PODCAST · education
The Happy Grownup
by Hal Rubenstein
A podcast in celebration of New Aging. Award winning journalist Hal Rubenstein talks with men and woman embracing the opportunities, obstacles, elation and relevance to be discovered in life after 50.
Episodes
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Deborah Roberts Insists the Truth Still Matters
When I was growing up, watching the news meant you had one hour early in the evening. One half hour of local news at 6, national news at 6:30, both delivered by a select group of white men in what looked like dark gray suits because color TV wasn’t popular yet, relaying the day’s events with...
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Jeffrey Banks' Greatest Design is His Own Life
After 30 years of covering fashion, I don't think I've ever met anyone who doesn't know Jeffrey Banks. More importantly, I don't know anyone who doesn't like Jeffrey Banks. I almost don't even know how that's possible, but his attitude, his energy, his outlook is consistently positive. What's…
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Elizabeth Blau Knows What You Hunger For
Thirty years ago I walked into Le Cirque, back when it was the chicest restaurant in New York, when anyone who was anyone, or wanted to be anybody, would jockey for position to be seated and be seen. The marvelous Daniel Boulud was the chef then, Sirio Maccioni, the owner, was the ultimate...
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The Skincare Expert Who Knows Every Price Point (And Won't Let You Waste a Dime)
Jackie Camacho is my new skincare guru. A mutual friend introduced us, she sent me her line — Cible, one of the most exciting French skincare brands to arrive on this side of the Atlantic — and two weeks later, the difference in my skin was not subtle. It was, frankly, startling. Jackie came up...
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Who The Hell Does Andy Cohen Think He Is?
I don't know about you, but I find Andy Cohen irritating. Who the hell smiles that much? It doesn't matter whether he's standing in Times Square, freezing his butt off on New Year's Eve. Sitting in the middle of a dozen freshly tucked, cleavage bearing women, talking and tossing trash on Real...
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Why Can’t you Be More Like Sari Botton?
The Happy Grownup came about because while I knew the years were flying (at this stage, Time is driving a McLaren like an F1 qualifier) but I couldn’t understand why I didn’t look or feel like I thought I would at this age. I mean, yeah, the mirror made it clear that I was on a bridge way too far...
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Vanessa Williams is Such a Bitch
I have had a crush on Vanessa Williams for…oh, a little over 40 years. I know this sounds astounding now, but back in the ‘80s over 55 million people watched the Miss America pageant and my family never missed it. It was like this well-dressed, benign version of Survivor all in one night…
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Dana Thomas Doesn't Get Blinded By Sequins
Why do I love talking to Dana Thomas? Because she knows more about fashion than just about anybody but doesn’t ever gush about clothes with inane commentary like, “She’s killing it!” “Now that’s red carpet realness!,” or “I die!” Instead Dana is refreshing and candid. She can reveal the elusive…
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Raising Brows, Lifting Spirits
Why do Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, David Beckham, Eva Longoria, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Michelle Pfeiffer, as well as tens of millions of women and men who want to look in the mirror and smile at their own reflection, adore Anastasia Soare? Because 25…
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All Hail Cathy Hughes, the Queen of Urban Radio
To the people who work for her, Cathy Hughes is known as the Queen, Her Majesty, or simply Miss. H. You may not recognize her name, but there’s a damn good chance you have connected with at least one channel of the extraordinary communications corporation that she founded 45 years ago. Starting...
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What Makes Jerry Mitchell so Goddam Happy?
From the first time I ever saw Jerry Mitchell in the 1991 musical Will Rogers Follies – he was the Indian of the Dawn, barely dressed in a loincloth on an elevated drum – there’s been one through line in his career as a Tony-winning choreographer for Hairspray, The Full Monty, Rocky Horror…
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Winnie Holzman is a Wizard with Words
I will forever be indebted to today’s guest. In fact, because of Winnie Holzman’s startling talent, I have been changed for good. Because on no less than four distinct occasions, her enviable ear for the nuances of speech and behavior have crafted stories that have left me drop-jawed, moved, and...
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Dave Karger loves sitting in the dark
Maybe the only person I know who loves movies more than me is Dave Karger, the host of Turner Classic Movies. His knowledge of film first surfaced as film savant for Entertainment Weekly and is now featured in his most recent book 50 Oscar Nights (Running Press, 2024). If you love movies, whether...
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Ruth Reichl Knows How to Make Life Delicious
I’ve always thought that eating is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Well, it’s not so bad with your clothes off either. But for as much as I’ve enjoyed and I’m grateful for a career writing about both food and fashion, food does something that fashion doesn’t. It engages all of…
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Linda Ellerbee
Linda Ellerbee is possibly the smartest, slyest, news journalist television has ever produced. Speaking with a strong Texas twang abetted by a wry, salty edge and just enough rasp you can imagine her singing Jazz in a cocktail lounge, Ellerbee’s superior storytelling, forthright delivery and…
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Encore: Beth Ann Hardison shows us why independence is always in season
Today I opened Instagram to see Beth Ann Hardison, one of the first black models, agency owners, and prominent advocate for diversity looking spectacular and beaming magnificently at age 82 in her Gucci gown at the Gucci show in Milan, the label for which she is a brand ambassador. Beth Ann was…
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Suzanne Lerner's Got it Togther
You may not know this week’s guest, but after our podcast you’ll probably wish Susanne Lerner lived across the street. She’s a is smart, a savvy entrepreneur, and, even better, she is street smart – in Yiddish you would say she has “seichel." A savvy entrepreneur, who began her clothing company...
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The Will and Grace of David Kohan
Have you ever met anybody who doesn't want to be cool? I mean, you might as well be searching for a Wooly Mammoth. No such person exists. But what makes somebody cool? Well, you can have incredible style like Zendaya, incredible looks like Chris Hemsworth, or incredible talent like Bruce...
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Not Every Ad Guy is a "Mad" Man (with Steve Pacheco)
What if sometime during the last season of Mad Men, Don Draper sorted out his life, gave up angst for more than just Lent, started to get off on his own cleverness and find satisfaction in the memorably creative commercials he created on the way to becoming an icon of the advertising industry.…
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Love, the Second Time Around (with Teri Agins and Paul Hands)
I met my husband online about 28 years ago on America Online, not AOL mind you, but America Online – when you didn't tell anyone about such searches because trolling the internet was a primary example of looking for love in all the wrong places. Well, guess what they were wrong, so wrong in fact...
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Mario Cantone
For two decades now, Mario Cantone has become instantly recognizable as Anthony Marantino on Sex and the City, And Just Like That as Charlotte's boisterously loud, kind of in-your-face, very savvy, grounded gay confidant and guardian angel. But when he is on The View or Turner Movie Classics…
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Shawn Henderson
He’s successful, he’s handsome. And I really like his taste. But what I like most about Shawn Henderson is that his mission seems to be in direct opposition of so many of his colleagues in the AD (Architectural Digest) 100. When I look at their realized visions I am impressed by so much overt...
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Every Day's a Good Day with Rosanna Scotto
It may be a sunny morning but turn on the TV and here comes the news shrouded in storms and torrential turbulence. That’s why, if you see a guy walking down a New York City street humming or whistling wearing a benign grin, it’s fair to guess, ‘I bet he was watching Rosanna on Good Day New York....
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What a Beauty (with Cristina Ferrare)
We’re taught that beauty is fleeing. (it even says so in the Bible, Proverbs 31:30). But the moment you see Cristina Ferrare, you can chuck that adage out the window since she is eternally, time defyingly gorgeous. Signed as a model when she was just 14, I repeat 14!, Cristina quickly became one...
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She’s so BEVELICIOUS (with Bevy Smith)
Search the faces of the millions celebrating New Year’s Eve on Copacabana Beach. Scope out all the blissed-out kids trodding around Disneyworld. That’s a lot of happy faces, but you still won’t find anyone having a better time than Bevy Smith. Wherever this New Ager goes in her myriad guises as…
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Daymond John
He’s the laid back of the five entrepreneurs in Eames chairs on Shark Tank. And yet, few deals that interest him pas him by. That’s because Daymond John puts his faith and energy into what he believes are his three touchstones for success – goals, instinct and fearlessness. That’s because at.23,...
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Norma Kamali is Simply Amazing
If you are anywhere - a charity event, an AI conference at MIT, or a seafood restaurant in Montauk - and Norma Kamali walks into the room, go sit next to her. I don’t care who you came there with. I don’t care who she came there with. Tell them to shove over and sit yourself down because Norma…
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Happiness is Fleeting. It's Also Phluid
If you have been with The Happy Grownup from the outset, you may recall that the first Halgorhythm is “Curiosity is the Best Moisturizer.” I got proof. I have known Rob Smith for a decade or two and while his easy smile radiated from an imposing, very handsome man, dammit if this guy isn’t even...
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When Do We Eat? (with Geoffrey Zakarian)
In the thirty years I’ve known The Food Network star, he’s always been open about his great loves: his wife Margaret, his three kids, and food. However, depending on the time of day, they’re not necessarily in that order. Luckily for Geoffrey, he’s been able to craft a life completely devoted to...
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Rosie Perez Got Dealt a Shitty Hand
She Is naturally feisty, startlingly honest, effortlessly funny, as refreshing as an ice plunge. But what makes Rosie Perez instantly irresistible is that despite her diminutive size, she is a tower of power. Despite an ugly, abusive childhood and years of self-doubt caused by of an unexpectedly...
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Stop trying to turn back the clock
Dr. Jake Deutsch is anti anti-aging. But he is one of the savviest, most clarifying and motivating advocates of pro-aging. The handsome founder of Oakwood Precision Medicine is such a refreshing geyser of inspiring knowledge about how we should be treating and taking care of ourselves, skillfully...
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Bobbi Brown's Beauty is More Than Skin Deep
Bobbi Brown is as much a household name as the iconic beauty queens who came before, but the similarity ends there. Unlike Helena, Elizabeth and Estée, Brown’s name has never been on cosmetics you’d call war paint. Instead, she gained millions of fans and devoted consumers because instead of...
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David Foster Still isn't Satisfied
David Foster has 16 Grammys, 36 Platinum Records, 41 Gold ones and his work with such great pop divas as Whitney, Celine, Barbra and Madonna has sold hundreds of millions of records. Yet, while entering his 50s, Foster walked by his shelves and walls full of trophies, and instead of busting his...
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Steven Petrow on The Joy You Make
Author Steven Petrow isn’t afraid of aging. In fact, he’s embracing it. Well, most of it. What he rejects is constant whining about aches and pains, conversations mired in “the good ol’ days,” eating dinner at 4pm, and other self-defeating behavior that he warns against in his very funny and very...
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A Little Bit of Pluck with Anastasia Soare
You want proof that no idea is too far-fetched if the results are unmistakable? Anastasia Soare believed that she could elevate one’s appearance by refining the shape on their eyebrows. No one wanted to back the 40-year-old Romanian emigre. But Soare forged ahead and opened a small salon in LA in...
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Jeremy Langmead Knows Change is the Only Constant
For a man just embarking on his New Aging years, Jeremy Langmead has experienced a lot: A seasoned journalist, a respected arbiter of fashion, an innovative retail merchant, a father of two grown sons way taller than he is from his heterosexual marriage, a gently gnarly uncle to his current...
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Chip Conley
Get ready to be mesmerized by Chip Conley. The former CEO of a wildly successful boutique hotel chain, and Chief strategist and mentor to the guys who started Airbnb, is now on a mission to reframe the concept of aging, with best-selling books, like Learning to Love Midlife and his creation of…
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Eric Rutherford
No. It’s not that he’s so handsome, which he is, or has hair you’d kill for, which I would with little hesitation. Eric Rutherford beams ceaselessly because after beating the odds of alcohol addiction (32 years sober) and recurring self-doubt, he clearly saw the way forward. What’s sparked Eric’s...
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Elizabeth Stewart
I adore Elizabeth Stewart. In fact, if you don’t’ fall head over heels for one of Hollywood’s most sought-after celebrity stylists within 15 minutes of meeting her, then you might want to book a session with psychotherapist Dr. Jen Hartstein, our super THG podcast guest last week, since…
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Dr. Jennifer Hartstein
The doctor will see you now. In one hour Dr. Jennifer Hartstein will reveal: - The power of Radical Acceptance - How grownups can make new friends - Why dating af any age sends you right back to high school - The one word you never use when assessing your worth - The calming effect of admitting...
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Aaron Walton
Aaron Walton feels your pain and shares your frustration over ageism. As CEO of the esteemed ad agency Walton/Isaacson, this self-described “Enlightened Rebel,” and inductee into the Advertising Hall of Fame and part-time model (at 60) has overseen groundbreaking diversity in campaigns for such...
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Dr. Barbara Sturm
As an orthopedist, Dr. Barbara Sturm’s research on inflammation as the source of many of our ills instigated cutting-edge treatments for joint diseases like osteoarthritis. By successfully adapting her theory to dermatology, the good doctor is now hailed as the “skin care whisperer” by her...
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Bethann Hardison
Bethann Hardison is a gale force of independence. The former model and current activist and filmmaker reveals with riveting clarity at 82 how she’s crafted a fulfilling life, the boost she gets from a younger circle of friends, the way she deals with longtime friends who long for yesterday, why...
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Welcome to The Happy Grownup
Host Hal Rubenstein explores how today's 50+ generation is redefining maturity with unprecedented vitality, curiosity and success. With savvy insight, practical advice, upcoming vibrant interviews, and authentic storytelling, discover how to embrace this exciting stage of life Hal calls 'New...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
A podcast in celebration of New Aging. Award winning journalist Hal Rubenstein talks with men and woman embracing the opportunities, obstacles, elation and relevance to be discovered in life after 50.
HOSTED BY
Hal Rubenstein
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Happy Grownup have?
The Happy Grownup currently has 44 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Happy Grownup about?
A podcast in celebration of New Aging. Award winning journalist Hal Rubenstein talks with men and woman embracing the opportunities, obstacles, elation and relevance to be discovered in life after 50.
How often does The Happy Grownup release new episodes?
The Happy Grownup has 44 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Happy Grownup?
You can listen to The Happy Grownup on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Happy Grownup?
The Happy Grownup is created and hosted by Hal Rubenstein.
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