Wicked Women: The Podcast

As America prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary, we are going to hear a lot of familiar stories. We will revisit the Founding Fathers, the great battles, and the documents that changed the course of history. But here on Wicked Women , we've always been interested in the people history leaves at the edges of the page. The women, the ordinary people, the overlooked figures who lived through e...

Anne Stanhope is a figure in Tudor history who is often either vilified or forgotten. She was the sister-in-law of Henry VIII’s third queen, Jane Seymour, and her husband would become king in all but name during the reign of their nephew, Edward VI. Yet Anne is perhaps best remembered for her supposed feud with her sister-in-law, Katherine Parr, who referred to Anne as “that hell.” But the image o...

Today, when we think about medicine in the past, we often imagine something primitive, even dangerous—a world of leeches, superstition, and doctors who didn’t quite know what they were doing. But that version of history leaves out a much bigger story. Long before modern medicine as we know it, women were not just caring for the sick in their homes; they were treating illnesses, delivering babies,...

For centuries, Anne has been cast in so many roles: temptress, reformer, political schemer, Protestant martyr. But what if her story looks very different when we place it not just in the court of Henry VIII, but in the wider legal, political, and religious world of sixteenth-century Europe? In this episode, I’m joined by Heather Darsie, whose new book takes a fascinating and fresh approach to Anne...

In this episode, we’re stepping into the birthing chambers, parish homes, and crowded streets of Tudor England to meet a group of women who were absolutely essential to their communities and yet often left out of the historical record: midwives. For centuries, birth was women’s work; overseen, supported, and guided by other women. And at the center of that world stood the midwife. She was healer,...

The 1978 musical Evita introduced Eva Perón to a global audience, turning her life into a dramatic narrative of ambition, devotion, and power. Songs like “ Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” helped cement an image of Eva as a near-mythic figure: a woman who rose from obscurity to become the emotional heart of a nation.  Behind the music was María Eva Duarte, born into poverty to a single mother, who...

She was called proud. Ambitious. Dangerous. Born a duchess, widowed by war, and mother to two rival kings, Cecily Neville moved through England’s most treacherous century with the calm precision of a strategist. While men fought for thrones, she fought for legacy. Some saw her as the cold matriarch who helped ignite the Wars of the Roses, a woman willing to brand her own grandsons illegitimate to...

What do Elizabeth I of England, Maria Theresa of Austria, Tamar of Georgia, Liliʻuokalani of Hawaii, and the Nawab Begums of Bhopal have in common? Seemingly very little. They are divided by time, language, religion, culture, and family circumstances. But what binds them together is that all reigned as queens in their own right. Women who claimed power in a world that rarely allowed it. In her lat...

A suffragist, a spiritualist, a stockbroker, an author, and in 1872, the first woman to run for president of the United States, Victoria Woodhull was a visionary who defied expectations.  But her legacy is complicated. Her advocacy of “free love” and willingness to challenge Victorian norms made her infamous in her own time. Her clashes with leading suffragists and her scandalous run ins with...

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Gemma Haigh, now known to many as The Plant Parlour (where she champions cultivating lush botanical spaces), but who first made her mark as curator and researcher on the exhibition Georgian Women: Female Portraits by John Russell RA . During that project, she researched 19 female portraits in Guildford Heritage’s acclaimed Russell collection, interrogating how Rus...

On July 13, 1910, on a quiet suburban street in Camden Town, London, a grisly discovery shattered the illusion of domestic peace. Beneath the floorboards of 39 Hilldrop Crescent, the dismembered remains of music hall performer Belle Elmore were unearthed. The Victorian house, prim, respectable, and unassuming, had become the scene of one of the most sensational murders in British history. As the p...

Today, we journey back to Tudor England to meet a woman whose story has been overshadowed by the fame—and fate—of her father, Sir Thomas More. But make no mistake: Margaret More Roper was no mere footnote in his legacy. She was a scholar, a writer, a translator, and one of the most educated women in all of Europe at a time when women were expected to remain silent and obedient. Margaret was fluent...

A she-demon who devours children. A seductress who visits men in their sleep. The first wife of Adam, cast out of Eden for defying him. A feminist icon reclaimed by modern movements. Lilith is all of these and more—a figure woven from strands of ancient mythology, religious texts, folklore, and contemporary reimaginings. Her name echoes across millennia, from Sumerian incantations and Jewish mysti...

Original Sisters , a stunning collection of 154 portraits, reclaimed the lives and faces of groundbreaking women from history. In today’s episode I’m in discussion with the book’s author and artist, Anita Kunz. We discuss the project that was born in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns and Anita’s process of bringing these women vividly to life. Anita's work is currently on disp...

“I never planned to become an activist but things happen. You either take action or you don’t. Standing up and speaking out for what you believe in—well, it feels a lot better than doing nothing. And while you’re doing it, you find out you’re not as alone as you thought you were.” Judy Blume  Judy Blume’s books such as Are you there God? It’s me Margaret , Forever, and Iggie’s House have beco...

Katherine Howard, the fifth wife of England’s King Henry VIII, has rarely received a positive portrayal in fiction. Throughout the 20th century in books, tv series, and movies, she was depicted as frivolous, immature, hyper-sexual, forgettable, and at times cruel. In recent years, the popular musical Six has tried to reclaim Katherine’s story and has made her a cultural icon in the era of the #MeT...

Throughout the history of the Christian Church, women have held myriad roles. They have been preachers, saints, temptations, wives, sinners, and mothers. In recent generations with the rise of mainstream Evangelical Christianity, the roles of women in the church have shifted away from positions of power and influence.  In today’s episode I am joined by Dr. Beth Allison Barr, author of The Mak...

Throughout history, roughly 50% of the human population has identified as female, while women only occupy around .05% of written history. In many cases from the past, even when women were referenced in history books it was written by men.  In today’s episode, I will be discussing the lives of four Medieval women who not only wrote but put their names to their work; insuring they would be reme...

Rodgers and Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein: these are just a few names of composers and lyricists who changed the landscape and at times defined an entire era of Broadway. But what of the women who were writing shows at the same time? Why have some stories been included in the history books and others left out? In today’s episode I’ll be discussing these question...

The bloody visage of Mary I has existed in the public imagination since her death. Depicted as an abused daughter, a murderous maniac, an inept queen, a cruel sister, and a pathetic wife, Mary I has rarely received a positive portrayal. In recent years, scholars have worked on rehabilitating the image of a woman so often called Bloody Mary.  In today’s episode, we go into the realm of fiction...

The year was 1850. Manhattan was thriving, beginning to urbanize and expand in new ways. In lower Manhattan, a woman named Fredericka Mandelbaum moved into the neighborhood of Kleindeutchland (later known as the Lower East Side) to start a new life. Few could have guessed that out of the teeming streets of Little Germany, one of the most infamous underworld figures of the era would be born out of...

Bugsy Siegel, Al Capone, Machine Gun Kelly, Clyde Barrow…these are just a few of the most recognizable American gangsters, men who robbed, killed, racketeered, and launched themselves into legend. But what of the women who stood by these men’s sides and at times exceeded the men’s criminal abilities?  In today’s episode, I will highlight several powerful women from the underworld: Kathryn Kel...

Just in time for Halloween, an episode dedicated to discussing the lives and legacy of Britain’s female murderers. Women throughout history have been seen as the weaker sex both physically and emotionally. While women have been blamed for the fall of men since Eve in the Garden of Eden, their crimes usually centered around sexuality. When women murder, this breaks all the expectations of what wome...

Margaret Tudor was the eldest daughter of King Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth of York and the elder sister of King Henry VIII. Margaret witnessed some of the most significant moments in her father’s later and her brother’s early reigns. A story filled with political intrigue, personal tragedy, and drama, Margaret has been largely left on the sidelines in later interpretations of Tudor history. Seen...

Pirates have been a part of the public imagination since ancient times, but what is known about the women who chose that life for themselves? In today’s episode, I will analyze pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two women who have become more mythical than factual. Joining me today is historian Dr. Rebecca Simon, an expert on all things pirates and author of Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny a...