Death, Sex & Money

This week, we’re revisiting an episode about the transitional lives of Uber drivers. Anna and then-producer Katie Bishop hitched multiple rides in the Bay Area and heard stories about immigration, domestic violence, personal finance, and more.  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-f...

To mark the return of Death, Sex & Money, we’re presenting a live celebration of new beginnings, featuring interviews with comedian and TV host W. Kamau Bell, writer Vicki Larson, Dr. Bonnie Chen, and artist Carissa Potter. You’ll also hear lively music accompaniment by D’Wayne Wiggins of Tony! Toni! Toné! This episode was recorded live at KQED in San Francisco on February 29, 2024.  Death, Se...

Hear about the new life for Death, Sex & Money, with new episodes coming soon! In the meantime, subscribe to Anna's newsletter here to keep in touch and help shape this new era of the show. And tell us your favorite Death, Sex & Money episodes in a review on Apple Podcasts to help new listeners get to know us as all our archives move to our new home. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If...

When we heard that Death, Sex, & Money was coming to an end at WNYC, we decided there was only one thing to do: throw ourselves an in-person goodbye celebration. In this week’s episode, you’ll hear audio from “Four Interviews and a Funeral,” a show we hosted at Caveat in Manhattan. In it, Anna talks to past guests, like comedian Chris Gethard , Lawrence and Ronnine Bartley , mover Adonis Willi...

Over the past few months, we’ve been collecting your stories about inheritance, from those who have it and those who don’t. You told us about when inheritance was a surprise, when it felt like a control tactic, a safety net, an expression of love, or an opportunity to redistribute generational wealth.  In this episode, Anna talks to four people about their inheritance experiences: Gwynn, who is gr...

Meshell Ndegeocello has been a working musician since she was a teenager. She’s probably best known for her biggest hit to date, “ Wild Night, ” a Van Morrison cover she recorded with John Mellancamp back in 1994. Meshell is 55 now and just put out her 11th solo album, “ The Omnichord Real Book ,” her first in five years. The album started as a kind of personal pandemic project before she decided...

Hannah is 34, has two kids, and lives in Casper, Wyoming, where she was born and raised. Hannah’s been working in construction for 3 years, ever since she graduated from Climb Wyoming’s 12 week job training program , where she earned her commercial drivers license.  Climb Wyoming has been around for more than 36 years and helps single moms like Hannah gain financial independence and stability by t...

Maria Bamford is a comedian and actress who you may know from her standup specials, her Netflix show Lady Dynamite , or her 2020 interview with Anna on our show . She’s just released a book called, Sure I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere . In this new conversation, recorded live from the stage of City Arts & Lectures in San Francisco, Maria and Ann...

With their underdog-against-all-odds-redemption stories and epic training montages, sports movies can be the best source of support when we’re deep in the toughest moments in our lives. Earlier this year, when our executive producer, Liliana Maria, found herself surrounded by cancer and death in her close circle of family and friends, she turned to the Michael B. Jordan movie, Creed III, to help h...

When Giulia Lukach had her first manic episode, it seemed to come out of nowhere. She was in her late twenties, and had been married to her husband, Mark, for three years. “For him it was just so new because I’ve always been the happy girl,” Giulia told Anna in an interview in 2015. Her psychosis was dark and intense.“ The only thing she could talk about was the devil and that she needed to protec...

This fall, Tony! Toni! Toné! is on tour for the first time in twenty years. Raphael Saadiq's career took off as a member of the R&B trio —a group whose music taught Anna, a pre-teen at the time, a thing or two about romance and sexiness. Raphael left the group in the mid-'90s, launching a successful solo career and co-writing and producing music with everyone from Solange and Mary J. Blige to...

Dr. Bonnie Chen is no stranger to grief. The majority of her patients are facing a terminal illness and, as a palliative care doctor, her job is to help ease their symptoms. “It's a different kind of satisfaction than being able to fix someone or cure someone,” Bonnie told Anna, and she found pride in being able to offer comfort and have hard conversations about pain and about death, “I just alway...

Albert and Sue Sommers met, fell in love and got married in their 40s. Albert is a rancher whose family has worked the same land in Pinedale, Wyoming for over 100 years, and Sue is a writer and multimedia artist who grew up in New Jersey. Since they married later in life and don’t have kids, that raised big questions about what would happen to Albert’s family ranch once they were gone.  Ranching i...

This week, we are very excited to introduce you all to one of our favorite podcasts: Heavyweight , hosted by Jonathan Goldstein. First, Jonathan chats with Anna about the art of asking difficult questions, why he loves awkward phone calls, and the emotional power of deadlines. Then, we're playing the first episode of Heavyweight’s new season. In it, Jonathan finds out his childhood best friend is...

The filmmaker behind HBO’s How To with John Wilson shares how his hobbies, like checking Craigslist ads obsessively, make him feel more deeply connected. Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out a note from Anna, fascinating listener letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter...

Over the past 20 years, Adonis Williams has moved thousands of people in and out of New York City. With each move, he catches a glimpse of a life in transition.  Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmone...

Anna and Ellen Burstyn check in 9 years after they first spoke. Ellen talks about the relationships that make up her life in this moment, her dog, and finding novelty in the everyday. You can listen to the original interview here .  Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out a note from Anna, fascinating listener letters fro...

We’re listening back to one of Anna’s favorite episodes, when actor Ellen Burstyn invited us into her apartment for a sprawling interview about her past and present.   In next week’s episode, you’ll hear a new conversation between Anna and Ellen, recorded just a few weeks ago. But until then, you can also listen back to Ellen’s conversation with journalist and feminist icon Gloria Steinem on our s...

Anna follows up with Sarah Short, the mom who became a surrogate to pay off debt. They discuss her divorce, starting her own business, and why this chapter of her life feels “freeing.” And if you're a Maria Bamford fan, Anna is interviewing her on stage in San Francisco on Saturday, October 14th, as part of City Arts & Lectures. You can get tickets to join them in person or watch remotely here...

Lawrence Bartley was first on the show in 2014 while he was still in prison. In this new episode, he talks about becoming an award-winning journalist and the negative impact of a headline from our show.  Watch Inside Story here: https://www.themarshallproject.org/inside-story   Listen to Lawrence's previous DSM episodes here: https://www.wnyc.org/people/lawrence-bartley/  Get tickets for Anna’s Oc...

The New York Times journalist talks about the difficulties of early parenthood, the lure of communal living, and why he loves Burning Man. Want more from Ezra on the topics in today’s episode? We recommend the following:  This episode of The Ezra Klein Show with scholar Kristen Ghodsee on communes and intentional communities ( https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/09/opinion/ezra-klein-kristen-ghodsee.h...

The 79-year-old musician tells Anna about coming into his gender identity, “being cared for” by his bandmates, and the joys–and pitfalls–of finding success later in life. Listen to "Transmissions" here ( https://open.spotify.com/album/6X7rxq4bKcwPTKRFgIzR30?si=BfLeHGcKRS-uC0O5T9irBA ), and you can stream his new album “The Ones Ahead” here: https://open.spotify.com/album/0AdkBNWEM8uprSOb2ah8aD . D...

We revisit our most popular episode, featuring your stories about secret hard drives, fantasy plot lines, illegal downloads, titillating Tumblr feeds, and giving porn up completely. Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out a note from Anna, fascinating listener letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at...

In this episode we asked listeners if they were currently planning a wedding, and if money had become a sticking point. We heard from couples with vastly different ideas of what they wanted to spend, about opinionated parents and in-laws, tips from people who managed to spend less, and one Icelandic wedding planner’s mission to give the gift of a free wedding to a lucky, deserving couple.  Want to...

Kate Beaton was determined to work her way out of debt. But nothing could have prepared her for the experience of toiling in the Canadian oil sands. This episode is from This is Uncomfortable , a podcast from Marketplace about life and how money messes with it, hosted by Reema Khrais. You can find a more detailed episode description  here .  Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the D...