Talk with Francesca

Rick Manabat is a seasoned sexual addiction therapist known for cutting through shame and getting to the real story underneath compulsive behavior. His work focuses on helping individuals and couples understand the emotional drivers behind addiction—whether it’s trauma, attachment wounds, or unmet needs—and guiding them toward accountability, healing, and healthier intimacy. Rather than labeling p...

One listener admits she secretly checks her boyfriend’s phone, messages, and socials; and he’s completely unaware. Is she protecting herself from heartbreak, or quietly destroying the trust in her relationship? We get into the fine line between intuition and obsession, and whether snooping ever really ends well.

You think you understand domestic violence. What if men, yes, men are a significant portion of victims, even in the most extreme caes? This conversation goes there. No bs. No easy answers.

Evelyn Resh is a certified sexuality counselor and certified mid-wife who has been in practice for more than 20 years. With her integrative approach to women's health, she helps women to create the life and sex life they desire by looking at their relationship to pleasure in general. With a refreshing and disarming sense of humor, she explores the importance of all types of pleasure from a simple...

The Kissinger family, from the outside, looked like the American dream. Big Catholic family, beautiful home in the Chicago suburbs, vacations, country clubs, and success. But behind the doors of that home were secrets, untreated mental illness, alcoholism, silence, and two suicides. Meg's book isn't just a memoir, it's an unflinching look at how silence, stigma and systems collide.

Rick Manabat is a seasoned sexual addiction therapist known for cutting through shame and getting to the real story underneath compulsive behavior. His work focuses on helping individuals and couples understand the emotional drivers behind addiction—whether it’s trauma, attachment wounds, or unmet needs—and guiding them toward accountability, healing, and healthier intimacy. Rather than labeling p...

Imagine you’re sitting on your couch, living your best life, maybe contemplating what to have for dinner or finally finishing that book, when a notification pops up. It’s a name you haven’t seen in two decades. It’s him. The tone of the message is so casual you’d think he just stepped out to the corner store in 2006 and got caught in a very, very long line at the checkout. He’s back, he’s "checkin...

(Be Careful What Lawn You Water) It’s a tale as old as time: the classic case of the "Grass is Greener" Syndrome. You have a partner who is kind, consistent, and follows the rules, yet you find yourself peering over the fence at the "bad boy" types, wondering where the spark went. Before you go looking for a "fix" of excitement, remember the grass is usually greenest where you actually remember to...

The Oxygen and the Icing: Why We Need to Stop Downplaying Sexual Incompatibility Let’s stop the polite nodding and get real: Sexual incompatibility isn’t “shallow.” In the world of "serious" relationships, we’re often told that if the conversation is deep and the values align, the bedroom stuff is just a footnote. But that is a fundamental misunderstanding of how human connection works. For some p...

Let’s talk about something most people experience… and almost nobody admits. You’re happy at home. You’ve got a solid relationship. You love your partner. And then there’s… him. The guy at work. It starts small. A look that lingers half a second too long. A joke that feels just a little more charged than it should. You notice what he’s wearing. He notices when you change your hair. There’s nothing...

Keith Zlomsowitch waited more than 30 years to tell his story in STALKED: It Could Have Been Me.  He shares the threats, stalking, and emotional turmoil he and Nicole endured at the hands of O.J. Simpson and how, in that fateful moment, it very well could have been him instead. Most people think they know Nicole’s story, the headlines, the trial, the verdict. Listen to hear it from Keith, who live...

A question came up recently on Love Bites that stuck with me: What happens when one partner says, “If you were a real man, you’d talk about your feelings”and the other shuts down completely? That comment is a low blow. Full stop. Using someone’s identity, especially their masculinity as a bargaining chip to force intimate conversation is like trying to open a flower with a sledgehammer. Fortress b...

In An Accidental Career, Hal Eisner chronicles his life from his early years in Pittsburgh and Dallas to a remarkable 43-year tenure as a television news reporter in Los Angeles. His journey through radio and television showcases his dedication to journalism, earning him numerous accolades, including a Lifetime Achievement Aware from the Radio and Television News Association of Southern California...

 Third-quarter 2023 Google Trends indicated a 2,400 percent increase in searches for “AI girlfriends.” Millions of people are currently in what they consider to be serious relationships with AI. Thousands have engaged in ceremonial weddings with their AI companions and stay as faithful to them as they would a human partner. Could legal marriage to AI be far off?  In The Friend Machine, Victoria He...

Have you ever been in a relationship where it feels like your every move is being monitored even though you’ve done nothing wrong? Not in an obvious, dramatic way. More subtle than that. A missed call becomes a problem or a delayed response sparks tension. Quiet time feels like an offense. And suddenly, you’re wondering how something that looks like “care” can feel so constricting. We All Come Fro...

We don’t usually question our relationships when they’re obviously broken. We question them when they’re just not quite right. When there’s still love. Still history. Still moments that make us think, “Maybe I’m expecting too much.” Letting go isn’t just about ending a relationship. but also releasing the version of the future we’ve been holding onto. And for many people, that’s the hardest part....

Stephanie Coontz was active in the Free Speech and civil rights movements; her work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision on same-sex marriage rights. She has also testified before Congress on family issues. She’s appeared on shows like Oprah, The Today Show, The Colbert Report, and a variety of NPR programs. Her writing is featured in The New York Times...

Stephanie Coontz was active in the Free Speech and civil rights movements; her work has been cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision on same-sex marriage rights. She has also testified before Congress on family issues. She’s appeared on shows like Oprah, The Today Show, The Colbert Report, and a variety of NPR programs. Her writing is featured in The New York Times...

There are seasons when a couple’s future shifts because the emotional landscape around them is changing in unexpected ways. A parent falls ill, responsibilities multiply, or a family experiences a loss that quietly reshapes priorities. What once felt straightforward can suddenly feel layered, as a subtle tension emerges between caring for others and maintaining the partnership’s balance. Changes i...

Just yesterday I received a question from a listener that tore my own heart apart. His wife of 27 years has been cheating on him for a year with his boss. And….he’s having nightmares. Tragic. Let me start by acknowledging the devastation of betrayal right upfront. It doesn’t just hurt. It fractures your sense of safety, identity, and reality.
And if you feel like your world just ripped open…it did...

Why are you so afraid to just say no? How much explaining do you do so you won't feel uncomfortable? A lot of people don’t actually say no. They negotiate. They soften. They redirect. They make it about someone else’s comfort so they don’t have to sit in their own truth. And here’s the part that matters: that is a form of manipulation. Not in a villain way. In a self-protective, please-don’t-be-ma...

You’ve probably heard the phrase “the seven-year itch.” It’s often tossed around casually, but it points to something very real. The seven-year itch refers to a period often somewhere between 5 and 10 years into a long-term relationship or marriage when many couples experience restlessness, disconnection, or doubt. It’s not about sudden betrayal or dramatic conflict. In fact, it usually shows up w...

Every once in a while you meet someone that just completely rewires the way you see yourself. You find yourself saying, "Oh… this changes everything". My guest is the guy behind one of those experiences. Professor J. Eric Oliver has been teaching a legendary course called The Intelligible Self, and students talk about it the way people talk about his book, How to Know Your Self. This conversation...

Everyone says, “Just go. It’s family.” But what if going feels like stepping into a minefield? What if the thought of small talk, judgment, and old grudges sends your anxiety skyrocketing? Let’s unpack why that “should go” feeling exists and how to navigate it without losing yourself. The Brain Behind the Guilt That little voice saying “You should go” could be a relic from childhood. Humans are wi...

We’re diving into the emotional crossroads that so many people face but rarely talk about openly: when a relationship isn’t working, how do you know whether to fight for it… or walk away? My guest is Kate King, a trauma-informed relationship coach and the author of the transformative book Mend or Move On. Kate’s work is all about helping people break the cycles of confusion, self-doubt, and emotio...