Justin Jedlica was my last living doll to interview in the series (that is, if some of the others get back to me after this runs. HIT ME UP), and I was particularly excited to interview him. Ever since he appeared on an episode of 20/20 a few years back, I’ve followed his work on various TV shows including, but not limited to, Botched and My Strange Addiction, better known as two of my own strange addictions.

I thought he was so eloquent in each of his interviews, and I was especially into the fact that he actually worked with plastic surgeons and the factories that produce implants to design each of the custom pieces he proudly wears. It was certainly unique for the living doll category, but like many of the other individuals within the group, Ken was never his end goal. After receiving media attention, the public sort of assigned him the title, but he takes it in stride.

He was especially accommodating when it came to arranging the interview, even offering to meet up while he was in New York City, but a freak snowstorm and bad planning on my end prevented that from coming to fruition. Once we were able to jump on a phone call, he was even friendlier than I thought he would be.

We chatted how much it sucked to stick out like a sore thumb while growing up in the South—not to be the anti-Simba and not remember who I am, but his environment in North Carolina had some pretty strong parallels to the one I previously knew in Mississippi—and I appreciated how candid he was speaking about any subject. He was even open with me about his divorce, a topic most would usually shy away from, but he was dealing with it.

Our talk sort of exemplified something I’ve been trying to do in my own life, where you talk about the thing (whatever it may be) openly and honestly, because if you don’t talk about the thing at all, then it has power. I probably would have talked to him for much longer, birds were chirping in the background and it sounded pretty pleasant wherever he was, but someone came by to claim the conference room I had commandeered for the hour. C’est la vie, as the French and early ’00s girl band B*Witched say.

Read on to see our conversation in full below.