![]() It combated all the triggers so much so that I started this group when I was in the military called Cooking to Cope. During this time, how has cooking been a vehicle of connection?Ĭooking has been my coping tool. ![]() You spent 24 years in the military and followed that by working as a chef in The White House for four presidencies. People will be like, ‘Wow, you have this problem?’ Yeah, I'm human. I get it even now, even saying the things I say. And as you said, people look at you, a big masculine man, and think, Chef, you’re fine, you’re tough, you’re okay… But that vulnerability part and breaking that ice is everything. You start your book off by writing ‘don't judge a book by its cover.’ And we do that so often. a big guy, smart and educated or has all this money. If they say something to you, it's a cry for help or support. But I also tell the people on the outside looking in to understand that if someone comes to you, you need to pay attention. They can be from a boss or from a past relationship or from anything. Mental health issues don’t have to be trauma from war. I'm glad this is not just me.’ This was in the military space and people in general. Kids, women, alpha males, alpha females, big guys… They said, ‘This is what I needed. When I came out and said, ‘Hey, this is what is happening with me,’ I had tens of thousands of people follow behind me. It was a ticking time bomb for me inside.įor anyone struggling or who knows someone struggling, what do you want them to know? They're telling me that I am, so I'm telling myself that I am. When I was in the military and I asked for help, they asked me, ‘Do you like your job?’ And I thought I got this. But inside me I was saying, you need to take care of yourself, not them.Ī lot of this work starts with leadership, especially in the military. They didn’t think anything could break me, or that anything emotionally was going on. When I first came out, people didn't think that anything could be wrong with me. I am a big masculine guy, so people receive me differently. We need to talk about mental health-in general-more. There’s still a stigma around talking about mental health issues, particularly among men. Mental health is an important topic for you. So when I say self-care I mean taking care of myself to then take care of others. Now I realize I could have helped even more people by taking better care of myself. But at the same time, I know that I had to stop a lot of things for myself to help more people. I did a lot, and I do even more now, for so many people and I don't regret it whatsoever. My brother was a military officer in the Navy. I use the word ‘servitude’ because my father was a preacher. My life has always been a life of servitude. Considering all that you’ve done, what would you say to your younger self growing up in the rural south? And you’re an advocate for mental health awareness. ![]() You're a celebrated chef who worked in the White House for four administrations. ![]() You’re a retired Master Sergeant of the US Army. These are the things that make people uncomfortable-but there’s no reason for you to feel uncomfortable because this is an open conversation and it’s about understanding.” “I almost didn't write it being in politics and in the military but I decided I wanted to tell what I wanted to tell, even with the backlash. (Chef was working at the Pentagon during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which led to his suffering from PTSD.) This book, he says, has been a way for him to share what brought him down and picked him up. “My mother taught me to love, my dad taught me to work, but they both taught me to understand that you don't ever judge a book by its cover.”Ĭall Me Chef, Damnit takes you through Rush’s upbringing in rural Mississippi, to his 24 years in the military, all the way through to the four presidencies during which he cooked in The White House. A notably fit man with 24-inch biceps (he’s garnered a following for his thousands of daily push-ups), Rush says people are quick to think his strength precludes him from suffering. Some of the words and actions Rush hopes people hear the loudest are around mental health and how it’s an issue that impacts everyone-including him. “Or if I say ‘whiteness,’ people will say, ‘But you're Black, so what are you going to say about it?’ But I say, ‘Listen to my words. “People instantly tense up,” he says about the topic of racism. Rush, a retired Master Sergeant of the US Army, celebrity and former White House chef, and founder of mental health non-profits, is here to get real about the tough topics he covers in his book: PTSD, trauma, suicide, toxic leadership, racism. He and I are meeting to discuss his book, Call Me Chef, Damnit: A Veteran’s Journal from the Rural South to the White House, but it’s not a contrived journalist-talent-book-tour conversation. As he chats with me over Zoom, there’s no pursuit of small talk, no forced banter. Chef Andre Rush has an endless depth of empathy.
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