Show Notes
Hunter speaks with two strangers about their painful upbringings. Meet this episode's strangers: - Lisa Marie shares what it was like to hear the words, “We are going to have to put you into foster care,” at sixteen, and to be separated from her much younger brother, David. She talks about the memory holes trauma left behind, the rage that followed years later, and how she kept people at a distance for most of her early adulthood. Lisa Marie reflects on the shame of feeling marked by foster care, poverty, and her parents’ substance use, and how writing her story helped her reclaim it and let go of the “scarlet letter” she felt she wore. - Adriana, who became a mother at seventeen and found herself raising her baby in a women's shelter after being rejected by her family. She describes the shelter as an unexpected village of women supporting each other through crisis, and how that experience cemented her resolve never to ask for help again. Topics: - Childhood trauma and its impact on identity - Navigating the foster care system as a teen - Survival and sibling bonds after separation - Healing from parental abandonment and neglect - Transforming destructive rage into radical empathy - Reclaiming personal stories through writing - Teen motherhood and the NYC shelter system - Finding community and support in shelters - Breaking generational cycles of hardship - Building resilience and strength for children Chapters: 00:00:00 The parents we didn't choose 00:01:24 Entering the foster care system at sixteen 00:02:55 How childhood trauma creates memory holes 00:04:13 The pain of being separated from my brother 00:07:30 Using rage to protect myself from abandonment 00:12:11 Shedding the scarlet letter through writing 00:19:12 Choosing peace and forgiveness over rage 00:20:43 Anonymous notes on parental regret and support 00:22:10 Raising a child in a New York City shelter 00:26:38 Finding a supportive village in the Bronx 00:32:07 Using the shelter as a bridge to a career 00:44:16 Breaking the cycle and shaping the future Stories from a Stranger is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions in partnership with Higher Ground and AND Media. Music by Jackie Miclau. FOLLOW THE SHOW ►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storiesfromastrangerpod ►Threads: https://www.threads.com/@storiesfromastrangerpod ►Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storiesfromastrangerpodcast FOLLOW HUNTER PROSPER ►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hunter_prosper/ ►TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hunterprosper LISTEN ►Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/stories-from-a-stranger/id1895174119 ►Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/23b37bdf-ce71-4dad-9d25-9900b5d25d7c/stories-from-a-stranger ►Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2naQZkPOvSgMzUMh9Z5ivs #FosterCare #TeenMotherhoodNYC #Healing #ShelterToStability #ChoosingForgiveness #ItTakesAVillage #Homelessness #SuperMom See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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-Jeremy is a Canadian actor and comedian who put his career on hold to move to New York for his second husband, Zach, whom he met on Tinder. He describes Zach as the greatest love of his life, noting they met briefly on the app before transitioning to a more old-fashioned phone call and then a first date over wine on a rooftop. They married shortly before the pandemic, and Jeremy attributes the end of their marriage largely to the extreme pressures of that period. This was Jeremy's second divorce, and he acknowledges the embarrassment of going through it again, even making it part of his standup comedy material. After the split, he found himself in a foreign country without a strong social network, having paused a flourishing acting career in Canada to be in the relationship. Key contributions from Jeremy include his advice on navigating grief and loss by actively filling the emotional and mental space left behind with positive activities and experiences, as well as his insight that only the individual can do the work of rebuilding themselves after heartbreak, symbolized by a tattoo he got of an anatomical heart half made of bricks.