00:00
That day I made over a thousand dollars that afternoon selling cards and I thought I found my calling. Basically the first five were Magic, Larry, Pamela Anderson, Smoke and Joe Frazier, Chevy and maybe Rodman at that time. This side was a burning, firing sensation. I heard a voice tell me in this year I've got to and you're ready and I stood up and it wasn't me. The first time, right in the toilet.

00:24
This part of ending is starting again. You're listening to the Radcast. If it's radical, we cover it. Here's your host, Ryan Alford. Hey guys, what's up? Welcome to the latest edition of the Radcast. I'm Ryan Alford, your host. We're talking stars today. We're talking truth. We're talking discovery. We're talking to Darren Prince. What's up, Darren?

00:51
Thanks for having me and I appreciate it. All good. Hey man. Fascinating story. I'm looking forward to getting into it. As we talked pre-episode, all these layers in marketing, what you do with the stars, but then the discovery, the darker side maybe, but how you found light, um, as the bestselling author of aiming high. So excited to talk about that. And of course the CEO of Prince marketing groups. So

01:16
I know it's gonna be a great discovery, a great talk. So I really appreciate your time. Same here. Cool, man. Well, Darren, you know, for those that maybe are discovering you as we get along, I wanna get to your story and all that, but the day job is agent to the stars. Do you call yourself that? Like I've talked to some of these guys, you sound like you're pretty grounded, but.

01:44
is how do you classify the day job? They knew me over the past 14 years. I'm just privileged to work with some of the most iconic athletes and celebrities of all time. The broken me has a reminder every day on my life from what the media used to refer to me as when I was real out there full of myself, a super agent.

02:06
was the title. And I actually have a tattoo which I write about in my book, which was pretty dumb back in the day in 1995, I think, around when I started the agency with, 1994, when I started the agency with Magic Johnson as my first client, because I needed it, I believed all the hype. And my dad, may he rest in peace, with Father's Day coming up, reminded me one day that, uh,

02:30
They don't call you super agent because you're anybody super because Matthew Johnson is super remember that. Hey, it's called borrowed interest. You know, that's what I tell Goliath all the time. We need to borrow some interest because you aren't very interesting. He does what your, uh, your dad might've been trying to say, but obviously look, you, you've been successful. You didn't just happen. So you got to take some claim whether or not, you know, any of us are super.

02:57
Or not, or should have tattoos. I have tattoos, but I've never been, I don't know, egotistical or ballsy enough to call myself any monikers. I don't know. Maybe we'll all regret them one day, I don't care. It's just hard to me. Derrick, for everybody listening, you've got a fascinating story, and obviously we're gonna plug the book, people can learn all about you, but I'm gonna let you tell, you know, whatever that...

03:26
Semi-condensed, it didn't have to be condensed. We got time, but let's talk about a little bit of that professional journey. So I started a baseball car business when I was 14 years old when my friends thought it was kind of corny and not cool anymore. In the mid 1980s, around 1983, 84, I had four different jobs, squeezing orange juice at a supermarket and.

03:49
uh... delivering newspapers working at a pizzeria in a stock way to sneaker store i just took all that extra money i was fascinated with baseball cards and uh... by shoe boxes from friends twenty bucks thirty bucks whatever it was my friends that did collect were into the stars of that era dom maddenley roger clements curvy pocket darryl strawberry and i just had a fascination for the older ones that weren't as

04:18
But I knew in my mind from getting a price guide back then, there was only one called CCP current card price guide way before Beckett for anybody that's listening in those at Beckett. And it was a newspaper that would come once a week. I knew the older ones had value. So I betrayed the newer ones that I'd get out of the pack. But these old stinky ones that they got from their fathers, their uncles, and their grandfathers not realize I was amassing a massive collection. And it was my teacher who I'm still close with to this day, Elliott Lovie.

04:45
challenged our intro to business class to go home and create a business overnight. I actually had one, I just didn't execute. So when I came back home that day after school, I went downstairs to speak to my dad and said, hey, dad, I need insurance. I'm starting a business. I have my baseball cards. My mom and dad would always see the shoe boxes lined up meticulously with stickers and labels on what's in each box, but I don't think they had any idea of the value. Remember, they grew up in an era where they threw them out, you know, where you put them between your bicycles.

05:15
You know ways so the condition was destroyed and he's like, what do you need? I said about eight or nine and he goes alright because luck got food. There's ever a flood or something I'll get a thousand dollars with the homeowners and I look I said that eight or nine thousand not eight or nine hundred So my dad it was an entrepreneur my mentor my closest friends it's such a special interest in me which meant a lot because you know

05:38
correlate how I became a drug addict. It was because I felt less that I never felt secure. I never felt good enough. I didn't feel smart enough. I was in special ed classrooms and labeled as learning disabled and verbally bullied and teased because of it. And so it meant so much to me that he wanted to sit down and understand how I had so much value and what was my plan to sell them. And I had a big newspaper at this big and I said, look, there's a baseball card show in two weeks. I want to get a table. It's $20.

06:07
and I get to buy, sell and trade all day. I think I'll do really well. And I spent every day after school. Uh, it was the Gary D mentality. Good for Gary, uh, existed, but he's my boy too. We always talk about the craziness of the baseball card. Boom, but he's done. It's amazing. And, um, so I executed and, uh, that day I made over a thousand dollars that afternoon selling cards. And I thought I found my calling, but the interesting was as I'm buzzing, as I'm flying, as I felt at home, I felt.

06:36
I was an extrovert. I knew so much about the business. I knew so much about cards. I felt like I was the young gun in the industry, the young buck that everybody was looking at for advice. And, you know, what are the cards to buy, to put away, to invest in? But until I got home that night with a pocket full of cash and bought new cards and added stuff to my inventory, I had this feeling of emptiness that would really never go away. I had this feeling that even though I just had that moment.

07:04
I'm still sitting at home and I'd alone. I'm like, I know I go to school tomorrow, feeling like a complete total loser that is never gonna go anywhere in life because he's an idiot and can't learn what everybody else learns. That's powerful. That's tough growing up feeling that way. Like in your highest moment, you felt in a way you got to enjoy it for 10 minutes, right? I mean, it's like, I remember the baseball cards though. I mean, I had, see, I got in,

07:34
Unfortunately, you're younger than they were. He got in in the 90s. So it was my I'm 44. So so so but it was a generational gap. But that don't those, you know, don't rush tops years where they made too many of them. And like, you know, what happened? Yeah. 89 to 88 to 89. I know for that held somewhat of its value with Griffey, a junior 89 score football did OK. You know, that kind of held its value.

08:04
My one saving grace, I got into basketball cards. I had the Fleur. I was just about to say, did she get it? I had the Fleur basketball cards from 86 onward. That was like the first thing I had inherited or bought, even though I was like 10. I love it. So I still have some of those. And then the freaking, all the, then they made too many of the, I forget the name of it. I don't know, it wasn't score, I don't know. Score. It was score basketball cards? Yeah.

08:31
Made too many of those, I think, after a certain round. But. It brings back some of the best memories though. And about two years ago, my boy Jason Coons, who's one of the biggest in the industry, ODSports got me back into it. And now I got this fun little side card hustle. Mathilda, who's one of my agents here. The girls go crazy when I get stuff in and.

08:51
packages come one after the other and Look and I'll tell them stories You know what? This was birth but I could have bought this for 25 years ago or what I sold this exact hard for Like 10% of what I had to pay for it now But I'm loving it because the market back and and then it's healthier than ever especially Non baseball, which I don't think I bought many baseball parts. It's all basketball football at this point. Yep. I got a

09:18
I ran into a John Stockton rookie card. Like I was like going flipping through a box and it was in like one of those glass cases. I still have a handful. I mean, I'll have like thousands and thousands, but I probably still have several hundred that would probably worth something. I'm telling you, you got a lot of listeners right now that are very intrigued and probably have us talking about sports cards. I know. Oh, we'll get over it. It's my show. So what happened from there, man, was I...

09:44
I eventually got out of the card business at 19. I dropped out of college. I did really well. I had a.86 GPA. I was an academic probation, but I was making probably $400,000 or $500,000 a year selling cards at that point. I sold my company and started a memorabilia company because I was very intrigued by having the ability to have relationships with athletes and celebrities, sit in a hotel room with them, have a guy like Muhammad Ali.

10:08
who's the most recognized human on our side, a bunch of boxing gloves and trunks and photos and the coolness of it was much sexier and wasn't like a little bit too nerdy like the card thing. And I did that for about four years. And that's how I developed all the relationships. I started working with Magic Johnson, Chevy Chase, Smoke and Joe Frazier, May He Rest In Peace, Evil Peenie Ball, another one, Dennis Rodman, Hulk Hogan, Rick Flair. And by developing that relationship, which relationship building is so key nowadays,

10:38
I was able to eventually, I got out of that business and started Prince Martin Group in 1994 and Magic had enough faith and trust and belief in me that it became my first client. That's cool. I mean, you know, there it is. Like you just name dropped like some of the most iconic stars of like the last. And it's not even, I think I'm a humble guy. I remember doing, when I was doing the DeZone when the book came out with the big boxing network, my boy.

11:07
Iraq and and AK. He just like shook his head because you just realize the names that God was like, it's my life, man. I don't I'm not dropping on just to drop them. You know, it's less unfortunate to be around some of the most cultural iconic stars of our time. But more importantly, great, great people, great human beings that understand life is about giving back. And 99% of our calls at this point, 29 years later with magic is about life.

11:36
and my journey of recovery and how's my family and the love he used to have for my dad when he was alive and my dad had for him. I mean, you know, when my wedding party, my first marriage, you know, Magic, Dennis Rodman, Smoke and Joe Frazier, all flowing all in the wedding party, you know, they become family. You know, it goes so much beyond business because their circle to trust a limited amount of people is so small.

12:01
in that world and that means everything. My 50th birthday, you know, magic, you know, was there with his whole family. E.J., Elisa, the daughter's wife, his executive staff, Dennis came in. I know stuff like that means the world to me. It's so much more than just money just to see that love and that trust and that bond that we're able to develop. And that the end of the day, I mean, I think you know that like we're all human, you know, like these guys get put on pedestals and

12:27
They should be, I mean, they've got natural skills and talent that have blessed them and that are so rare, like back to baseball cards. Talent is rare, baseball cards are rare because of the demand and the demand for sports and to watch it, but the rarity of the elite athletes is what creates them, but you scratch underneath it all and we're all human beings, they're all human beings. And. Exactly.

12:53
You know, so to develop those relationships. Yeah, and trust me, they have tough days. I mean, all of them, you know, just like anybody else. And, you know, Carmen Electra and I, a couple of times a month, we'll have an hour, two hour call about life, we laugh our butt off. You know, I have that with almost every one of them. And, you know, every Thanksgiving, I say it all the time in interviews. My first two text messages I get before I can even get to them are typically Hulk and Ric Flair.

13:18
You know, and so. You get a woo and a, are you taking your vitamins? Yeah, I got a what's up brother. What's up brother? I get the woo and then the what's up brother. So I get a little bit of both of the two goats of WWU World. I know. I wanna come back to some maybe, some favorite moments and we'll work our way.

13:42
into the recovery period and maybe even a little before. I know we could spend the whole probably episode on that and I do want to focus on it, but talk about at the core, you name all these stars for people listening, influencer marketing has become this stuff. We're talking about the original like influencer marketing, right? Sports sponsorship marketing. Talk about what you do or have been doing and continue to do for these stars.

14:12
So our listeners kind of understand that dynamic, that side of the hand full of deals over the past probably six weeks was two weeks, uh, two weeks guys with magic on two keynotes, one was to Kyle Sarah.

14:24
a $12 billion company based out of Tokyo. We spoke to 5,000 people the week before that was with my boy Marcus from a session proof big conference in Vegas, probably 5,000 people. Ric Flair signed an NFT deal about a couple months back. He just filmed a commercial for Kevin Harrington is a client to Shark Tank judge for a group that he's consulting for New Image, which is a product called Mount Everest.

14:54
and an ED supplement for men. Carmen Electra is shooting a female company this Friday, which is called Screamer Jail. And we did a campaign for DoorDash. Steve Simon in my office, who's my VP. We go back 42 years. He literally set up that first baseball game with me. He did a DoorDash campaign for Walt Fraser, the NBA legend. He did a gold campaign for Mike Huckabee, the Republican, you know,

15:24
candidate from years back and Chevy Chase, he just signed, we have an endorsement deal that's rolling out with Canes, raising Canes chicken. So we're kind of all over the board with these very unique opportunities that either come our way or that we go out and find. Yeah, that's the fascinating part for me is like, these guys are huge names, everyone you named and Chevy Chase, we could talk about a whole episode. That's my favorite actor of all time, favorite comedies of all time.

15:53
Fletch lives vacation, European vacation. Best ever. Thank you very little. I mean, I can go back and forth, but and Chevy's family, I mean, he's got three daughters and texted me a couple of weeks ago. I text him, just have a happy Memorial Day. And he goes, you are my son. Because I always remember that. I mean, him and his wife, Jane, his kids are, yeah, he's a special one and just incredible.

16:20
impact on pop culture, how many people gravitate now towards Christmas vacation. And I think I, I think you have to be a man to really understand Caddy, Shaq and Fletch. Yeah. I think they crossed the line back in that era. Chevy and I always talk about there's things that he definitely couldn't get away with now. Yeah. Oh yeah. Fletch is his greatest body of work. He ad-libbed and improv'd the entire film. It is incredible. And you know,

16:46
You wouldn't have it. You can have your towel. I'll just hit a water buffalo. It's like this is like the most random things of all time. Target to the underhills. I'll take a bloody Mary St. Dennis to this day. To this day, I'm at the country club. Toll ball bearing. It's just nonstop. I mean, the vacation films have been blessed to not only just.

17:09
No one worked with him and his family, but Beverly D'Angelo, I'm going to see her in a couple of weeks. I've met all the kids that played Rusty and Audrey. That's nice too. But that's the other thing. I get Hulk and his kids, Brooke and Nick, are very near and dear to me. It's very special. I can't say enough about it.

17:32
Who's your longest running client? Is it Magic? Magic. Yeah. Magic. Larry Bird started right after him. We actually have an autograph signing book for him next Monday. And basically the first five were Magic, Larry, Pamela Anderson, Smoke and Joe Frazier, Chevy and maybe Rodman at that time was like six, like right in his heyday playing for the Bulls in 95, maybe six to 72 in 10 season. Yeah.

17:59
What do you think, so biggest misconception to being, you know, you don't call yourself anymore, but the super agent to the stars, like what's the biggest misconception? That luck, it's a dream job, but let me tell you, we have to work our butt off, and we have highs and lows and drama and fires to put out like you can't imagine. It takes a very special breed to work in this industry. It takes a very special breed to, you know.

18:25
understand that a lot of times you're going to throw a lot of things up against the wall. It's not going to stick. You're going to get a lot of contracts or some extraordinarily wealthy celebrities that for whatever reason in the final hour, it could be weeks and weeks of revisions, tens and thousands of legal fees and somebody on that celebrity side doesn't like something and it's a give and take and bam, just like that a multimillion dollar project is set and it's happening time and again. And you just have to have very, very thick skin to understand.

18:54
Until that dotted line is signed and that first wire comes in or that check, you don't have anything done. You know, my dad taught me that at a very young age. It makes it a little bit more, you know, fathomable to understand. It doesn't make it better when it happens. It still stings. But, you know, when you got a guy like Hulk Hogan who's one must recognize human beings on Earth, that's, you know...

19:14
been very business savvy and smart with his investments. You know, it takes a lot, when they're 68, 67, to physically just to get out and do things. You know, mostly what we're looking for now with him are partnerships where it could be his name, his likeness, equity stakes, those type of things, because the appearances he'll do one or two a year and it's absolute mayhem. I mean, I've never, probably outside of maybe Ollie and Smoke and Joe is up there, there's nothing like being out with Hogan. It is.

19:43
notoriety and fame. It's the alpha of the alpha of the alpha. And I've seen Tom Cruise come running over to Matt Mastro's almost new tier earths and Spielberg. I mean, the biggest start world become world. They become human when they see a guy like Hulk Hogan. Yeah. I think back to the, uh, WrestleMania is like having half a million people like, I don't know how many it was. It seemed like when I was a kid, you know, like

20:08
Just superstardom of superstardom, but something about that wrestling stuff that's that transcends everything, right? Everything. Let's talk about where did it go south? It went south as the book says, you know, at my highest moment. I mean, the business was booming, but I was living this crazy double life. I.

20:35
was probably taking and snorting and eating a dozen painkillers a day, OxyContin, Percocets, and Bicadensin. When I leveraged the fact that I was developing sciatica and the doctors believed it was that bad that I could take pain meds on a regular basis, for the first five or six years, man, it worked. I tell people often, all the time, and I'm...

20:54
very careful when I speak to high school groups, because they're my favorite group to speak to, that I was a rock star the first five or six years. I mean, just fearless and unstoppable, built in the agency and getting all the clients that could and getting all the brands attached to them. But at one point it was once living to use turned out to using to live. And I don't know the day that I woke up and took my morning pills or snorted them, however I could get them in my system, but they didn't work. And it actually started becoming like a kryptonite.

21:22
And I can never get back that feeling to the point I had to take more and more and more. And after an overdose in Las Vegas, you know, I went on a detox drug called Suboxone for a year, but at that point, I'm still taking anxiety meds, taking Ambien at night.

21:41
uh... probably cranking a couple days a week taken a mood stabilizer antidepressants i was just a shell of myself and the kick was up on july first two thousand eight israeli land first god moment happened in my life because i was sick and i was at the point desperation i'd given up all the money in the road i had the business of my uncle make he rest in peace he passed last september my uncle still was very near here what his uh... girlfriend

22:06
At the time, Andrea, I never met her before and she walked into my condo with him, paid a surprise visit. They were visiting my mom from Miami. I didn't even know they were in town and just said, are you okay? For some reason, I felt this connection, this human connection. I really never felt with anybody before and I told her everything. I spilled my guts and having no idea who she was, what her history was, anything about her life and she goes, you're an addict, that your life's so manageable. I said, yeah, and she goes, you're powerless. I said, 100%.

22:32
Because again, I ask you the most important thing, she points to all the pictures on the wall, some of the biggest stars, some of the biggest events and whatever. And she goes, do you realize that the disease of addiction does not discriminate? Doesn't matter if you're from Yale or jail or park, or park bench, because this stuff doesn't mean anything because you don't mean anything to yourself. Are you willing to do the work so I can help you? And that broke my soul and I started to cry.

22:55
And I said, I'm desperate. And she put me on a 36 hour detox plan at 36 hours, 7 p.m. And a Sunday night, July 2nd, I was living in New York City at the Caroline building. I came back from the gym. I'm trying to work out three times a day, anything I can to get rid of the physical cravings, the horrific detox pains. And I called her on my own call, but I said, I can't freaking do it. I'm calling the doctor. I gotta get what I really need to get. I'm losing my freaking mind and they...

23:22
My uncle then just stepped it up and grabbed the phone because I'm sick of your bull crap. I'm in recovery. Andrea's in recovery. We can help you. It's time you check your ego. Get rid of it. Kick the crap out of this damn disease that's been in your life since you were 14.

23:38
and get the life he deserved. And I hung up the phone and said, I can't freaking do this. And I thought I was going to another bottom, but I ran into the bath, my locked the door, my then wife Simone is banging on the door, baby, don't do it, don't do it. And I'm going for all the medicine cabinets to find two non-narcotic anxiety pills, which she was allowing me to take during the detox phase. In hindsight, I probably should have gone to a real rehab. And I found two Vicodins came out.

24:04
which are one of the three opiates I said to tick tock so happy. It was like such this relief. Oh my God. That I thought was a God moment until I fell to my knees for the first time in my life with the two Viking and sitting on my left hand and I called and I screamed and I begged for his help. The first and only time in my life I said, take the money, take the, you know, the ride, take the business. I'm sick and tired. I'm desperate. I said, I'll do anything. If you can give me a single day of freedom.

24:32
I will spend one day at a time, if you take me out of hell, taking others out with me. And I had a white lie moment. I'm sure you've had people tell you about it. I had a lightning bolt go through my body. This side was a burning, firing sensation. I heard a voice tell me, and this year I've got to, and you're ready. And I stood up and it wasn't me. And this left hand, for the first time, right in the toilet. That flushed the pills.

24:59
And I walked outside into the living room sweating, shaking, crying. And I went into a computer and I found a 12 step meeting in the upper eighties in a church that night. And I ran downstairs in a gorgeous summer. And I did July 2nd, 2008. There was no Uber. I flagged a cab. I rolled the window down. I'm looking up at the sky and I said, Oh my God, for the first time in my life, I wanted to stay sober, but I want to get high. What the heck just happened? And, um, walked into this church basement.

25:28
150 200 addicts and alcoholics who are once a hopeless state of mind and the leader said is there anybody knew anybody coming back Anybody that needs help Not believe it was God that raised my hand Because had is this so-called big-time super-agent walk into a room and admit to something like this the humiliation the embarrassment to disgust the white he's lived this double life, but

25:54
It's in that moment when I put my hands up, I said, I'm an addict. I'm sick and suffering. I have the most amazing life outside these rooms and I don't want to live anymore. I said, I need your guys help. And that accountability, what about a dozen spiritual brothers and sisters over to me right at that moment in the meeting. And they hug me and they told me things like stick with the winners. It's easier to stay in recovery than it is to come back. If you want what we have and keep your mouth shut and do what we do.

26:21
And most importantly, they told me something that just to this day, I'll never forget it. As they were hugging me and giving me support, they said, we've been where you've been. We are going to love you if we ever learn how to love yourself. You got it. And I took the five A's that those people taught me, attitude, adjustment, accountability, action and acceptance. And I rolled them up in a ball and I put them into my heart, into my soul. I went from one day to a week, week to a month, and I got to a year.

26:50
And slowly but surely working on the steps and going back into those moments in time of my life, this guy became whole. And my sponsor taught me the most important thing after a year, because you want to keep this, it's amazing life. I said, of course he goes, you want this gift every day? I said, yeah, because when then you better start learning how to keep this frigging damn thing away. Cause that's how you keep it. And that's when my journey started. Man.

27:19
That's powerful there. I mean, unbelievable talking with Darren Prince, author, bestseller of Aiming High. Darren, I mean, I can't help but come back to like this moment I mentioned, like the humanity of, you know, we talked about the stars, but then you in that group of people, like, you know, having to, you know, become humble and like do what you had to do, but feeling, I don't know, that transcendent moment of wanting and knowing how to get to the other side of it.

27:49
I mean, it's like you have to want it for yourself. I mean, don't you? I mean, like, obviously you felt. Anybody listening, you gotta want it for yourself. No matter what we do, we can help point them in the right direction, but I truly had to give to desperation on July 2nd, 2008. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. And I slowly regained that power of choice back in my life. Putting this first to this day, it comes for everything. Cause anything I put before recovery, I'll lose.

28:18
And then once that happened, hope and recovery slowly began. Do you still talk to the people, uh, from, from that, from that time period? Of course, man. I mean, I got my boy, John, who, uh, you know, it was probably in his upper seventies now, my sponsor, Steve is my closest friend in the world. I hope I hate calling him sponsor because we're spiritual brothers.

28:41
Some of the biggest advocates in the game are my family. Chris Herron, the ex boss from Celtics, Brandon Novak from Jackass, Tim Ryan and Jennifer Jimenez, Ryan Hampton, my publisher, my book, Anna David's got, I think, 20 years. And my writer, I found out, had, like, Kristen, I think she has a dozen years. And, you know, it's a beautiful thing to be there.

29:04
You know, all beyond that same mission to go out and push this message of hope and recovery from mental health, substance abuse, and no matter what you're suffering with, because of anxiety, depression, bipolar, um, you know, it's all about recovery. It's all about just tapping into that deepest part of your soul. That has a hole in it and slowly becoming whole by doing the work. You know what I bet? Uh, and I have a lot of people tell me this.

29:31
You know, it's one thing that you got to get yourself right, but then you're like worried, okay, I got to tell this story or once you get there, how many people though have either gone, once you start telling that story, I hear a lot of people say this, I want to hear your side of it, how much they can't believe, you know, they're worried about telling that story and what that would mean. And then how many people are number one supportive and number two have gone through similar things. Did you...

29:59
Did you go through that same type of thing or did you feel? Yeah, no, first I mean, when I wrote AIMING HI, first time I broke my hand in anybody on Facebook, my mom was embarrassed. You know, I was so highly respected in my profession, not only just around town, across the globe. I mean, she'd at least need to press in media and with my clients on red carpets and it's embarrassing to a mother and I told her I didn't care. I'd go.

30:25
The embarrassment is not getting sober. The embarrassment is having to hide that your child is suffering. And when I wrote Amy Hahn, my dad already passed about a year and a half prior, and he always wanted me to write a book. She was excited, but she was also nervous that I was putting it out on the world stage. And it took all of about three hours. My first interview was on Chris Cuomo.

30:55
and the next morning was Gidea, New York, and she gets a call on the next morning. I picked the anniversary from October 1st, 2018, because that was the anniversary of Thriller Manila. If you have a copy of my book, we can send it to you. The opening is my historic encounter of getting those two regal kings in the same room, and they were put past at that point.

31:18
and I was with them both for 16 years. Ollie, thanks to my dear friend Harlan Warner, who allowed me in the Ollie camp in Inner Circle. So literally that next morning, my mom gets a call from an old friend from high school that follows her, follows me on Facebook and said, I just saw your son's interview. I cannot even tell you that I'm in tears as a mom. I'm cheering for him. The story is amazing.

31:47
But he take the time to speak to my son, who's in his mid thirties that is struggling so bad with drug addiction and alcoholism. That's powerful. Dropped everything. And you know, he got clean. Many others have gone clean and stayed clean. And for a mother, it was always the success of the age of life that made her so proud.

32:16
I'm pretty sure if she's right here next to me, tell you the same thing, it's not even close.

32:23
And that, you know, like, and when you look back, like, you know, everyone, the first part of the story, we're talking magic, we're talking Hulk Hogan, we're talking the superstars. But now, you know, what you'll be proudest of in your life is how many people have you impacted and maybe get on the other side of it, right? I mean, isn't that the real power?

32:46
That's it. It's not what you get in life. It's what you give. And I think I said it on Jay Shetty's, it's your friend or Omar's podcast. Oh, I think I would have one of them. But I go, what do I want in my tombstone one day when the time comes? You know, I want somebody that went deep into the hell of drug addiction and came out on the other side and sprinkled hope and recovery around the world to help the next sick and suffering person. That's it. I bet right there.

33:16
I'm good. I did what I was supposed to do being of service. Well, I mean, you're doing what you're supposed to do. And maybe that was God's way of why he kept you standing up. You know what I mean? Cause a lot of people don't end up that way. They end up six feet under, you know? So when you come out, Three choices, man, you got blocked up, covered up or cleaned up. That's what I tell every group that I speak to.

33:43
I like that. I don't like it, but I like it because it's powerful thinking about, okay, it's the truth though. But it's not just stopping the drink and the drugs and the substances are such a spiritual component to this. About me on light of my wall, custom on say what I mean, mean what I say and don't say it mean.

34:02
I say that all the time. It's about just having a better balance of life and surroundings of people and those toxic ones on learning to keep your distance or removing them because their energy will just bring you down. You know, it's about the next time you're about to get into a disagreement. Remember I told you this, it's in a text, restraint of pen and tongue and email or text. Like, just don't engage.

34:28
just not worth it because in five or 10 minutes, if you distract yourself with enough other things, you're not going to remember why you were just about to go off on somebody. It's better to be all right than right. Those are all the tools that I have in my toolbox now to be the best version. I mean, I'm not always perfect. I'm probably 90% of the way they are still a work in progress. I'll have a moment here and there. I'm a human, but, um, that's what also makes me, you know, so obsessed with this mission. I mean, you're not going to say it out of hearing.

34:57
implant, cochlear implant, put him up in death in my left ear for 27 years and Mathilde here told her a couple weeks ago because, you know, they had to put me on fentanyl in the ER, in the surgery room, which I've never taken. Hated it, but my girlfriend had to pick me up at the hospital and just did not like the way that I looked. She's never seen me like that. And you know, I can't take hardcore opiates. So I've learned this difference between drug use and drug abuse. And it's been very humbling.

35:27
I was able to take like THC gummies or THC vape, very, very small dose, Tylenol, Coadene's, very in touch with my network, my spiritual brothers, my spiritual sister, my big grand sponsor Steve. We met about a month ago when I was in New Jersey and because this is why I tell people that foundation and connection is everything because I don't care how much time you have, it's truly one day at a time and you double down knowing the surgery was going to happen.

35:52
Because you know, once that beast is open, I'm like, you don't even need to tell me. That first day when I was lying in bed in excruciating pain and this was oozing behind my ear, tell people when they say, do you think I'll be sober forever? Let me tell you something, that beast was alive and well. And when he comes out, all hell's coming with him and nothing comes first. Outside of that, get what I need. But it's a beautiful thing to know that my foundation in recovery, I had hernia surgery, I had tear of silver.

36:21
Same thing. Got through within 24 hours went on Tylenol and Advil. And the old me, that never happens. The old me is this is a free pass, man. Yeah. You can actually get sober, get into recovery, go through surgeries, go through challenges, go through obstacles, never feeling so comfortable during an uncomfortable time. I had it with my dad. I lost my dad in 32 days. Perfect health, 82 years old. Had an AR aneurysm.

36:48
But the blessing was because my perspective and perception changed and everything yet a silver sun for eight and a half years. Hey there. Got to see the best side of you. Right. That's great. And how, how, um, how's business changed? I mean, you know, obviously you're balancing the day job of still representing. Yeah, I think I do the best job I can balancing. And I mean, I think, believe it or not, probably business was.

37:14
but it was in a way stronger back in the day. But that's not to mention also, we lost a few clients that have passed away, but I'm okay. I don't need to be that guy anymore that has this crazy empire and private jets and mansions everywhere. That's what I thought I wanted. I'm good at having just what I need and be able to take care of my staff, my mom, my sister, my girl, anything I need to do. And I live in a beautiful place in Brentwood.

37:42
you know, my, again, my perspective and perception change that I just want to keep building the brand, maybe getting some more corporate clients that we love working with, because getting the corporate clients allow us to establish new relationships with new celebrities after they work with a bunch of others, and that's the growth of the business. Yeah. What's your feeling today on, I mean, it's in line with what you do, what, you know, I talked about it earlier, but bringing it full circle, influencer marketing and personal branding and all that, I mean,

38:13
You know, in a way it's what you do for a living. I mean, you know, a lot of these people have built their personal brand and then you're helping them monetize. I mean, some of our celebrities have no decent followings. They were late to the game. You know, magic probably has about 15 million hooks, probably on the same collectively, but you know, they're also in a different

38:33
genre like they need it they do it but it's not really gonna ultimately change their life they're so universally beloved and their iconic status is so You know secure, but we love it. I mean we do all sorts of influential campaigns all the time and You know, it's just such a great Effective innovative way, right? I'll have to get on the plane you could shoot something with your iPhone hold up a product do a little video shadow the swipe up I can't imagine

39:02
I was representing Pamela Anderson in her heyday when we started working together in 1995. She'd be a billionaire, multi-billionaire. I mean, I can't even imagine if it existed. Rodman and I used to laugh about it all the time how phrase-addy was back then that if he had social media to see what his life was really like, he'd be a hundred times bigger than, you know, he is now, you know, because, you know, his life would have been a TV show. Oh, yeah. For sure.

39:31
It would have been a full-time and then now it'd be the full-time, you know, tick tock star who knows what I mean? Like all that stuff. But I do tell people, you know, like, I mean, I'm not everybody's cut out for it, but you know, attention is influence and influence drives dollars. Right. I mean, and at the end, look at what the core of what you do. And with the athletes, like they they've built a lot of your athletes and stars, um,

40:00
No matter what it is, you know, they've built the audience from something else necessarily. Exactly. Now we had a big campaign. We had a big campaign with the Uber each for magic during the pandemic, uh, with Twitter and just unbelievable. I literally shipped products to his office, gets a professional photographer, snap a picture in front of some of the stuff and post it. And it's just unbelievable. Like this was non-existent when I started in the business. None of this stuff did. Who, uh,

40:27
I like to keep this on the up and positive. So you can answer this or not. Answer this. You can plightfully decline. It wasn't on my outline, but, uh, who's, who's the biggest pain. Can you name like who's, who's the most difficult? Maybe maybe you don't even work with them. You just know, Rodman was a handful, but you know, we're still very close. And there's times that were difficult with me. Call me last week to just catch up. Um, you know, I think.

40:55
Outside of that, we've been really fortunate. I mean, Chevy had a reputation back in the 80s and 90s of being a little bit of an ass, which his wife and I all tease him about. I don't think he kind of realized it at the time, but he is just the most incredible, funny person now. He's in his golden years and just enjoying life. I never saw it. There was always a different level of love and respect.

41:18
when we started hanging out in the mid 90s and working together. But I've heard it throughout the industry, but if they were too difficult, man, I just don't think we can manage it. I don't think we can represent them, you know, because we represent each other. You got to remember that. So if we're out there hustling and spending opportunities together, you've got to make us look just as good as we make you walk. Cause otherwise I can't build our brands. I can look for future business and I only got one shot. I'm Darren Prince. Nobody knows who I am. They all know who you are.

41:45
So you make me look bad, I'm screwed. That's so true. Well, I didn't realize you represented Chevy, but you know, I wasn't even gonna ask for a favor, but how... You messaged me offline, sending our address. I'll get you something signed by him. Could I get him on the podcast for 15 minutes, or is that like, no way?

42:05
He hasn't done media in a while, but he does have this big campaign coming out for raising canes. I mean, maybe I can make it happen for you. That would be awesome. Do they have any raising cans in your area? Um, I've heard the name. What's that? There's one in Clemson. Okay. Clemson, South Carolina. That's 30, 25, 30 minutes up to there. My favorite word. I'm not guaranteeing if you have my word out. I will ask. I will smoke to him and his wife. Because he could do it right from his computer. Yeah, exactly.

42:34
Oh man, that would be like, that would be on the bucket list. I didn't even know it was even possible. My wife would like freak out because she knows how much I love to chase. I'm gonna give you a couple topics for we do a rad or fad. So rad or fad Darren, the metaverse. Rad. All right. Do we think it's here to stay? It's here to stay, it's just gonna become more. NFTs. Rad, the right ones, the right companies. All right.

43:04
Boston Celtics or dubs. I grew up a diehard 80 Celtics fan, you know, Larry, Burr, Patrick, and McKellen, Larry's, you know, as a client, but it's going seven. I'm going to, I'm going to say the Celtics. They're going to pull it off game seven and, and, uh, yeah. In golden state, just like Cleveland did. Ah, ding, ding, ding. By the time this releases, that will all have been worked out. Well, we'll see if you're a, uh,

43:34
Prognosticator of, uh, of, uh, the Celtics. I liked the Celtics as well. I caught it in seven. So we'll see Darren, man. Where can everybody follow along? I know they can find the book aiming high, but we're working everybody. You know, follow Instagram is at agent underscore DP Darren Prince on Facebook. Uh, should be Los Angeles. But I think I'm the only one.

43:57
printmarketinggroup.com is the business website. My personal site for recovery is official darrenprint.com and then I've got my foundation for anybody willing to make a contribution. 100% of the proceeds go to scholarship people. It's called the aiming high foundation.org. I do a lot of work with band-aid treatment centers. They have 14 properties. If anybody really is in need of help, feel free to message me on Instagram. If you can't afford a book and you're interested in reading it, get the help.

44:27
that you might need, message me again and we'll send out free copies. Darren, man, really appreciate the rawness, the realness, and you know, just coming on the show, man. Thanks, man. Hit me up with your personal information and we'll keep in touch. Alright, brother. Hey guys, you know where to find us, we're at theradcast.com. Search for Darren Prince, you'll find all the content from today. See you next time on the Radcast.