Catching up with Holly Robinson Peete (S9E21)

Holly Robinson Peete has been a friend to this show and to Rob for about fifteen years, and this is the first time they've sat down on the podcast together. She's a week away from DesignCare 2026, "Action in Motion," the HollyRod Foundation's biggest night of the year, on Saturday, November 7 in Los Angeles. It's their 27th year.

Holly walks through this year's honorees, from Samuel L. Jackson to Ahman Green, Maureen McCormick, Tanner Smith and Teoscar Hernández. She tells the story of the Matthew T. Robinson Courage Award, named for her dad, the original Gordon on Sesame Street, who lived with Parkinson's. And she explains why HollyRod has two halves. It started with her dad and Parkinson's. Autism came with RJ.

Then she gets honest about the part a lot of parents don't hear. Rodney didn't want to go public about RJ's diagnosis, and Holly talks about how he came around and why so many dads struggle with it. She talks about RJ today, how much he loves his work, how hard he masks to get through every day, and the night that took him weeks to get over. And for every parent who just got the diagnosis, she has one place to start. Build a team.

DesignCare 2026 is Saturday, November 7 in Los Angeles. Tickets and info at https://hollyrod.org, and follow @HollyRodFDN.

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Rob's book, So Your Child Was Just Diagnosed with Autism, comes out December 29, 2026. Preorder at https://theautismdad.com/book/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=book-preorder&utm_content=text-post

Everything else Rob does lives at https://theautismdad.com/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ep-s9e21-holly-robinson-peete&utm_content=text-post