He was over 400 pounds. She may have saved his life with some harsh words

April 02, 2015

WRITER

Brian Flemming was an alcoholic, massively obese, and wasting away. When his online friend in the UK, Jackie Eastman, figured out what he was going through, she went into a rage. She just unloaded on him and reprimanded him for wasting his life -- and it actually worked. Glenn has fascinating conversation with Brian and Jackie on radio today.

GLENN: So Jackie, the life coach, is with us today. Hi, Jackie.

JACKIE: Hi.

GLENN: How are you?

JACKIE: I'm good. I think he is on the line somewhere. He's supposed to be anyway. So he's around.

GLENN: He dropped out. We'll try to conference him back in.

So, Jackie, you're in England.

JACKIE: That's right.

GLENN: What time is it over there?

JACKIE: Just 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

GLENN: All right. So I'm so glad to talk to you. We were talking to Brian yesterday. And he said that he was on the phone with you -- I asked him, what was the pivot point, what changed? He said he was on the phone with a friend in England, she pretty much balled me out. Can you tell me what happened?

JACKIE: I certainly can. He probably told you. We started off. We met randomly through an internet game and then progressed to Facebook as friends. You know, we had a bit of banter going. And it was during the Facebook chats that we were having that I -- I basically was discussing my health. And he basically let me know that he had been -- or, he was at that point an alcoholic and massively obese and depressive as well.

I guess there was something going on because he would fall into these periods of muddling (phonetic) in self-pity. That was the alcohol. I could see his character change. So even through the writing we were doing, I thought, something is not right here. And so I told him, I have health problems myself. I have myotonic dystrophy, which is a form of muscle dystrophy, which is a multi-systemic -- it can affect all your body. You have to have lots of checks and whatnot. A lot of health problems. So I just hit the roof when I found out that this guy at the time, 30 years old, was just sitting on his backside eating fast food, you know, doing nothing with his life. I won't tell you what I said exactly. But I just went into a rage and just said sort your life out basically.

PAT: He said there were a few words that you might have thrown in there that we couldn't repeat on the radio.

GLENN: And we thought that was maybe because they were from a different country.

JACKIE: Of course. You might hear sailors using those words.

GLENN: So it was really just your -- your rage that you wanted to be healthy. He had it, and he was wasting it.

JACKIE: Exactly. The point I made to him -- and I had a friend who died of cancer who was very positive. Wanted to live. And she'd say, what can I do? I know I'm dying, and I want to live. So having experienced that and losing her as a friend and then seeing Brian, you know, who has everything to live for potentially, given health at birth and just completely destroying it, it sounded criminal. I just went into a rage with him.

GLENN: So when you did this, I'm sure you didn't think this out. When you did this, did you think you would be friends with him? Or was this such a rage that you thought, I don't care if I'm friends with you anymore?

JACKIE: The interesting thing, the internet, I know it gets a lot of bad press. But actually, in this particular instance, I felt I could be frank with him. And, you know, see just a fleeting friendship. I mean, we progressed to Facebook friends. So I was -- I wasn't actually trying to balance losing him as a friend because it was almost a transitory friendship anyway. Actually it isn't. Obviously now we're very close, and we're still deeply in touch. But, you know, at the time, I just felt I had nothing to lose. I thought, this guy is going to die. That was my fear. I thought, he will die. Obesity is a much bigger problem in the US than it is in the UK. That said, it's getting worse here. But I eventually found out he was. I didn't know exactly how big he was at the time. I look at the pictures now and he protected me from those pictures and images until he started to lose the weight. And I thought, I don't know how he was alive frankly.

GLENN: He is on the phone now. Brian. Hi, Brian.

BRIAN: Hi, guys.

GLENN: We're just talking behind your back.

BRIAN: Oh, that's all right.

GLENN: Yeah. So you told us yesterday that this -- this was the pivot point for you. Did you -- did you fear for losing your friend or what was it exactly that she said that changed you?

BRIAN: She put it into perspective for me. You know, I've been so self-centered and just so self-involved. You know, I didn't see past my own nose. And she really just put it into perspective. You know, made me realize -- she was saying, there are thousands of people out there fighting for their lives. You know, what are you doing? Just something that -- just the way she said it and the language she used. Like I said, which we can't repeat, was effective enough to get me to quit drinking. It was October 13th, 2012, I just quit drinking that night, and I never looked back since.

PAT: That's incredible willpower. Hardly anybody can do it cold turkey on their own like that and never look back. That had to be tough. You had to have gone through withdrawal for a while.

BRIAN: Yeah. It took me about two weeks to get over it. There were nights I didn't sleep. When I did sleep, I was sleeping for 12, 14 hours. Had cold sweats. Shaking. All kinds of things.

GLENN: Jackie, were you -- were you there through that with him? Jackie.

JACKIE: Yeah, because of the time difference, it actually kind of worked quite well. I'm a bit of an insomniac to be quite honest. You know, in the kind of dead at night, sort of the middle of the night, Michigan time, I was, you know, getting up for work. I mean, I was around. So I could be there for him. Yeah. So I was just keeping him occupied, busy, and distracted. Not for me. I've never been an alcoholic. I mean, I have an addictive personality, but not with alcohol or substances. And so I was -- I was conscious, so I didn't know how to help him and just distract him and just keep him in focused on me and getting -- and the message that I can start feeding him. That was bad terminology. When I said feeding him, I meant I was trying to get through to him.

GLENN: So, Brian, Jackie saved your life. And I believe that when something like that happens, you have to pass it on. And you -- you have. Whether you've thought of it that way or not, you have. With Team 383.

BRIAN: Yes, it's been amazing. We first created a Facebook group. Just wanted to share our story. And people just started joining. And it kind of grew like crazy. And all of a sudden now we have over 11,000 members, you know, from all over the world. And there's people from all walks of life. There are people that are starting their weight loss journey. People that have already completed it. And they're just going on there to support other people. And we've kind of created and cultivated a community of support. And kind of acceptance. And there's no judgment there whatsoever. And just been a fantastic opportunity to be able to reach back and help other people.

GLENN: Jackie, what do you do for a living?

JACKIE: I'm a civil servant. So I work for the government.

GLENN: Oh. Sorry for that.

[laughter]

BRIAN: About as descriptive as she can get.

GLENN: Yeah. What is it that you guys plan to do now? Is this -- is this -- is there a plan to have this grow into something that is -- is business? Is this -- what is this? Where do you go from here?

BRIAN: That's a good question. We don't know where it will go from here. Right now it's just a fantastic support group. It's great. It's gotten to the point where we had our members who were asking for T-shirts with the Team 383 name on it. So we've had T-shirts made. We've been sending those out to people. You know, Jackie and I have been mentoring about 150 individuals. We send out videos to them every weekend. And kind of helping them out with certain things asked for. Kind of -- you know, exercise videos and just kind of seeing how I cook my food and things like that. We've actually reached out to five individuals that we're helping one-on-one. And we talk to them on Skype every weekend. We kind of coach them through their weight loss issues. And it's been a great experience. We've been doing it for ten weeks now and it's been going really well.

JACKIE: I think to add to that, it's certainly -- it feels like a full-time job. I do it in my spare time. So, you know, it's something that possibly we would look into doing -- certainly Brian, you know, as a business possibly going forward at some point. But the whole focus would be on helping people. I mean, there's clearly a demand. What we're finding is -- what's been interesting to me because, you know, I have never done any of this before. I, actually to be honest, I've had yo-yo problems with dieting all my life. You wouldn't think I'm overweight at all if you saw me necessarily. But I have a mental state, I have terrible problems with food and so on. So I'm able to bring that to the party. But --

GLENN: Can I ask --

JACKIE: It has shown to me that people buffer themselves against the world by fat basically. And we've got people on there with all sorts of problems. It's nonjudgmental. Everyone is welcome. You know, every creed. Religion. People in the group are disabled. You know, lesbian, straight, gay, transgender. Whatever. Everyone is welcome in the group. And we really try to do it in a safe and supportive environment. And some of the problems that people have that they're sharing on there. It's a closed group. So it's a safe environment. I mean, it breaks your heart when you hear the stories. But you kind of understand why people build this cocoon around themselves with eating. So we're trying to deal with that. And actually the support from others in the group is actually helping.

GLENN: Can I ask what your addiction -- you said you had addiction problems, but it wasn't food-based or substance-based.

JACKIE: Mine was with food. I have an obsessive personality. I get obsessed with things. Fortunately, I haven't put myself in a situation where alcohol or substances or anything like that has been a problem. But food, I've always had a problem with food. And I recognize that I have that issue in me. And I recognize it in other people as well.

GLENN: Yeah.

STU: So hard to relate to this as television personalities obviously are really attractive.

[laughter]

PAT: So, so incredibly hot.

GLENN: Jackie, you would be laughing if you had signed on or had a television access in England to us. Because we -- we're not the most attractive men. Let's put it that way.

JACKIE: Just for radio, eh?

STU: 3,000 pounds of men, you're talking to right now.

JACKIE: I'm sure you're gorgeous.

GLENN: Each. Oh, my gosh, you couldn't imagine. Jackie, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Brian, all my best.

BRIAN: Thanks for having us on. We appreciate it.

JACKIE: Thanks, bye.

GLENN: Thank you. Buh-bye. All right. You bet.

Breaking point: Will America stand up to the mob?

Jeff J Mitchell / Staff | Getty Images

The mob rises where men of courage fall silent. The lesson from Portland, Chicago, and other blue cities is simple: Appeasing radicals doesn’t buy peace — it only rents humiliation.

Parts of America, like Portland and Chicago, now resemble occupied territory. Progressive city governments have surrendered control to street militias, leaving citizens, journalists, and even federal officers to face violent anarchists without protection.

Take Portland, where Antifa has terrorized the city for more than 100 consecutive nights. Federal officers trying to keep order face nightly assaults while local officials do nothing. Independent journalists, such as Nick Sortor, have even been arrested for documenting the chaos. Sortor and Blaze News reporter Julio Rosas later testified at the White House about Antifa’s violence — testimony that corporate media outlets buried.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened.

Chicago offers the same grim picture. Federal agents have been stalked, ambushed, and denied backup from local police while under siege from mobs. Calls for help went unanswered, putting lives in danger. This is more than disorder; it is open defiance of federal authority and a violation of the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.

A history of violence

For years, the legacy media and left-wing think tanks have portrayed Antifa as “decentralized” and “leaderless.” The opposite is true. Antifa is organized, disciplined, and well-funded. Groups like Rose City Antifa in Oregon, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club in Texas, and Jane’s Revenge operate as coordinated street militias. Legal fronts such as the National Lawyers Guild provide protection, while crowdfunding networks and international supporters funnel money directly to the movement.

The claim that Antifa lacks structure is a convenient myth — one that’s cost Americans dearly.

History reminds us what happens when mobs go unchecked. The French Revolution, Weimar Germany, Mao’s Red Guards — every one began with chaos on the streets. But it wasn’t random. Today’s radicals follow the same playbook: Exploit disorder, intimidate opponents, and seize moral power while the state looks away.

Dismember the dragon

The Trump administration’s decision to designate Antifa a domestic terrorist organization was long overdue. The label finally acknowledged what citizens already knew: Antifa functions as a militant enterprise, recruiting and radicalizing youth for coordinated violence nationwide.

But naming the threat isn’t enough. The movement’s financiers, organizers, and enablers must also face justice. Every dollar that funds Antifa’s destruction should be traced, seized, and exposed.

AFP Contributor / Contributor | Getty Images

This fight transcends party lines. It’s not about left versus right; it’s about civilization versus anarchy. When politicians and judges excuse or ignore mob violence, they imperil the republic itself. Americans must reject silence and cowardice while street militias operate with impunity.

Antifa is organized, funded, and emboldened. The violence in Portland and Chicago is deliberate, not spontaneous. If America fails to confront it decisively, the price won’t just be broken cities — it will be the erosion of the republic itself.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Colorado counselor fights back after faith declared “illegal”

Drew Angerer / Staff | Getty Images

The state is effectively silencing professionals who dare speak truths about gender and sexuality, redefining faith-guided speech as illegal.

This week, free speech is once again on the line before the U.S. Supreme Court. At stake is whether Americans still have the right to talk about faith, morality, and truth in their private practice without the government’s permission.

The case comes out of Colorado, where lawmakers in 2019 passed a ban on what they call “conversion therapy.” The law prohibits licensed counselors from trying to change a minor’s gender identity or sexual orientation, including their behaviors or gender expression. The law specifically targets Christian counselors who serve clients attempting to overcome gender dysphoria and not fall prey to the transgender ideology.

The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The law does include one convenient exception. Counselors are free to “assist” a person who wants to transition genders but not someone who wants to affirm their biological sex. In other words, you can help a child move in one direction — one that is in line with the state’s progressive ideology — but not the other.

Think about that for a moment. The state is saying that a counselor can’t even discuss changing behavior with a client. Isn’t that the whole point of counseling?

One‑sided freedom

Kaley Chiles, a licensed professional counselor in Colorado Springs, has been one of the victims of this blatant attack on the First Amendment. Chiles has dedicated her practice to helping clients dealing with addiction, trauma, sexuality struggles, and gender dysphoria. She’s also a Christian who serves patients seeking guidance rooted in biblical teaching.

Before 2019, she could counsel minors according to her faith. She could talk about biblical morality, identity, and the path to wholeness. When the state outlawed that speech, she stopped. She followed the law — and then she sued.

Her case, Chiles v. Salazar, is now before the Supreme Court. Justices heard oral arguments on Tuesday. The question: Is counseling a form of speech or merely a government‑regulated service?

If the court rules the wrong way, it won’t just silence therapists. It could muzzle pastors, teachers, parents — anyone who believes in truth grounded in something higher than the state.

Censored belief

I believe marriage between a man and a woman is ordained by God. I believe that family — mother, father, child — is central to His design for humanity.

I believe that men and women are created in God’s image, with divine purpose and eternal worth. Gender isn’t an accessory; it’s part of who we are.

I believe the command to “be fruitful and multiply” still stands, that the power to create life is sacred, and that it belongs within marriage between a man and a woman.

And I believe that when we abandon these principles — when we treat sex as recreation, when we dissolve families, when we forget our vows — society fractures.

Are those statements controversial now? Maybe. But if this case goes against Chiles, those statements and others could soon be illegal to say aloud in public.

Faith on trial

In Colorado today, a counselor cannot sit down with a 15‑year‑old who’s struggling with gender identity and say, “You were made in God’s image, and He does not make mistakes.” That is now considered hate speech.

That’s the “freedom” the modern left is offering — freedom to affirm, but never to question. Freedom to comply, but never to dissent. The same movement that claims to champion tolerance now demands silence from anyone who disagrees. The root of this case isn’t about therapy. It’s about erasing a worldview.

The real test

No matter what happens at the Supreme Court, we cannot stop speaking the truth. These beliefs aren’t political slogans. For me, they are the product of years of wrestling, searching, and learning through pain and grace what actually leads to peace. For us, they are the fundamental principles that lead to a flourishing life. We cannot balk at standing for truth.

Maybe that’s why God allows these moments — moments when believers are pushed to the wall. They force us to ask hard questions: What is true? What is worth standing for? What is worth dying for — and living for?

If we answer those questions honestly, we’ll find not just truth, but freedom.

The state doesn’t grant real freedom — and it certainly isn’t defined by Colorado legislators. Real freedom comes from God. And the day we forget that, the First Amendment will mean nothing at all.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck joins Megyn Kelly LIVE — One night ONLY in Fort Worth!

Get ready for sparks to fly. For the first time in years, Glenn will come face-to-face with Megyn Kelly — and this time, he’s the one in the hot seat. On October 25, 2025, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, Glenn joins Megyn on her “Megyn Kelly Live Tour” for a no-holds-barred conversation that promises laughs, surprises, and maybe even a few uncomfortable questions.

What will happen when two of America’s sharpest voices collide under the spotlight? Will Glenn finally reveal the major announcement he’s been teasing on the radio for weeks? You’ll have to be there to find out.

This promises to be more than just an interview — it’s a live showdown packed with wit, honesty, and the kind of energy you can only feel if you are in the room. Tickets are selling fast, so don’t miss your chance to see Glenn like you’ve never seen him before.

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What our response to Israel reveals about us

JOSEPH PREZIOSO / Contributor | Getty Images

I have been honored to receive the Defender of Israel Award from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

The Jerusalem Post recently named me one of the strongest Christian voices in support of Israel.

And yet, my support is not blind loyalty. It’s not a rubber stamp for any government or policy. I support Israel because I believe it is my duty — first as a Christian, but even if I weren’t a believer, I would still support her as a man of reason, morality, and common sense.

Because faith isn’t required to understand this: Israel’s existence is not just about one nation’s survival — it is about the survival of Western civilization itself.

It is a lone beacon of shared values in the Middle East. It is a bulwark standing against radical Islam — the same evil that seeks to dismantle our own nation from within.

And my support is not rooted in politics. It is rooted in something simpler and older than politics: a people’s moral and historical right to their homeland, and their right to live in peace.

Israel has that right — and the right to defend herself against those who openly, repeatedly vow her destruction.

Let’s make it personal: if someone told me again and again that they wanted to kill me and my entire family — and then acted on that threat — would I not defend myself? Wouldn’t you? If Hamas were Canada, and we were Israel, and they did to us what Hamas has done to them, there wouldn’t be a single building left standing north of our border. That’s not a question of morality.

That’s just the truth. All people — every people — have a God-given right to protect themselves. And Israel is doing exactly that.

My support for Israel’s right to finish the fight against Hamas comes after eighty years of rejected peace offers and failed two-state solutions. Hamas has never hidden its mission — the eradication of Israel. That’s not a political disagreement.

That’s not a land dispute. That is an annihilationist ideology. And while I do not believe this is America’s war to fight, I do believe — with every fiber of my being — that it is Israel’s right, and moral duty, to defend her people.

Criticism of military tactics is fair. That’s not antisemitism. But denying Israel’s right to exist, or excusing — even celebrating — the barbarity of Hamas? That’s something far darker.

We saw it on October 7th — the face of evil itself. Women and children slaughtered. Babies burned alive. Innocent people raped and dragged through the streets. And now, to see our own fellow citizens march in defense of that evil… that is nothing short of a moral collapse.

If the chants in our streets were, “Hamas, return the hostages — Israel, stop the bombing,” we could have a conversation.

But that’s not what we hear.

What we hear is open sympathy for genocidal hatred. And that is a chasm — not just from decency, but from humanity itself. And here lies the danger: that same hatred is taking root here — in Dearborn, in London, in Paris — not as horror, but as heroism. If we are not vigilant, the enemy Israel faces today will be the enemy the free world faces tomorrow.

This isn’t about politics. It’s about truth. It’s about the courage to call evil by its name and to say “Never again” — and mean it.

And you don’t have to open a Bible to understand this. But if you do — if you are a believer — then this issue cuts even deeper. Because the question becomes: what did God promise, and does He keep His word?

He told Abraham, “I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you.” He promised to make Abraham the father of many nations and to give him “the whole land of Canaan.” And though Abraham had other sons, God reaffirmed that promise through Isaac. And then again through Isaac’s son, Jacob — Israel — saying: “The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I give to you and to your descendants after you.”

That’s an everlasting promise.

And from those descendants came a child — born in Bethlehem — who claimed to be the Savior of the world. Jesus never rejected His title as “son of David,” the great King of Israel.

He said plainly that He came “for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” And when He returns, Scripture says He will return as “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” And where do you think He will go? Back to His homeland — Israel.

Tamir Kalifa / Stringer | Getty Images

And what will He find when He gets there? His brothers — or his brothers’ enemies? Will the roads where He once walked be preserved? Or will they lie in rubble, as Gaza does today? If what He finds looks like the aftermath of October 7th, then tell me — what will be my defense as a Christian?

Some Christians argue that God’s promises to Israel have been transferred exclusively to the Church. I don’t believe that. But even if you do, then ask yourself this: if we’ve inherited the promises, do we not also inherit the land? Can we claim the birthright and then, like Esau, treat it as worthless when the world tries to steal it?

So, when terrorists come to slaughter Israelis simply for living in the land promised to Abraham, will we stand by? Or will we step forward — into the line of fire — and say,

“Take me instead”?

Because this is not just about Israel’s right to exist.

It’s about whether we still know the difference between good and evil.

It’s about whether we still have the courage to stand where God stands.

And if we cannot — if we will not — then maybe the question isn’t whether Israel will survive. Maybe the question is whether we will.

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