Family Secrets

In the second part of this inspiring two-part episode, writer and musician Jessica Willis Fisher finishes her powerful story of survival.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the first part of this harrowing two-part episode, writer and musician Jessica Willis Fisher courageously speaks the unspeakable truths of the abuse she faced at the hands of her father. But this is just the beginning.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From the outside, Priscilla’s family life looks dazzling. Her parents are both revered in the literary community and she and her sister grow up in an artistic home. But things change when their parents decide to do something they said they never would: they divorce. After this, their father’s hidden life begins to rise to the surface.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kyleigh and her older sister Kait couldn’t be closer. They lean on one another all throughout childhood. But at a certain point, Kait’s mental health begins to fray and with it, so does Kyleigh’s grip on her relationship with her beloved sister. When Kait disappears, Kyleigh is left to grapple with incredible loss and the painful reality of questions that can never be answered.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Letty’s life is laced with “shanda”—the Yiddish word for shame or disgrace. And the shanda is not hers alone; it stretches back and through many generations of suppression, secrecy, and the enormous heft of overcoming stigma and breaking the cycle for once and for all.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emi is a brilliant child caught in the storms of the adults around her. As such, her own troubles begin to brew and her secrets compound. From foster care to homelessness to an Ivy League education and robust career, Emi’s trajectory is an extraordinary lesson in what is possible when resilience wins the day.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Allison knows something is fundamentally different about her. She looks different and she feels different from the other girls in school. But when her parents refuse to acknowledge just how different she is, it becomes harder and harder for her to reckon with who she is, and who she wants to become.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forever punctuated by shame, secrecy, and danger, Isaac's search to know himself has always been a precarious journey. But as he walks the rocky road toward self-acceptance, he must reconcile his need to be both strong and vulnerable.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From a very young age, Sophia is taught to deflect when people ask questions. Her parents teach her this lesson, and they tell her to keep a low profile as an American living abroad. When she finds a letter she’s not supposed to read, she learns what her parents do for a living – and that changes everything.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Growing up among conflicting cultures and customs, Carmen feels a profound sense of otherness. When her mother reveals their family secret, Carmen’s conflicts deepen and the puzzle pieces of her identity scatter before eventually— they finally snap into place.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us starting May 4th for 10 new stories of tenacity, resilience, and the profoundly necessary excavation of long-held family secrets.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Judy receives a thick envelope from her father—presumably including answers to long kept secrets about his identity and past—he instructs her to burn it before opening. Despite her plaguing curiosity, she follows her father’s wishes. But later in her life, she seeks answers. What was in that envelope? And who was her father, really?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Tad reckons with the choices he’s made in his relationships—most prominently, in his marriage—he must confront the choices made by his father, too. And his grandmother. In uncovering staggering truths, he finds his own struggles with intimacy are part of a long string of inherited secrecy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fraidy is raised in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community where she is forced to follow many conventions including an arranged marriage in her teens. After enduring emotional and physical abuse, Fraidy is determined to figure out a way to save herself, her children, and many, many others.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know—or think we know—the wonderful journalist, news anchor, and bestselling author, Katie Couric. But behind and beyond her camera-ready exterior is the interior world of a very real individual— a daughter, sister, wife, and mother navigating the complexities of a public life.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After Mark’s divorce, he cannot eat or sleep or function. Hesitant to pathologize these feelings, he finally acknowledges the clinical magnitude of his condition. But even after accepting that he’s suffering from depression, he keeps it under wraps; he runs a residential treatment center for homeless teens where he feels he must keep up appearances.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ashley’s father is imprisoned when she’s eight months old. She has no real context for him until she visits him for the first time, when she’s seven. They forge as best a relationship they can, writing letters, and talking on the phone. It’s not until she’s fourteen when she discovers why he’s in jail. What she learns is shattering and confirms to her that the world is not always a safe place.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From a harrowing, unstable childhood, Venus perseveres and creates an ideal life for herself—with an exuberant husband and a gaggle of amazing kids. But harrowing returns for her when she learns the dark truths—and lies—about her husband.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Growing up, Rich doesn’t know much about his family, save for the singular fact that his mother came to the US from Haiti when she was thirteen. But in 2010, when the worst recorded earthquake in the Western hemisphere’s history hits Haiti, Rich is met with a series of life-altering discoveries about his family’s past.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chloe is an only child, but she’s not entirely alone. She has dogs. Meaningful, magical, ever-supportive dogs. With reserved parents and a habit of hiding her feelings, Chloe retreats deeply into her canine world, and the search to find herself, and free herself, takes years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.