Whether you're in the market for a new LGBT podcast to stream or you just want to be entertained by a couple of witty, quirky, and downright lovable ladies, the stars of the #ILoveMyWife podcast won't disappoint.
Travel, music, cocktailing, parenting – these gals dish about all the important things.
We sat down with the stars of the #ILoveMyWife podcast to get all the juicy details about what goes on behind the scenes.
The Juicy Details: Personal Life
As with all great romances, Kelli and Anne met seemingly by fate. Kelli told us the story of how she and Anne came to first know each other peripherally before falling in love and starting their amazing adventurous life together.
"I chartered cruise ships for many years for LGBT families and Anne was hired to be a singer on our second charter," Kelli told us. "She was working on the ship and singing. I knew she was amazingly talented and beautiful, but I didn't know that much about her. And then just years down the road to be hired her to sing on a trip in Hawaii."
"We were both single at the time and spent some time together and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, she's funny and she's smart and she's all the other things that are more important qualities than talented and beautiful," Kelli said, laughing. "You know, it just clicked and it was an amazing thing because it was somebody that I already knew and when you have kids it's a big thing to bring sort of a stranger into your family."
Coming from a prior relationship with four children, Kelli was hesitant to tell her kiddos right away about her new partner. "We waited a while before telling the kids," Kelli continued, "but once we did, my kids adored her right away. She was like this bright light that entered our lives."
A Balancing Act: Work Life
When it comes to celebrity couples, you won't find Anne and Kelli on the cover of the tabloids with their drama exposed – mostly for the fact that this dynamic duo has figured out a way to bring harmony to the hustle of star life.
Anne Steele is a singer and musical artist who frequently travels the globe on her musical tours. In fact, she's currently touring for her latest album, Made Out of Stars. Over the next several months, Anne will be hopping from Boston to Seattle to San Francisco to Delaware to Atlanta to Miami to Chicago... and more tour dates are added all the time!
So, we wanted to know: What's it like being married to someone who's always on tour?
"Since she's great with travel – obviously, she runs a successful travel company for LGBT families – Kelli books all of my gigs for tours and we travel together as much as possible," Anne told us. "We have so much fun together traveling the world."
In between Anne's shows and when Kelli isn't busy building beautiful travel expeditions for her clients, the two also get to share a special experience together: being the stars of the #ILoveMyWife podcast.
"Anne has always loved social media and she used #ILoveMyWife in all of our travel pictures together," Kelli said. "So when we asked our friends what we should call our podcast, they were like, 'Duh! #ILoveMyWife!'"
The #ILoveMyWife Podcast
Anne's a singer, Kelli's a travel expert, they have four kids together and juggle this crazy thing called life – so what's the podcast all about?
"Our initial mission was just to talk about what we do, bring on our incredible friends, promote others' businesses, and talk about what we believe in," Anne told us. "Over time, it's evolved into an incredibly fun hour of light, fun enjoyment of goofiness about our overly complicated, yet strangely normal life."
"Our life is either really mundane and relatable... or we're traveling the world," Kelli added, laughing. "The show is full of interesting banter and we make a point to keep it light."
While Anne is a natural on any stage, Kelli admitted to struggling with being a newbie podcast star. "In the beginning, I was horrifically uptight," Kelli said. "Thankfully, our first guest, Judy Gold, added levity and really showed me what our podcast could be. Now, we just enjoy ourselves and our guests during each episode. We have a good time, so our listeners have a good time."
Since launching their pilot episode in January 2018, the #ILoveMyWife podcast has grown to host more than 64 episodes featuring a wide variety of LGBT and ally guests like:
- Melissa Ethridge and her wife, Linda Wallem
- Ty Herndon, the first openly gay country music singer
- Gavin Creel, Tony Award Winner
- Doug Wilson, TLC's Trading Spaces Designer
- Brad Loekle, Comedian
- Barbara Kinney, Photographer to Hillary Clinton
- Ben Rimalower, Director
Now, thanks to their partnership with DNR Studios, when you subscribe to the #ILoveMyWife podcast for less than the cost of a venti latte at Starbucks, you get immediate access to all of the #ILoveMyWife podcast episodes plus more than 120 streaming hours of other DNR Studios shows to protect against commuter boredom.
The Closer: Cocktails
"When we were coming up with the idea for our podcast, I had this idea of doing a segment called 'It's 5 o' Clock Somewhere' because I thought it would be a fun little bit that would wrap up all the things we talked about in our episodes," Anne said.
"I had known Bert Gallagher of Equality Vodka for a while and we approached him to see if he'd like to partner with us on it. He, of course because he's awesome, said yes and the segment turned into creating a unique cocktail for each of our guests."
At the end of each episode of the #ILoveMyWife podcast, the "It's 5 o' Clock Somewhere!" segment serves as a special gift for the episode's guest. For the last few minutes of the show, Bert Gallagher, the co-founder of Equality Vodka, comes on to unveil a custom cocktail designed to match the personality of the guest.
"I'm amazed at the incredibly creative cocktails Bert comes up with for our guests," said Kelli. In fact, Kelli and Anne each had a chance to have a custom cocktail made for them during their birthday episodes!
In honor of Anne's birthday, Equality Vodka crafted her an 80's Throwback cocktail. "It was something totally nebular!" Kelli said. For Kelli's birthday, "Bert made me a cocktail in honor of my favorite movie: The Sound of Music! He named it the Kellitini!"
You can check out all of the delicious cocktails and the binge-worthy episodes over at the #ILoveMyWife podcast at DNR Studios.