Podcast Episode - A Special Suze Story

On this episode, Suze shares a deeply personal story about her friend for over 50 years, Judy Belushi Pisano.

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Podcast Transcript:

Suze: July 7th, 2024. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money podcast as well as everybody smart enough to listen. Suze O here. Now, I know today is supposed to be Suze School, but I just can't. Not today. Today, I want it to be a Suze Story Day.

And this Suze story started all the way back in 1969 when I walked into the Florida Avenue Residency in Champaign, Illinois, for my freshman year of college. And that day I met two women, one by the name of Carol Morgan and her roommate by the name of Judy Jacklin. And we all became very good friends.

The Florida Avenue Residency, where we all were living because it was mandatory that you live in a dormitory, especially your freshman year, was really too expensive for any of us. So we got permission to move out of the dormitory into our own apartment that was at 777 Springfield Avenue. It was a very small one-bedroom apartment that had three single beds in it. Now, what I didn't realize was that along with Carol and Judy came Judy's boyfriend by the name of John Belushi. And the four of us stayed in that one-bedroom apartment for one year.

The second year we moved to a two-bedroom apartment somewhere on Green Street. I can't remember the exact address, but Judy, John, and myself shared one bedroom, and Carol got another roommate, Janet, and they shared the other bedroom. It went on like this — we would move to different places, but we always lived together, and we became incredibly close. As time went on, we obviously graduated college, and Judy and John started to become more and more famous. They would appear at coffee houses, all kinds of places. But then John made the leap to a television show by the name of Saturday Night Live.

But even during that time, Judy and I totally stayed connected. You know, a funny part of this is that when we were first living together, truthfully, I would say to Judy, “Judy, I am telling you, don’t marry him. I'm not exactly sure John is ever going to amount to anything.” Well, that gives you an idea if you should follow any of my stock picks or not. But that’s beside the point.

There we were — they were getting more and more famous, but fame did not come between us on any level. They were always calling me saying, “Suze, you gotta tune in tonight. It’s really a funny, funny version that we’re doing,” and their life just continued on and got bigger and bigger and bigger. But our relationship stayed closer and closer and closer.

Judy, in her own right, was so brilliant, I can’t even tell you. She really was a big force behind John Belushi and his success. She was an art historian major. She was an artist. She was a musician. She was so many things, but most of the attention always went to John. But that never kept her down. She kept going for it — especially on March 5th, 1982, when John died.

Judy was so strong during those days. She was convinced that things didn’t quite happen the way that it was being reported, and all of us had our doubts because we knew John so well that how it was being reported isn’t how it possibly could have happened — his death. But she stayed strong, and she went on to write a book and all these other things. Judy would always come to events or performances that mattered to me, and vice versa. Like she was there September 15th, 2018 for my show at the Apollo Theater that was sold out, and I was there for the Blues Brothers show that she put on and all kinds of things.

Over the past few years, Judy had gotten ill, but we stayed in touch obviously all throughout her illness. And then it was April 24th, 2023, when Judy finally answered my phone calls and my texts because I hadn’t heard from her. I was like, “Why aren’t you responding to me?” And here is the text that she wrote me:

“Sorry for the delay, but much is going on. I am good, a very solid good bordering on great, but I spend too much time with doctors. But to date, I’m tough as nails and hanging in. Here is my best news: we’ve welcomed two new babies to the family. My youngest stepdaughter had an adorable baby girl, Olivia, in September, and my beautiful son and daughter-in-law graced me with a sweet, sweet baby boy, Nico Yen Pisano, who was born on February 10th. So he’s still a little bag of bones, but watching him observe and navigate his way is fascinating. I so love his little being. Going to MD Anderson in Houston this Tuesday for testing to see if they have anything new to suggest in my quest for the fountain of youth. So much more, but will hold it here for now. And you? All my love.”

Then I write her back. She sends me all these pictures of everybody she just talked about. And then in November she writes me and she says, “You are looking good,” meaning me, because she also knows what I’ve been through. She says, “I’ve been up and down, but mostly good. I’m finally recording my songs, working with Ben Taylor — a very talented fellow and great fun to work with. Mom — Carly Simon — recorded one of my songs, which I must say is thrilling. I’m moving a bit slow but making progress, will share when I have something presentable.”

And then she writes me back and forth and back and forth. Finally, on December 6th last year, she writes me and says, “I have a stubborn tumor that’s inoperable and positioned where it cannot be radiated. So I’ve moved on from my medical team and working with meditation and prayer. I’m mostly in pretty good spirits and I enjoy most days. To date I have made a recording of each of my songs, so if I cannot continue, I at least have a decent version for posterity. My plan is now to rerecord each one, hopefully to get a version I am happy with. I also hope to have some songs recorded by others — Carly being one. I have learned to sing with my paralyzed vocal cord, performed one song at an event this Sunday and it went well. My kids are coming for Christmas and other than that, my plans are to focus on recording. So life is good.”

Here is something to put a smile on your face — and with that, she sends me a video of her son with his son dancing to a song that Judy had written. And I write her back and I go, “You know, my dear friend, sometimes prayers are the most powerful and successful medicine of all. Please make sure that the family knows to keep me informed. Just know I’m always here for you and I love you deeply.”

So then Christmas came and passed, and she was still doing pretty good. We went back and forth and back and forth. And then on June 24th, I wrote her and I said, “Just checking in on you. You good?”

And June 25th, she wrote back and she said, “I’m up and down, but mostly good. My album is close to being finished. We’ve recorded everyone and now we just have to mix them. I’ve been decoupaging guitars in the meantime. I’ll send you some photos. I’m also sending you some songs.”

On June 28th, she sent me one song and she said with it, “This is not a final edit, but the best version I could find for you. This is the title song for the album, ‘Best Days.’” And I told her I liked it. Then on June 29th, she wrote me and she said, “I’m glad you like it. Here’s a funny little ditty you might enjoy. Not a finished edit. Give me a minute to find it.” And with that she sent it the next day, and it was called “Finger Nails.” And she said, “I hope you enjoyed it.” And I said I did.

And that was my last conversation with Judy, because yesterday Judy Jacklin Belushi Pisano left this world. But she left this world having completed something that she really wanted to do. She left this world leaving me feeling completed, because we continued to talk to one another, and we continued our friendship no matter how famous she got or John got or I got. The only thing that mattered was our friendship — not how much money we had or anything like that — but our friendship and the simplicity of just knowing each other and growing older with each other.

So Judy, my friend, I will miss you forever and a day. But I know that you were ready for this. I just wanted to share with my beloved podcast audience that you listened to, you loved, and you were a part of. I just want you to hopefully hear this podcast up in heaven. And I want everybody who has ever listened to me to know how much I love and cherish you.

And that really is the Suze story for July 7th, 2024. May we never be unstoppable when it comes to the love that we have for those who really, really mattered in our lives.