Show Notes
Confronted is an eight-episode narrative podcast that begins with the stillbirth of Matt Earle and Lauren’s daughter, Mackenzie, and follows the 18 months that come after - using real recordings captured in the moment. Blending past and present, Matt and his best friend Josh revisit past relationships, therapy, travel, and the turning points that shaped that time - including the strange moments where you somehow find yourself laughing when you feel like you shouldn’t. Told from a male perspective, Confronted explores how people respond when life doesn’t go to plan - and how they find a way forward. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
More from Confronted
Eighteen months after losing Mackenzie, Matt and Lauren return to the hospital. They’re pregnant again - carrying hope, fear, and the memory of what happened before. The final episode follows the tense hours leading up to the birth, and the moment when everything hangs in the balance. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Can you risk loving another child after losing one? Matt and Lauren begin the uncertain journey of IVF, confronting fear, hope, and the possibility of opening themselves up to heartbreak again. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sometimes the only way forward is to leave everything behind. Matt and Lauren travel to Europe hoping distance might help them breathe again. But grief has a way of following you - even to the other side of the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Grief doesn’t always look the way people expect. For Matt, the months after Mackenzie’s death spiral into anxiety, therapy sessions, and a drink-driving charge that forces him to confront parts of himself he’d been avoiding for years. Sometimes the hardest moments are the ones that force you to face yourself.
Is it possible to laugh again without betraying your grief? Less than two weeks after Mackenzie’s death, Matt finds himself filming a survival show teaser in the Marlborough Sounds with comedian Tom Sainsbury. It’s surreal. It’s uncomfortable. And somehow… it’s also the first time he laughs again.