlement demands, the clip does not contain a specific demand for money. Evans has denied trying to trade his silence for payment, and the allegations have not resulted in a criminal finding against him.

Brian Evans Allegedly Warned Carrot Top’s Legal Team

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According to Page Six, Evans sent the video message to Thompson’s then-legal team in May 2024. “At some point, things are no longer about settling, okay?” Evans said in the recording obtained by the outlet.

Evans, who opened for Carrot Top’s long-running Luxor show in Las Vegas twice more than a decade ago, referenced another legal fight that he said lasted 12 years. “I know how to file, and I know how to respond, and I especially know how to promote,” he said.

Evans then appeared to place responsibility for what happened next on Thompson and his representatives. “So this is all up to you, all of you,” he continued. “You’re on the wrong side of this. … But if this is the way you want it, this is the way it’ll be.”

While the language was ominous, the video did not include a demand for money or expressly threaten the release of private material. Thompson’s attorneys have argued that its significance becomes clearer when considered alongside later emails, court filings and a police report.

Attorney Accused Singer Of Seeking $500,000

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Page Six also obtained a September 3 report from the Lake Mary Police Department documenting an allegation made by Thompson’s attorney, Ronnie Bitman. Bitman reportedly told police that Evans claimed to possess a USB containing “sensitive contents of an explicit video about the client.”

According to the report, Evans allegedly demanded $500,000 and threatened to send the material to tabloids if Thompson refused to pay. The complaint was categorized as “information only, extortion of client.”

Thompson was not present when Bitman spoke with authorities and lived outside the department’s jurisdiction. The officer reportedly advised Bitman that the comedian would need to contact the law enforcement agency where he resides.

No criminal finding against Evans resulted from the Lake Mary report.

Thompson’s attorneys made similar allegations in a September 3 Broward County court filing. They claimed Evans demanded “significant sums” while warning that an alleged sexually explicit recording involving the comedian could be placed in a public court file.

Once filed publicly, Thompson’s team argued, the material could become available to reporters and other members of the public.

Emails Included Demands As High As $8 Million

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One email attached to the court filing reportedly presented Thompson with what Evans called “Path A.” Under that option, Thompson would pay $500,000 in immediately available funds, and Evans would resolve his claims against him. If Thompson rejected the offer, Evans said he planned to proceed with a motion involving a purported USB. He predicted that the filing would attract media attention.

Evans maintained in the same communication that he was not threatening the comedian or attempting to “trade silence for money.” However, he warned that after the deadline passed, the proposed settlement was “not an offer your client will ever see again, not even remotely close.”

Other emails reportedly show that the requested amounts changed dramatically throughout the dispute. In a May 18, 2024 message, Evans demanded $1.925 million and said that if the parties did not settle, he would file a lawsuit with exhibits “including the video.” He added that the fallout could bring “consequences I can not control.”

One week later, Evans reportedly increased the demand to $8 million and wrote that when his lawsuit was filed, “I will be issuing a press release within the hour it is filed.”

By June 4, the requested amount had dropped to $530,000. Evans allegedly acknowledged that the dispute “would be national news” and warned that without an agreement, “it will be filed, a press release will be issued.”

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Evans has denied threatening to publish footage in exchange for money. He previously told Page Six that he “never threatened, ever, to post any video anywhere in exchange for a settlement.”

The singer also claimed the purported footage had been deleted long ago as part of a previous settlement between himself and Thompson.

The current dispute traces back to that 2024 agreement, which Evans is attempting to overturn. Evans sued Thompson in Broward County in August, seeking to void the settlement. He alleged that he lacked the mental capacity to enter the agreement because of psychiatric injuries he said he experienced after the 2023 Maui wildfires.

His lawsuit also alleged that Thompson previously sent him unsolicited footage showing an explicit sex act. That accusation has not been proven in court.

Thompson’s attorneys have asked the court to impose restrictions on Evans’ future filings. Their requested measures include requiring judicial approval before he can publicly submit material involving alleged private or sexual conduct and potentially limiting his ability to electronically file documents without oversight.

Carrot Top’s Hospitalization Made The Court Fight More Urgent

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The dispute took on greater urgency after Thompson’s attorneys informed the judge that the comedian had been hospitalized following a September 18 suicide attempt. “This is now an emergency in the most human sense,” Bitman wrote in a September 20 emergency motion.

The attorney argued that once intensely personal allegations are entered into a public court record, they could spread nationally before Thompson has any meaningful opportunity to respond. He further maintained that the resulting damage could not be reversed.

There has been no judicial determination that Evans’ alleged conduct caused or contributed to Thompson’s reported suicide attempt.

Evans has previously faced restrictions over his litigation activity. A federal judge in South Florida declared him a “vexatious litigant” in August after finding that he had filed at least 15 cases without an attorney in the district since 2025. The judge described the matters as “serial, spurious filings,” restricted Evans’ ability to submit new documents without prior approval and dismissed the case at issue with prejudice.

A Broward County judge separately found that Evans had misused emergency-motion procedures. The court granted Thompson’s requested relief concerning certain references to unrelated videos, messages, and other material after Evans agreed to those restrictions during a hearing.

Thompson’s representative previously confirmed that the comedian was hospitalized and recovering while asking the public to respect his privacy. The civil dispute with Evans, including the fight over future filings and allegedly private material, remains ongoing.

Druski shared intimate details of his abusive childhood during an interview on Thursday, September 24. The comedian spoke about his violent upbringing in the unfiltered interview, and he also shared intimate details about his life.

RELATED: Major Move! Chris Rock Gives Druski His Flowers After Hosting The BET Awards (VIDEO)

Druski Reveals Childhood Trauma During Raw Interview

Druski sat down for an interview with ‘The Diary of a CEO‘ host Steven Bartlett. In it, he revealed how childhood trauma impacted his life. The comedian, whose real name is Drew Desbordes, got his start by making videos online.

During the interview, the artist said that his mother worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and his father was a pilot for United Airlines (8:06). Druski also said his father got him thinking about what he wanted to do with his life at a young age.

“My dad…. he was one of those tough guys to deal with around,” (5:27) he said. “He wanted us to figure it out early, and like my dad was like the lead person of pushing that narrative.”

The artist added that his mother pushed the narrative as well, but she also told his father that Druski was still a child.

“I’m at the time, like eight, nine years old,” he continued. “And my dad was like, ‘What do you want to do? Figure it out. You’re either going to go to jail, you find a, a craft or, or you’re going to end up in a warehouse or something. You got to figure out, um whatever you’re going to do, or you go to the military get your as*s blown off.’ And that was the only three options.”

The comedian went on to say that his father was old school and physically abusive. H used to get hit by his father. He added that his father’s lessons were good, but the way they were taught were not. Druski also said that he learned from watching neighbors that his upbringing wasn’t normal (6:46). 

“So, he has a short temper,” he recalled. “He used to ask these rhetorical questions all the time of like, he’ll be like, ‘Go get me a Phillips screwdriver,’ and I’ll go get a regular screwdriver. He’s like, ‘This is not a Phillips screwdriver.’ Bam! Upside the head. Then my brother goes, ‘he’s like I want you to go get me a Phillips screwdriver.’ My brother goes and get a hammer. The dumbest sh*t, right? And he would come back and Bam! Upside the head.” 

He Used Comedy To Cope With The Abuse

Druski added that he began to use comedy to cope with the abuse. Furthermore, he used it as a tool to comfort his brother (8:47).

“We had some a*s whoopers in the house that went too far,” he said. “Um, but yeah, I think I, I, I feel like my comedy comes from that place of I never tend to punch down. I like to find the funny, but also the good side of funny, and not look at the negative for my type of comedy.”

“One time I watched my brother get beat for wetting the bed and it was the simplest thing and I couldn’t understand. I was like ‘why is he like like getting beat this bad?”

“I’ve seen different things of like the choking and, you know, pushing her out the door and then locking the door,” he added. “And then I got to go and be the one staring at her at the door and she’s like, ‘Open it.’ And he’s like, ‘You better not open that door.’”

Druski Speaks On Leaving College And Depression

“I think since I’ve always been the funny guy in every classroom,” he added. “Everything I’ve done, sports, I get kicked off the football team for being funny, all this stuff is because I am a comedian.”

“I wrote all these goals down on the sheet of paper. Now, I’m locked in I have no other option. I’m sitting here in a room, no mattress. My car got repossessed. I actually made that like a content piece. But I feared nothing because I’m like, I have nothing left.”

RELATED: Play Too Much! Damson Idris Reacts To Druski’s Viral Skit About British Actors Taking Over American Roles (VIDEO)

Taylor Frankie Paul is seemingly taking another step out of the public eye by scrubbing her social media — and getting her assistant to run her accounts — following her exit from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

Eagle-eyed followers noticed on Wednesday, September 23, that Taylor, 32, no longer had any posts on her Instagram feed. Her bio also had a new message, which read, “Assistant here @madshellander running her account for a bit.”

Taylor’s assistant provided more information about her taking over the account in an Instagram Story upload.

“Hi guys I’m Maddy. Tay’s assistant. I will be helping her with socials for a bit,” she wrote. “Any inquiries just send to her DMs as normal.”

Related: ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ Then vs. Now: How Cast Looked Pre-Hulu Show

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives fans have watched the cast change on and off screen before the series even debuted. Season 1 of hit reality series, which follows a group of Mormon mom influencers, debuted on Hulu in September 2024 following star Taylor Frankie Paul‘s “soft swinging” sex scandal. “We’re not all swingers,” Whitney […]

Maddy also clapped back at criticism after showing what her work day entailed, including a glimpse of her cleaning up Taylor’s home.

“Not that it’s anyone’s business, I’m here to help Taylor however it may be that day,” she continued. “There is much more that goes on outside of social media. Just a friendly reminder before judging what she or I do with our day.”

Taylor’s disappearance from social media comes after she teased her exit from The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.

“My gratitude goes to all the networks that supported me throughout this and gave me the chance to return. However I don’t desire to move forward like this,” she wrote via Instagram on Monday, September 21. “I originally was willing to be removed to let them all continue on with less stress, and I’m back to that point.”

After the show’s fifth season dropped earlier this month, Mikayla Matthews announced she would not be returning for more episodes if Taylor is involved. Taylor, for her part, called out the division between her and her costars — including Layla Taylor and Miranda McWhorter.

“Some of the girls know what I’ve been through and then to turn and collectively pile on with their ‘statements’ knowing there has been ongoing abuse through the system the last 8 months on top of what I’ve endured. Almost the entire cast plus some, going at me….laughing about my kids is disgusting,” Taylor claimed. “I bit my tongue there. These same people had meetings telling me I need to lead the way of pay….my voice was the only one that can make it happen and then they would work from what I demanded. I’m grateful I never followed through with their requests of demands and I’m grateful I kept same pay out of fairness and integrity.”

Taylor, who has made headlines for her legal issues with ex Dakota Mortensen, further explained her mindset about her future on the show.

“I agree it’s to the point of bullying for months now. What makes it harder to take in is some of these parents have made mistakes that would result in the same judgement I’m receiving yet pointing a finger,” she wrote. “However it’s a pleasure to remove myself so they can continue, because I’ve almost convinced myself I’m deserving of all this pain and to a certain degree absolutely this is consequences of my actions. My question has been how much suffering and scrutiny is going to be enough…I’m just relieved to be out.”

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Amid the shakeup, a source gave Us exclusive insight into the difficult dynamics behind the scenes.

“It is a mess between the girls behind the scenes, and everyone has really turned their backs against Taylor Frankie Paul,” an insider shared. “Taylor has not been in a good place mentally and does not have many people who are supporting her publicly, which is hard.”

The source added: “Everything is up in the air. [The show] is renewed, but producers are very unclear about how the show will proceed.”