Hello, my loves. I have a very special guest joining me for an interview today. I’m so excited to be able to sit down and chat with Gabrielle Stone!

If you aren’t familiar, Gabrielle Stone is no stranger to the world of entertainment. Growing up on set with her legendary scream queen mother, Dee Wallace, from Cujo and E. T., she had days of licking off Mommy’s fake blood and watching movie magic unfold behind the scenes. Seeing the world with Mom and Dad gave her the travel bug at an early age…until Gabrielle experienced a real-life horror when she lost her father suddenly at age seven.

After many years of working in the industry herself, Stone transitioned from meaty acting roles to writing and directing. Her award-winning films It Happened Again Last Night and After Emma gained her awards for writing, directing, and acting, but she had a bigger role in life that would soon present itself.

After the rug was vigorously pulled out from under her when her husband’s affair came to light, she found herself falling into the arms of another man. After a second failed attempt at love and a massive heartbreak, she decided that instead of falling landing flat on her ass, she’d make a career out of it. And so came the birth of her book, Eat, Pray, FML, where she shared all the mistakes she made, all the lessons she learned, and most importantly, how she became a fearless leader from it all.

Long story short? Gabrielle Stone’s a fucking badass, and she has so much wisdom to share that I couldn’t NOT have her come and share with all of you.

Let’s jump right the fuck in. I can’t wait.

The Aftermath of an Affair

Michelle: There are so many pieces of your story that I want to dive into, but I think I want to start with the affair. Unfortunately, infidelity is so common, and I think a lot of people become very wounded and very armored as a result of that. I see it with my clients all the time, and I’d love for my audience to hear how you dealt with it.

Gabrielle Stone: Sure! Let’s dive into the cheating asshole.

So, first off, experiencing it was blindsiding for me. Looking back on it, I can now see the red flags that were there, but it was a complete shock at the time. Not just to me, either—to his family, to my family, to our friends…no one saw it coming.

When it happened, I started on my own healing journey—which I wrote about in the book—and I started to realize that I was never really in love with him. I loved him as a person, but I married him because he was safe, which is so ironic to think about now.

As far as how I dealt with it afterward, I think when anybody goes through infidelity, there’s so many different ways that we can handle it. I get DMs from my readers all the time that ask how I was ever able to trust someone again.

My answer to that is this: when we go through a heartbreak of any capacity, whether that’s infidelity or just a breakup that really shatters your heart, you’re always going to be a little gun-shy. You’re always going to struggle with being ready to jump back into a relationship. But there are always going to be one of two outcomes of you getting into a new relationship: either you’re going to be wildly happy and in love and it’s going to be the best thing that you’ve ever done, or you’re going to get your fucking heart broken, and it’s going to suck, but you’re going to learn a lot of lessons throughout that heartbreak, and it’s going to make you into a better version of yourself who will then be able to attract that perfect person in the future.

Either way, being in that relationship is still time well spent, so why would you hide away from those experiences?

Different Degrees of Grief

Michelle: Now, I don’t know about you, but there have been moments of heartbreak where I genuinely thought I would never recover.

Gabrielle Stone: Are you kidding? Absolutely. Look, I’ve gone through deaths of very important people in my life, and the breakup I went through with the man I fell in love with after my ex-husband? That was fucking worse. I feel like I can say that because I’ve dealt with both.

There is a different sort of pain when you are grieving someone who is still alive—someone who chooses to not be with you and still walks this planet.

There’s no closure or finality in that like there is with death. And especially from someone with abandonment wounds, that kind of chosen abandonment stings in a different type of way.

Michelle: I love what you said about chosen abandonment. Well, I don’t love it, because obviously someone choosing to leave you sucks, but it makes so much sense.

Here’s the thing: when someone dies, everyone rallies around you, right? You’re flooded with people asking, “Are you okay? What do you need? How can I support you?” And there’s so much understanding for your grieving process.

In contrast, when you’re going through a breakup, particularly with someone you’ve known for a short amount of time…not so much grace there.

Advice for Recovery

Michelle: You’ve obviously gone through so much in your life—so much grief, loss, and heartbreak—and now you have essentially the pipe dream of what everyone wants.

I mean, we all want money, success, maybe even fame…but more than that, we want love.

At our core, we all want love. We want relationships. We’re wired to be in relationship with other people. So, what advice would you have for someone who might be going through what you’ve been through, and they’re beginning to think that love just isn’t going to happen for them?

Gabrielle Stone: Keep going, and keep your heart open. I look back on the five years that I was with my ex-husband, and it literally doesn’t even feel like that was in this lifetime. It does not feel like it happened to me.

So if you’re going through something where you’re devastated and heartbroken, I was there too, and it now feels like a page from my book. It doesn’t feel like something that I really, truly experienced.

You will heal. You will get through it if you choose to not be a victim. If you choose to keep walking forward. If you choose to do the work on yourself. And no matter how dark it seems…I promise you there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is fucking magical. So keep going.

Michelle: I love that. It’s just a page in your book—it’s not the entire book. This isn’t going to be your entire story.

Thank You, Gabrielle Stone!

Michelle: Thank you so much for being here. This has been such an eye-opening conversation. I think it’s going to be really, really inspiring to the people who read or listen.

To connect with Gabrielle Stone or get your hands on her incredible book, check out her links below! And if you want to hear our full (and fucking JUICY) conversation, tune in to Episode 127 of the Unf*ck Your Relationships podcast now!

CONNECT WITH GABRIELLE:

Website: www.eatprayfml.com

Instagram: @gabriellestone

TikTok: @gabrielle_stone

WORK WITH MICHELLE: 

Join The Connected Woman EXPERIENCE: https://michellepanning.com/the-connected-woman-experience

Sign up for The Connected Woman course: https://michellepanning.com/the-connected-woman 

Join my email list to get access to exclusive pre-sale prices for programs: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/644afb566a53602a000e4ae3 

Ready to do the work? You can find all courses, masterclasses, and more right here: https://michellepanning.com/all-offers

CONNECT WITH MICHELLE:

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/michellepanning

Website: http://www.michellepanning.com