The John-Henry Westen Show - Catholic Actress Loses Everything After Accident – Returns to Hollywood as Warrior for Christ

00:00:00.000 I prayed several rosaries on my way to the set that morning.

00:00:03.640 There was a last minute creative decision that was made

00:00:06.180 and they rolled out this trampoline.

00:00:09.220 I fell from about seven feet onto the back of my head on concrete.

00:00:14.080 I just knew though, she spared my life.

00:00:17.140 I just didn't know why.

00:00:18.740 I could tell you without a doubt,

00:00:21.160 if I didn't have my faith, I would not be sitting here.

00:00:24.600 imagine being in a large catholic family imagine growing up saying your prayers

00:00:34.120 imagine being devoted to our lady and imagine life is going rather well you're on television

00:00:42.460 you're in a movie already um and you're still very young and all this is happening and then

00:00:48.720 suddenly you get into an accident that's just a it's life-threatening but it's also completely

00:00:56.300 destabilizing from everything you were doing before a lot of people might come away from such

00:01:03.120 a situation doubting god doubting his goodness maybe turning to some other direction i wanted

00:01:10.760 to give you the encouragement of someone who doubles down on God despite the hardships.

00:01:19.100 Someone who is really a reflection of that song that's very popular in praise and worship,

00:01:26.000 Even If You Don't. Because she was willing to take that, even if you didn't, and go forward

00:01:33.920 with loving him all the more. Sherry, thanks so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having

00:01:39.560 me. Thank you. Let's begin as you always do with the sign of the cross. In the name of the Father

00:01:44.620 and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. So first of all, I have heard so much about you.

00:01:52.960 We've met only a couple of times, but it's been a great grace to learn of your story. And I wanted

00:01:58.240 to share that with our viewers, many of whom probably haven't heard your story. I know lots

00:02:02.620 have. But really what struck me was your childhood is one that's sort of like what we all want for

00:02:12.820 our kids. It's practicing the faithful body. Let's start there. Tell us a little bit about

00:02:17.280 your family and your childhood. Looking back, I've been incredibly blessed. And I have amazing

00:02:23.260 parents. I'm the oldest of six kids. I have five younger brothers. You know, I get my faith from my

00:02:29.100 mom who's very French Catholic. And I'm very just honored to say that I have a lot of priests and

00:02:36.500 religious in my family line. I was raised very, very Catholic, traditional Catholic, went to

00:02:43.380 Catholic school my whole life, grew up praying the rosary, all these wonderful, beautiful things.

00:02:49.020 And when you're a kid, you take that for granted. But I look back and I'm thinking, wow, what a

00:02:53.160 treasure that was to have that upbringing. My dad is a convert. Yeah, my parents placed a big

00:02:59.420 priority on the faith and having values and morals in our home. Indeed. And it's really funny because

00:03:05.720 thank God your parents had a girl first, having a boy thereafter. It works really well. And it 0.96

00:03:14.180 makes you kind of a soldier because there's a lot there. Having six boys and only two girls,

00:03:20.360 the oldest of which was a girl a great grace hey my friends i just heard about a great catholic

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00:04:17.500 today call 802-988-6588 or visit icatholicmobile.com may god bless you i have to say like

00:04:27.640 my mom says the same thing because i was really like a second mom and um you know roles are

00:04:32.860 reversed now now they treat me like the baby sister because now they're all bigger than me

00:04:36.920 but growing up, you know, I was in charge. But yeah, you know, I'm really blessed. And

00:04:43.340 my rosary that I have was given to me from my grandma. I grew up learning about the saints.

00:04:50.700 I'm related to a number of saints. Just a lot of just a very faith-filled life. And, you know,

00:04:58.060 I had some things happen to me where I was incredibly blessed. I was chosen. There's a

00:05:04.340 whole story, but I was chosen to be in the movie, The Parent Trap. It was the remake of the classic

00:05:11.380 film. And I grew up watching old Hollywood. And so I was really into that. And, but I was very

00:05:18.740 geeky. I went back into school and then I worked at a golf resort after high school, putting myself

00:05:24.500 through college. And one day some people came in and asked me if they can interview me on camera.

00:05:32.000 I said, sure. Would you like some iced tea? And the next thing you know, a few days later,

00:05:38.700 I get a phone call that I was booked for this national Callaway golf commercial with Arnold

00:05:43.760 Palmer. Crazy stuff. So I'm giving you the short version here, John Henry, but I thought maybe

00:05:51.520 there's something to this. And so I pursued this business and put myself through university,

00:05:58.320 became a professional model and actress. I would fly in, go to school, you know, do a commercial

00:06:05.120 or a modeling job. I was on packages all around the world. I mean, I graduated from university,

00:06:11.740 did all these wonderful, cool things, flew around the world. And by all, you know, means of the

00:06:18.780 world, I was on top, you know. However, I have to say, my foundation of my faith was so strong

00:06:28.100 that I always heard my mom's voice in the back of my mind. Did you go to mass? Right. And so I was,

00:06:35.280 you know, I was still a very devout practicing Catholic. I have to share one story with you.

00:06:40.440 I was at a beauty show. I think this was in Philadelphia. And I left a dinner to go to mass.

00:06:51.180 And, you know, I found where it was the nearest mass time. And I just kind of slipped out of this

00:06:56.680 dinner. And I'm in this, this, I think it was a basilica there. And I turn around during the

00:07:03.200 peace be with you. And there's this man sobbing. And I recognized him as being someone from the

00:07:10.440 company I was with. And he had followed me to the church. And he was crying. And he said,

00:07:20.020 you know, Sheree, I have to thank you. I haven't been to a church in like 20 years. And I followed

00:07:27.200 you. I wanted to know where you were going. Things like this would happen to me a lot.

00:07:31.720 And, you know, I say that, I share that story just to encourage people because you don't know

00:07:38.140 who's watching. You got to be bold for your faith and you have to truly live it. And so all these

00:07:44.160 things are happening and I'm building up to something here because, you know, I was a

00:07:48.840 practicing Catholic. And so that leads me to really my story. And that is that, you know,

00:07:55.320 I do everything around feast days. And I knew that February 11th is the feast day of Our Lady

00:08:02.000 of Lourdes, who I always had a great devotion to through the rosary and my family background.

00:08:08.280 And so in the year 2014, it was February 11th, I was driving to a major movie poster set.

00:08:20.080 I prayed several rosaries on my way to the set that morning in honor of the feast day.

00:08:26.560 Thank God for that, because when I was on location and on set, there was a last minute

00:08:33.200 creative decision that was made and they rolled out this trampoline. I was doing a running action

00:08:40.480 shot in the air. No problem. Right. And, um, what ended up happening was I lost my center coming

00:08:48.340 down and I fell from about seven feet onto the back of my head on concrete. And, um, my life just

00:08:58.660 right there just stopped and you know you never know every day what your day is going to be like

00:09:10.160 and I'm just so thankful that I started it with praying those rosaries and on a feast day because

00:09:19.400 I can tell you without a doubt that our lady of lords spared my life completely the doctors could

00:09:26.740 not believe I didn't snap my neck and die. However, I did have a severe traumatic brain injury.

00:09:35.760 And within hours, just everything in my system just started shutting down.

00:09:40.780 I lost my ability to walk, to talk. I lost all my memory. I couldn't move without throwing up.

00:09:50.040 It doesn't matter how many times I share this story because our blessed mother,

00:09:55.180 She loves us so much. And she, she definitely advocated for me with God because, um, even though

00:10:05.260 it was absolutely horrific, I still was here. So, you know, I'd be lying if I said it was easy

00:10:16.240 because it was not. I went through every therapy you can imagine. I lost everything. I had to learn

00:10:23.460 how to walk again, talk again, you name it. I mean, you name it. And it was very, very bleak.

00:10:31.640 And, you know, I have compassion and deep empathy for people because I've been in the trenches. I've

00:10:39.760 been there and I know what it feels like because I would always ask God to take me. I didn't think

00:10:46.760 that it was worth living anymore. And, you know, I was on every medication you can imagine.

00:10:58.720 Again, I have a lot of compassion for people out there because I know everyone's on a lot

00:11:03.020 of things out there nowadays. I get it. I know exactly what's going on. And it's tough because

00:11:08.980 there's a lot of side effects with these medications. A lot of them are suicide, depression,

00:11:14.100 and you feel like life is not worth living and it's not worth being here anymore. You know,

00:11:21.180 it's really hard to go through things like that. And you know, when they say that you have to pick

00:11:26.620 up your cross, it's very true because in one way or another, we will all have to go through horrific

00:11:34.460 things in this life. It's not going to be just one too. I mean, a lot of times it's a lot of,

00:11:38.900 a lot of crosses we have to pick up. And so I know the meaning of that. That's for sure.

00:11:50.740 And where the truth is, there is God. The world is basically going the way of the church and vice

00:11:58.600 versa. Everyone who's being named a bishop is being named because he's a nice guy. Does he

00:12:05.560 have the Catholic faith? Well, that's not really important. He's nice. I started studying the early

00:12:10.200 church and I realized, wow, the church was all centered around the Eucharist. God has sent again

00:12:17.640 the Blessed Virgin Mary to ask us through an imploring and loving voice to convert while

00:12:24.120 there is still time. St. Peter the Apostle on the first Pentecost Sunday to tell these pious Jews

00:12:29.760 who came to Jerusalem in pilgrimage that they need to come into the church and be baptized.

00:12:35.560 And the faithful were crying out, blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord.

00:12:40.380 Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.

00:12:42.740 So the Pharisees complained, tell him to shut up.

00:12:45.860 And Jesus said in reply, I tell you, if they keep silent, the stones will cry out.

00:12:51.160 In other words, the truth will never be silenced.

00:12:54.100 And my friends, we're inviting you to Fatima, Portugal,

00:12:56.680 the greatest place of prophecy since Christ himself walked the earth.

00:13:00.300 Beginning November 11th, there will be a once in a lifetime pilgrimage

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00:13:28.840 how long is this period from when the injury happens to when you're even at all ready to

00:13:40.520 do anything publicly anymore it took a few years my recovery was really long it was very slow

00:13:47.680 and i kind of hit a wall in my recovery so when i hit about it's about three and a half years

00:13:54.440 which is a long time. The doctors said, you know, Sheree, you're probably

00:14:01.020 never going to have a life again. And so I learned how to walk, but okay. You know,

00:14:09.700 I learned how to talk again, but I just, I was not well enough to live independently,

00:14:19.540 if you will. And so the doctor is saying that, um, was, it's just extremely bleak. And I mean,

00:14:27.960 I'm talking years, years of being down, very, very bleak. And you know, I will say this.

00:14:34.700 My mom was always so encouraging. I had so many people always praying for me.

00:14:41.460 And my mom would always say, even if she didn't believe it, she'd always say, you know what,

00:14:45.580 everything's going to be okay. You know, just keep praying. And you know, you don't really think that

00:14:51.160 inside. And you know, you're like, okay, I want to be realist. You know, the doctors are saying

00:14:56.780 I'm probably never going to have a life again. And so, you know, it's, it looks bleak. It looks

00:15:03.520 like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. But yes, I hit this wall in my recovery. But then

00:15:11.320 you know what? Something happened for me. There was a girl who was giving me, um, therapeutic

00:15:19.000 massages. I was mostly bedridden all these years. And John Henry, we can have a whole nother show

00:15:25.600 about like in length because of work. I'm giving you the cliff notes on this because it was, it

00:15:30.920 was a lot. I was, I was, I was bedridden a lot of the times. And so I was getting these therapeutic

00:15:36.720 massages, this girl had compassion on me. And she said, you know, Cherie, I really would love to

00:15:45.640 introduce you to a friend of mine. She's a, she's a naturopathic doctor. I had nothing to lose. And

00:15:52.260 so I, I said, sure. And so that was the game changer for me. And I could tell you without a

00:16:00.160 out that when I hit about four years, four years is a long time, I ended up making truly a miraculous

00:16:09.200 recovery against all odds. I went from doctors saying, sure, you're never going to have a life

00:16:15.220 again, to it looks like I might be able to have a life again. That's miraculous.

00:16:26.760 Your prayer life during those three and a half, four years, you know, is the darkest of times.

00:16:32.620 What did your relationship with our Lord look like?

00:16:35.040 Because oftentimes when it comes to real emergency situations, there's no thought to anything.

00:16:40.500 Sometimes there can't be a thought to anything.

00:16:43.080 Other people are interceding for you, for sure.

00:16:45.940 But when you sort of come to enough to do anything, where are you at with God?

00:16:52.780 How does that conversation with our Lord look like?

00:16:55.100 I'm only human. So I went through all of those natural ranges of emotions where I was mad.

00:17:05.360 I was mad at God. Why did this happen to me? Why did you spare my life? And then now I'm like this.

00:17:15.920 Didn't I do everything right? Wasn't I a good Catholic? Wasn't I a good person?

00:17:22.860 I went through all of those stages of anger, um, just despair. I had severe TBI. So I had to be

00:17:32.240 like in a dark, quiet room just to live. That's one of the things when you have a traumatic brain

00:17:39.880 injury, like highly sensitive to sound and light and everything. You're in these dark times,

00:17:46.360 quite literally. And you wonder, why God? Why? I knew he is there. I knew he was there. I knew

00:18:00.100 that our lady spared my life, but I didn't know why. And then I was always asking him to take

00:18:07.060 me. I don't want to be here anymore. Like if I don't want to be a burden to my parents,

00:18:12.780 to my family. You know, if I'm going to be like this for the rest of my life, like, what is my

00:18:18.900 purpose? You feel worthless. You feel like a burden. I had so many questions for God. And 0.73

00:18:26.900 I want to say something, and this is something that I don't always bring up, but I had this

00:18:33.920 little icon of our blessed mother that I had bought in Spain many years ago. And it was on

00:18:43.240 my bedroom wall. When I would go through these just horrific episodes when I was bedridden,

00:18:50.780 where the pain was just so horrific, I would look up and I would always look at this icon

00:18:56.980 of Our Lady. And somehow that always gave me a certain sense of comfort when I had

00:19:05.060 no more words in my mind. I had no more questions for God because I didn't understand why.

00:19:16.060 And I bring that up because it is so important to have these beautiful images

00:19:24.040 of our Blessed Mother, of our Lord, of the saints, of the angels, of all of these beautiful things

00:19:33.680 that actually they're there to remind us of their presence, to remind us of the beauty of life,

00:19:41.420 because that's what it did for me, because that little icon gave me so much comfort in those

00:19:47.320 deepest, darkest times. I still had a prayer life, but it was like, it was bleak because I didn't

00:19:54.340 know why, but I, but I knew that there must've been some reason why our lady on our lady of

00:20:02.860 Lord's feast day of all days. And I pray those rosaries and I knew it deep inside. I mean,

00:20:07.580 I had a brain injury, but I, you know, you still, you're yourself, but different. It's very hard to

00:20:13.580 describe. You're you, but different. But I knew, I just knew though, she spared my life. I just

00:20:23.120 didn't know why. And I could tell you without a doubt, if I didn't have my faith, I would not be

00:20:32.060 sitting here. There's no way. And again, that's why I have a lot of compassion and empathy for

00:20:38.620 people. Because how do you get through something like that without God, without the faith,

00:20:48.660 without all the tools that we have? And I talk about, we have a toolbox as Catholics.

00:20:52.860 We have all these tools in the toolbox. How do you get through it? I would not be able to get

00:20:59.640 through it because what I went through was just that horrific. And it's another reason

00:21:05.700 for my drive in sharing that with other people because I've been there I've been there

00:21:14.380 the concept of uniting your sufferings with our lord with our lady uh in the crucifixion

00:21:23.140 the cross did any of that come into play in your life yes I remember thinking how did

00:21:30.800 our Lord go through so much for us. Here I am struggling to just live and I'm going through

00:21:41.200 so much pain. And he did that for us. And so I, again, I heard my mom's voice in my head, like

00:21:51.500 offer it up. That's one of the beautiful things about being a Catholic is like,

00:21:58.840 you have this mindset of that suffering. You can make suffering count. We're all going to

00:22:07.820 suffer in this life. This is not the destination, but make it count. Make it count. And so this

00:22:17.400 concept of uniting our sufferings with our Lord and our Lady, making our sufferings in this life

00:22:24.780 count is a beautiful, beautiful devotion and mindset to have that I think has been lost

00:22:32.400 in large part in our society today. It's another thing that I'm so glad you just asked me that

00:22:36.900 question. A lot of people don't know, have never heard that. Offer it up. What does that mean?

00:22:44.080 It's a beautiful, good thing to do because make it count. Make it count.

00:22:49.640 Father Pio used to take people through his monastery and he would tell the visitors, and now it'll take you to the real power center where our most important work is done.

00:23:01.320 And we take them to the sick and dying brothers who are there offering themselves as they expire, as they literally die, you know, from all their sufferings and whatnot.

00:23:13.840 but there they are expiating their sins but also uniting themselves with christ and his own

00:23:20.040 sacrifice for the good of the world it's it's really it's such a strange thing to try and

00:23:26.760 comprehend and i think really it really is for the people like you who've sort of been there done that

00:23:33.120 and suffered in a way that comes close to the death mark where you really get a chance to

00:23:40.260 experience it is it's interesting because a lot of people going through the sufferings of daily

00:23:45.380 life you know this and that is often you can resent that oh offer it up come on like yeah

00:23:51.960 what are you gonna say offer it up um and you know i remember my dad saying that to me over

00:23:57.300 and over again and you're like okay already whatever i'm i'm in pain offered up but there's

00:24:02.240 a reality there that that really strike especially when you're a little kid you hear that and you're

00:24:06.560 like, what do you mean? You know? And, and, um, I don't think it's really until you truly

00:24:12.060 go through something so horrific and tragic that, that really hits home

00:24:18.740 the depth and meaning and value of suffering. Take us to your sort of getting out of the tomb

00:24:27.080 as it were. So this happens by year four, you're starting to realize, oh, there might be life after

00:24:32.180 death in a sense. And where does that take you? You would think that after all those through all

00:24:38.840 those years that, you know, those were my darkest moments, right? They were pretty dark. But when I

00:24:45.620 actually saw like a light at the end of the tunnel, suddenly, like I'm thinking, I'm, I'm

00:24:53.580 actually might just have a second chance at life against all odds against everything the doctors

00:25:01.700 said. That was actually when I hit rock bottom, to be honest, because I had finally, in a sense,

00:25:14.160 just resigned myself. Okay, this is my existence. And God didn't take me. Here I am.

00:25:22.800 And then all of a sudden, it's like, here I am getting better. What am I supposed to do now?

00:25:28.220 I mean, a lot happens in four years. I had lost everything. And everyone around me, you know,

00:25:35.880 their lives went on. A lot changed in the world. I tell people something called Uber was invented.

00:25:42.300 I mean, there was a lot of changes in the world. Here I was suddenly better. What am I supposed to

00:25:50.440 do now? And no one knows who I am. I've been sequestered away from the world for so long.

00:25:56.260 and um I went through a very like rock bottom time and I I talk about this very specifically

00:26:07.800 because I clearly clearly remember I was in the back porch with my parents and it was nighttime

00:26:14.680 and I just looked up to the sky and I saw the stars and I just told God, you know, Father,

00:26:25.860 wherever you want me to go, I'll go. And whatever you want me to do, I'll do. But you've got to show

00:26:33.040 me the way because I have no idea what you want me to do now. You spared my life.

00:26:44.680 You kept me down. You didn't take me. Here I am now better. I have no idea what your plan is for

00:26:52.240 me. And I, in that moment, I could say without a doubt that I totally surrendered. And you know how

00:27:01.140 we pray like that surrender novena and everyone talks about surrender. Okay. When you do that,

00:27:08.140 do you really surrender? Not really. You still want what you want. You're still asking God,

00:27:13.460 Right. I mean, come on. I mean, you pray that you want to surrender, but like you don't really,

00:27:19.600 really surrender. I'm telling you that night I truly surrendered and I meant it. And that is a

00:27:29.100 very difficult place to go to. But I do believe that we all have to get to that place at some

00:27:36.320 point in our lives that absolute complete surrender to god in his will it's pretty all-encompassing

00:27:44.140 because it's more like a i am nothing i have nothing i am yours and i have no clue i always

00:27:50.200 add to that and i really thank god that you choose the foolish of this world um and the

00:27:56.820 weak of this world because then you because you sort of said it all by that point you're like 0.93

00:28:00.660 okay you want me i'm yours i don't know what good that'll be but here i am because i've got

00:28:06.180 nowhere else and nothing else anyway. Only then can you understand and realize what God's mission

00:28:14.200 and purpose and path is for you. And I could say with certainty that after that night, when I gave

00:28:20.660 that total complete surrender to God, you know, within a few weeks, things started happening for

00:28:25.860 me in my life and things started just materializing, if you will. And it became very clear

00:28:35.040 where God wanted me to go and what he wanted me to do. And it was this beautiful thing that

00:28:42.680 happened. And it was only after I completely surrendered to him. And so, you know, I do speak

00:28:49.800 about this because it's so important and it's so difficult to get to that point where you're just

00:28:54.160 rock bottom and you're like, okay, Lord, it's my life's yours. What do you want? What do you want

00:29:00.720 from me. I'll do it. And then he really does. He really does make the way. And that's what

00:29:05.700 happened for me. He gave me a second chance completely. What did our Lord do for you

00:29:11.120 concretely? What was your calling? What is your calling and how are you living it out today?

00:29:15.720 I became the U.S. ambassador for something called the Women's Brain Project in Switzerland.

00:29:22.280 And then the next thing you know, I get this phone call and I become one of the executive

00:29:26.720 producers of the film Roe v. Wade with Jon Voight. Never thought I would go back into Hollywood.

00:29:32.000 That was not on my radar. When you've been given a second chance at life, that's not what you think

00:29:36.920 about. And then all these things were just happening for me. And so it became very clear

00:29:43.780 to me that God was preparing me for my life now. And that is really advocating for all that is true

00:29:55.780 good and beautiful whether that's in media in film um you know I never set out to be a speaker

00:30:03.640 I had to learn how to talk again remember so you know all the things that come with that you know

00:30:09.120 social cues and I mean I had a brain injury and so um it was very difficult for me and so I never

00:30:16.040 ever in a million years thought that I would be doing what I'm doing now but now I'm a speaker

00:30:21.560 I'm also the U.S. ambassador for the Same You Project in the UK.

00:30:26.040 I am a movie producer now.

00:30:28.400 I speak around the world.

00:30:30.240 I mean, I cannot tell you how amazing my life is now and how fulfilling it is.

00:30:39.580 And a lot of times I will just stop and say, wow, God, thank you for not taking me.

00:30:48.480 All those years of praying for him to take me, he was refining me and preparing me for my life now

00:30:56.900 and for the mission he has for me. And I find myself in rooms around the world with incredible

00:31:04.360 people. I'm on podcasts. I mean, who would have thought this would ever happen? I mean, I was

00:31:09.900 literally bedridden with a brain injury for years. And here I am. And in hindsight, I see

00:31:18.680 what God was doing. I just want people to have hope. And I think that's part of my message as

00:31:25.620 well, is I want to bring positivity and hope to people out there because we all go through things.

00:31:31.100 i've been there so i could say it as a quote-unquote expert um don't give up because life

00:31:40.320 is worth living and it's beautiful and we only get this one life i was given a second chance but

00:31:47.040 it's like what are you going to do about it right do it do it all for god you know one of the things

00:31:51.840 he's obviously used to in a very powerful way in encouraging people uh who have gone through and

00:31:58.840 are going through uh really rough rough times those who doubt the goodness of god because he's

00:32:06.840 let things befall them or their families or whatever the other thing though is he's expanded

00:32:14.400 your mission you're speaking now about issues where the world even the church to a large extent

00:32:21.560 refuses to tread one of those issues today because you will hear um even homilies with regard to

00:32:31.560 abortion or or god forbid lgbt yet the subject that you speak on is one that i mean it's like

00:32:41.760 nobody dares to tread it's on what is true femininity you're willing to go to a place

00:32:48.880 when most people aren't else but that i truly recognize what god has done in my life and he

00:32:57.140 has given me a second chance and with that comes this beautiful perspective that i now have and i

00:33:09.460 just cannot unsee because i have experienced not only the miracle of our lady sparing my life but

00:33:18.100 giving me a second chance at life. And I see miracles now all the time because you can't

00:33:23.980 unsee them. And one of the things is that our blessed mother is so good to us. She loves us so

00:33:33.560 much. She is our role model as women. And as I've started my second chance at life, I've noticed

00:33:41.880 all of the hurt out there. Everyone is hurting. Everyone is confused. To your point, people are

00:33:48.540 saying, you know, they're mad at God. They're doubting the goodness of God. They're wondering

00:33:54.580 if God even exists. And, you know, I have so much compassion because of what I've gone through.

00:34:01.380 And so that's why I want people to know, hold our lady's hand, pray the rosary, because when you

00:34:08.740 are praying the rosary and you're holding onto those beads, it's like a link to heaven. You're

00:34:14.320 holding her hand. She is our role model as women. And as women, I cannot even believe that there's 0.87

00:34:21.820 even confusion on what is a man, what is a woman, first of all. Again, I was down for years. So I

00:34:28.920 mean, a lot has changed in the world. I cannot even believe that that's a thing now. But I have

00:34:34.940 to say that I have five brothers and I know very keenly that boys and girls are different and

00:34:41.420 beautifully so. And the more as women, like, let's not try to be like men. Let's be better women.

00:34:51.460 And the more that we let men become better men and we focus on becoming better women,

00:34:58.820 the more our society will then be able to heal. And I think that that is something that we're

00:35:05.420 really dealing with in society and embracing our femininity, our true femininity is so important.

00:35:12.060 With that comes like, you know, just our, our nurturing, our traits of nurturing and being

00:35:18.000 loving and kind. It is truly such a gift to be a woman. And, and when you are a good woman,

00:35:27.160 I mean, that's why it says it in the Bible. 1.00

00:35:29.100 Like, it is more rare than rubies, a good woman, right?

00:35:33.240 And we are the ones that can elevate men and the world and society as a whole.

00:35:40.840 And again, I always go back to Fulton Sheen and his timeless quotes, because you know

00:35:47.300 what? 1.00

00:35:48.100 Women have the ability and the capacity to elevate society. 1.00

00:35:54.800 What a gift it is to be a woman.

00:35:56.320 And I think just having this second chance at life, I mean, you see, I get very passionate about this. I'm so passionate about my life now. And I see the beauty in being a woman and having our blessed mother. And I want everyone to know her and to embrace that because it makes life so much better and so much easier. It really does.

00:36:20.740 In a dark room where you are bereft really of company other than the spiritual company, you probably get to see, if you will, Our Lady clearer than anyone else.

00:36:36.820 What does our mother look like? And I mean look in the sense, in the total sense. We know that

00:36:44.280 she's our beautiful mother. We know that she has the purity, the grace, the charity, all of that.

00:36:51.320 What did she look like to you? What did you see in your heart? She is so filled with love.

00:36:57.320 her beauty is there because it is love and that's why all the images of her can never do her justice

00:37:07.580 I think one of the greatest gifts that God gave to us

00:37:11.580 after his son was his mother and having our blessed mother and knowing her

00:37:19.020 it just makes life sweeter

00:37:22.520 and I could say that without a doubt and that's where her beauty comes from is it's from

00:37:31.320 that absolute purity and holiness and the the love she has for mankind the love that she has

00:37:40.800 for us her daughters and her sons and you know when I speak about this I always go back to

00:37:48.320 you know um the writings of blessed and katherine emmerich and how she describes in detail

00:37:58.200 what our our lady wears and you know what she wore and it was surprisingly to a lot of people

00:38:06.280 not to me but very very feminine very detailed very meticulous very clean and

00:38:14.140 again, that goes back to embracing our femininity because God is the author of beauty. He is the

00:38:23.960 author of all that is good and true and beautiful. And she is the embodiment of that. I love Our Lady

00:38:31.280 so much. I mean, it's gotten to the point where, you know, now that I restarted my life and I'm a

00:38:37.280 few years in here and all these things have happened. I mean, she, I tell people she is my

00:38:41.680 boss. She is. Our Lady of Lords is my boss. For many people that Our Lady has to be more known.

00:38:50.800 And I believe that Our Lord has called you to that because you experienced her in a very special way

00:38:58.260 and she does what she did from the beginning because she was asked by Our Lord, by the Father

00:39:04.200 to allow her son to be chastised for the world. And she obviously did that with her beloved

00:39:10.900 a daughter in yourself and she'll do that with each of us and uh thanks to your example we have

00:39:17.460 to be ready for that but also bear the cross because on the other side is a resurrection

00:39:24.060 and uh then that abandonment that tell me what you want to do because i'm ready to do anything

00:39:31.240 for you is where we need to be and doing that through and with our lady is uh the most gorgeous

00:39:38.260 thing. Tell us where people can learn more about you, follow you, and stay in touch with what 0.66

00:39:42.940 you're doing. I hear you're going to be speaking at the event that's right prior, on September 23rd,

00:39:50.160 right prior to the beatification of Blessed Fulton Sheen.

00:39:53.640 You know, I am so honored to be a speaker at that conference on the eve of his beatification.

00:40:00.440 I felt like, when I was asked, I felt him wanting me there, and I just feel so humbled.

00:40:08.260 because his wisdom was so timeless. Just like our faith is timeless. It's timeless. But he's

00:40:14.760 such a key figure for our times. And I do believe that we were born for these times, right?

00:40:23.140 And what a time to be alive. I mean, I know that it's so easy, and I want to just give this to

00:40:31.160 your audience. It's so easy to be sad and worried about the state of things in the world. And we

00:40:38.580 hear the news and we look around us and it's so much negativity. But I'm here to say that this

00:40:46.940 is a beautiful time to be alive. We were chosen for these times, all of us together. We are chosen

00:40:54.180 to be the light in this world. That's one of my mottos, go out there, be the light.

00:40:59.240 and I want people to have hope because it's like, what are you going to do with this life that

00:41:05.840 you've been given? Because it is that beautiful. Life is so beautiful and I want people to have

00:41:12.700 hope. No matter what you're going through, God is there. Even if you don't think he's there,

00:41:17.980 he is there. Pray the rosary. Use the tools in the toolbox. Smile and remember that whatever

00:41:25.720 you're going through, make it count, right? And remember that, you know, this life is just, it's

00:41:32.180 so short. So it's like, what are you going to do about it? Be joyous. You know, I mean, one of the

00:41:38.820 things that people think is they think, oh, you know, if you're religious or, you know, you believe

00:41:43.180 in God and you're devout, then you're not going to be this happy, joyous person. I mean, to be

00:41:49.800 honest, it's quite the opposite. There is an excitement and a passion for life that I just

00:41:56.560 cannot even tell you how important that is to have and what a joy it is to live. And I want to impart

00:42:05.800 that to everyone, everyone who encounters me and people can find me online, Instagram,

00:42:12.780 shereeballinger.com. And then of course, I hope to see everyone at the beatification of Fulton

00:42:18.280 machine, especially at our conference. Life is just so beautiful. I'm just so honored to be on

00:42:22.400 your show. I'm so honored and I'm so honored to be able, I mean, look at me, look at me now. I mean,

00:42:28.460 from what I went through, the fact that I get to be on podcasts, shows like this, sharing my story

00:42:36.160 and the goodness of God and what our blessed mother has done for me through the power of the

00:42:41.920 rosary. Wow. What a great blessing is that? I am living proof that miracles happen every single

00:42:50.620 day. Cherie Ballanger, thank you so much for joining us. God bless you. And I will be seeing

00:42:56.380 you in St. Louis. God bless all of you. And we'll see you next time.

00:43:02.840 Hello, I'm Frank Wright. I recently suffered the distinct shock of being viewed by over 50

00:43:10.180 million people when elon musk and others shared my warning on the direction society is heading

00:43:16.100 my work at life side news is only possible because good people like you support our efforts to

00:43:22.460 restore all things in christ and thereby work for the salvation of as many souls as possible

00:43:28.800 please consider sending your support at give.lifesidenews.com today so we can reach even

00:43:36.920 more souls with the truth.

00:43:39.480 Thank you. God bless

00:43:41.000 you all.

The John-Henry Westen Show - September 11, 2026

Catholic Actress Loses Everything After Accident – Returns to Hollywood as Warrior for Christ

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