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Piers Morgan Live
Interview with Mayor Cory Booker; Interview with Carole King; Interview with Trisha Yearwood
Aired April 15, 2012 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Tonight, a hero man who risked his life to save a neighbor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR CORY BOOKER (D), NEWARK, NEW JERSEY: I'm a neighbor that did what most neighbors would do, which is to jump in action to help a friend. And I consider all of us very lucky.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Cory Booker tells his story and weighs in on the Trayvon Martin case.
Also, she wrote some of the greatest rock n' roll of all time. But Carole King's real life is a lot more complicated than her love songs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: To think, many women say to themselves if I got into that kind of abusive relationship, I'd be out and you didn't.
CAROLE KING, SINGER/SONGWRITER: To me, it was shocking. After the fact, I stayed. And I married him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: Carole King, her darkest days and how she turned her life around.
Plus, country queen Trisha Yearwood. What's it really living with Garth Brooks?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRISHA YEARWOOD, COUNTRY SINGER: I get up in the morning and turn on the fog machine. And then he comes up to the floor with a little heads up mike and I have to -- he makes me announce, ladies and gentlemen, Garth Brooks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: And only in America, the worst business decision of all-time. It cost one man $58 billion!
This is PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT.
(MUSIC)
MORGAN: Good evening.
Our big story: the mayor of Newark run into a burning building to save his next door neighbor. Tonight, he gives me a primetime exclusive interview about that extraordinary incident. He also talks to me about gun control, the Trayvon Martin case and what it's like to have everyone today calling you a superhero.
Also tonight, my primetime exclusive, the original "Natural Woman" Carole King -- her rock and roll life and the abusive relationship behind the scenes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: I wanted people to read this in that similar situation and to understand what it was that I was going through.
MORGAN: What do you say to women who watch this or who read the book? Who find themselves in that position? Should they say with the man or should they always believe him if he, abuses them?
KING: Leave!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: We begin tonight with our big story. The mayor said he's no superhero but many (INAUDIBELE) Newark's Cory Booker.
Mr. Mayor, what an extraordinary story that's emerged overnight. Congratulations and thank you for your remarkable service to this neighbor of yours. Take me back, if you will, to the moment you came home and realized what was happening next door?
BOOKER: Thanks, Piers. I appreciate being on.
When I arrived, two real heroes, guys on my security detail had already gotten to the house, alerted residents of the fire inside, Detective Rodriguez, Detective Duran. We were able to get pretty much everybody out of the house, really, by acting quickly and thinking quickly. I got there as the last person coming down the steps and I went in, and the mother was just saying, my daughter is still in the house, my daughter is still in the house
So, me and Detective Rodriguez went up to the top of the steps and at that point something exploded and shot sparks and embers all over us and my security detail just said, you got to get out of here, Mayor, and we had a little bit of a back and forth, and his job is to protect me and I appreciate that, but we had a bit of a tussle and I said let me go or this person is going to die.
And I'm grateful that he let me go and I just went through the kitchen which was on fire and I got into a back room and at that point things got kind of bad because the smoke I entered into was really thick. I couldn't see anything. I couldn't locate the woman and then I realized that it looked like my exit was blocked as well.
When actually fear and terror started sinking in to me, almost as if by rescue, she -- I heard her voice call out to me one more time, was able to find her, grabbed her up on my shoulder real quick and sprinted through the kitchen and that's where she sustained some injuries, but we got out of the house. And I feel lucky and blessed that she and I are here today.
MORGAN: Yes. I mean, and she must feel even more fortunate and blessed that you did what you did. That was an incredible act of bravery. You said that you don't feel heroic. You feel terrified. I mean, that -- is that the reality of when you get caught in that kind of situation?
BOOKER: Yes. I -- you know, once I convinced my detail to let me go and I saw how much the kitchen was ablaze, I thought if I could punch through the kitchen I'd be OK, but I punched through and found myself in a situation I didn't how to get out of.
So, I didn't feel honestly too courageous. I felt a lot of fear bordering on terror and had that first time in my life where I really just didn't think I was going to make it because I couldn't breathe and it looked like I couldn't get out through the kitchen and I couldn't find her.
And it was just a very scary moment for me, and thank God, almost as if her voice helped me. She started telling me where she was. I was able to find her, breathe in some more of the smoky air and then I just bolted through.
And, you know, she sustained injuries unfortunately because things were dropping down from the ceiling which was on fire and mostly got on her exposed back and arms and the like and just on my hand but we were able to get out, really, tumble down the steps and I've never been more happy in my live to touch the terra firma and touch the pavement.
MORGAN: Quite amazing. You're standing in front, I think, of your property and we're going to zoom, now, I think to you're left which is to where your neighbor lives. It's basically gutted. It's a stone property. So, it doesn't seem likely it from the outside but inside it's very badly damaged by the fire.
Were you friends with your neighbor? Did you know each other well?
BOOKER: Yes, very well. In fact, they're fantastic people. Zita (ph), the woman I carried out, she's like a big sister to me in some ways. Ands on my toughest days, she always found the right combination between teasing me and lifting me up.
So, you know, I felt just grateful that we were able to get them out and, frankly, you know, it's neighborliness. And I feel like if I was in the same situation, these are the kind of people that would have done the same thing to help me out as well.
MORGAN: I mean, the fire experts say that you almost certain live saved her life. What was the first thing she said to you when you got to safety?
BOOKER: You know, well, she -- first of all, I think we just wanted to breathe. When we got to the pavement, I was coughing up all the crap I inhaled and she was very, very disoriented and then, finally, somebody moved us away from the home and then very quickly people saw or heard she was injured and sat her down and took me some place to get oxygen.
So, to this afternoon, I haven't talked to her. I talked to her mother a couple of times. She actually waited for me when I came home last night from the hospital.
So you know, honestly, I feel the sense of gratitude like I've never felt before. I had one of those moments where you felt like you're staring your demise in the face. And I just I feel a profound sense of gratitude to God. I really feel like something got us out of that fire because it really felt like it was all over for me. I felt like which were trapped on all sides.
MORGAN: What an incredibly -- is any there truth to rumors that you're thinking of wearing a cape now at work?
BOOKER: You know, I appreciate it. That's way over the top. Again, it's something I think everybody should do. If anything, my staff thinks I'm not as equipped to do my job anymore because they think if I have to do firefighter negotiations, I'm going to give those guys everything that they ask for, the firefighters union, because I have more of an appreciation for them than I ever had in my life.
You know, leaders always talk about the brave firefighters standing in the middle of a smoke-filled house, feeling the heat of the blaze, being, frankly, as frightened as I've ever been, thinking I was going to die. I now have a respect for these men and women that do this on a regular basis, weekly basis that I never had before. They are real heroes.
I was just very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. And frankly, got myself into a situation that very quickly I didn't think I could get myself out of. So with the grace of God, got me out and I now just want to give thanks to firefighters everywhere around this country. They do incredible things for people at their most vulnerable moments.
MORGAN: I remember your heroic work in the big snow drifts about 15 months ago. I remember watching great admiration then -- incredible admiration for what you've done now. You're one of those guys back in Britain we would say, he's going (ph) next to you in the trenches, Mr. Mayor. That's how I sum your of behavior up.
BOOKER: I appreciate what people are saying. It's a little over the top. The real heroes that last night were Detective Duran and Detective Rodriguez who acted so quickly, evacuated the house, put themselves in harm's way.
MORGAN: Yes. I know, I actually agree with that. All of you are heroes last night. And that woman is incredibly lucky to be alive and I'm sure she'll reflect on that next time she talks to you.
If we could move on, Mr. Mayor, just to briefly discuss the Trayvon Martin case, because there's a lot of contention now. George Zimmerman has obviously been arrested and charged to second degree murder.
There's a rising debate, not about the race aspect to this, but about the "Stand Your Ground" law, which exist now in nearly half the states in America.
What is your view, as a mayor of a big city in America, of the "Stand Your Ground" law?
BOOKER: Well, I'm somebody that lives in the state of New Jersey where we don't have such a law. I don't see that it's necessary. You don't have people who are not using deadly force for some reason where a law like that would have advantaged them. So, I'm very suspicious of its need and I think it creates situations often where a person can shoot first and really not have to explain their behavior.
But I really want to say something. The gun battle in America is really out of control and very frustrating to me. This is a situation where I believe there was a deep injustice done and now it seems like the wheels of justice are working in the right way.
But I really have no worries about people with -- law-abiding citizens in the state of New Jersey who have guns. We've only had one shooting the entire time that I've been here that was done by somebody that acquired the gun legally. The overwhelming majority of our violent crimes in Newark are done by people who acquire illegal guns.
There's so much work we need to do in America in keeping illegal guns out of the hands of criminals.
We have a Virginia Tech every single day in this country that's preventable. I wish we could just come together as a nation, focus on those gun laws, but if they were changed -- by the way, I work with a group of mayors have done polling and shown that the majority of gun owners believe that certain laws should be changed, like background checks at gun shows, like getting rid of the terrorist loophole. If I'm on the no-fly list in America, I can -- I'm not safe enough to take a plane, and I can go -- I still go to a gun show and buy a gun. Or the fire sale loophole which means if I get shut down for the ATF for not doing background checks, I can take my entire inventory and sell it to whoever I want.
There's all these areas that most Americans agree that a majority of gun owners agree that we should change these laws to make this nation safer.
So, I know there's a lot of focus on the "Stand Your Ground" law. My feelings on that, we don't need it here in New Jersey.
But what really infuriates me is the level of violence we have in America that's preventable and that most Americans, Republican and Democrat, gun owners and not, actually agree on some common sense solutions. But we can't even get together as a nation to do those obvious things that would keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
MORGAN: Well, Mr. Mayor, speaking a lot of sense and as always. It's a great pleasure to talk to you -- not just about gun control but also what you did last night. Thank you again for that. It was really quite remarkable. I really appreciate you coming on the show.
BOOKER: No, Piers, I appreciate you. And I appreciate you focusing on this topic. We have a tremendous amount of violence in our community and we need to talk to each other, not yelling at each other to solve some of these problems, because more than not, we are neighbors in this country and we actually have more alike than that we have that we disagree on.
So, I appreciate you bringing these topics to the forefront. Ands thanks for bringing your cameras in Newark, New Jersey.
MORGAN: Well, listen, I partly concur. And I think, as you showed last night, it is time for less words and more action, just generally, I think, on these issues. But again, Cory Booker, very much.
Coming up, she wrote some of the greatest rock and roll songs ever. Now, Carole King tells all about her dog days and how she turned her life around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC, "I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE")
MORGAN: Where would the history of rock 'n' roll be without that song, or for that matter, "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "Natural Woman," "One Fine Day" or "Pleasant Valley Sunday" -- all of them written by Carole King, arguably the most successful rock 'n' roll woman in the history of planet Earth.
Her album, "Tapestry," topped the charts longer than any other album by a woman.
But her real life has been a lot more complicated than her love songs. She tells all in a fascinating new book, "Carole King: A Natural Woman," her new CD is "The Legendary Demos."
And the extraordinary Carole King joins me now.
Carole, welcome.
KING: Thank you. And I want to add to your lovely introduction by saying that all those songs were co-written with Gerry Goffin.
MORGAN: Of course.
KING: Credit where due.
MORGAN: (INAUDIBLE), but behind every man is a better woman, right?
(LAUGHTER) MORGAN: And the thing that really fascinates me about you from this book is that you've had these pivotal moments in your life, when you've done what appeared to be crazy things.
But actually, I suspect have made you have a life that's been a lot richer than many others. And the classic example is when you -- I think you did "Tapestry" or were about to do "Tapestry," and there you were in California, having a life of Riley, everyone's going crazy for you, selling millions of albums. And you suddenly think, nope. I'm going to go to Idaho.
KING: That was not right after "Tapestry." That was --
MORGAN: When was that exactly?
KING: It was 1976, '75 or '76, when I started to really seriously love to go to Idaho, and "Tapestry" was 1971. But I -- my way of coping with it and having a life, I love that you like twigged, right, to that having a life was -- well, the fame was swirling around me and I was living in Laurel Canyon.
I was with Charlie Larkey, my second husband, who was my bass player as well. We had had our first child together. I already had the two Goffin daughters. And I really centered myself in my family.
So I wasn't, you know, I wasn't doing lots of interviews and going to lots of parties and doing whatever people who are famous are supposed to do.
MORGAN: You didn't even go to the Grammys to get the award for "Tapestry."
KING: I did not. Lou Adler accepted them.
MORGAN: You're like, now, I'm staying with my family in California.
KING: Exactly.
MORGAN: You had this amazing life in California and the sun's shining and everything's wonderful. And you think, no. I'm going to get "Tapestry" -- OK, so the chronology, "Tapestry" would have sold 25 million copies by now. It's been in the charts, I think, for four or five years. I mean, that was ridiculous.
KING: It was, I think, the longest female album --
MORGAN: Ever.
KING: -- at the top of charts until Adele --
MORGAN: Oh, really?
(CROSSTALK)
KING: She overtook that record. And you know what? Power to her. She's so wonderful. MORGAN: What did you think of that moment then?
KING: I think it's just great. I mean, I thought, how great, because you know, as I said, I'm 70 and it's like, you know, time to pass the torch and to such a fine, fine artist and a lot less misstep. Unfortunately, you know, Amy Winehouse. I didn't know that Amy Winehouse was a fan of mine. She recorded "Will You Love Me Tomorrow."
MORGAN: She was a huge fan of yours.
KING: She was a huge fan of mine.
MORGAN: My brother-in-law was her sax player.
KING: Oh, really?
MORGAN: Yes. In her band. So I know for a fact she was a big fan of yours.
KING: Yes, I mean, I just wished I could have reached out and just said, oh, you don't need to do this. But I'm sure many have tried and it's --
(CROSSTALK)
MORGAN: Because it was said about you that throughout the '70s, when you were earning all this money and going to all -- you know, not going to all the parties, because you didn't actually, but you were hanging out with a lot of people who were living the life to excess. But you were like at the orgy, but you were the one watching.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: Has the kind of overview.
KING: When I was.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Not literally, of course, but --
MORGAN: Figuratively speaking.
KING: Figuratively --
MORGAN: I prefer not to get involved in that --
KING: Yes.
MORGAN: -- the seedier side of stuff.
KING: No, and I really did want -- you know, there was the get back to the land sort of, you know, that -- we laugh at that now, in the Austin Powers movies and everything. But I really did. MORGAN: Yes, but you did do this. This is why Idaho, to me, is so crucial to you, coming to you from this book, because you're the height of your fame. You know, "Tapestry's" one of the greatest albums of all time. And you're making all this money, and then you just uproot.
And you go and live in Idaho for three years and you just live off the land. I mean, you're doing stuff that, as your friends at the time said to you, you know, you can get people to do this. You can pay people. But you wanted to do it, to lead a life of often freezing cold, no electricity, no television, just --
KING: Snowed in all winter, teaching my own children and --
MORGAN: What was it -- tell me what that was like, this life-changing time for you.
KING: Well, it was -- it was an adventure. I mean, people would say, well, why would you want to go do that because I met this man, Rick Sorenson, who, you know, lived in this very remote place or was living even more remote but sort of came together in this one place. And I thought of it as an adventure.
And it was. It was a remarkable adventure. My kids had a little harder time. My younger kids had a harder time, because, you know, they didn't want to be there. I chose to be there.
But in spite of that, they got so much out of it. And the teaching was just totally fun for all of us. We did an accredited home schooling program.
I was going to be a teacher before my career went another direction, and it was just great. And the most important thing I taught my children was to love learning, and they were -- they were all readers. They all loved learning.
And I now still live in Idaho. I live in a place that is less remote and I have all the modern, you know, satellite TV and I get to watch you.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Live.
MORGAN: Oh, what a rare treat for you, Carole.
KING: Absolutely.
MORGAN: Now, let's take a little break. I want to come back and talk to you about men. It'd be fair to say you've had some good times, and some not-so-good times.
KING: That would be correct.
MORGAN: Let's discuss this after the break.
(MUSIC, "I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE")
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC, "NATURAL WOMAN")
MORGAN: "Natural Woman" by Carole King. You know, Carole, that might just be the world's greatest love song ever.
KING: I --
MORGAN: Remind me --
KING: First of all, I want to say thank you. Second of all, I want to say title by Jerry Wexler and lyric by Gerry Goffin. So, a man actually wrote that lyric, my first husband.
MORGAN: When you sang that song like that, especially the way we just saw you singing there, when you look back at yourself there, knowing now what happened to your life then, what do you feel?
KING: I feel -- first of all, I am younger than all my daughters are now. I was so young, and I just feel good. And then, of course, when Charlie came on the screen, I was like, yes, you know, it's a hard time (ph).
Charlie and I are still friends. We still have a deep, abiding love for each other. We share children and grandchildren. And I refer to that in the book as my -- the unconventional success story, even though we're not still together eventually.
MORGAN: You've been married four times now?
KING: Yes.
MORGAN: And quite searing stuff in here about your marriage to Rick, where you talk --
KING: Well, there are two Ricks, but Rick Evers --
MORGAN: Right, Rick Evers. And this is your second husband.
KING: No.
MORGAN: Third husband?
KING: Third husband. Gerry Goffin --
MORGAN: It's hard to keep up with you, Carole.
KING: -- Charlie Larkey, Rick Evers, which is the one you'll be talking about now, and then Rick Sorenson --
MORGAN: Were you an incurable romantic or something? What was that --
KING: Yes. Hopes spring eternal. (LAUGHTER)
KING: You -- I always see on your show, you always say, "Have you ever been properly in love?"
MORGAN: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
KING: Every time.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: In your case, it'll be -- come on, how many dozen times have you been properly in love?
KING: No, it would be --
MORGAN: Did you marry every man you were properly in love with?
KING: No. But the last two I didn't.
MORGAN: If I could have trapped you on a desert island with one man in your life that you had a relationship with, who would it be?
KING: I don't know. I mean, I'm not with anybody now, and that's kind of who I would be with, is me.
MORGAN: You'd rather be on your own?
MORGAN: Rick Evers, your husband number three, he abused you and you talk very openly and directly about that in here. But you also make the point, which I think many women say to themselves, if I ever got into that kind of abusive relationship, I'd be out, and you didn't.
And you're very honest about that. Tell me about the conflict that happens, when you're strong about it and then it happens to you.
KING: Well, you know, that is the point, that the line is or I would never be with someone like that, until I was. But here's the more shocking point, I suppose, it -- to me it was shocking after the fact. I stayed. And I married him after I knew about this.
MORGAN: Why?
KING: Again, hope springs eternal. But the dynamic -- that's really the answer, I think, that hopes spring eternal.
But the answer is not that simple, and it's really difficult to like, you know, wrap -- it took a while to write it.
And I -- it wasn't even Charlie going to be included in the book. But the reason that I did, I said, I wanted people to read this, in that similar situation and to understand what it was that I was going through. MORGAN: What do you say to women who watch this or who read the book, who find themselves in that position, should they stay with the man or should they always leave him if he -- they -- if he abuses her?
KING: Leave!
MORGAN: Just don't think it'll change.
KING: No.
MORGAN: Because it won't.
KING: No. I mean -- but again, I can't give advice to any person because I don't know her or his individual situation. But the thing I do put in the book, after I tell all the, you know, the process -- and it was really complicated. I can't just put it in a short bite.
But the important thing to me was to write it, to be honest and to communicate to people out there that it's -- if you are someone who is in that situation, get help. Help is available. I have a box that says, you know, help.
And the other reason I did it is because I'm -- I was successful. I was financially successful. I was famous. I was, you know, a capable, reasonably intelligent woman, and all these things.
MORGAN: You had no reason to stay.
KING: I have no --
MORGAN: No -- nothing grabbing you to stay, other than your emotions.
KING: Exactly. I wasn't trapped. I could have left, and I make the point in the book.
MORGAN: I mean, it's a book -- although that's a serious part of the book, it's a book notable -- judging by all the reviews I've read -- for its complete lack of any bitterness or sort of salacious gossip. It's very much -- it's a soft book. It's a reflective book of someone who's had a pretty amazing life in many ways, haven't you?
KING: Thank you for getting that about me, because I don't have bitterness. I mean, I get mad if somebody, you know, does -- this whole justice thing going on now. I mean, I -- politics, things like that make me mad and then I just kind of go, well, what can I do about it? What can I change? And if I can't, why be bitter?
MORGAN: What would be the moment -- if I had the power to let you relive a moment in your life -- it can't be marriage, certainly not marriage in your case -- we'd be here all night. It can't be marriage or having kids. What would be the moment be you would relive? What's been the greatest moment of your life?
KING: Piers, I've had so many great moments, honestly. It's hard to pick one.
MORGAN: Give me one. Give me a little --
KING: I think -- this is not the one -- but of the moment, it's my kids. It's the joy I feel in having watched each and every one of them grow up to be a person that I would have wanted them to be and more. My -- they were all my good, good friends. And if I need them, they're there. They are wonderful people and we've all become great friends.
MORGAN: And on Thanksgiving and Christmas and stuff like that, is there a moment when the piano gets wheeled out?
KING: Oh God, I hope not.
MORGAN: And mom starts to belt out "Natural Woman."
KING: Quite the opposite.
MORGAN: No?
KING: I just keep all that separate. Actually, my family is more likely to wheel out whatever instruments, because many of them, if not all of them, are musical. So they wheel out the --
MORGAN: All of these songs, I couldn't believe what I was reading. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "The Locomotion," "Natural Woman, "Take Good Care of My Baby," "One Fine Day," "Pleasant Valley Sunday" -- of all of the great songs that you've written, co-written, so on, which is the one for you.
KING: I will answer by saying, again, it's hard to pick one. But I will tell you, there are probably two that are the ones for people. I think "You've Got A Friend" is the most -- the song that gives -- it's gift that keeps on giving to people and, in turn, to me, because I get so much joy.
I write in the book, at a concert, you know, after I play "You've Got a Friend," people -- tears are streaming down their faces. Republicans are hugging Democrats. It's true, truly. I've done it at some political functions. And then for that five 5 minutes and 12 seconds, everybody is getting along.
MORGAN: Isn't that an amazing power to have, that you can do that through the power of music?
KING: Well, it's not my power. That's why. It comes through me.
MORGAN: What's the other song?
KING: The other one, which I wrote -- I co-wrote with Ms. Tony Stern. She wrote the lyrics. It's "It's Too Late." I can't tell you how many people say your song "It's Too Late" got me through my divorce. And that's so meaningful.
And then there's "Natural Woman," where people come up and they sort of say Little Joey here was conceived to -- you know, I'm like, TMI, fa la la la la. MORGAN: I just realized we haven't mentioned James Taylor. Tell me just very quickly about you and James.
KING: The -- there were two times when I met James. The first time, it was sort of -- he felt awkward. I felt awkward. And he wasn't quite present. The second time, when I met him at Peter Asher's house, there was this sense of butter, just like, fitting together. Just like -- our music just fit together.
We just sat down and started playing, our songs, other people's songs. And it's kind of been like that. I can see him, you know -- I could not see him for years and then we get together to do some benefit or fundraiser or something. And it's like, oh yeah, we play together. And that's what happened on the Troubadour (ph) Reunion Tour. When we got together, it was just pure joy. It was 60 gigs in a row.
MORGAN: Amazing. Amazing relationship. Well, look, there's two things I want to mention before we go. One is the book, "A Natural Woman." It's a fantastically entertaining, fascinating book. You've had an amazing life.
KING: Thank you. And I wrote every word myself.
MORGAN: I know.
KING: There's no ghost. That's why it took almost 12 years.
MORGAN: That's why it's quite well written.
KING: Thank you. Thank you.
MORGAN: And secondly, the legendary demo is out, Carol King, beautiful picture of you there and amazing recordings of these incredible songs. It's been a real pleasure to meet you.
KING: Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
MORGAN: Thank you, Carol.
Coming up, singing a different tune, country queen Trisha Yearwood on life with her husband, Garth Brooks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(SINGING)
MORGAN: Trisha Yearwood is a triple Grammy winning country music superstar who is married to a guy -- well, you may have heard of him. He's in the same sort of genre, Garth Brooks. That's it, Garth Brooks.
She also star in the kitchen, with two cook books and a new Food Network series, "Trisha's Southern Kitchen." And Trisha joins me now. Welcome.
TRISHA YEARWOOD, COUNTRY MUSIC SINGER: Thank you. MORGAN. So I decided to split this into things: music and love, and then food.
YEARWOOD: I like it.
MORGAN: Three things dear to my heart.
YEARWOOD: Cool, it all goes together.
MORGAN: How does that sound?
YEARWOOD: Sounds good.
MORGAN: So I want to talk about Garth straight off the top. Let's talk about the elephant in the room here, because you're one of the most famous country singers ever and you're married to one of the most famous country singers ever. I had to start with the top.
Your husband and I have never met, but I feel like I know him really well. The reason is for the last six years on "America's Got Talent," I have seen more acts murdering your husband's songs than probably any other musician or singer alive. If I had to hear one more version of "if tomorrow never comes" -- it was like it gave me severe earaches.
I would like to apologize to him, via you, for the massacring of his music.
YEARWOOD: Well, at least you feel like you have a connection with him now. That's a good thing. And you sort of just massacred that yourself there, yes.
MORGAN: It was pretty awful. It wasn't as bad as when I tried to sing "Hello" to Lionel Richie recently. That was a total train wreck. This was slightly better, I thought.
YEARWOOD: Were you really trying?
MORGAN: You know what, I always like to make the guest feel like they're the star, you know, contrary to public perception. So I think with you and Lionel, make you think you're better singers, it gives you more confidence?
YEARWOOD: It's an ego booster.
MORGAN: I think so.
YEARWOOD: That's nice of you.
MORGAN: You've only sold what, 10 million albums?
YEARWOOD: Something like that.
(CROSS TALK)
MORGAN: What is it like? When you're at home -- and I know for a fact -- we have a mutual friend that we have discussed who came out here, who tells me that Garth is so attached to his family that literally in his show in Vegas, he has a deal with a private jet which zooms him straight back home, usually straight after each show, and then back in to the next show.
An amazing commitment to what he really cares about in life, which is his family. When you're all at home, given that you're one of the great singers, and he's one of the great singers, is it what I would hope it would be. When you come down in the morning, at like 7:00 in the morning, you know, the dogs go running out, the chickens are running around, and you two sit there and start singing over your Corn Flakes.
YEARWOOD: No, here's what really happens. I get up in the morning and I turn the fog machine on. And then he comes up through the floor with a little headset mic. And I have to -- he makes me announce, "ladies and gentlemen, Garth Brooks."
No, not really.
MORGAN: Do you ever sing at home?
YEARWOOD: We do. We do.
MORGAN: But for fun?
YEARWOOD: Yes, absolutely.
MORGAN: Like I come down and sing in the shower very badly, until my wife tells me to stop.
YEARWOOD: No, we do. If you were to walk into my living room right now, there would probably be a guitar propped up against the couch, that got pulled out from a case somewhere because we don't -- we don't sit around and just, hey, we're going to sing today. But it just is a natural thing.
People who truly love to sing have to do it all the time. And one of our daughters loves to sing, so she plays guitar. So it's always happening in the house. And it's cool. It's a cool environment. It's cool when your husband starts to sing some old Merle Haggard song and I can pop in with a harmony and it doesn't sound too bad.
MORGAN: When did you know that Garth was the man for you? Was there a moment?
YEARWOOD: I think there was a -- an instant the day I met him, 21 years ago, a connection there. And -- and I don't think that I -- a friendship formed that was like the other side of me. We were singing demos together. And we were -- had just met. And we were singing on the microphone, and we were doing the same licks.
It was like -- it felt like it was meeting somebody you felt like you had known your whole life. I didn't know at that point that I would end up being married to him and that it would be so much deeper connection.
MORGAN: Because you were good friends for a long time?
YEARWOOD: We were. And I really think -- I haven't had the best track record in relationships because I tended to jump in to things. And I think being friends with somebody for so long before we were a couple, you kind of know -- we were friends, so we told each other stuff we would never tell somebody we were dating.
So we knew everything about each as friends before we ever went on a real date. And so there's -- there's that foundation that a lot of people don't get because they don't -- they skip that part.
MORGAN: But if you've had so many years as friends, what's the moment like when suddenly you both realize it's going to be something else?
YEARWOOD: I don't know how to describe it. There's kind of that -- always that thing that you kind of admit later. Kind of like admitting to yourself, well, when he could call the house for you to come sing on a record, my face would turn red listening to the answering machine.
Things that I would never admit to myself and later I went back and went, I always was kind of this -- on pins and needles around him. And I didn't really address it.
MORGAN: He was must have been with you?
YEARWOOD: Of course, he was madly in love with me.
MORGAN: You were both married to other people.
YEARWOOD: Right. So it just wasn't an option. I think when it became an option, I know in my head I thought, you know, this may be the biggest mistake I have ever made in my life, but I just -- if I don't go down the path and find out, I'll never know. And I'm just going to go for it and see what happens.
And I really did not expect it to turn out well. And it's been amazing. I mean, it's -- I'm happier than I've ever been in my whole life.
MORGAN: And he certainly seems to be, in a sense. It's not easy being highly paid, successful professional singers in the modern world. It's a hard, rigorous lifestyle.
As I say, I come back to the way Garth does that Vegas extravaganza. Many people go and live in Vegas. He doesn't do that. He chooses to come home. That must make a big difference.
YEARWOOD: We have made a choice as a couple, because we both were touring heavily when we were married before. And we -- we weren't home much. And you can't really -- he always says, why should we be together to be apart. So I drastically cut back on my touring when we started seeing each other, just to see how this would work.
And one of the reasons that I wrote the cook books was so that I could be at home more than being on the road. And it's a balance. But we choose to -- and we're in a position that is good, that we can choose to be home when we want to be home. And we travel together 99 percent of the time.
So we have made that choice. That may not have been a choice we would have made 20 years ago. So it's kind of good that it all happened now.
MORGAN: And you eat food together.
YEARWOOD: We do.
MORGAN: Which is a very, very clumsy link to part two of this interview, coming after the break. We're going to start talking about food, good, wholesome, southern food.
YEARWOOD: OK. You know a lot about that?
MORGAN: No. But I want to hear about it.
YEARWOOD: OK.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: She certainly did "marry that boy one day." That's a music video for Trisha Yearwood's hit, "She's In Love With the Boy." Trisha's starting a whole new chapter in her career. And she's back with me now. This is the kind of chapter I want to get to.
Are you telling me I can eat all this? Is this even remotely healthy?
YEARWOOD: No.
MORGAN: Is it just like a great, big, old fashioned southern pig out?
YEARWOOD: I'm telling that you eat this and tomorrow you have a grape. And you will even everything out.
MORGAN: But I love this. This is the kind of food I like eating. Most people who bring food to me -- like, I get fed squeaky clean Guacamole by Eva Longoria, whatever it -- healthy Mojitos from Charlize Theron. You --
YEARWOOD: Look at these women.
MORGAN: You brought me some proper grub.
YEARWOOD: Well, the thing is that the whole idea of the books came from real recipes that my mother and grandmothers made and passed down from generation to generation. And I would love to eat fried chicken every day. I don't.
But -- but these are those special occasions, traditional comfort food dishes that my family has always made.
MORGAN: Which is your favorite of all this?
YEARWOOD: I'm a salt girl, so I would go for the chicken.
MORGAN: This is good old fashioned slabs of fried chicken. Yes? Fantastic.
YEARWOOD: Yeah.
MORGAN: Juts when your cholesterol's just about had it, you pile it on with the big, fattening cake.
YEARWOOD: Well, this is Keylime Cake, so it's actually fruit really.
MORGAN: What is this stuff?
YEARWOOD: That's sweet tea.
MORGAN: Tea --
YEARWOOD: Not probably like you've had.
MORGAN: That's not real tea, is it, to be honest? The kind of tea that we make. And what are these little cup cakes?
YEARWOOD: These are biscuits, basically.
MORGAN: So if I eat all of this, I would die, but with a smile on my face?
YEARWOOD: Absolutely.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: This is so refreshing. I spend a lot of time in Los Angeles. If you even order one of those drum sticks, they take you to Cedar Sinai Hospital. You know, if you even have the tea, they'd think you're over-drinking.
YEARWOOD: We were in L.A. as a family recently. And one of my daughters ordered a salad with -- you could get it with the crispy chicken or the grilled chicken. And she got it with the crispy chicken. And the waiter commented -- he goes, oh, that's so refreshing, no one ever orders that.
I'm thinking, here we are, the little southerners ordering it with the crispy chicken no it.
MORGAN: Tell me about food in your family. It's nice that there's such a family link to all this.
YEARWOOD: Yes, the way I grew up was -- I grew up in a very small town. You went to school and church and football games. That was kind of it. No movie theater, nothing really to do. And family -- everything really revolved around family.
We sat together as a family for dinner at night. And my mother had a job. My dad had a job. But there was always a meal on the table at 6:00, you know. And -- and it was always something home cooked. We had a garden, so we had fresh vegetables. We even lived on a farm where we killed our own beef, killed our own chickens. We did it all.
MORGAN: Did you do that?
YEARWOOD: I packaged the meat later. I didn't actually do the --
MORGAN: Chase after the --
YEARWOOD: No, I didn't do any of that. I wouldn't do any of that. And I learned after the first pig to not name the pig. You don't want to do that.
MORGAN: What is the dish -- I'm told that Garth's favorite is a particular kind of chocolate cake that he only used to get on his birthday. But you may be expanding the days he can have this.
YEARWOOD: Well, he's pitiful. I make it for his birthday. It's a German chocolate cake. And it has a coconut pecan frosting.
And his birthday is in February. So long about, you know, this time of year, after he's just had his birthday, a few months later, he'll start talking about it. You know, I guess I only have to wait nine more months before I get to have that cake again?
(CROSS TALK)
YEARWOOD: So he gets all sad, and then I'll make him the cake. Now he's doing the thing where he's like, I love the German chocolate cake, but I can't decide if I want that or carrot cake for my birthday. Can't decide which one. So just make either one. It'll be fun. So I had to make both. Then he totally racked up. So I don't --
MORGAN: How do you equate, though, this gorgeous food, which I would devoir in an instant, probably will the moment this interview is over, with the need in America, in particular, for people to probably eat less of this stuff?
YEARWOOD: Yes. If you watch the show, you'll see that we -- this is a tribute to the history of my family. So -- and I say in the show, and I've said in the books, you know, this is something that is -- that tells where this food came from, but it's not saying this is the way that -- we all know that we're trying to eat better.
So in our daily life, we don't eat this way every day. I -- but if there's fried chicken in my house, I'm going to have fried chicken. Most of the time, we try to eat more fruits and vegetables and grains, and the things that we know that we're supposed to eat for good health.
MORGAN: Even as you're eating that stuff, are you quietly thinking fried chicken?
YEARWOOD: Oh, sure. It's somewhere in there, somewhere in there.
MORGAN: Look, I love this. I love the fact you cooked this kind of thing. I think the books are terrific. You have this great show, "Trisha's Southern Kitchen." It premieres on the Food Network every Saturday, 10:30 Eastern.
Trisha, thank you.
YEARWOOD: Thank you very much.
MORGAN: I look forward to munching this the moment I can get you out of here.
Coming up, Only in America; you've heard all those stories about people who got in on the ground floor at Apple and ended up millionaires, billionaires. This is the story of a man who could have made billions but didn't.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was adopted and I felt that I wanted to adopt a kid that needed a home. My son was in foster care for four years. That was his 12th home. But from the minute Michael and I met, I knew right away that we were going to be a family.
I thought everything was going great. After a month, Michael was removed from my house, I was instantly cut off from him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finding that family for a child, it's nothing short of a miracle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go. We need to get ready for the horses.
DAVID WING-KOVARIK, CNN HERO: Sometimes families are faced with barriers, because of a myth or a misunderstanding causing the kids to stay in the foster care system longer.
Being that gay or lesbian individual or couple makes it harder.
My name is David Wing-Kovarik. I adopted from the foster system. Now I help other gay and lesbian individuals realize their dream of becoming parents.
We're working together with you on that. I want to make sure that you've got that family to family kind of support.
I've worked hundreds of cases, side by side social workers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We covered a lot of information last week.
KOVARIK: I have trained thousands of foster parents. It doesn't matter if you're gay or straight. We do it for free.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He figured out how to get us over that finish line. Our family wouldn't have adopted each other if it hadn't been for David.
KOVARIK: I'm fighting for the right of that child to have that family. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Daddy, is tonight movie night?
KOVARIK: It's why I keep doing it every single day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MORGAN: Tonight's Only in America, how are you feeling tonight? Had a bad day at work? Kids playing up again? Weather getting you down a bit? Cheer up, at least you're not Ron Wayne.
Ron is 78 years old. He lives a simple, quiet life in Nevada. He keeps busy with his stamp collection. He plays the slots at the Vegas casinos. He drives a 2002 Chevy Malibu. He's a retired engineer.
He doesn't really have a lot to complain about, except that on this day every year he has cause to reflect on a business decision that didn't seem that big of a deal at the time, but turned into something well, rather bigger than he could have ever imagined.
You see, on April 1st, 1976, Ron began a company with a couple friends. You may have heard of them, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The firm was, of course, called Apple. Ron's cut was 10 percent of the business.
But he wasn't sure. Doubts began to grow in his head. And just two weeks later, Ron bailed out his stake for 800 dollars. That moment exactly 36 years ago today may just have been the single most catastrophic business mistake in the history of Planet Earth.
Because today that 10 percent stake in Apple would be worth -- wait for it -- 58 billion dollars. If Ron had been just a little bit more patient, he would now be one of the richest two or three people alive. The man himself has never bought a single Apple product of his life. He's putting up a brave face of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON WAYNE, RETIRED ENGINEER: What can I say? You make a decision based upon your understanding of the circumstances. And you live with it. That's the best you can do. There's nothing can you do about yesterday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN: No, I guess there isn't. But like I said, however bad your day's been, spare a thought for Ron Wayne. That's all for us tonight. "AC 360" starts now.
