Summary
Overview
Dax Shepard and Monica Padman interview singer-songwriter Ash about her new album 'The Girl of Your Dreams,' her journey through the music industry, childhood trauma, and navigating success while managing anxiety. The conversation touches on personal relationships, mental health, the challenges of fame, and features Ash performing her hit song 'Stop the Wedding.'
Meeting at a Wedding and Early Connections
Dax and Monica recall meeting Ash at Phineas O'Connell's wedding, where Ash made a memorable impression by being exceptionally social and approaching Dax directly. The conversation reveals Ash's close friendship with Phineas, which began when they met in a crosswalk and were later paired for a writing session. They discuss the special connection they felt immediately, which Ash attributes to past lives, and how she's known Phineas since he was 19 and she was 22.
- Dax was positioned between polar opposites at the rehearsal dinner when Ash caught his attention by mouthing that she wanted to meet him
- Ash describes being unusually social at the wedding despite being fairly introverted, feeling safe because everyone there loved Phineas
- Ash and Phineas met in a crosswalk and were later put in a writing session together when he was 19 and she was 22
- When Ash got her IUD removed four months ago, she started experiencing the full range of the female cycle for the first time, noticing she feels more magnetic during ovulation
" I don't know what got into me at that wedding. I was so social. In a way that I'm fairly introverted. I present bubbly. I present extroverted. But I very much am not. "
" I think you meet some people that you immediately, I don't know what you guys feel about past lives... I don't know that we were best friends in a past life, maybe, but I think maybe we ran in [the same circles]. There was a comfortability there. "
Marriage, Relationships, and John Canada
Ash discusses her first marriage at 23 (calling it a 'practice round') and meeting her current husband John Canada when she was nannying for Dax and Kristen's family. She describes what makes John special—his selfless compassion for all people born from not having trauma—and reveals that the moment she met him, she thought he looked like their future children would look.
- Ash got married at 23 in what she calls the 'practice round' or 'the round that made me tougher'
- She started nannying for Dax and Kristen around 2014, which gave her stability when she was having panic attacks and struggling
- John Canada has selflessness and compassion for all walks of life, making everyone feel seen and understood, despite having no trauma background
- John is getting his master's in accounting and is a drummer in a band
" I looked in his eyes. I looked at him and I thought, you look like my children. Like my children are going to look like you. The moment I met him. "
" I think that's his best thing. And then again, back to the past life thing, I don't know. I looked in his eyes. I looked at him and I thought, you look like my children. "
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