68. Wanting More in Midlife: Molly Roden Winter on Desire, Open Marriage, and Refusing to Disappear
The Feminine Rebellion: Pleasure, Power + Unapologetic Living for Midlife WomenShow Notes
What happens when a midlife woman stops editing herself? Molly Roden Winter — author of the New York Times bestselling memoir More: A Memoir of Open Marriage — joins The Feminine Rebellion to talk about the hunger that lives underneath a picture-perfect life. This episode is for every woman over 40 who has ever whispered “is this all there is?” and immediately felt guilty for wanting more.
What you’ll hear in this episode: Why the suffocation so many women in midlife feel is not a character flaw — it’s a symptom of a life built for everyone else
What Molly’s open marriage taught her about desire, jealousy, and the one rule that has kept her and Stuart together for 26 years
Why “I’ve never seen pretty growth” — and what that means for any woman trying to change her life without burning it down
The unexpected insight inside Molly’s story for women who have zero interest in non-monogamy
What it means to be an embodied, sovereign woman in your 50s — and why no 30-year-old has what you’ve got
About Molly Roden Winter: Molly Roden Winter is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir More: A Memoir of Open Marriage, the story of a Brooklyn mom who decided she was done disappearing. A former English teacher and mother of two, Molly writes and speaks about desire, authenticity, and what it looks like to become the main character of your own life. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Stuart — and has been in an open marriage for 18 years.
Links mentioned: More: A Memoir of Open Marriage by Molly Roden Winter — [Get your copy here!]
Listen on Spotify audiobook (no nightstand required!) — [Listen Here]
Follow Molly on Instagram — [@mollyrwinter]
PS. If this episode cracked something open in you — your next step is joining 1,100+ women inside The Feminine Rebellion community. It’s free, it’s alive, and it’s waiting for you.
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More from The Feminine Rebellion: Pleasure, Power + Unapologetic Living for Midlife Women
Bootstraps. Power through. Chin up. Show no weakness. Nobody ever sat me down at the kitchen table and read me the rules of my house. Nobody had to. I knew them in my bones, and so did you. This week's solo episode is about those rules: the ones you absorbed from your mom's face when the doorbell rang, the ones you're still obeying at 45, at 50, at 62, and the ones I was still obeying this past March, fifty years old, feet throbbing in ski boots I had hated for three seasons, because somewhere in me a little girl still believed that if it hurts, it's probably good for you.
This episode contains frank discussion of porn culture, sexual assault, and child sexual abuse, approached with care and for educational purposes. Listener discretion advised. If you or someone you love needs support, please reach out to a licensed mental-health professional or a crisis resource in your area.
This episode discusses psychedelics for educational and storytelling purposes only. Nothing here is medical advice, and nothing is a recommendation to use any substance. Psychedelics remain illegal in most jurisdictions and are not safe or appropriate for everyone. The experiences described took place in legal, clinically guided settings. Please consult a licensed medical or mental-health professional before making any decisions about your health.
There’s a reason trees drop their leaves before the frost. They’re not failing. They’re f*cking wise. They refuse to carry dead weight into winter.
At midlife, rupture is inevitable. A child leaves home. A marriage shifts. A career stops fitting. An identity starts cracking.