In this special bonus episode, the tables are turned as veteran journalist and podcast host Kimi Culp interviews Dani about her own family history and the secret at its core.

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Stories from our friends at The Secrets Hotline Podcast, hosted by Nick van der Kolk.

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In this bonus episode, Dani speaks with renowned physician and author Dr. Gabor Maté about his new book,The Myth of Normal, and the ways in which we can begin to heal from our wounds and traumas.

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In this bonus series, “Dani’s Listening”, Dani connects with listeners by responding to those who’ve called in to share their family secrets.

Mark your calendars for the launch of season 8 on May 4th.

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In this bonus series, “Dani’s Listening”, Dani connects with listeners by responding to those who’ve called in to share their family secrets.

Mark your calendars for the launch of season 8 on May 4th.

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Dani shares a message this Thanksgiving with the Family Secrets community.

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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?

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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.

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Meyli Chapin shares her story and discusses PTSD with host Kimi Culp.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The opening chapter of SIGNAL FIRES is shared here, in Dani's voice, for the very first time. 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Putsata was an infant when she and her family fled from war-torn Cambodia on an escape boat. When the captain saw that baby Putsata was ill, he suggested that her mother—Ma—throw her overboard. Ma couldn’t do this; she believed her baby would get better, and sure enough she did. Putsata grows up feeling indebted to Ma for saving her life. The weight of this debt gets heavier and heavier over time, causing Put to bury large and important parts of her true self.

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Welcome to the new season of Family Secrets, premiering September 1st.

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In this bonus episode, Dani speaks with professor and author Michael Slepian about the psychology of secret keeping and his new book The Secret Life of Secrets: How Our Inner Worlds Shape Well-Being, Relationships, and Who We Are.

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In this bonus episode, Dani speaks with psychoanalyst and author Dr. Galit Atlas about her new book Emotional Inheritance and the role of secrecy in families—all families.

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In this replay bonus episode, Dani speaks with writer Jennifer Senior about her cover story ‘What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind’ for the September 2021 issue of The Atlantic.

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Tell us what stories you'd like to hear at 1-888-SECRET-0.

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Dani sits down with her friend and fellow podcaster Nora McInerney for a deep dive into her own family secrets.

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Dani recalls some of her favorite Family Secrets moments in this special bonus episode put together by Hark. Watch for more bonus content as we continue work on the next season.

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When Zoe Shaw becomes pregnant at fifteen years old, her life is thrown into orbit. Not only must she conceal her pregnancy from her family and community, but too, her future will be forever informed by the secret at the core of her adolescence.

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Liz Scheier’s mother is eccentric at best, and violent at worst. In the grips of mental illness, she keeps secrets and tells lies. It isn’t until Liz turns eighteen, when her mother finally divulges hidden truths about her past. Decades later, Liz is still trying to piece together the myriad levels of deception.

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In 1988, Margaret Kimball is four years old and her mother attempts suicide; this is just one of several family secrets. As Margaret searches for answers nearly thirty years later, she mines through old diary entries, hospital records, home videos, and other archives to piece together a narrative map of her childhood in an attempt to understand the unspoken familial fractures.

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Beneath Justine’s mother’s polished façade lay a fearsome rage that drives Justine to flee from home. After her mother dies, Justine uncovers an envelope revealing the mystery of her mother’s character, and a telling history that stretches back to the early years of World War II and beyond.

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Just as Adam approaches an exciting apex in his career, he receives life-shattering news which stems from a deep and painful family secret.

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Michelle grapples with the memory of her sexual assault and home invasion that occurred during her college years. Twenty years later, after a career of working with victims like herself, Michelle endeavors to find out what happened to her case and why she never heard from the police again.

Warning: this episode contains discussion of sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised.

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Actress Maddie Corman is driving at 5:00 am to a TV soundstage to film a television show when she gets a panicked call from her children; police are at their home, seizing their father’s computer. Maddie’s husband Jace Alexander has a dark secret, now coming to light. 

Warning: this episode contains discussion of child sexual abuse. Listener discretion is advised.

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After years of estrangement and hiding his true self, Trent loses his father. His inheritance is a puzzling combination of his father’s beat-up wooden toolbox and a taxidermy duck. In his grief, Trent decides to use his father’s tools to build a wooden canoe and in doing so, he confronts and uncovers his father’s secret history, and reconciles his own.

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Sherry Turkle grows up surrounded by mysteries—her own identity included. Her mother is full of unknowns, especially when it comes to her relationship with Sherry’s elusive and absent scientist father…whose science experiments were nothing short of unsettling.

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Qian Julie Wang is just seven years old when her family arrives in America in 1994, and her whole world changes. Impoverished, isolated, and considered “illegal”, the Wangs must keep their immigration status — among other family truths — concealed.

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Inside every secret is a truth. And you know what they say: the truth will set us free. Season 6 of Family Secrets launches Thursday, December 9th.

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Dani gives her thanks to the Family Secrets community this holiday. Be sure to tune in to season 6 on December 9th.

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In this new bonus series, “Dani’s Listening”, Dani connects with listeners by responding to those who’ve called in to share their family secrets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this new bonus series, “Dani’s Listening”, Dani connects with listeners by responding to those who’ve called in to share their family secrets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this new bonus series, “Dani’s Listening”, Dani connects with listeners by responding to those who’ve called in to share their family secrets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this bonus episode, Dani speaks with writer Jennifer Senior about her cover story ‘What Bobby McIlvaine Left Behind’ for the September 2021 issue of The Atlantic.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this new bonus series, “Dani’s Listening”, Dani connects with listeners by responding to those who’ve called in to share their family secrets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this new bonus series, “Dani’s Listening”, Dani connects with listeners by responding to those who’ve called in to share their family secrets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this new bonus series, “Dani’s Listening”, Dani connects with listeners by responding to those who’ve called in to share their family secrets.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this bonus episode, Dani sits down for a conversation with Kelly Corrigan for her podcast, Kelly Corrigan Wonders.

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An exciting update from Dani on upcoming Family Secrets bonus content.

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Graphic memoirist Alison Bechdel had a complicated relationship with her father, who hid his sexuality from just about everyone in their small Pennsylvania town. When she came out in college, it finally seemed like they’d get the opportunity to bond over the truth of their identities—until a tragic event cut that connection short.

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Nadia Owusu always worshipped her father, and his death when she was just 13 turned her world upside down. Fifteen years later, a bitter argument with her stepmother creates a brand new fault line in her life, leaving Nadia wondering if she ever really knew her father at all.

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As a kid, Liza Rodman spent her summers in Provincetown, trying her best to stay out of her volatile mother’s way. Her favorite escape: running errands with family friend Tony, who soon became her de facto babysitter. One summer, Tony stopped coming around—something Liza didn’t question, until decades later, when she learned that there was something sinister hiding beneath Tony’s gentle demeanor.

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Nicole Georges never knew her father. From the time she was little, she was told he died when she was just an infant—of colon cancer, her mom said. But after getting a strange palm reading in her early 20s, Nicole realizes there may be more to the story. Not knowing how to approach her mother about it, Nicole—like so many other Americans dealing with personal crises—calls up a familiar, and controversial, source of advice on family matters: Dr. Laura Schlessinger.

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At just 17 years old, Alisson Wood began a dangerous entanglement with a creative writing teacher at her school, who gifted her a copy of Nabokov’s Lolita. To hear “Mr. North” tell it, Lolita is the ultimate love story—a narrative the young Alisson bought into, until she grew older and learned to see the tale for what it really is: a grim account of predation and abuse.

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Growing up in post-war America, Alexander Wolff had a vague sense that his father, Nico, and his grandfather, Kurt, had two very different wartime experiences. But it wasn’t until he was an adult that he began to understand just how divergent his half-Jewish grandfather’s, and his quarter-Jewish father’s, paths had been.

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Emma Ramos grew up in a deeply religious, and deeply patriarchal, town in Mexico, where carving out an independent life for herself—outside her parents’ expectations—was a constant negotiation. Which is why she hid the most traumatic thing that ever happened to her from her loved ones for more than a decade—until she found herself living under her parents’ roof again, in the midst of the pandemic.

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As a law student, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich was vehemently opposed to the death penalty, even in the most heinous of crimes. Yet their deeply-held beliefs were put to the test after watching the confession tape of a man convicted of the brutal killing and sexual assault of a six-year-old boy—the details of which felt all too familiar to Alex, an abuse survivor.

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Ly Tran’s father refused to accept any kind of weakness in his children—not even something as commonplace, and easily remedied, as poor vision. So when then-eight-year-old Ly brought a note home from school informing her parents she needed glasses, he flew into a rage—setting Ly up for years of struggle and secret-keeping as her eyesight continued to worsen, which impacted every facet of her life.

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What’s it like to live your life so deep undercover, handling secrets that are so sensitive, not even the people who know you best—not your friends, not your siblings, not your parents—can know what you’re up to? Ex-CIA agent Amaryllis Fox spent the better part of her 20s trying to keep WMDs out of the hands of global terror groups—until she became a mother and realized she couldn’t ask her baby daughter to live inside a secret world. 

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Join us for more incredible stories about what happens when long-held family secrets come to light. The new season of Family Secrets launches Thursday, April 1. 

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Dani continues her discussion with Dr. Yehuda about intergenerational trauma, and her fascinating new research into psychedelics as a potential treatment for patients suffering from PTSD.

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In this special episode, Dani speaks with noted trauma expert Dr. Rachel Yehuda about the controversial history of PTSD as a diagnosis, the disorder’s surprising physiological effects, and why the children of PTSD sufferers often show the same biological markers, despite never having experienced trauma themselves.

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In this special bonus episode, recorded as part of the Two Writers Talking virtual series, Dani and journalist Robert Kolker—author of the instant New York Times bestseller Hidden Valley Road—discuss the delicate work of writing about family secrets, whether they're your own or someone else's.

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In this bonus episode we hear from listeners in the Family Secrets community. To share your secret, call 1-888-SECRET-0.

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Thank you for listening to season four of Family Secrets.

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David Ingber is a spiritual leader and father of three young kids, beloved by his large New York City Congregation. His wisdom and ability to comfort is sought after by thousands. In this episode, he learns that opening up and allowing himself to show his own vulnerability is part of his teaching and a great spiritual lesson.

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Julia McKenzie Munemo’s late father made his living by churning out trashy novels—that was about as much as she was willing to admit. But she had no desire to crack open any of the dusty paperbacks she inherited, until a nationwide reckoning made it clear she had no choice but to confront the racist legacy her dad left behind.

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During her second year at an elite New England boarding school, Lacy Crawford was brutally assaulted by two senior boys. When the extent of the damage they’d done became clear, the school placed the blame squarely on her. Years later, Lacy would learn just how hard the institution worked to silence her.

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For the first 40 years of her life, Jennifer Finney Boylan figured the price of living her truth would be much too steep; by opening up about who she really was, she assumed she’d lose everything, including the love of her life. But over time, it became clear that hiding who she really was had taken its own toll—on herself, on her family, and on her marriage.

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Nick Flynn was 7 years old when his house burned down. The official story, the one everyone laughed about, was that raccoons had knocked over the family’s Hibachi grill and set the house on fire. Decades later, Nick learned that’s not what happened at all—and started to understand the depth of his mother’s desperation.

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Outwardly, Susan Burton had it all—a degree from Yale, a thriving career, a loving husband and kids. Inside, Susan waged a war on herself, using food as a way to exert control over the discomfort she felt in her own skin.

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Lindsay Roemer assumed she’d metabolized, and mostly moved on from, the secret that had been kept from her most of her life—until an unexpected Facebook message from a man she’d never met changed everything she thought she knew about her father.

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The smart, opinionated, funny women who raised Saeed Jones—his mother and his grandmother—had a profound influence on his identity. But it was the things they couldn’t talk about that echoed the loudest with Saeed as he began to navigate adulthood, trying to figure out where he fit in as a gay Black man from the South.

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Singer Kanene Pipkin always loved her mother, but they weren’t exactly close. Until one day her mother called with some news Kanene couldn’t wrap her head around—news that would change their relationship, and Kanene’s understanding of what it means to be a family, forever.

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Ruthie Lindsey attracted a massive following with her picture-perfect lifestyle shots on Instagram. But what those images didn’t show was everything that came before, including an accident that nearly killed her, a painkiller addiction that might have finished the job—and the unconditional love of a family determined to pull her out of the darkness.

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Ruthie Lindsey knows first-hand just how much pain might be hiding behind someone’s picture-perfect social media presence. Hear the rest of her story on the Season 4 premiere of Family Secrets, next Thursday, October 1.

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Get ready for more incredible stories about the secrets—both big and small—that shape us from the inside out. The new season of Family Secrets launches October 1.

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Dani checks in with a quick update on season 4. (Mark your calendars for October 1!)

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In this bonus episode we hear from listeners in the Family Secrets community. To share your secret, call 1-888-SECRET-0.

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Sit in on the intimate sessions of renowned therapists and national advice columnists Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch as they guide fellow travelers through the everyday and extraordinary challenges of life.

Each week, Lori and Guy invite you to be a fly-on-the-wall and listen to their personal, raw, transformative sessions, where they share behind-the-scenes insights, offer actionable advice, and bring people back to find out what worked (or didn’t)–and what we can all learn about ourselves through the lens of others.

Subscribe to Dear Therapists on the iHeartRadio App, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts! https://ihr.fm/33h8CdY

In this bonus episode we hear from listeners in the Family Secrets community. To share your secret, call 1-888-SECRET-0.

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Dani and Alicia continue their conversation about becoming the person you were always meant to be, and Alicia shares her strategy for moving forward when you find yourself at a crossroads—learn to feel out, and trust, the resounding yeses. (Alicia’s memoir, More Myself: A Journey, is out now.)

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On this very special episode of Family Secrets, Dani speaks with singer-songwriter Alicia Keys about living unapologetically, making art without compromise, and the women who kept her grounded when she became a household name at just 20 years old—her mother and her grandmother. (Alicia’s memoir, More Myself: A Journey, is out now.)

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Dani calls up Doree and Kate, hosts of the hit podcast Forever35, for an in-depth conversation about self-care, shifting priorities, and why it’s so important to keep a record of what you’re doing, thinking, and feeling during this time.

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In this bonus episode we hear from listeners in the Family Secrets community. To share your secret, call 1-888-SECRET-0.

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In this bonus episode we hear from listeners in the Family Secrets community. To share your secret, call 1-888-SECRET-0.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Unitarian Universalist minister advocates for a new kind of spiritual practice—gratitude—one even the least religious among us can draw comfort from.

Dani and Liz respond to questions from the audience about shame, the power of the unthought known, and the growing community of people who find out later in life they were donor-conceived. 

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On this special live episode of Family Secrets, recorded in Los Angeles in January, Dani sits down with indie rock icon Liz Phair to talk about the stories we choose to tell ourselves—and how the act of writing can lead to a deeper, more nuanced understanding of both our pasts and the people we’ve become.

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Dani and Gretchen respond to audience questions — including one from a former anonymous sperm donor, who wonders where his loyalties should lie after he’s asked not to tell one of his biological children the truth about her origins.

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On this special live episode of Family Secrets, recorded in Philadelphia in January, author and podcast host Gretchen Rubin interviews Dani about uncovering the family secret that became the subject of her bestselling memoir Inheritance: that her beloved father was not related to her by blood. Gretchen and Dani discuss the aftermath of that discovery — including what it was like to forge a connection with her biological dad — plus the ethics of anonymous sperm donation, and what the rise of DNA testing means for those guarantees of anonymity.

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On part two of Dani’s conversation with Libby Copeland, Dani and Libby discuss the fallout on the other side of a major DNA revelation, and why DNA testing could make secrecy around a person’s origins a thing of the past.

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On this special bonus episode of Family Secrets, Dani speaks with Libby Copeland, author and journalist, about the psychological and emotional complexities that face families who have kept secrets, and families who have had secrets kept from them. This is an intimate conversation about the deepest parts of identity exposed by unexpected DNA results. 

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A writer and cancer survivor, leaning on lessons she learned while battling leukemia in her 20s, now helps others make meaningful connections as they adjust to life in isolation.

Dani and Bessel respond to questions from the audience about trauma, and how art—and writing in particular—can help people heal.

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In January, Dani hit the road for a series of live conversations with some of her favorite writers, artists, and thinkers. Her first stop: Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she sat down with renowned trauma expert Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, for a discussion about how we move forward after traumatic events—a topic nobody could have predicted would apply to each and every one of us just a few months later.

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A nurse in NYC is haunted by the fact that her COVID patients have to suffer without loved ones by their side.

The Way We Live Now is a brand new iHeartRadio original podcast with host Dani Shapiro. In this episode a senator finds solace in the small acts of kindness he sees happening in his community — and hopes that we’ll all be better friends, neighbors, and citizens when this is over.

The Way We Live Now is a brand new iHeartRadio original podcast with host Dani Shapiro. In this episode a movie star (and self-described “hugger”) tries to embrace new ways of connecting.

The Way We Live Now is a brand new iHeartRadio original podcast with host Dani Shapiro. In this episode a primary-care physician nearing retirement deletes an email about volunteering in a COVID-19 clinic — then regret sets in. 

The Way We Live Now is a brand new iHeartRadio original podcast with host Dani Shapiro. In the first episode, Serge, a chef at a small-town restaurant talks about keeping his business afloat, coming to terms with a new kind of solitude, and how he uses cooking to stay connected to the outside world.

Big news, Family Secrets listeners: Dani just launched a new show called The Way We Live Now, featuring searching, intimate conversations with people from all walks of life about how they’re coping — and managing to stay connected — in a world turned upside-down. Episode 1 is available now wherever you get your favorite podcasts.

For years, Steven Romo just didn’t talk about the bleak landscape of his childhood—not with friends, and certainly not with his colleagues at the TV station where he works as an anchor. Until a headline that reminded him of his upbringing inspired him to open up about what he’s been through, giving everyone a glimpse at the pain he kept hidden beneath his polished, professional exterior. 

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