Adam Lambert | Done Being Polite

The Person Who Believed In Me

Adam Lambert was 13, a theater kid in conservative North County San Diego, trying on his mother's makeup after school, when he started working with a voice teacher named Lynne Broyles. She had fierce energy and impeccable taste. She introduced him to Sondheim, to cabaret, to an entire gay cultural lexicon — without ever naming it as such — and gave him a room where he didn't have to explain himself.

Years later he quit a job in Wicked to audition for American Idol with no guarantee of anything. Then came the 2009 AMAs, where he kissed a man on live television the night before his first single dropped, got pulled from Good Morning America after ABC threatened to sue, and understood for the first time that his career was going to be about more than the music. In this conversation with David Begnaud, he talks about the shame that arrived only after the fame did — about spending a decade in an LA bubble and then meeting mainstream American homophobia head-on. About fronting Queen for ten years, playing Rock in Rio and the steps of Buckingham Palace, and what proximity to Brian May and Roger Taylor teaches you by osmosis. About six months on Broadway as the Emcee in Cabaret, and bringing Lynne to see it. And about why, seventeen years in, he's finished being polite about what he wants.

Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com

Chapters ☀️


ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways.

David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.

Host: David Begnaud

Guest: Adam Lambert

Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse

Booker: Sully Bloch

Director of Photography: Foster Parks

Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)

Social: Maxim Trofimenko, Kylee Anderson, Gracie Pekrul

Theme Music: Slipstream

Post-Production: Longwave Digital, David & Luana Co.

CONNECT WITH US:

The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

More description

Adam Lambert was 13, a theater kid in conservative North County San Diego, trying on his mother's makeup after school, when he started working with a voice teacher named Lynne Broyles. She had fierce energy and impeccable taste. She introduced him to Sondheim, to cabaret, to an entire gay cultural lexicon — without ever naming it as such — and gave him a room where he didn't have to explain himself.

Years later he quit a job in Wicked to audition for American Idol with no guarantee of anything. Then came the 2009 AMAs, where he kissed a man on live television the night before his first single dropped, got pulled from Good Morning America after ABC threatened to sue, and understood for the first time that his career was going to be about more than the music. In this conversation with David Begnaud, he talks about the shame that arrived only after the fame did — about spending a decade in an LA bubble and then meeting mainstream American homophobia head-on. About fronting Queen for ten years, playing Rock in Rio and the steps of Buckingham Palace, and what proximity to Brian May and Roger Taylor teaches you by osmosis. About six months on Broadway as the Emcee in Cabaret, and bringing Lynne to see it. And about why, seventeen years in, he's finished being polite about what he wants.

Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: https://www.thedogoodcrew.com

Chapters ☀️


ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways.

David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.

Host: David Begnaud

Guest: Adam Lambert

Executive Producer: David Begnaud, Olivier Delfosse

Booker: Sully Bloch

Director of Photography: Foster Parks

Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)

Social: Maxim Trofimenko, Kylee Anderson, Gracie Pekrul

Theme Music: Slipstream

Post-Production: Longwave Digital, David & Luana Co.

CONNECT WITH US:

The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast

2026-07-13 85 min Transcript
Listen elsewhere

Available Results

Generated results are saved to your library for reuse and search.

No generated results are available for this episode yet.

Transcript

Open the Transcript tab to load the transcript.

Chapters

No chapters available.