Tales of Taboo is a collection of ANONYMOUS confessions investigating, and celebrating, what happens behind closed doors. Ali Weiss dissolves the boundaries that traditionally exist between host and audience by creating episodes around her listeners' unique perspectives. They share unadulterated stories about public scandals and private struggles, liberation and oppression, and the various ways to navigate the darker corners of the human experience. Follow Ali on Instagram & TikTok @aliweissworld, or submit a confession at confessions@aliweissworld.com.
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I absolutely believe in marriage, but I also believe that marriage is inaccurately marketed as a one-stop solution for all of life’s problems. It’s no wonder why, as of 2024, about 43% of American marriages are said to end in divorce: we’re brainwashed! And yet, choosing to end a legally-bound relationship is still seen as a "failure." This week’s anonymous confessors were all married and split by the age of 35. Their roads to divorce vary from the interference of religious parents, bisexuality,...
I recently broke up with my boyfriend. Though extremely painful, I knew it was the correct decision - but I also wondered in my lower moments if, at 31, I was “too old” to start over again. I’ve never looked or felt better, but there’s cultural shame surrounding not having a partner after a certain age. A massive amount of power and freedom of choice comes with being single, and many solo people in their 30s and 40s are NOT miserable. We just don’t hear about it. Let’s change that. This week’s a...
Welcome back to season 6 of Tales of Taboo. I’ve missed you. Affairs are by no means good or fair, but they rarely have malicious intent. More often, they’re about quelling the ways adult life can be lonely and disappointing. This week’s lustful anonymous confessors began their affairs in Paris nightclubs, Las Vegas strip clubs, and European hideaways; on Seeking Arrangements and Ashley Madison; at work, via email, and though the phone. They fell for their clients, coworkers, bosses - even docto...
The Fashion episode was such a hit that I decided to revamp and re-release another set of industry-related confessions. With casting help from DeuxMoi, we're coming out from behind the scenes and exploring life in front of the camera as a model. I open the episode with my own Tales of Taboo about my lulz attempt at a postgrad modeling career (you'll scream at the very off-brand national campaign I booked), and a few encounters with agents and casting directors that, as the kids say, 'altered my ...
Which famous designer refused to pay for $100,000 worth of samples? What major eyewear company has a Chief Financial Officer with no credentials besides being a party magician? Where does being over a size 6 and an A cup make you "fat?" What really happens behind the scenes at Fashion Week? I LOVE clothes. I love theatrics. I love escapism. What I do not love is when some people suffer greatly to compensate for others’ greed. On the heels of New York Fashion Week, I decided to revamp and re-rele...
What do you think of when you think bisexuality? Promiscuous behavior? Polyamory? Lying, cheating spouses? Midlife crises? Burning Man? Or maybe you think of…nothing: perhaps the biggest misconception is that middle-of-the-spectrum sexual orientation doesn’t really exist. Au contraire, I believe that we’re ALL a little gay - some of us have just chosen, or found the freedom, to explore it. In honor of Bisexuality Awareness Week, I decided to revamp and re-release this legendary episode from seas...
I open this week's episode with my own candid confessions about the challenges of my former long-distance relationship, and how that experience + watching 90 Day Fiance led me to become uncharacteristically judgmental of people in green card relationships. I'm so grateful for our anonymous confessors, who successfully expanded and changed my mind by calling and writing in with accounts of their international engagements & marriages...and divorces :) (8:43) We hear from Americans with partner...
Couples with large age gaps can cause polarizing reactions. On the one hand, age is a number and love is love - it knows no bounds or rules. Should one be lucky enough to find it, it’s always worth diving into head first, no? On the other, when one partner has lived considerably more life, is it kosher to subject a less experienced and often more impressionable partner to their baggage? Is desiring a younger woman implicative of some emotional deficit? I open this week's episode with my own cand...
Ethical Non-Monogamy and Polyamory are becoming increasingly popular relationship structures (or, at least, are now more commonly discussed), but they're controversial and deeply misunderstood. Most people see ENM as glorified cheating: an excuse to have one's cake and eat it too. The acronym often conjures images of suburban swingers, wild sex parties in Bushwick or San Francisco, Burning Man, and, like, sister wives, and I have to admit that there was a time where I made similar assumptions. T...
Exercise gives many of us a sense of control, stability, and discipline. Boutique fitness, with its fancy methodologies and curated lights, scents, and sounds, capitalizes on another, more elusive (and highly monetizable) feeling: purpose. For up to $50 per class, we’re not only sold a vision of our best body, but also our best self. We’re asked to set intentions, repeat affirming mantras, and see squatting and sprinting as a chance to ‘conquer the impossible’. The word 'community' is thrown aro...
$10,000 bottles of wine! 15 hour workdays! All-night cocaine benders! Psychotic head chefs! It's Season 4 of Tales of Taboo! This week, we're exploring the high-octane world of high-end dining: the kinds of establishments that (literally) inspire books like Sweetbitter and movies like The Menu, where reservations are impossible and Chef is spelled with a capital C. I kick us off by telling MY most absurd tales as a diner in fancy restaurants: a college friend's outpatient rehab in Chicago, the d...
This episode delves into the often-unspoken truth of dysfunctional families during the holiday season, contrasting the pervasive 'most wonderful time' narrative with candid, anonymous confessions. Listeners hear stories of disownment, parental addiction, infidelity, mental illness, and the complex emotions that arise when family expectations clash with reality. The episode aims to make listeners feel less isolated, acknowledging that many families experience drama and trauma despite societal pressures for perfection.
What do you think of when you hear 'sex club'? Predatory men? Deviant behavior? An unhinged, unsanitary, Ancient Roman-style orgy? I would liken it more to highly participatory immersive theatre - a contained place to become a different person for the night, or the person you secretly wish you could be. With a definitive start and end and (often) a price tag, the transactional element allows for very real physical, emotional, even spiritual experiences, with less real-life consequences. This wee...
What do you think of when you think ‘porn star’? Party girls with f*cked-up childhoods? Sexual trauma? Misogyny and abuse? This week’s contributors, both anonymous and on-the-record, dismantle those stereotypes HARD by creating and participating in adult content that empowers them, provides them with bodily autonomy...and makes them very wealthy. We’ll hear from Marykate Moss (formerly Mackenzie, IG & Twitter: @marykate_moss), a Hustler covergirl whose videos have over 100 million views on P...
What’s it REALLY like to manage a school shooting? Are students with special needs a "lost cause?" How does under-funding actually affect students and teachers? Are celebrity children as entitled as we think? Confession: I recorded the intro you're about to hear ages ago, before receiving any submissions (NOT a usual occurrence but alas, I had taken my Concerta and was feeling extra productive). I thought I'd be curating a lighthearted inquiry into the lives of teachers, proving those authority ...
We’ve been led to believe Herpes is a “dirty” “STD” — only sluts get it, and when they do, any chance of having sex or finding love is ruined. This episode proves that idea could not be further from the truth. Our anonymous confessors share varying accounts of contracting HSV1 and HSV2, orally & genitally. From one-off Hinge dates to serious boyfriends to family members kissing their faces as children, no two stories are the same — but each have great insight into battling societal stigma, m...
The "Troubled Teen Industry” is an elusive, corrupted, for-profit network of schools, programs, rehabs, and residences meant for "unstable," "out of control," "promiscuous," and drug-addicted young people. Some of these programs are notorious for kidnappings, forced medication, even brainwashing; all of them use emotionally or physically violent therapy and control tactics. These schools came to mainstream recognition with the release of Paris Hilton's 2020 documentary This Is Paris. In it, she ...
First-person accounts of abortion are very difficult to find, and most of the essays and anecdotes available are riddled in guilt and grief. They often resemble an apology letter to the world (or oneself), rather than an honest description of a controversial medical procedure. Secrecy, shame, and lack of nuance within abortion rhetoric is what makes it so taboo. Here you will find a collection of anonymous stories - ages 17 to 34 in the US, United Kingdom, Ecuador, and Germany - showing the rang...
Plastic surgery is more commonplace than ever, yet remains deeply taboo. Very few people are willing to openly discuss the realities: what drives them to want it, the intense recovery process, and whether or not physical alterations actually change mental and emotional wellbeing long-term. This week, we’re cutting deep — no pun intended. Encouraged by controlling mothers, modeling agents, and media-fueled beauty standards, our anonymous confessors got labiaplasties, breast reductions, nose jobs ...
Which famous Washington D.C. members-only club is secretly filled with sex workers? Which politicians under Trump regularly visited rub and tugs? Which drug-abusing hotel heir brought an escort to Miami just to watch Wheel of Fortune with him? I'm deeply annoyed by the conflation of all prostitution with sex trafficking, and the ongoing narrative that women who exchange physical & emotional intimacy for money were either forced into it or chose the profession as a result of severe trauma. In...
Which professional soccer player shoved a $20 bill in a waitress’ mouth? Which famous actress with legal troubles had a waitress pretend to be her to evade the paparazzi? Which talent manager promised a waitress a spot on Love Island in exchange for sex? As someone who’s been clubbing for 13 years, I’ve long been fascinated with bottle waitresses. You know - those gorgeous girls in skintight dresses bringing over the magnums of champagne and sparklers. I saw their job as a tremendous position of...
Ever wonder what it’s really like to be a DRUG DEALER? This week’s anonymous confessors operate(d) throughout a variety of countries and circumstances. One lived in a house with 100 weed plants, and distributed to dispensaries in California before recreational legalization. Another sold Molly to club partiers — including an unnamed famous DJ and Vice President’s son (!!). A husband & wife, LSD-dealing duo talk about providing their kids with a privileged life, but wrestling with what happens...
More often than not, addiction is dramatically portrayed in the media as a chaotic but chic side effect of wealth and power, or an inevitable circumstance of poverty. It’s not always black and white or economically driven, though: addiction is everywhere, nondiscriminatory, constantly shapeshifting. Much public talk of trauma, coping mechanisms, and self-medication exists in our post-pandemic world, but there’s a massive difference between occasionally overindulging in wine or Xanax after a long...
When casting last season’s ‘employees of the wealthy’ episode with DeuxMoi, I received multiple submissions from nannies. As a caretaker, you hold a very unique and often complicated view of being both an employee and a surrogate family member; I’m thrilled to share their stories to kick off Season 2. Our confessors worked for the Vanderbilts (yes - the ones you’re thinking of), controversial hedge fund manager Dan Loeb, the infamous 6666 Ranch family in Texas, and various other real estate, fin...
What do you think when you hear "eating disorder?" Probably 'bored rich white women obsessed with being skinny'. But anorexia & bulimia are way more than just striving to be beautiful - and they can also affect people from any background. Mostly, they're about control. In the throes of the lonely and aggressively over-indulgent holiday season, this topic felt pertinent to explore. Our anonymous contributors detail wanting to exert control over their bodies as a way of grappling with the lack...
Before Alex Cooper, Sofia Franklyn, and Call Her Daddy, before Ellie Schnitt and Brianna LaPaglia (Chickenfry), before Ria Ciuffo & Fran Mariano had their show Chicks In The Office, there was one chick in the Barstool Sports offices...and it was me. In 2016/17, at 23, I was the only female contestant in "Barstool Idol." What was described as a competition-based search for the company's next big "talent" ended up being an exploitation fest live-streamed on Facebook & Periscope. I genuinel...
Happy Halloween - my favorite time of year! To celebrate, this week we've got a fascinating collection of anonymous stories about our listeners' spooky, WILD encounters with the Paranormal. Ghosts, UFOs, suspicious rotating orbs, lanky men in black top hats (the Babadook?) - you name it, you'll hear about it. While I myself have never had an encounter with non-earthly beings, I fully support each contributor's experience. There's so much in this life that's beyond our understanding - who actuall...
I did artist interviews at a camping music festival last month, and it was the first time I’ve ever attended a multi-day rave. Truthfully? It freaked me out. I went to Ultra Music Festival in Miami for 2 years in high school and plenty of concerts and after hours parties since. But the older I get, the more baffled I become by how large-scale electronic music events, specifically engineered for drug usage, sensory overload, and escapism, have become multi-million dollar businesses in countries a...
You heard my story, so now it's your turn: SORORITY CONFESSIONS. And they’re WAY juicier than mine. First, we have written submissions (3:16), from the former Vice President of Recruitment from my sorority (!) dishing SO MUCH tea about how Rush really works and her blocked attempts at inclusivity; plus a former Delta Gamma from the University of Southern California and Alpha Sigma Alpha from University of Central Missouri. Audio notes (22:49), in order - old world values and fraudulent identity ...
THE RUMORS ARE TRUE. I, Princess of Taboo, professional rule breaker, and champion of individualism, am a former member of Alpha Phi: the hottest, blondest, whitest sorority on my California college campus. Even more shocking? I absolutely loved it. That is, until I got kicked out. For my first solo episode, I take you through the highs and lows of my 2.5 years in Greek Life as the only New Yorker in a microcosm of "Trump's America." From rushing (in club clothes) and skyrocketing to the top of ...
