Moving past your mistakes...

I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be married to myself. My husband Luke is married to a motivational speaker who loves to talk.  A blessing and curse all at the same time.  In the past week we have had some great conversations about looking at the positives in life, being grateful for what we have, and always striving to be better.  Therefore, besides talking about current pop culture issues or highlighting a good TV show or movie of the week, it's important to address the main issue in a person's life today - their IDENTITY! So much of what I talk on incorporates having the wrong perception of one's identity.

Many people tell me, "Tina, it's too late.  I already messed up." The sad thing is, some have been harboring their grief and resentment for decades.  I think it's imperative that we take a close look at this statement. Without failure, we live a life that's less fulfilling.  God uses these failures in our life to reveal himself and help us grow into a stronger, more mature person. The last thing I want to face when I leave this Earth is that I regret not living differently. When we "mess up" or make a wrong decision, it gives us the chance to change, ask for forgiveness, develop our character and establish a greater vision and focus for our lives.

The statements I remember hearing as a kid were, "Try, and if you don't succeed, try again." and "It's better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all."  It's been ingrained in my heart and mind and I love informing our next generation that you are NOT the mistakes you have made in the past.  You can have a fresh start, a new beginning and become the person you've always wanted to be.

By allowing ourselves to look at what we need to change, it gives us the opportunity to help others who might be struggling with the same issue or in many cases, to literally save a life.  When we seek the help we need from whatever addiction or issue we are struggling with, we will find freedom, healing and realize that our identity is not in our circumstances but in who we were created to be.  That, my friends, is true freedom.

Take your own advice Kutcher! Your fans need you!

Throughout the year I get some intriguing emails from parents and kids ranging from "I need some advice for a friend contemplating suicide." to "You HAVE to add this to your show."  Well, recently I got such an email.  A young adult emailed me a clip from Ashton Kutcher's acceptance speech at the Teen Choice Awards last year and told me it was a must see (view here).  Seeing this immediately reminded me of the lifestyles I saw celebrities live on a daily basis while working next to them on set.

Kutcher gives a four minute synopsis of the importance of hard work and not taking anything for granted.  That people should not base their success on appearance, but intelligence.  Now I have to admit, Kutcher has the looks and brains and I'm so happy a major well-known and well-liked star gave this advice.  

Hopefully this will make his millions of young fans (primarily women) think twice about what life is all about.  However, I wish he would take his own advice and say adios to his $750,000 pay check per episode on Two and a Half Men.  He is the highest paid US TV star.  It's not his title or the salary that is shocking to me.  It's the fact that he's making all of this money on a show that promotes a lifestyle that's completely opposite of what he claims is important.  I know he's smart enough to know this. In fact, I think he knows his fans won't think deep enough to figure this out on their own.  

I will be the first to admit, he's got the talent and he's got the looks. What we need is a positive role model for our young women to follow that lives out what they say.  I'm hoping Ashton will watch his own acceptance speech and make some drastic changes in his career choices in 2014!

For more info on his paycheck, click here.

Matthew Perry gives his mansion a rehab facility facelift.

You might remember him as Chandler from the hit sitcom "Friends!"  I read a sweet article on Matthew Perry several weeks ago in the People magazine about how he recently turned his beautiful Malibu home INTO a rehabilitation center.  He knows firsthand what it's like to be addicted to drugs and prescription painkillers and wanted to help others who were struggling with the same problem.  

During the highlight of his career, playing Chandler on "Friends" while booking several hit movie roles, Perry was in the lowest point of his own personal life abusing the bottle.  In 1997, he checked himself into a rehab for a 28-day program to kick the highly addictive drug Vicodin.  Once he left, his problems just escalated with big time use of methadone, amphetamines and alcohol to add to the previous Vicodin dependency. Four years later while on set shooting a movie, he had major stomach pains and realized he needed to get help fast or his life was over.  Since leaving the Daniel Freeman Hospital in Marina del Rey, CA. in 2002, he has never fallen off the track again.

Now most of the time the celebs who glamorize drinking and drugs usually end up in rehabs every other month.  However, to hear of a story where a Hollywood Star literally has been drug-free for over a decade is worth celebrating and being featured in the major headlines.  Yet, Perry goes one step further!  He literally moved out of his Malibu mansion and turned it into a sober living facility! Perry states that this safe, secure environment is one place where former addicts will find "true happiness." Matthew Perry is giving much more than just merely writing a check to help someone in need...he is putting his blood, sweat and tears into helping others on a daily basis in a very personal way.  

Matthew Perry - I believe you are one of the top celebrities worth having as a role model - and for that...I thank you!

Cyrus Virus! Get Vaccinated!

In with the new...out with the old.  That means Miley should be watching the ball drop at Times Square from a television set at a rehab facility NOT performing on stage live for the Rockin Eve party seconds before the infamous countdown!  

It didn't surprise me that her new music video "Adore You" off her latest album Bangerz was leaked online a day early -- on Christmas for that matter!  What also didn't surprise me was an even more porn saturated 4 1/2 minute portrayal of sex - with no talent - video.  I mean...who can't roll in some sheets naked....and that's entertainment? Sad...

What's equally disturbing is the commercial that plays for Plan B One-Step immediately before Miley's X-rated clip.  Plan B One-Step claims it prevents pregnancy up to 72 hours after having unprotected sex.  One young woman claims this is what's called "being responsible."  Um....how about not promoting a product that will obviously be in high demand after watching Miley's video?  Oh wait, advertisers and companies like this WANT us to have sex so we will need their emergency contraception and make them super duper millionaires!

What's scary is that over 30 million viewers saw this video in the first week of release....

What makes me have hope?  30 million viewers are hopefully seeing what I see: Miley.  Needs.  Help.  Don't take my word for it.  Miley herself has said it in various interviews over the past year.  

What I hope doesn't happen, is that she loses her life over the very things she promotes.  So let's ring in the new year with something that WON'T kill us...like a Cyrus Virus!

OSCARS - the good, the bad & the ugly

It's been a number of years since I've watched the Oscars, but this year I was intrigued to see what films and actors were deemed "honorable."  I was pleasantly surprised regarding what actors and films took home Mr. Oscar.  

The man who really stood out and deserved an Oscar was Mr. Ben Affleck.  Even though he wasn't even on the nomination list as Best Director for his latest hit Argo (which won several other awards), he still had many sweet things to say when he made an acceptance speech after the movie won for Best Film.  He has a lot of character and it shows when he said the most honorable things regarding his wife and children. It is clear to me that Ben puts family first over the industry and that really impresses me.  He should have won an Oscar for the best speech of the night.

On another note...the "I saw your boobs" song that Seth MacFarlane opened the glamorous evening with, couldn't have been more distasteful.  I was embarassed for the women he mentioned throughout the song!  Then again, what are we to expect from the creator of The Family Guy??

* Coach T thinks we need more positive films up for awards @ the Oscars.  Things are looking up, with movies like Lincoln coming out, but we have a ways to go!

Sexy Sean Skips the Sex!

I was ecstatic when I saw this magazine's headline at Walmart last week!  Knowing how the entertainment industry likes to polk fun at anyone NOT having sex, this was very refreshing! Sean has had some time in the hot tub with different women in this year's Bachelor saga series along with some kissing sessions back to back.  I WAS excited to see that there was no hot steamy sex as Hollywood likes to portray without the STD, guilt situations that follow.

Sean states that he made some bad decisions during his college years of having pre-marital sex with women, but now as a Christian, he takes his faith seriously.  No hanky panky until the wedding night!  Way to go buddy!  

Past bachelorette star Jillian Harris tells fans that she believes it's not a good idea to skip sex before the wedding night saying it's a huge part of the relationship.  Well we all know how her story ended with Ed, so I wouldn't take her advice.  I waited until my wedding night and married a man like Sean.  Luke, a rededicated Christian who made a promise to God that he was remaining pure and waited many years until our wedding night!  Everyone deserves to start over, to be forgiven and to make better choices.  Believe it or not, if Sean and his woman do wait, then this couple has a good chance of actually staying together forever like Trista and Ryan from a decade ago.  I'm rooting for Sean and his bride to be...which we will find out who that lucky lady is this month!

* Coach T says don't let Hollywood tell you that virginity is a waste.  It's like opening a Christmas present 6 months early...no fun.

"the New Normal" - NOT!

This is a hard post for me to write. 
Why? because I don't want anyone to think I hate certain people...because I don't. I DO however, feel strongly about certain lifestyle choices that are promoted to our next generation without showing the consequences.  I also have a major issue with Christians being promoted as bigots or intolerant of others in today's TV shows.

I watched a recent episode of NBC's new sitcom called "The New Normal" and I was very saddened by what I saw. Cursing along with bashing those with conservative views on marriage and family are the two areas strongly attacked in this 30 minute program.  Young people watching this show will learn that to have an opinion other than the one being subjected by Hollywood is forbidden and illegal.  The writers of today's Hollywood TV shows and movies who want to promote their beliefs are actually being intolerant of anyone else's beliefs.

What gives me hope, is that while I travel the country speaking to our youth, they too realize the corruptness of today's pop-culture. They are in dire need of positive role models to look up to.  Let's give them what they need and desire.  If other countries are not allowing destructive programming into their airwaves...why are we?  People might not be happy reading this post, but also realize that I am not happy with what I'm seeing on TV.

Click HERE to encourage sponsors of this series to stop financially supporting the program.  Sponsors include:  Old Navy, 7UP, Dreft and T-mobile.

* Coach T says NOW is the time to let our voice be heard and not give in to the media's negative portrayal of our conservative views!

SELF CONTROL not birth control

Last spring as I was driving to a school to present my Hollywood Exposed seminar a couple hundred eager to learn middle and high school students...a crazy thought entered my mind. The world today has a way of saying "just pop a pill" and all your problems and worries disappear. Especially with our young people today, they are constantly told, just take a birth control pill and you won't get pregnant or a "morning after" pill which essentially is an abortion pill and you won't have a baby. Young women suffer a lifetime of guilt and shame because of this simple "just take a pill" mentality.

Therefore, I created a shirt last month that is a first of many to come which simply states how I feel. The front reads "Self CONTROL not birth control" and the back states, "Honor your future spouse." Not knowing if teens would "get" my message or wantto wear this message, I took the chance and got them designed and printed. To my surprise ALL the shirts went this past weekend when I spoke at Young Christians' Weekend in Silver Dollar City. I actually have a back order for them. I'm so EXCITED to see our youth take a stand and wear a conversation starter shirt that can save lives in the process. Way to go teens!

Email me at: tina@tinamarielive.com if you'd like to order one of these SELF CONTROL shirts.

* Coach T says we should be BOLD and promote what we believe in.

trashy ABC "G.C.B." show airing March 4 - not cool

After living in Hollywood for a decade, I'm not too shocked at the offensive new programming coming from this lost city. However, when a show like "Good Christian B_tches" now "G.C.B." bashes my personal choice of faith for an hour on prime time, I'm not going to sit on the sidelines. The bottom line, if ANY other religion was bashed on television, there would be a riot throughout the country! The creators of this show should be ashamed of themselves, along with ABC and all involved in allowing such a program to air.

Scenes involve people making out in a church office as they turn a photo of Jesus face down on a desk. Groping of breasts, cross necklaces being broken, stained glass windows of Jesus being shattered when a woman in an angel costume is thrown into it, are just some of the hideous clips in the upcoming episodes. Why is Hollywood so CONSUMED with making people look like idiots on TV? Some of the smartest countries in the world with the youngest children becoming inventors before the age of 10 - like Japan for example, DO NOT air such idiotic shows. It goes to show, the environment we create for our next generation to absorb, is who they become. I will be one of those parents creating an environment for my kids to flourish in...which means NO "GCB" for me...PRAISE THE LORD!

* Coach T says we need to get off the sidelines and get in the game. Not just skip watching the show but voice our concern.

Victoria's Secret Model calls it quits to keep her body a SECRET for husband ONLY!

Well...well...well... I LOVE this story! It's not every day, or every month for that matter, when a prime TV show like "Good Morning America," has a positive, modest message for it's millions of viewers!

This amazing, talented, beautiful woman Kylie Bisutti beat out 10,000 other models in the making to win the Victoria's Secret Model Search. However, she decided to jump off the runway after walking down the aisle to say "I do."

Her husband couldn't be happier to have her bod all to himself. Kylie is a Christian and when her young 8 year old cousin said she was going to quit eating so she could look like her, Kylie knew she needed to be the role model she was called to be.

“I just became so convicted of honoring the Lord and my body and wanting to be a role model for other women out there who look up to me,” Bisutti said today on “Good Morning America” A day after the recent Victoria's Secret fashion show aired, she tweeted, “For all of you that were looking for me in the Victoria's Secret runway show this year, I wasn’t in it. I have decided not to model lingerie Because I personally feel that I am not honoring God or my husband by doing it. My marriage is very important & with divorce rates rising I want to do everything I can to protect my marriage and be respectful to my husband. "

enough said...

check out her video with Good Morning America

* Coach T says we should save our bodies for our mates or our future mates and leave something to the imagination.