TM:Nah.
GS:No? Most parents dread the terrible teens.
TM:I don’t dread any years I get with my kids.
GS:You’re a sentimental guy.
TM:
DM:He’s just a good human.
GS:Are you nervous about the teenage years with your daughter, Drew?
DM:Nope.
GS:Maybe because you’ve had some practice with your son who just turned seventeen, correct?
DM:Yes.
GS:What’s it like parenting a teenage boy?
TM:Parenting isn’t always easy. It’s hard at times, watching them grow up, because you want to protect them from everything but know you can’t. You just have to hope you prepared them well enough.
DM:Trent is the best father I know.
GS:Even better than you?
TM: No.
DM:Yes. Our kids are lucky to have him.
GS:As a couple, you’ve faced a lot of disapproval and hurdles, not just from family but from people you don’t even know. How have you dealt with that? Has it caused issues in your relationship?
DM:Nothing and no one will ever come between me and Trent.
GS:So it’s never caused a problem?
TM:In the beginning, it was harder. We were young and afraid of what our family and friends would say. I worried it would cost Drew his sponsorship with the NRR. I worried it would make him a target for hate.
DM:Trent is a worrywart.
TM:I didn’t want Drew to be punished for loving me.
GS to DM: So you never worried?
DM:Of course I did. I was raised under the weight of expectations. I learned very young to bury who I was and what I wanted in favor of who my parents wanted me to be. Breaking out of that was difficult, and T protected me a lot—more than I realized at the time—and he got hurt for it. I don’t like to see my person hurt.
GS:You mentioned your parents. Are you still estranged from them, Drew?
TM:This isn’t something we need to talk about.
GS: Because it’s still painful?
DM:No. Because we aren’t estranged. We aren’t anything. They aren’t part of my life anymore, so there’s no point in discussing them.
