"I Was Crippled By Anxiety & Depression - This Is How I Fought Back" ft. Kris Fade

We're really, really hard on ourselves first. We put ourselves down a lot. You will tell yourself what you're doing wrong, but if you had your friend in the room, you will tell your friend what they're doing right. The mind is so strong and powerful, it can really make you think things that aren't really happening. Isn't it crazy that at 45, you're probably the healthiest and fitness you've ever been? 100%. And people are like so against like peptides. But they're incredible for you. I know a lot of doctors personally as well who are like off record will say things to me. And that's what blew my mind as I can't say it to you. Here, the fear of the unknown is why we have so many big issues in this world. These people are just fearful of what they don't know. I think love is so important. I think so many people that do bad in their later life is because they did not get love in their early life. Good morning, Chris. Wow, we did it. We made it. We're here. Thank you for having me. I'm a little intimidated to interview you. Oh, don't be. The number one radio host and all of the GCC, your father, your entrepreneur, and now you're becoming a Wallace entrepreneur. So I'm trying, trying to do it more, trying to do it all well. You are doing it well. Thank you. I wanted to ask you a little bit just to kick start this. You've been so huge and successful. People know you from reality TV, they know you from your morning show. But what is something about Chris that's behind the mic that people don't know about? That you don't showcase? Oh, wow. You know, I show, I show probably too much. My mum always tells me like, why do you share so much with the world? And I'm like, she believes kind of in the evil I feel. Which I kind of do with love. You're loving ease, right? So it comes from the culture. Yeah, I've got the evil I tell you right here. I kept that on me, keep nice and close. But what do I, what do they, they don't know about me? There's not, honestly, there's probably not a lot. I think I'm probably more sensitive than people think that I am. I think people sometimes from the outside, they'll be like, oh, is this arrogant guy that just thinks he knows everything? You know, I think that's a perception from some people. I feel like once you get to be with me around me, hang out with me, you get a different perception. Sometimes from people that haven't been around me. But I'm probably a little bit more sensitive than people may think. You know? And so have you had certain incidents happen that you've taken a step back and said, maybe I don't want to be in the limelight so much? And this is mentally affecting me? No, I've never had it where I want to get out, not yet. Shooting a reality show is really demanding, though. So when we were shooting Dubai Bling, when I was on those first two seasons, a lot of pressure, not only to do the show, do my radio show, do my hosting, do my other commitments with my other companies, be a father. And also the pressure of wanting to make sure that you keep the person that you are while she's shooting a reality show, because when you shoot a reality show, the producers in the back end are doing all they can to manipulate that and just create this drama that you don't want to be a part of. I also work for a company which is sort of government-owned and I've got a responsibility to make sure that my brand comes out in a good way, not to deteriorate anything that I've created. I took me 15 years to build the legacy that I built here from a radio perspective. I didn't want to destroy it, doing one season of a reality show. So I think it was a bit of pressure, also having your family involved. You got your wife and your kids involved and trying to make sure that they're protected through the journey as well. But it's never been a moment where I'm like, oh my gosh, I want to get away from all this. I'm like, I'm okay with it. People ask me, how do you do it? Whenever you walk the streets, you always say, hello, you're always on. I'm like, you know what, if that's the worst that my profession can bring me is people coming up to say hello all the time. I'm all right with that. I'll stay home. You talk a lot about also online and in the show you talked about it about how you came here, you had nothing, and then you built this incredible empire for yourself. How has that journey changed you as Chris, the person? I think I got more empathy with life. I, a lot of people have come to the UAE, a lot of people have come to Dubai with not a lot and they've built themselves, they're little empire. And everyone has a different type of empire. Some people are, some people's empire is a yachts and private jet. Some people's empires have just been able to afford to buy a house, a nice, comfortable house here in the country. And for me, I felt like, I feel like I'm the same person. I feel like I'm the same person that I was when I landed here in November 2007. Do I have a lot more money? Of course, I have a lot more money. Do I have a lot more life experiences? I totally do, but I feel like deep down inside here, I'm the same person. I'm still the same voice that talks to myself. I feel like, I mean, I talk to myself a lot. I don't know if that's something that everyone does, but I've got a mental voice that always talks to me. That mental voice is still the same voice. It's still the same voice from when I was 10 years old, I feel. You know, you have that little voice in your head that just talks to you throughout the day. That's the same. He has never changed. If you had to describe yourself based on that voice in three words, what would they be? Driven, loyal, loving. They're my three words. I try to stick by that as well. I want to be loyal, being in a relationship personally or a business relationship. You know, we saw in contracts and we have all this BS that you've got to do to keep a legit, but sometimes with me, it's like, if you and I have had this discussion, I will, I will live through that. I will be with it. I will be loyal with you. I don't care if there's a lot more money knocking on my door next door. If we've made an agreement, I want to see it through. Yeah, I want to see it through. I think that's really important. Your reputation is everything in this life and you will not be successful if you have a bad reputation. I don't think anyone will. You know, you might have a couple of years of success. You may have to get a quick like out of four or five years, but eventually it catches up to, it catches up with you down the road. And how did carrying yourself with that sort of integrity in a market that was so new and being shaped where the buy is still very new to things. You know, you have people like yourself who have this high integrity and high value, but you also have a lot of people here who are a lot more shifty. So how was it when it came to operating in business? Did you have any certain hiccups or situations that you were like, man, that rubbed me the wrong way? I feel like I got a good sense as I can tell if someone's pretty legit or not. One thing about Dubai as well, it is pretty small. I know we're a really big city when you talk about it globally, but when you look at like the city itself, you can pretty much know someone that knows someone within this city. So, you know, if I'm not sure about someone, I will go out to my network, which is very, very tight and just be like, hey, anyone worked with XYZ or what you guys know about this and you can pretty much find out. And that's where your reputation comes back into it. But you got to do your deal diligence. You got to really be careful with who you work with. You'll have a lot of people give you big promises that will never come through. But the one thing about this city that I feel like it does do, if you do meet the right people, you can have something done within like a week, which may take back home in Australia, could take a year. But you find the right person within a week, you can have the balls rolling within two weeks. It's really happening within a month. It's done. And you're like, wow, that was from a conversation that I met that person. Right. You know, and I think that's a really cool thing about this city. It's a very fast pace. I put something on my Instagram the other day where I'm like, I don't email a lot. Emails for me is like, you know, I say I'm horrible on emails, but I'm like the Michael Jordan on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is you so heavily here. Right. I do 99% of my work on WhatsApp. And I believe that allows us to move quicker, especially in this city. You can get things done real quick. Voice notes, messaging back, even contrast. That's how we met. That's it. You know what I mean? And then like in the whole communication, I mean, even if you buy property, like I buy property and you the contract come on WhatsApp, you can sign it. You send it straight through. And this country allows you to legally from what I understand. WhatsApp is a, it's like it's looked in at the court. So, you know, it's a cool way. This city moves so quickly. You've got to be really, you've got to be really smart about how you move, though. A lot of people come to this city thinking that they can just make money real quickly. So I go, yeah, you come to Dubai. You make money. It's easy. We're all going to have a Lamborghini in the next couple of years. It can eat you up and spit you out real quick. So you've got to make sure you find out the right circle, the right people and have a vision in mind. But what you're talking about also is more than money, you seem to have a really strong purpose. You seem to be really driven by your why. And so if you had to put into one sentence what your why is, the reason you wake up every morning, what would that be? Well, it's changed because I think for anyone that's had children, your why is changed pretty quickly. As soon as you have a, I have a kid, that's your why. That's the reason why you do everything. Everything I do now is for my children. It's, you know, I've got my three gorgeous kids. You know, I always think about leaving them. It's pretty weird because I, as a father, I don't, in my head, I'm like, I'm going to set them up so they don't have to, they don't have to work. Right. Which is not, you don't have that. Exactly because you are. You are because you work. I don't tell them. Right. But in my back of my head, one day if I leave this world, I want to make sure that my kids, they go like, wow, that left us with. Everything. Everything, right? Saying that, I push them to work. I mean, just last weekend, you know, they're working the, the fade fit stand at the, at the buy-out div show, sell-and-snacks and, you know, they're doing, they're doing stuff for me. Even this morning, I WhatsApp them, you know, I want to create some content with them. They don't always enjoy creating content with me. Right. But I put them now. It's monetized for them. I want them to understand when they create content with me, they get paid. It's become a job. They want money. This is how you have to earn your money, you know. So I sent them a WhatsApp. I said, hey, we're going to film this this afternoon at 5 p.m. make sure you're ready to go. It's a job for them. They both replied with, okay, why they know that they get money. But it's work for them, but they understand. So I still want to keep that work ethic involved. I started working at the age of 15. I was working in my, my uncle's cafe from 15 and I haven't stopped working since. So I still want that. Right. You know, but my why is for them, everything that I do is, is for my family. Being able to fly mum and dad wherever they want to go. Being able to help my family if they need cash or whatever it is, like, that's the biggest reward, you know. When you're able to give someone something, from your, from, yeah, like, you know, there's... What else is there to do in life but share what you built and be able to take care of the people who have helped you along your journey? Agreed. Like, I think it's, I know I'm not the only one that feels this, but when you give a gift to someone, it's so much better than receiving it. Like, I'd rather give that feeling of being able to give. And, you know, I think it's a, it's a beautiful thing. I think it's, it's nice. But we work really hard. I had my parents here, you know, last couple of weeks. And my mum was disappointed. She's like, you're working way too much. I barely even saw you. Yeah. And I said, well, mum, that's a sacrifice that we've got to do some times, you know. Right. And, you know, but I still want to make sure that I spend that quality time with them when I do. And, you know, but you got to, you got to try to find that balance. You got to balance it out. It's hard to find that balance. I don't know if I found that balance, especially right now. Dubai is just in this beautiful peak. Yeah. It never stops. The city never stops. People always, oh, it's going to crash. Oh, they're probably... Man, we ain't, I don't think we've even started. Yeah. I truly don't think we've even started. I think over the next 10 years, this city is just going to keep going up, up, up. It will apply to over. Of course it will, but it will continue to go up. And I think we're only at the beginning of it. I think Dubai has done such an incredible job at becoming this global city. And they have put themselves on the map with everything, with healthcare now, and longevity is coming on. Media starting to evolve. Hospitality is completely blown up. It's insane to me. And how a short span of time, because it's still a very young city. How fast they have progressed. And I think that is down to the incredible leadership that they have in this country. Yeah, what's really funny is people think that I get paid to talk about Dubai, I talk about Dubai so proudly. And this whole country... I mean, I just got the Burj Khalifa tattooed on my back, and the Burj Al Arab. When the whole thing is on the whole side of it, that shows you my love for this city. Because it's given me everything. And it's down to the leadership. And no, we're not paid to talk about the city. It's the passion that we found. Do I love Sydney? Of course, do I love Lebanon? Of course I do. That's where, you know, I'm from. I've been born and raised in Australia. But there's something about this city and the leadership. That really, I think they care, man. I feel like they care for us. And, you know, I don't think I feel. I know they care for us. And that for me came during COVID, where I realized I am not a passport holder of this country. Yet they looked after me in a way that I was a passport holder, right? And then at that time, I was wanting to travel to Australia back to Australia with my family. I couldn't get into my own country. And I'm like, what do you mean? I'm a citizen of this country. You're not going to let me in now. You've got a quarantine for four weeks. And I was like, and then that was the moment for me. And that was year 15 of being in this country. That you realized. That you realized, yeah, this is home. That was the year I bought my home. That was the first time I was renting in this country for 15 years. It was then that I realized, I remember turning to my wife and I said, okay, this is home. And that was when I bought the house. And since then, I think a bunch of properties in this country. Because I feel like, okay, this is where I will always be. Will I travel, of course? Will I spend two months back home in Australia, I will. But this will be my home. If you know me, you know, I'm intentional about what I put into my body. That's why I'm so excited to share something that's genuinely changed my wellness and routine. Seeds new, cobiotics. Cobiotics are supplements designed to support your body and microbiome. The community of microbes that plays a major role in nutrition, energy recovery, immunity. 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What is the one piece of advice you would probably give somebody to sustain a healthy, happy relationship? Don't get married. Just stay in a situation. No, stay. Your wife's going to be like, Chris. I am so lucky. My wife, Brianna, I am so lucky. You know, I'm divorced, right? So that first relationship that I had, you know, were in better terms than we were, but it was a brutal divorce. Yeah. We probably should have never got married, but we got two beautiful kids out of it. I'm a better husband the second time around. Right. I think you learned from your mistakes. I think I was a good husband the first time around. Don't get me wrong, but I'm a better husband now. I think just goes back to those first three words that you asked me, like loyalty, love, and I think I was driven. Forget what the third one that I said. But like, I think the relationships kind of feel the same way. Like you want to love that person. You want to end up with your best friend. That's one thing that I tell a lot of people hey, don't go don't get a divorce unless you really have to get a divorce. Right. Because it's the worst thing you can ever go through. Even if especially if you have children, you don't want to do that. Right. Because it affects them deeply. So, but if you get to the point where you got to go through that divorce, just know be respectful throughout the journey of that divorce because it can get real brutal real quick because you realize that the person that you thought you knew you don't actually know. It's different side of them can come out and become like you become enemies. That person that you loved, you are now worst enemies. And that's the craziest feeling. It goes and that happens pretty quickly. And over the years, I've spoken to people who have gone through divorces and they're like, no, we're good. We're all great. And I'm like, just give it some time. And then like, I'll get that call for a month later. It's like, okay, it's war. And I'm like, I told you it's coming. Now that doesn't always happen. Yeah, I was going to say, I think it takes two people to kind of put their egos aside. What why it goes south in my opinion is because you get so triggered. This person brings out all your traumas, your fears, your insecurities, and your ego gets activated. Ego, yeah. But when you step back and say, I'm not coming at this for my ego. And I honestly believe the love, respect, tenderness, you enter any relationship with is still the same way you should leave. Yeah, but that you, but it's hard. You married? Yeah, I'm actually going to be going through a divorce. I'm sorry. He's my best friend though. So it's, it did, we didn't work out for other reasons, but he is still a really important part of my life. I think we were not compatible as partners in a romantic setup, but we're really compatible as friends or in business together. So for me, I don't want to flip this. I don't want to flip this because I'm about to flip it on you. Can flip it a little bit. Children? No, no, no. We're in the end. Now, yeah, that is easier. Yeah. A hundred percent. So that's one thing in a divorce that I've, you know, it's, it's, yeah, when you're married to someone, and then you can just divorce, you never have to, if it's up to you, you may, you may remain friends with your ex-husband, but you don't, it's a choice. Absolutely. When you have children, you have no choice in the month. You have to, and then there's a monetary side of it as well. Right. Of who paying this, who's paying that? For a man's point of view, and this is not me being like sexist, it's like, statistically, we are the ones that get the bad end of it. Right. Right. And we don't, in all cases, other reason why the divorce is happening. Right. But no matter what happens, we are the ones that have to deal with it. And, you know, it's funny because when I was going through my divorce, you know, you start to hear from different stories from different men, and you're like, wow, that's not really happening. So, you know, when you don't have the children, it's probably easy to be like, hey, that was, that, it didn't work out. Yeah. We realized it didn't work out. Hey, we, we bought this together. This is yours. This is mine. Thanks so much, CLA. But when the children are involved, it's a completely different story. So go on back to your question, like, you know, being married now, you know, I think three years to Brianna, being together for 10. Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're really good. And it took us a while to get there. Right. Like, it wasn't, you know, I, I, I think I was burnt from my last relationship. I told myself I'm going to wait five years before I got married again. If I was to ever get married, but I gave myself five years. So when I met Brianna, it was, it was, we weren't ready. You were ready, yeah. No, I wasn't ready. We, I mean, I met Brianna like, I think eight months after my divorce. And I wasn't ready to meet anyone, but we just kind of met each other. It was this beautiful moment, and we realized, gosh, we actually, we love each other. But I was pretty straight out. I'm like, yo, I'm not getting married five years. I'm letting you know this. Right. I'm 78 years older than her. She was okay with that. And then yeah, we, we, we fell in love. It was kind of rough for the first couple of years. She, she had moved from LA here for a job. The job didn't do. She didn't like the job. But she met me. So she stayed here because I was here. She was 26 years old. Next thing, you know, she's met a guy who's got two kids. I was raising my two daughters. And so she was like, there were moments where she was like, I didn't sign up for this. Right. And I remember having conversations with her like, I understand. I understand that. Yeah. If you don't want to be here, I actually hold you. Yeah. But we loved each other. Yeah. And so we worked through those moments. And there were some really like tough times through the way where there was resentment because I felt like sometimes I had to choose between raising my daughters. Right. Or being with her. And I hated that position. Right. And as a, as a man, you want to provide for your kids, but at the same time, for your woman, for your woman. But, you know, I think that was off and on. And then she came around and I came around as well. And I felt, I felt that balance where, you know, I gave her that moment of, I gave her moments of just her and I. Right. But at the same time, she started to come more included in our family. Right. Now, you know, we all lived together happily. It's one big happy family. She's taken my daughters to Australia on, on, on her own. Yeah. I'm going to meet her later like she's now becoming to that role. I said to her the other day, I was in Bali. With my brother, just having a little vacation. Still working, still doing my radio show. But having a little bit of time off just with my bro. And she had taken my two daughters to the dentist. And I was like, I saw your message. I was like, whoa, I appreciate you so much. Here I am in Bali with my brother on a great time. And there you are. And you're taking my daughters to the dentist. It's incredible. So much, right? So like, yeah, you find that balance. I didn't, you just want to end up with your best friend. And, you know, she's my best friend. I love her. I know when I said my, my husband, I'm getting a divorce from his, my best friend. You almost shook back. And I wanted to explain, you know, where, so my listeners can understand. I think the two biggest things that make a relationship work long term is one, you need to have a commitment to the relationship itself more than you do to yourself. But that can only happen if the person you're with is committed to the same end goal as you. Yeah. So being aligned on that end division, what that looks like, what does life together look like? What are those value systems? And I think for me, that's where we start to differ so much and what our end goals were. And I remember looking at him and saying, be like, you're such an amazing guy. You're so incredible. But I don't think I can give you what you need. And my commitment to certain things that I want in my life is just taking priority over that. So I think both of us should end up in partnerships and relationships where the end goal for both of us is the same. And so we're not struggling constantly being in this friction because we're not going to have a friendship left by the end of this. And I feel that so many times people stay in relationships because they're so scared of what else is out there versus choosing themselves and saying, listen, I want to do what's best for you and I want to do best what's for myself. And in hindsight, you will thank me one day. Yeah, I agree. I think it's probably 60% of people in relationships that they don't want to be in. Yeah. But they're in it for comfort. They're in it because of the children. They're in it because of the routine. They're in it because they don't want to go out and have to try to meet someone else. They're doing it because they're feared to be alone. Correct. Uh, you know, and that is just so inauthentic. I tend to feel it. But then you've got to have that responsibility. If you want to bring children into this world, you don't bring children into this world and then decide to leave your husband or wife. You can't do that. Yeah. Because that's the responsibility that you choose to take. So I think it's a fine line between it. Now, you guys are, you know, it's going to be interesting for you because it's all good. It depends on, I don't know how your ex feels about this whole situation. So I'm hearing it from one end. I believe sometimes in a divorce or a separation, there's always one that's more willing to do it, right? Oh, for sure. And so it's when you find someone else, which one day you will find someone else, depending on how soon that is, that's when things can change a little bit. Because you say you may be friends. Yeah. But it, and again, I don't know your partner. Yeah. Your partner. Absolutely. Because sometimes, and I've seen this happen, it didn't happen to you, but I've seen it happen where one person was okay with the divorce. The other one was kind of okay, but not. When that other person found a new partner, it destroyed the other person. They couldn't see it. And that was the moment when they said, I don't want to be friends with you. I can't be friends with you. Because I can't see you with another person. It's killing me. It's hurting me. And that sometimes happens, you know? So I wish myself both of us the best, you know? And I always say that I, with the same love and respect that I walked in, I would like to walk out with. And with the same admiration that I had for the man that I married, is the same admiration I'd like to leave him with. You know, for that, for me, nothing changed. If anything, I appreciate him more in some ways. And that appreciation has led me to the decision to be like, I don't think I can give you what you need. Sure. And that's mature. Yeah. That's a mature way of thinking about it. You've also talked a lot, Chris, online about battling your anxiety and depression, but also being in the public eye so much. Yeah. Was it very overwhelming for you on days that when anxiety just can sometimes creep up on you and just take hold, and then you're in the limelight at the same time? Oh, man, I just, you know, I sat down on my podcast with Gary. Gary Breck at the goat. And he just told me like, yeah, anxiety, a lot of it comes from your gut. Yeah. Bio micro, don't whatever. And I'm like, dude, are you serious? But that's how it felt. You know, my first, thankfully, I don't, thankfully, I'm not depressed now. My anxiety, I don't think I've got it anymore. Will it sometimes tingle in a little bit? It will. And I think that's got to do with lack of sleep. And if I'm in a situation that I'm uncomfortable with, for example, flying alone without my children freaks me out. It does? Yeah, because they rely totally on me. And so I know that if anything happened to me, what would happen to my children? My daughters. So that kind of gets to me when I'm flying together as a family. You feel more so, you feel fine. Dealing with it, I remember when I first dealt with anxiety, I didn't know what it was. It was just this fear of like, it was this overwhelming feeling of like, I'm going to die. I don't know what, I don't know what it was. I didn't know what it was. I'd never experienced it in my life. I was always just so carefree, so chilled, and then all of a sudden, I had this feeling. Now, looking back on it, I know I think I believe know like what happened was, you know, I was 26 living alone in Sydney, doing radio, earning absolutely nothing but loving life in a little studio apartment. Yeah. Met my ex-wife, my girlfriend, a metagole, married her within five and a half months. Because we were moving to a city where you needed to be married if you wanted to live together. Okay. Move to Dubai with a woman that I just met, didn't know anyone, wasn't earning a lot of money here. Realized, wow, I probably took a contract that was lesser than I should have. Correct. Then had a baby on the way within about nine months. And so I think it was just a lot for me to take in as someone who was 26, left his whole family, I'm a very family orientated person as well, living in a foreign city with a woman that I've kind of just met who's pregnant, don't have enough cash. Oh my gosh, am I going to be able to provide for my wife who's not working, and a baby on the way. It all just piled on, I think those thoughts of responsibility and then anxiety sort of appeared from them. And you know, I remember at that time with my ex-wife, she was really good helping me through that. I don't think she knew what it was either, but she could just see that I wasn't dealing with life the best possible way. And it was not panic attacks, it was just constant anxiety. It was this fear of like, and I was doing a radio show. Then I created this fear of like, I can't do my radio show because I'm scared. And then the fear of the radio studio was there. I couldn't open the door to the radio studio. It was, it was this, it was really, the mind is so strong and powerful, right? It can really make you think things that aren't really happening. So I had this fear, I mean, the anxiety I sat with was good 18 months of anxiety. And the fear of doing the radio show was there every day. I had to really build my way up to push through that radio door. I mean, physically push the door and start doing the radio show. And you know, at that moment, I just started to try to work out what I had to do when in sort of psychiatry. So you gave me a bunch of pills and you know, I went and did meditation. I mean, I did everything you could possibly imagine. A revider, I think they call it that. I mean, you, if you told me to eat this wooden table, I would eat the wooden table. I would have just gone, yeah, it's going to make me better. I mean, I did everything, but it wouldn't go away. And then, you know, I was, I was also kind of heavily overweight. And what I ended up realizing was when I went for a run or I went to the gym, I felt a little bit better. And then so I started training a lot more. I was doing two gym sessions a day, not for the physical side of it. It just made me feel better. And then that's kind of where I started to get fit. And you know, through those moments, then, you know, out my relationship did break down. We ended up going through a divorce, but I remained getting fit. And that was, that's what got me through it. And that's what I tell everyone, I, you know, the drugs at the psychiatrist gave me. I don't even know what they were called. I forget, but they weren't. I'm a poor man, but now, so sorry. I mean, we're all on Xanax for a little bit. Xanax, I think is all they're called. And like, yeah, that just knocked you out. Like, that was just like, I mean, yeah, yeah, I didn't like, I'm an entertainer. Right, exactly. Can't be numbed out. Yeah. So like, I just stopped that. And then I just found this health kick and this journey of like going to the gym and looking after myself, which I'm so glad I found. So I always say from the darkest moments, may bring you your brightest, you know, your brightest moments. Right. And that's what it was. If I didn't hit rock bottom, you know, you would have never, I wouldn't have been creating what I'm creating today. As someone who's always drawn to wellness products that are simple, effective, and actually help you understand your body, which is why I'm so excited to share the hormones, umorabive, vibrant wellness. A company I love and trust. It's an advanced at home test that gives you real insight into your energy, mood, and overall balance. That's why trust vibrant. It combines standard of care labs with genetics and innovative biomarkers backed by over 400 researchers and more than 40 peer-reviewed studies. I took the hormones and went myself and finally getting clear answers behind signs and symptoms. I'd always blamed on stress or too much travel, which was extremely empowering to me. It measures up to three times the markers of typical hormone panels, including hormones, adrenal, and bone health, oxidative stress, and endocrine disruptors, and toxins like glyphosate and phallids. Essentially five tests in one. And with vibrant network of over 30,000 trained providers, you get expert interpretation and a plan that makes sense for your body and your needs. If you're ready to understand what your body's been trying to tell you, ask your provider for the hormone zoomer or find a vibrant certified provider at vibrant-wellness.com slash biohacket because understanding your body changes everything. You know, this is what bothers me so much about the medical system. There's some misinformation. I've never suffered from anxiety before this summer, before I made the decision to leave my marriage. And the show is taking off. I'm traveling so much is happening in my career, but I was crippled. There were days I would show up on set and I couldn't even sit down and make a decision or ask somebody a question. And I remember going to a therapist and therapist was like, hey, like you're completely burnt out. You are so fragile right now. We want to put you in SSR. And I'm like with everything I know, living in the health space, knowing that SSR is actually damaging more long-term, they actually damage your microbiome health, that leads to more depression. I said, I'm not going to do it your way. And they said, what do you mean? Like you're so fragile right now. Like let us just help you even for two months. I said, absolutely not. I ran my functional biomarkers. I figured out that I had so many nutrient deficiencies because my nervous system was so out of rock. Vitamin D deficiency, vitamin B deficiency, no testosterone in my system whatsoever. A adrenal complete fatigue and I said, I'm going to do it my way. So I got on, complete change up my diet, started supplementing correctly, went on this like specialized IVs, did those, started getting on peptides. And within six months, I started feeling like myself. Awesome. But that's what it shows you that we look at health from such a singular little angle, not knowing to treat the whole person. Yeah. And I think that's, yeah, like I wish I knew what I knew back then. Yeah. Because yeah, I just took the pills because I thought like, yeah, of course. You trust and listen, I'm not against doctors. No, no. I believe they're amazing surgeons, unbelievable. I had a blocked intestine where I needed emergency surgery. If that surgeon didn't know how to do that, I would have died. You know, like so there's, there's moments where you're like, this is it. But yeah, prescribing someone who is going through depression or anxiety, I don't believe that is the first, I mean, that should be the first. I got it on my first appointment. Of course. Like my first appointment, he wrote it out and gave it all to me. I remember walking out with a bag this big, with a bunch of stuff and I was like, all right, well, let's, and I'm taking them and I'm like, that shouldn't be the first thing that they turned to agree. But that's where I'm so passionate about the longevity space and things that Gary and I'll talk about because you can turn to somebody like them and they can say to you, do X, Y, and Z and I promise you, you're in mind in two weeks, you're going to feel like a new person. And that's the route that I took. But so many people, which is why I started the podcast, so many people don't have those tools and resources. And when you're in that really dark place, the last thing you're going to do is be able to like, find the solution yourself, you know? So it's like providing people with those resources and support around them that they can make that decision to be like, I know you and the white coat are saying this, but I actually am going to look at it from an alternative holistic perspective. Yeah, and I think there's a lot of noise out there because there's a lot of people now behind mics or on their TikTok or Instagram. So it becomes a little bit messy, but my advice is just to try things that you want to give it a go. Yeah. Like, you know, I'm on, you know, over the last six months, I am now on BP157, the one pet time. Which is incredible. And I'm on a really light dose of testosterone, right? I'm 45 years old. We check my levels. When we checked them at the regular place, they said, you're fine. Then you went to functional. Then we went to another, yeah, we went to the functional place where they really tested and they find out what's my levels and all the different biomarkers and everything. And we realized, yeah, I wasn't low, low, but I wasn't where I should be. Correct. So I'm now at optimal level and I feel the number one thing I get told is, man, how do you keep going? Yeah. Because I'm pretty much from four in the morning to 1038. Yeah. Every day. And I'm like, well, I feel pretty good. Now, I've always felt good. I've always had a bout of energy. But now that I've got this in me, I feel, and I'm taking some supplements, just my vitamins and some teas and some cakes and some cakes. What supplements are you taking? I mean, I take it, I take a, I take a K. It's funny. I, I am now in the longevity space. Space, that's what I was going to ask. I'm a partner in a company called Everwell. Yeah. And it's all set up because of this exact reason that you're talking about. It's not saying that the medical system's wrong. It's fantastic. Again, I believe so in my job. It's a place for it. There is a place for it. But it's just giving people the opportunity to maybe try this path. Now, I know that my gut, for example, it was horrible. I got a, I got about a food poisoning that took me out for about 18 months. I had oysters destroyed me. As in, I could not eat probably for 18 months. It just wouldn't sit right. I did two colonoscopies. It all came back fine. I did this. I did that. Dogs are like, it's fine. It's fine. It's all good. I did the one where you're, you're breathed in and you have to breathe in every half an hour and drink something. It all came back pretty good. But I knew that there was something wrong because I could feel it. Anyway, after being on this peptide for six months, I really, and could it be a mental thing? I don't know. But my gut is better. My gut is so much better. I eat a lot cleaner and less. I eat boring, same food pretty much every day. But I know what my stomach loves. I know what's with the well. I do it a minute fasting. Well, I have coffee in the morning and I'm with milk. But I don't put anything, I don't put food in my stomach in the morning. I'll have a good size lunch, a really small dinner. And now I'm in this routine. You have a system. Yeah, I mean, I'm, right now I'm at the lightest. I've been in 24 years. I'm at 88 kilos, which I don't know if you know. I mean, you guys use pounds still. Yeah, I use both. Yeah, so I mean, my heaviest was 128 kilos. Yeah, 12 years ago. 128 kilos. And now I'm at 88 kilos. Isn't it crazy that at 45, you're probably the healthiest and fitness you've ever been? 100%. And people are like so against peptides and all the tests. But they're incredible for you. I'm not like, yeah, I mean, they're even against, what do they call them, and gyros and the ozempics and all that? DLP ones. Man, I think there's such a place for them. And I think if you microdose it and you're getting it done, right, you're getting it done by a, like, a professional that understands it. Don't just go to the pharmacy and start getting it injecting yourself with 15MG. I said that I tried it for, this is about eight months ago, I tried it for just three weeks. I just had two hits of it. Yeah, I wanted to try it. I didn't need it. I wasn't, but I wanted to give it a go. You just went to experience it. I was like, man, that switched off the food. I didn't think of food. I still was eating what I needed to eat. But you weren't constantly thinking about it. I was like, this is fantastic. Like, and people need that. I'm having an argument with a friend of mine right now who's heavily overweight, high cholesterol, puts in fast food into their mouth all the time. All the time. Has your sodas, has your chocolate bars, do all that. Refuses to take it, doesn't trust big farmer, big farmers created this, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't trust it. I'm like, but you smash in these chemicals into your body every day. You be bleeding big food, but don't believe me. And I'm just trying to say like, just, I bought the pen for them. Correct. I bought it. And no, it refuses to take. And the reason is because they don't trust it. Don't trust it. But they trust the processed food and what it's into their body. And I think that's where we are in this world, right? There is so much noise out there, people don't know what to trust. Right. So, yeah, it's just, you got to, you got to find your own lane. You have to find your own moments as well that you can feel with. And if you don't trust something, okay, great. But if you're on, give it a go. Like for me, the peptide and the TRT was something that I was not against, but I was always a little fearful of. I'm like, well, I don't know what it's going to do there. Right. I've had studies on peptides. And what's it going to do to me in 25 years? And then, you know, I spoke to the right people, people that I trust as well that have done their own research. And I'm on that right now. I feel touched. Would I feel the best I felt in probably 20, 20 years? This is, I feel the best right now. So the peptide you're taking, BPC157, is incredible for the gut, because it seals and lines the gut, but it also reduces inflammation. So the benefit it can have on your mental health is incredible, because a lot the brain access issue. And it just kind of cleans you up. And so a lot of times people are so fearful with things like peptides, but all of us have amino acids in our body. These are just short-chain amino acids. I think so there is a point of education that needs to happen. Where you source them from matters. It has to be pharmaceutical grade and not research quality. But I think what people are fearful of is all this kind of like, there's not enough education about it. How do they work in your body? How should you be taking it, the frequency? And that's where the literature needs to start coming in more. And then people need to trust the source it comes from. And it's really interesting, because I know a lot of doctors, personally, as well, who are like off-record will say things to them. Of course. And that's what blew my mind as I, hey, I can't say it to you whilst we're here. Yeah, because... But I'll send you a message later on. Yeah, and I'll tell you really that. And it's like, wow, that's pretty crazy. So I think slowly but surely over the next... I think the next 10 to 15 years, especially with AI, I think we're going to have a lot more introduction of new things that are going to be the norm and going to be accepted. And I think that's a beautiful thing. I think we have to grow as humans, as in literally we have to learn from one another and evolve. But I think we are. And it's crazy. One of my friends is also behind... Have you heard about the Olympics where you're allowed to have steroids? It's a whole... It's like, I forget the name of it. You get it. So basically, it's a competition where they're putting... So we've got, I think, the fastest swimmer in the world ever. But he's on steroids. Okay. Right. So it's... Let's see how far we can push the human body in a safe way. It's all done... It's monitored. It's all done by biohackers, doctors, longevity. Putting this guy on GH with a little bit of test and a little bit of peptides here and there. He just broke the world record. I need to look to saw. Oh, yeah. So... You just send this to me because I want to... Yeah, it's pretty amazing when you start to look into it. It's like, how can we push... Now we've got this technology behind us as well. We can really start to see what we can do with the human body. You know, and... You know, I think it was Lance Armstrong that got caught with... Yes. ...a bunch of... He wasn't the only one. No. It was... It was the only one made an example of. Exactly. Like, I think we've got to understand that a lot of these athletes that we do see it, they're... people are very good at moving things around, right? So I think we're kind of naive sometimes as humans. And a lot of this technology be it peptides or whatever it else has been around for a while. It's just now that it's becoming... More mainstream. Yeah. ...by people like you and I, and you read it, you say it on your social media. I think all these things are there to enhance us and support our journey because we're living in such a heavily toxic environment with the food as being so processed. The air quality is not great. They're microplastics everywhere. So we, if anything, need to give our body more to function at our optimal level... Yeah. ...versus 20, 30 years ago, because of the environment that we've created to live in as humans. Yeah. And as Gary was saying on the show that he was with all my show, we were talking about markers of... For example, my wife got Graves disease. Literally after she... And again, I was provaxing and I'm not against it with whatever happened with COVID. It is what it is. I took it, she took it, six months later, she got Graves disease, never had it before, right? Yeah. Again, when I saw her doctor, Dr. said that there was an increase in Graves disease. He's seeing a lot more thyroid issues since it's all happening, yada, yada, yada. So straight away, the pills, all right? And started taking the pills and started doing it. The way that we found out, she just lost a bunch of weight. I've never seen her lose so much weight so quickly. She looked like a different woman to me. Like her legs, her arms, everything was just... Yeah. ...and her heart was... Her husband is Gary. The scariest moment was she thought she was having a heart attack. I call it an ambulance. She was having a panic attack. Her heart was racing so much because it was overstimulating the thyroid. That's why she was losing some weight. Her heart was racing. That was the moment that we realized we needed to get her. Dr. Dr. said that, yeah, it's Graves, the yada, yada. And then like what you speak about and what Gary was speaking about, you can heal your body sometimes by just doing putting different nutrients in or supplements into it. And bringing into balance again. So she was on medication and then we finally found... And this is why I partnered up and I'm now with Everwell is I had met a few guys within the biohacking scene here. There's a gentleman called Shane who I've become pretty close with. He sat down with my wife and said, okay, I'm going to half your dose. All right, we're not going to just stop it because you've been on it, but we're going to half it. But we're going to introduce XYZ supplements and XYZ diet. And so she started doing that and then slowly winged off it. And she stayed on this for I think about eight months and got retested. And it is in her, I mean, I don't know if you could call it remission, but it was gone. Yeah. Still there, but it was gone from her diet and what I forget what supplements he had given her. And that was my kind of light bulb moment as well. I was like, huh. So what's been changed through these things? Maybe we can change. Maybe we don't need to take that pill recently, right? And so I think it's a really important thing just to do more research. You know, I'm not an expert in anything. But I'm willing to give things a go if I have the right people around. Guiding trust. Yeah. I think trust is a big thing. And you know, it's, yeah, you're always going to get the people that are going to be like, no way, no chance. And that's okay. You know, you don't have to try to convince people. I kind of look at it like a religion. Yeah. You know, I always say religion is a vertical thing, not a horizontal thing. This is your religion. If everyone just did this, we'd have no problems in the world. As soon as you start doing this with your religion, start talking to people about it over here. Yeah. That's what it starts coming in. Yeah. Like your body. If you feel like you want to do this, give it a go. Right. You know, and then see where it takes you. One of the things like getting to know you, and it comes out of you, you're so genuine, authentic, and you're so good with people. How much of your cultural background plays into that? Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm 19, according to my DNA, 98.3% Lebanese, right? Yeah. So I did that DNA test waiting to get something exotic. Yeah. That was it. I was like, fine, I'll take it. I think growing up with a very ethnic Arab family, my uncles were also loud. They still are. They're loud. They're, you know, you go family gatherings. It's just who could be the loudest in the room, right? But growing up, I wasn't like that. I felt like I was a little bit more in the back. I always said that I grew up with a Lisp. So I couldn't speak Broadway. Yeah, yeah, I had a Lisp up until probably the age of 12 or 13. So you speak like this. And that was, that would inherit me from wanting to speak. I didn't want to speak. I was shy. I was very small. I was a small kid. So I was always the smallest in the class. And I had this little speech impediment. And so, yeah, I don't think it's weird. If you speak to my, especially my parents, they're like, we would have never thought that our son would be doing this. Yeah, there's no chance. Yeah, but yeah, I think being growing up in a very, I'm grateful for my family. Like we grew up in a very loving household. I think love is so important. You know, I think so many people that do bad in their later life is because they did not get love in their early life. You know, and I know that between the ages of one and six and this is something that I'm really crucial of with my children, between the ages of one and six, that is the basis of how they will be later on in life. So I gave love to my daughters. I give love to my son. I just tell him I love him. Like when he goes to bed, as he's falling asleep, love you, baby. I love you. Mom says this, I mean, like, like, we'll be like, we love you, baby. We literally both just hold him and we say, we love you so much. That is something that will sit with him and I believe later in in life. So when you see people who are dealing with an addiction later on in life or crime, it's not always going to be like this, but I always- It's going to lack of love. It's that lack of love. How were they brought up? Right. How was that, that, you know, that early life for them? So, you know, for me, I'm grateful that I had a loving family and I still do and, you know, I think that's a big aspect of who I am. I- I- I human connection is everything for me. Right. And that's why I believe our radio show, so successful. Our radio show that I do with, you know, with Prudy and Rossi and Nala and, you know, we've been doing this radio show for 16 years together. Very rare that that happens. But we share a lot of our lives and people share their lives with us. Yeah. Right. And from a radio perspective, you know, it's very rare you get to have that with an audience all the time. And, you know, even having guests come on into- Like, you know, Steve Harvey was on our show the other day. And he was getting a- We had callers on him. One was from Russia. The one was from India. One was from the Philippines. And they all got their accents. And he's like, Oh, man, this is crazy. It's like this is the UN of radio. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, man, this is why I love it. Because I get to learn so much about the world from living in Dubai. Right. You learn about other people's religions. You learn about what they eat, what they celebrate. And that's what again, xenophobia, like the fear of the unknown is why we have so many big issues in this world. These people are just fearful of what they don't know. Right. And, you know, people are scared of Muslim people. If you go to Australia, I know. Yeah. They're like, Yeah, Mary. Whoa. That fear. I sent a photo. I was at it. I was at a lunch the other day where all I'm not Muslim. All my friends in that room were Muslim. 16 of them. Right. And we were all together and they're like, we're going to pray. And so they all were praying. And one of my friends was like, Hey, can you just take a video of us? Yeah. I said, sure. So I just took a video of them all praying. All right. It was so beautiful. Right. Now I sent it to a friend of mine in Australia. Your friend, Freka. And I just said, how does this make you feel? And I said, be honest with me. Right. He says, yeah, it kind of scares me. By people just sitting there and praying from a religion that they just don't understand. Don't know it. But not me. Them nervous. Because I mean. And then I gave them the education of like some of the most pure and the most beautiful people that I know are Muslim. I want you to understand that. Right. That fear I want you to lose. But it's because it's the fear of the unknown. Right. You know, but once you start to learn about each other and that's even about biohacking. That's about anything like the fear of it. So like for me, going back to the human connection side of things, I love being able to connect with different people. People learn from me. My inbox on my Instagram. And one day I said to myself, I want to publish it without the names. There are some of them horror stories of people just needing so much help. I don't have, I'll have, I'll have fathers hit me up saying, I can't pay for my kids' school fees. Chris, I don't know what to do. Mother saying, I'm a single mom. I can't afford to buy food for my child this week. Chris, could you help me with milk? Chris, my brother's in a wheelchair and I don't know what to do. We can't afford a wheelchair. I just lost my family to a member to, I get him every day and it puts life into perspective for me real quickly. So it allows me to have that empathy of like, a for other people, but at the same time, that puts me in the right respect of like what I'm doing and I'm like so blessed and so grateful to be where I'm at. Because you start hearing other people's stories and you're like, man, your life is good. There's a famous saying that you prayed for exactly where you are today. So when you're overwhelmed with work or you're like, I'm really tired. Be super grateful because you prayed to be at this place today. And there's so many people who are not fortunate enough to be that busy, to be having that income, to have the ability to take care of their family, their friends, their loved ones. And so it's a blessing. It's a blessing to be in this position every single day. So to give thanks for the abundance of opportunities, rather than saying I'm tired, I'm overwhelmed and changing that mindset perspective. Yeah, I think it's important. I leave the house every morning at around 5am in the morning to go do the radio show. And I just do something really simple, but I just look up. It's not that I'm not religious. I pray to God. If someone, I don't know what religion I am anymore, but I know that I believe in God. And I think that's really important. But I leave the house every day and I just look up. And I do it every day. I've walked down the stairs. I go, thank you. Thank you. So I'm up. I'm breathing. I've got another day ahead of me. Right? And then sometimes I'll say, thank you. Give me the strength for today because I've got a big day ahead of me. And I'm ahead four hours. Sleep. Give me that strength to do what I've got at me. Right? And so like, I think being grateful, and we say it on our radio show all the time, gratitude is our attitude. Just being grateful is really important. I want to wrap up the show with asking you one thing for our audience. If you could leave our audience with one challenge to change their mindset or action starting today, what would it be and why? And why does it matter to you so deeply? I think for me, it's we're really, really hard on ourselves first. We put ourselves down a lot. You will tell yourself what you're doing wrong. But if you had your friend in the room, you will tell your friend what they're doing right. Yeah. And I think we need to pivot. And I think you wake up in the morning, go to bed at night, praising yourself. And I think that's a really important thing. Again, it's something that I've implemented in my life. And it's really weird. But if I've just done a really hard day, I will go in. I mean, if I'm having a shower, if I'm going to bed, wherever I'm out, I'll just have these moments of like, Chris, you did it. Now you had a great job. You were so good today. Not many people could have done what you did. You did that, man. You did that. Well done. You know what? Get some sleep tonight. Let's do it again tomorrow. It's amazing. And I think that's really important. Try that. It does help you. It just changes something within your soul. And it gives you that better feeling about yourself. We don't feel good about ourselves. You know, I'm telling you, like a lot of people go around this world not feeling good about themselves. You know, and we all know, we're good people. Like you're a good soul. We're all, we're all, most of us are good people. Most of us. There are some that aren't, but most of us are good people. Praise yourself a little bit more. Change that in your life. Stop praising just your friends. Praise you. You're a good person. You worked hard. I don't care if you earn a hundred bucks a week or a hundred thousand bucks a week. We're all the same. Praise yourself and to keep doing that. And celebrate yourself even more. Always celebrate. Yeah. Chris has been such a pleasure having you on the show and sitting down with you. And you were such an inspirational human. I'm excited to see further where your journey is going to go. Thank you so much for having me. And it's great to be here. Thank you.