Death, Sex & Money

This week, listeners share what it’s like to plan a dream wedding when money and family relationships lead to conflict and compromise. We hear from couples with vastly different ideas of what they wanted to spend, about opinionated parents and in-laws, and tips from people who managed to spend less. This episode first ran in 2023 and includes new updates from some of the happy couples.  Podca...

A lot has happened in Jeff Hiller’s life since he was last on the show in 2024.  Last year he won an Emmy for his role on the HBO show Somebody Somewhere and then went viral for his sincere and funny acceptance speech. He’s had featured roles in the AppleTV hits Pluribus and Widow’s Bay and joined the revolving cast of the Broadway show Celebrity Autobiography . And his memoir Actress of a Ce...

Growing up, whenever Anna Konkle's parents fought–which was frequently–she usually sided with her dad. As she got older, she started to see those memories differently. Was her dad actually the bad guy? This week on Death, Sex & Money , Konkle talks about her new memoir, The Sane One , and the challenges of unpacking morally ambiguous memories. She also narrows in on her relationship with her d...

Actor Peter Dinklage and playwright Erica Schmidt have been married for two decades, and even though they’ve collaborated on projects, it’s rare for them to do an interview together. That’s why we were so excited when they agreed to join Anna on stage at the Tribeca Festival to discuss how they balance privacy and family, why they wish interviewers would stop fixating on Game of Thrones, and how t...

Theo Baker was seventeen when he enrolled at Stanford and stumbled into one of the biggest stories on campus: academic misconduct allegations against the university's president. His reporting eventually forced the president out. In this episode, Theo talks about breaking that story, navigating backlash from classmates and faculty, and what he's learned about the ways Silicon Valley's culture of am...

Romy Holland is a Berkeley mom whose meet-cute happened at a raucous sex party. That night she had sex with dozens of men, one of which would become her husband. In this episode, Romy talks about the party in question, from the sexy aspects to the much more awkward ones. Plus she talks about what new motherhood does to desire, and the unexpected emotional toll of an abortion that didn't go as plan...

Anna talks to Alexis, a parent whose 8 year old son has an anxiety disorder, about what it was like attending a therapy program designed for parents of anxious children. Plus, Anna talks to the founder of the program , Dr. Eli Lebowitz, Director of the Program for Anxiety Disorders at the Yale Child Study Center, and author of Breaking Free of Child Anxiety and OCD: A Scientifically Proven Program...

The actor and travel writer Andrew McCarthy used to be a member of one of pop culture’s most famous friend groups: The Brat Pack. He starred in movies like Pretty in Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire and palled around with actors like Rob Lowe and Emilio Estevez. Four decades later, in middle age, he found himself nearly friendless and set out on a cross-country road trip to reunite with the buddies he mis...

Tim Friede grew up in a strict, religious household with an obsession for science and a knack for breaking rules. He became fixated on a particular problem: roughly 120,000 people die from venomous snakebites every year worldwide. He developed a theory that if he could become immune to snakebites, then his blood could be used to develop a better antivenom. So, he got to work. Over nearly two decad...

Kara Swisher has built an impressive career reporting on–and forcefully critiquing–the world of tech, especially the ultra-wealthy power players increasingly calling the shots. Since Steve Job’s death in 2011, she’s noticed a sharp uptick amongst those Silicon Valley elite doing all sorts of “wacky shit” to try and defy aging, extend their lifespan, and possibly even stop death itself.  ...

When musician Chris Dowd was 19, shortly after graduating from high school, his band Fishbone got signed to Columbia Records. The group was made up of Black teenagers in Los Angeles, who combined several musical genres—funk, punk, ska, metal, reggae—into a new exciting sound in the late 70’s. They influenced countless other bands but struggled to find lasting commercial success. This week on the s...

In 2008, travel writer Rick Steves thought the U.S. might be on the verge of war with Iran. So he took a TV crew there to document the people and places who might soon be at risk. “You should know people before you bomb them,” he told Anna Sale.  In this episode, Rick talks about his multiple visits to Iran (the first was in 1978) and how travel in general can challenge our beliefs and broade...

Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a novel that follows a young college student who starts a flirtation, and then affair, with a college professor who ends up getting her pregnant.  Author Rufi Thorpe takes us through what happens next, as Margo decides to keep the baby and then joins OnlyFans in the earliest days of the site.    The novel is now a TV show on AppleTV starring Elle F...

When Doree Shafrir started fertility treatments in her late thirties, she thought it would be relatively simple. It ended up taking multiple rounds and sinking her family into debt.  Doree and her husband host the podcast Matt and Doree's Eggcellent Adventure: An IVF Journey . She also co-hosts Forever 35 , and writes the work advice column for Slate, Good Job .  Death, Sex & Money i...

A listener we're calling Natalie received over a million dollars after being sexually abused by her university gynecologist in one of the largest abuse settlements in American history. She talks about the strange math of converting a bad experience into a dollar amount, and why she’s barely spent any of it.  *This episode includes descriptions of abuse. Please take care while listening. ...

Career pivots can be terrifying. How do you know when the time is right? Is it ever too late to switch jobs? What if the next thing is worse?  This week, we’ve assembled a panel of career change experts to answer your questions about whether and when to make big moves. Sophia Chang is a former hip-hop talent agent who started a mentorship nonprofit. Ed Zitron launched his own PR firm but then...

Soon after his wife started experimenting with ChatGPT last summer, Rob* says her demeanor began to change. He says she started using mystical speech, running all communication through AI, and filed for divorce. Now, Rob is left to wonder how much he’s to blame for the end of their marriage and how much can be explained by “AI-induced psychosis.”  Also in this episode, Anna talks to psyc...

This week and next, we’re talking to listeners about how chatbots are impacting their personal lives. Anna talks to a parent getting tips on how to raise a teenager, an American abroad who turned to ChatGPT for grief counseling, a therapist who says Claude is better than a lot of her peers, and a husband who says AI broke up their marriage.  Podcast production by Zoe Azulay Death, Sex & M...

Graham Platner has never run for elected office before. He’s a war veteran, an oyster farmer, and now he’s running in a Democratic primary to eventually unseat Senator Susan Collins of Maine. He’s ahead in the polls, but he’s also been criticized for Reddit comments from his past and recently covered up a tattoo that looks suspiciously like a Nazi symbol (a connection he denies knowing about ).&nb...

When Helena de Groot got married she didn't want children, but her husband did. For eight years, love was enough to paper over their differences. Then an unplanned pregnancy forced them to finally choose. Listen to her terrific new podcast Creation Myth , out now from the CBC. This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn.  Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our col...

Here at DSM, we’ve been enjoying Heated Rivalry , the HBO series about two pro hockey players who begin a secret love affair. The show is steamy, but it also highlights some persistent problems in male sports culture, namely, that same-sex relationships are still extremely taboo.   But one TikTok account is trying to change that culture for the better. Sex Ed for Guys was started by athletes...

On the air, Yesi Ortiz is a warm, flirty host for a popular L.A. hip hop station. Off the air, she’s a single mother of six adopted kids. Managing both roles, plus romance, is a challenge. This episode originally aired in 2015.  Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus ! Members get ad-free podcast...

Growing up, George Saunders was the eldest boy with younger sisters, in a family full of women who gave him praise and special treatment. That created the confidence that fueled his ambition to become a great writer.  In this lively interview, George talks about why that dream took decades to realize and what was essential to making it happen – including a karmic, three-week romance, a pivota...

Comedian Maria Bamford discusses her separation after a decade of marriage, the wildfires that destroyed her Altadena neighborhood, and starting over in a new apartment.  Check out if Maria is coming to your city on her comedy tour: https://mariabamford.com/tourdates   Listen to our previous Death, Sex & Money interviews with Maria:  Anna and Maria talk in 2023 about her memoir...

Anna talks to Jonathan Goldstein, host of the Pushkin podcast Heavyweight , about the show getting a second chance after a long period of uncertainty, and how that time helped some of the stories they had been working on find a proper conclusion.   Then we share one of our favorite episodes of Heavyweight , their recent season finale titled “ Deborah .” At 101 years old, Deborah dis...