For Go Ask Ali’s Season 3 finale Ali is joined by her bestie, actress and philanthropist Mariska Hargitay, and the “best known life coach in America” (NPR, USA Today) Martha Beck. The three ladies just have a little chat about wisdom, courage, truth, integrity, love, abandonment and aging. No biggie, just everything. Oh, and masturbation. If you have questions or guest suggestions for next season of Go Ask Ali, Ali would love to hear from you. Call or text her at (323) 364-6356. Or email go-ask-...
Apr 27, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 26
People are talking about menopause everywhere these days, which is incredible since our mothers and grandmothers and their mothers NEVER did! Women’s thirst for answers and community has exploded so our guests are right on time. Naomi Watts has created a menopause brand that educates, offers support as well as some useful products to help with, you know, all the places. Then UK menopause expert Pat Duckworth is spreading her message of menopause in the workplace from across the pond. Women have ...
Apr 20, 2023•59 min•Season 3Ep. 25
What is it about the great outdoors? It’s joyful, liberating, powerful, calming and soulful all at once. It’s also healing. Ali finally gets to talk to her obsession, The Ebony Anglers, a powerhouse trailblazing group of Black fisherwomen about their experience with competitive deep sea fishing. Its foundation and summer camps, Black Girls Fish and Black Boys Boat were created to make sure all kids have access to nature’s healing powers. Bonus, the ladies share #BreakingNews with Ali! And then A...
Apr 13, 2023•56 min•Season 3Ep. 24
Narcissism lives in all of us to some degree as on a spectrum. And it’s easy to see how having even a tinge of narcissism could have been a valuable survival tool over the ages. But like with everything, there is a limit to what is healthy and what is toxic. Psychologist and author of Rethinking Narcissism Dr. Craig Malkin talks about the extroverted narcissist, i.e. “the narcissist we all know and loathe”, but says there are others. And like with most things there is an equal and opposite thing...
Apr 06, 2023•45 min•Season 3Ep. 23
ACEs, or adverse childhood experiences, are the single greatest unaddressed public health threat today, according to our esteemed guest former Surgeon General of California Dr. Nadine Burke Harris. She has been the tireless voice educating the world on ACEs and the biological effects they have over the course of a person’s lifetime. Any adult may have heart disease, migraines, depression, or diabetes, sure, but there is a good chance that these chronic illnesses were caused by trauma or severe a...
Mar 27, 2023•42 min•Season 3Ep. 22
It seems most people feel obligated to cringe or shut down when the thought of the inevitable surfaces. But the simple fact exists that we will all leave this life at some point. Ali talks with Valoria Walker and Lauren Lyster-Mensh who are trained as end-of-life doulas, people who shepherd the dying and their loved ones through the often difficult, emotional, complicated process. They serve as non-medical advocates and holistic supporters of the person passing. Valoria and Laura talk about thei...
Mar 23, 2023•52 min•Season 3Ep. 21
Actress, writer and former supermodel Paulina Porizkova has been trying to date and, well, it’s even hard for her. No matter who you are or where you’ve been, the middle age dating scene is unfortunately no feast of riches. It’s actually, she says, more like a lunch buffet right before it gets closed down and everything is cold and dry. Ouch. But her outlook has gotten better and the main thing that changed it is her relationship with herself. She says writing her memoir No Filter (which touches...
Mar 16, 2023•47 min•Season 3Ep. 20
Pornography has been the primary blame for many relationship problems. Fingers get pointed. Feelings get hurt. Doors get slammed. Psychologist and sex therapist David Ley, PhD believes pornography gets the blame because it is the “big, sexy, shiny object” that grabs the focus when a relationship is feeling bumpy. Ley says pornography is really just a symptom of other underlying issues that are not being discussed. In fact, he says pornography can be a great resource that can introduce novelty an...
Mar 09, 2023•50 min•Season 3Ep. 19
Mind control, undue influence, brainwashing - that all sounds like some Hollywood fiction fantasy. But cult expert Dr. Steven Hassan says these are real and anybody could fall into the culty traps. He shares his personal story from the 70’s when he found himself dropping out of college, emptying his bank account and being trained to kill. His trap, he says, is that he thought he was too smart to fall for cult stuff. In fact, “cults” are everywhere - some harmful and some aren’t so much, but they...
Mar 02, 2023•43 min•Season 3Ep. 18
Content Warning: adolescent suicide and ideation are briefly discussed Dr. Lisa Damour returns to Go Ask Ali to share her new book The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, Compassionate Adolescents . She has written this book for parents and other caring adults to help teens when so many are struggling and there aren’t enough therapists to go around. She dispels myths about their powerful emotions and offers clarity on what they want and why. She also addresses risk taking, ...
Feb 23, 2023•51 min•Season 3Ep. 17
CONTENT WARNING: this episode discusses child pornography, the pornography industry, sex addiction and potential suicide. Actress and playwright Maddie Corman became brave because she had to be. It was crisis time. About seven years ago her husband was arrested for downloading images of child sexual abuse material* (legally known as child pornography). And while it’s important to point out that he never went further in any way, that shocking act would forever change their lives. Maddie wrote and...
Feb 16, 2023•50 min•Season 3Ep. 16
One of Ali’s most requested topics from our listeners has been how to make friends as a big person. And here it is! Dr. Marisa G. Franco has written the book we've all been waiting for, Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make - and Keep - Friends . Franco explains our connection programming, otherwise known as attachment styles, and how knowing yours can help develop and maintain those crucial friendships. She explains the importance of platonic love, how it creates identity an...
Feb 09, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 15
During the darkest days of the pandemic lots of people read books, played video games, mastered Zoom (sorta) or tried their hand baking sourdough. Peggy Orenstein did those things, too, but she also handmade her very own sweater and then WROTE a book about it. So what, you may be thinking, lots of people knit. No. She really made her own sweater. Like she found a sheep (well, three actually) and learned to shear them for their fleece in order to make her own yarn kind of sweater. But, truly, tha...
Feb 02, 2023•44 min•Season 3Ep. 14
Entrepreneurs are “dream big” people. No risk no reward! But how do you know if you truly want to make a career out of your passion? Candace Nelson was always a joyful baker, but she also ended up revolutionizing the entire baking industry and judging everybody else’s cupcakes on The Food Network’s Cupcake Wars . In her new book Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit, and here with Ali, she shares the story behind the Sprinkles phenomenon, what she believes is the crux o...
Dec 29, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 13
Nancy Jarecki, an entrepreneur and mother of three, didn’t know what was hitting her as she walked the red carpet at Ali’s Head Case premiere. What she thought was a strange little fainting spell was actually a subarachnoid hemorrhage. And while almost 50% of people do not make it, Nancy did. She shares the story of that day’s events, the brain surgeries and many months of recovery, all of which, according to her doctors, were made better by her attitude and optimism. She seems to think that hav...
Dec 22, 2022•39 min•Season 3Ep. 12
Ali brings her fabulous co-host for ABC’s The Parent Test on to dig a little deeper into his parenting expertise. Psychologist, teacher, author, researcher and the father of eight kids, Dr. Adolph “Doc” Brown, shares some of his greatest gems to help parents gain clarity and insight into raising humans. He boils all the parenting books out there down to just five main takeaways - what he calls The 5 F’s. They talk candidly about the current crisis kids AND parents are in and why it can be hard f...
Dec 15, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Philanthropist, businesswoman, advocate for women and girls, and mother of three Melinda French Gates shares some insights and advice on ways we can all give back regardless of what’s in the bank. Call it philanthropy, volunteerism or activism, the goals are the same: help others and work toward a better society. She shares how she’s taught her kids to give back, how rolling back Roe v. Wade affected the world, what her biggest concern is regarding philanthropy, how to start your learning journe...
Dec 08, 2022•37 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Content Warning: There is conversation about spousal homicide and attempted sexual assault. If you would like to avoid this content, please see exact timecodes below. If you watch any news or doom scroll for 20 minutes, you expose yourself to all kinds of worst case scenarios. And those are dramatic and often terrifying. Gavin de Becker is a leading expert on the prediction and management of violence who says managing fear is surprisingly simple. He also, importantly, talks about intuition - the...
Dec 01, 2022•44 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Who knows if it’s getting older or having experienced a global pandemic, but Ali and Melissa are all about getting rid of life’s flashy trappings and making the simple things like friends, family and a real sense of peace their primary focus. Along the way they also touch on her life as a child star playing Laura Ingalls on the classic show “Little House on the Prairie”, setting boundaries and the bliss of a good recliner. Melissa’s newest book and memoir “Back to the Prairie: A Home Remade a Li...
Nov 24, 2022•45 min•Season 3Ep. 8
It’s been about 15 years since Facebook went mainstream and the iPhone was released. In this short time social media and our pocket computers have become indispensable, even addicting. And now we have a new frontier on the horizon, the Metaverse. You’ve probably heard this trendy buzzword, but do you know what it is? Dr. Ibrahim “Abe” Baggili, a cybersecurity and forensics expert, shares his opinion, some content and security risks his team has found, what his biggest fear is, and more. Then our...
Nov 17, 2022•53 min•Season 3Ep. 7
Ali and bestie Brooke Shields team up for a fun two-part episode. First, Ali joins Brooke on her new podcast “ Now What? with Brooke Shields ” and interviews Brooke on her own show about the pivotal moments in our lives and the choices we make. And here Brooke joins Ali for an all-revealing, no holds barred, cover your kid’s ears game of Bad Choices. And, boy, there are many...laughs, true confessions, fun stories, and deep insights shared. If you have questions or guest suggestions, Ali would l...
Nov 10, 2022•34 min•Season 3Ep. 6
From our earliest days as little human beings we love secrets. There’s something that makes kids a little giddy about knowing something special. In fact, psychology researcher and author of The Secret Life of Secrets: How Our Inner Worlds Shape Well-Being, Relationships and Who We Are Michael Slepian says kids know intuitively that sharing a secret is a way to create intimacy. He tells Ali that if you ask a child what a secret is, they might say it’s something you share with your best friend. Oh...
Nov 03, 2022•37 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Colleen McNicholas is instrumental in running two Planned Parenthood facilities - one in a banned abortion state, Missouri, and the other in a protected abortion state, Illinois. She joins Ali to provide the picture of what abortion care has come to after the U.S Supreme Court announced the Dobbs decision in June stating that abortion is no longer a protected constitutional right. They talk about the monumental demand abortion care facilities are seeing as millions of p...
Oct 27, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Legendary sitcom director James Burrows shares his decades of memories from behind the camera of some of the most iconic shows ever on TV from The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Cheers to Friends and Will & Grace . Originally from the theatre world, he recognized early on that sitcoms are plays with cameras and you can’t teach comedy or chemistry. Actress Debra Messing chimes in to share what makes him so brilliant, and they both dish on the buffet of guest stars that played with them on Will &am...
Oct 20, 2022•1 hr•Season 3Ep. 4
Movie star and America's sweetheart Julia Roberts joins Ali for a little catch up before her new movie Ticket to Paradise is released. In this fly-on-the-wall conversation, the gals almost forget they’re being recorded. Sit back with a cappuccino and a cookie and listen to behind the scenes stories of the making of Ticket to Paradise , Julia’s newest movie with George Clooney. They also chat about her life with three teenagers and the empty nest coming; cooking for her kids versus her stardust h...
Oct 13, 2022•41 min•Season 3Ep. 2
The promise and merits of psychedelic therapy have resurfaced from its original heyday in the 60s and 70s in no small part due to journalist and psychonaut Michael Pollan. Pollan’s book How to Change Your Mind and recent Netflix documentary of the same name explores the exciting new research into the use of LSD, psilocybin, and MDMA to help people with things like PTSD, OCD, anxiety, depression, rumination and more. Ali gets all the info straight from the source and also explores an emerging fad...
Oct 06, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 3Ep. 1
From releasing her latest book Ali’s Well That Ends Well to assembling furniture for her daughter’s dorm – Ali Wentworth has been busy busy. But 'tis the season for more Go Ask Ali and her mic is hot. Once again she delivers some of the brightest, funniest, and most talented people she can charm to be on her podcast. Come along for what her husband George Stephanopoulos calls “Ali’s own personal masterclass.” Season 3 of Go Ask Ali starts Thursday, October 6th. Have a question for Ali? Call (323...
Sep 29, 2022•2 min
[Season 2 Finale!] Who doesn’t love a good laugh? If you’re lucky, you laugh so hard you cry, your stomach cramps, you can’t breathe and you hopefully collapse on the floor. Nothing better. Professor Sophie Scott, Director of University College London’s Speech Communication Lab, studies the science of laughter. Occasionally she’ll even use her tight five as a standup to further inform her research on the power and effects of laughter. Not only is laughter fantastic for your mental and physical h...
Apr 28, 2022•56 min•Season 2Ep. 26
Dating is hard no matter how old you are or in what decade you first start. But imagine the time warp of dating in 2002 and dating in 2022! Twenty years in our world is like fifty of the past. Ali has witnessed the challenges some of her friends are facing as they re-enter the dating pool and feels their pain. Older? Yes. Wiser? Hmmm. Author and dating coach Chantal Heide shares her expertise starting with, yes, apps! But the conversation also hits dating scammers, dating with kids in the mix, b...
Apr 21, 2022•45 min•Season 2Ep. 25
There will come a time when the tables turn and suddenly the parent becomes the child and the child is caring for the parent. Actress Brandee Evans shares her very personal story of taking care of her mother who has multiple sclerosis. She’s on the hit show P-Valley now, but she didn’t have a job when her mother came to live with her in Los Angeles. Then Ali taps the expertise of Mary Hulme, a geriatric specialist who actually helped Ali and her siblings as they were navigating changes with thei...
Apr 14, 2022•50 min•Season 2Ep. 24
