Ep. 359: Cowboy Kenna on Kindness, Coming Out at 23 & Surviving COVID in a Town of 585

From Everything & Anything...and a bit gay Podcast · 00:37:13

Show by Zach Randles-Friedman

This week, Zach sits down with Cowboy Kenna, the TikTok and Facebook creator whose video about how words stick with us caught the attention of the Today Show. Kenna grew up in Addison, Michigan, a town of 585 people with one stoplight and a Dollar General. She opens up about staying in the closet until she was 23, the near-death experience that changed how she lives, and why one stranger’s kind word can stay with you for years.In this episode:What it felt like when a Today Show writer reached out about her video on kindnessGrowing up in a tiny Michigan town, and watching how classmates treated the one kid who came outDecember 2020: nearly eight weeks on a ventilator, blood clots in her lungs, and 114 days in the hospital and inpatient rehabHow almost dying made her stop living for other people’s opinions (and stop shaving her legs)Where “Cowboy Kenna” came from: her grandpa “the old cowboy,” Yellowstone, and begging her parents to stop at Tractor Supply for a hatA nurse named Michael, glitter nails in the ICU, and the push to finally come outComing out to her mom first, then to her more conservative dad on the first day of Pride MonthHer friend Sherry, the first person who made her feel truly seenThe stranger at the Toledo Apple Store who called her “a breath of fresh air,” and the woman at Walmart whose comment about her smile made her dayTrolls, thicker skin, and the time she told a Facebook commenter named Kathy exactly where to put her four PomeraniansWhen being too kind turns into being usedInside her TikTok lives: the community, the regulars, and the foreign men shooting their shotCelebrity fans, including Joe Jonas, Paris Hilton, Natasha Cloud, and reposts from Viola Davis and Henry WinklerMessages from people who say her videos saved their lives, and trolls who come back to apologizeHer dream of appearing on the Drew Barrymore ShowHer advice: live life for you and not for other people. Just let it rip.Follow Cowboy Kenna on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cowboykenna Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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