Jon Stewart's wife talks life on the farm, love of animals
The theme from "Green Acres," the sitcom about a family leaving New York for farm life, is a perfect fit for Jon Stewart and his family. They did just that, sharing their home with four dogs, two pigs, three rabbits, two guinea pigs, one bird and two fish.
Stewart's wife Tracey, a former veterinary technician and animal advocate, is out with her first book, "Do Unto Animals," a guide to understanding animals and treating them with respect. "CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King visited the family on their recently bought New Jersey farm, 50 miles outside of New York City.
"I was so angry at animals until I met Tracey," said Jon Stewart. "And she said, 'no, they're quite pleasant.'"
While Jon may joke, Tracey's love of animals is serious.
"You know, I feel so good about eating vegan," she said. "So for me...it makes me [feel] really good about myself. Now, that might not be the case for everyone."
With sections like "Be Nice to the Bugs" and lines like "Mosquitoes Love me, so I Love Bats" in her book, you know she is hard core.
She also has a thing for pit bulls - she has two of her own -- and says they are misunderstood and are actually the "sweetest" dogs.
"If I had a small child and I was going to go get a dog, I wouldn't get a large muscular dog, but not because I think that a pit bull is inherently dangerous," said Stewart. "Really what shows whether a dog is going to bite is the history of the dog, not the breed. But sadly, a lot of dogs are being euthanized just because they have a big, blocky head."
While the book is mostly about loving and caring for animals, it also follows Tracey's path to happiness through animals - like when she was in a relationship with a hyper-critical boyfriend.
"He had gone to an Ivy League school, so he loved to correct my grammar. He told me that I had too much space between the bottom of my nose and the top of my lip," she recalled.
But she only finally ended the relationship after an incident involving her adopted dog, Enzo.
"He left the front door open and the dog ran out into the street. And now the dog did not get hit. But at that moment, I realized that it was time to go," she said. "But it's funny because at that time, that does mark a significant transition in me, in who I was becoming."
And she credits another boyfriend - who'd eventually become her future husband - for making her love of animals the focus of her life.
"What [Jon] was saying to me is, 'You love animals. You've told me that you've dreamed of being a veterinarian when you were young. But I still can't figure out why you're not doing that,'" Stewart said. "I finally heard that and went back. And I had to go back to school to become a veterinary technician."
It was at school that Tracey says she had one of the best days of her life - when she helped deliver a calf during a trip to an upstate farm on her birthday.
"There was a cow that was downed, and she was pregnant and they couldn't get her up," Stewart recalled. She helped a farmer massage the cow's legs to get the blood circulating and help the cow stand, to transport her to another farmer's trailer.
"And I was the first one in...The cow was, like, feces flying all over me. And I'm there with my big happy smile. And she did give birth to a calf," Stewart said."After she was out, we looked up, and all the cows that had been way out in the pasture had come in and they were all lined up to see the baby."
At age 48, Tracey Stewart says she is living her dream.
"I feel like this last year, I've been happy for a long time," she said. "I think when I go out and I lay with the pigs and I think, like my hair is a mess and my skin's a mess...I'm packing it on down here. I just feel like I don't care anymore. I'm so happy."