The Hawleys get vulnerable on family life in new 'This is Living' podcast: 'Not a political hot takes show'

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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and his wife Erin are wandering into little known territory for politicians by launching a new podcast Monday that will "pull back the curtain" on their lives outside Capitol Hill.

"This is Living with Josh and Erin Hawley," the couple told Fox News Digital, was "a joint idea" they had been mulling over for some time. The new platform will allow them to get candid about their marriage and their experience in raising their three children - two boys aged 8 and 6 and an 11-month-old girl.

"We thought it'd be really fun to do something together and to maybe pull back the curtain a bit on our lives and our family life and just the day-to-day living that we do," Sen. Hawley said. "It's not a political hot takes show, it's not a commentary, but it's really about our life together."

COLUMBIA, MO - NOVEMBER 06: Missouri's Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Josh Hawley waits in line with his wife, Erin Hawley, to casts their votes on election day at The Crossings Church on November 6, 2018 in Columbia, Missouri. Hawley, the current Missouri Attorney General, is hoping to unseat current Democratic incumbent Senator Claire McCaskill. (Photo by Michael Thomas/Getty Images) ((Photo by Michael Thomas/Getty Images))

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It's a podcast "about our story and our adventure," Erin added. "It's about being intentional in marriage and how to raise kids and have that so-called balanced life with career and children and all those sorts of things." 

But Erin said she found the word "balance" a bit "frustrating" because, she said, "you can't really balance your children." 

With the constant craziness that is Capitol Hill, the Hawleys explained how they try to always make time for family.

"One nice thing that Josh does is he's almost always home for dinner," Erin said. "He does a lot of TV, a lot of interviews, has a lot of commitments and speaking engagements and the like, but he's almost always able to be home for at least a late dinner and then to help put the boys to bed. He has this really sweet routine where he prays with them and reads to them."

The senator returned the praise, telling Fox that along with being a mother of three, Erin is also a practicing attorney and an author. Despite their schedules, they said they've made it a point "to be intentional about the season that they're in."

Sen. Josh Hawley and wife Erin launch new podcast, 'This Is Living' (Josh Hawley for Senate)

Sen. Hawley offered another reason they've chosen to embark on the new venture: To try and stem the progression of the progressive take on family.

"As conservatives, speaking for myself being in the political arena, I talk a lot about what the left and what the progressives are doing, where they're trying to take the country, and how they're attacking in many ways the strength of the family," he said. "What is it I'm trying to conserve?…The answer is it's about family, things that matter most to us in life. It's about faith, it's about the life of community and neighborhood and just daily life that everybody leads but that so many families in particular are making through and working through and struggling through."

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Among the topics they plan to discuss on "This Is Living" are the use of technology in the home, and how to deal with loss and grief - conversations Mrs. Hawley said she hoped would be "encouraging."

Sen. Hawley added that faith will play a role in their discussions because their podcast would be "dishonest" if they screen it out.

"It would be weird for us - if we're going to do a show that's honest about who we are and our daily life, our family life, then we're going to have to talk about our faith because for us it's just really central," he said.

Being a dad, the senator has found, has allowed him to find some common ground with legislators on the other side of the aisle.

"Some of the best advice actually that I've gotten on thinking through how do you preserve and foster a healthy family life in the midst of my day job, has come from my Democrat colleagues who have younger children, or maybe whose kids are a little bit older now but have throughout this and worked through this stuff," he said. 

"I had a couple of senators in particular from the other side of the aisle in my first year, which was 2019, seek me out and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got kids that are about your age, or maybe they're a few years older now but here's things we did that sort of worked for our family, and I really appreciated that," Hawley added. 

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Asked if their podcast will ever wade into politics, Hawley said only "by implication."

"It's not a current events show, and so inevitably the things that we talk about - politics will be a backdrop - so there's inevitably going to be a sort of discussion of those things because that's how we live our lives and I think that some of the things we talk about that affect families, talk about raising kids for instance…there could be policy implications for some of that, but that's really not the focus of the show."

"This is Living" will be available on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Google Podcast, Amazon Music, Castbox, Deeezer, Podcast Addict, Podchaser. There will also be video of each episode available on YouTube.