A decade ago, Laverne Cox burst on to the scene with her role as Sophia Burset on Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” becoming the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category. This month, Laverne stars in the Netflix film “Uglies,” a dystopian story set in a future society where everyone undergoes extreme cosmetic surgery at the age of 16 to become “pretty.” Laverne joins the Bright Side to discuss her latest role, her changing perceptions o...
Sep 24, 2024•25 min•Ep. 132
Hi, Laverne Cox Show fans! Today we bring you an exclusive listen to Laverne’s conversation with mental health guru Jay Shetty on his podcast, On Purpose. Check it out to hear Laverne discuss unresolved trauma, rewiring your brain, and more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Aug 10, 2024•1 hr 17 min
Larger than life fashion journalist, stylist, creative director and editor André Leon Talley passed away unexpectedly on January 18, 2022. In this episode of love, respect, admiration and reflection, Laverne and her exceptional guests remind us why the world, the fashion world in particular, will miss the late great André Leon Talley. Iconic fashion designer and André’s longtime friend Norma Kamali shares stories starting from their early days in 1970’s New York City and Pulitzer Prize-winning W...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Season 2Ep. 19
**Be sure to hear ALEX NEWELL'S 2023 TONY AWARD ACCEPTANCE SPEECH ( X or TikTok ) Laverne has a fun catch-up sesh with her good friend Broadway supertalent Alex Newell. This year, Alex was one of the two gender nonconforming actors to ever win a Tony. They got theirs for their show-stopping performance as Lulu in the hit new musical Shucked . They walk Laverne through their rise to the Broadway stage, their unusual anatomy which plays a big role in their incredible voice, what’s next on their ca...
Nov 09, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 18
The legislative war against the LGBTQ+ community has been relentless and according to powerhouse civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo it may get even worse next year. Conservative republicans have introduced over 500 state bills this year alone to deny healthcare, threaten businesses and allies, and to try to force LGBTQ+ folks back into closets and shadows. But there are things we can do - and the first thing is to congratulate Alejandra. This conversation was recorded in June (2023) when ...
Nov 02, 2023•54 min•Season 2Ep. 17
Some fashion rises above normal clothing and becomes at some point art. Laverne shares her passion for fashion and the thrill of the chase. Her vintage designer collection is not only a resource for joy but the thrill of owning seminal pieces and seeing the development of a brilliant designer over time is just fun. Then there’s SEAM RIPPING! Please rate, review, subscribe and share The Laverne Cox Show with everyone you know. You can find Laverne on Instagram and Twitter @LaverneCox and on Faceb...
Oct 26, 2023•23 min•Season 2Ep. 16
*Please note the opera glossary and links to audio below! Laverne has a passion for divas - from Beyonce to Leontyne Price, and closer to home, Angel Blue, the history-making operatic soprano who has become a dear friend as well. Angel shares her road to the spotlight including her early years of artistic difficulty and personal tragedy. Angel is a two-time grammy winner and was the first Black diva to sing the leading role in Verdi’s “La Traviata” at The Metropolitan Opera in New York, Covent G...
Oct 19, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 2Ep. 15
Content Warning: this important episode contains talk about sexual situations, assault and rape. Resources for survivors are below. It may not be anyone’s favorite topic, but taking care of business is empowering and this is the business, educating ourselves and, importantly, our kids and younger generations on how to be safe and considerate with our bodies. It seems obvious that in order to clarify the lines of intimacy, words should be involved. But it’s probably true that many people don’t kn...
Oct 12, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 14
There are few things more vulnerable than singing, unless you’re Leontyne Price, of course. For the rest of us, though, it can be fraught. Laverne shares with us her journey through developing her voice as a transgender woman and as a lover of singing. And while the road, she says, has had some traumatic moments, she knows she will never stop. In fact, she has recently released her own version of the operatic classic “Summertime” from the opera Porgy and Bess - pop diva style! In this diary, Lav...
Oct 05, 2023•23 min•Season 2Ep. 13
Connie Fleming. In this two-part episode honoring the legendary runway model, cabaret performer and NYC “door bitch”, Laverne gets allll the tea about Connie’s life then and now. These episodes are bursting with history, HERSTORY and fun, juicy details of incredible stories from back in the glorious (and terrifying) day. Part II: The 90’s to Today In this episode Laverne and Connie continue their no-holds-barred chat about her incredible life in New York City picking up in the 90’s as the famous...
Sep 28, 2023•51 min•Season 2Ep. 12
Connie Fleming. In this two-part episode honoring the legendary runway model, cabaret performer and NYC “door bitch”, Laverne gets allll the tea about Connie’s life then and now. These episodes are bursting with history, HERSTORY and fun, juicy details of incredible stories from back in the glorious (and terrifying) day. Part I: The 80’s and 90’s In this episode Laverne and Connie talk about her life in the 80’s and 90’s New York. She was a groundbreaking transgender model who walked for Thierry...
Sep 26, 2023•49 min•Season 2Ep. 11
Movement lawyer and political commentator, or “professional loudmouth”, Olayemi Olurin sheds light on what she knows about the American criminal “justice" system - which is a ton. Having come from The Bahamas as a young woman, she had seen plenty of poor Black folks. But she says America has a very different way of treating Black and brown people, which is that there is a focus on breaking down, criminalization and imprisonment, and just maybe there’s a lucrative payoff for it. A report by the A...
Sep 21, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 10
The recent episode honoring bell hooks with Darnell Moore and Imani Perry got Laverne thinking even more about ideas around privilege. Just because you have it, doesn’t make you bad. Just because someone else has it doesn’t make them an oppressor. Privilege is relative. You can be the most privileged person in one room and the least privileged person in the next. Perhaps it’s time to stop blaming other people, look also at ourselves, and move forward together. Just some thoughts. Please rate, re...
Sep 14, 2023•19 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Laverne reunites with her long-time friend world-renowned DJ and record producer Honey Dijon to talk about her legendary career, their early days of New York City nightlife, and the universal energy shared on a dancefloor that can be a deeply profound spiritual experience. Honey is committed to sharing her club culture history and she’s got some names to drop. Honey Dijon is one of the first transgender artists to win a Grammy award, which she received for her production work on Beyonce’s latest...
Sep 07, 2023•53 min•Season 2Ep. 8
With all of the misinformation and laws taking rights away from trans youth and their parents who want to support them through a tricky childhood, it’s time to hear from someone who lived it. Transgender actress and activist Nicole Maines first rose to prominence as a teenager fighting for her civil rights. Not long after winning a groundbreaking legal challenge, she found herself cast as the first transgender superhero in television history playing Dreamer on The CW’s Supergirl . She is thrivin...
Aug 31, 2023•56 min•Season 2Ep. 7
Gloria Jean Watkins, the revolutionary Black feminist intellectual known as bell hooks, died on December 15, 2021. She was 69. In her time with us she wrote over 30 books and became a powerful voice in social criticism and commentary. Laverne and her friends, author and activist Darnell Moore and scholar and author Imani Perry, all had close personal relationships with Ms. hooks. In this loving tribute they discuss her impact, legacy, themes and teachings that have profoundly impacted each of th...
Aug 24, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 6
In this audio diary Laverne explores how her relationship with her body has evolved through her transition and over the years since. As a Black trans woman over 50 in a sexist, transphobic, fatphobic, ageist, white supremacist society, she says she feels RELIEF when she looks in the mirror. May we all find acceptance of and peace with our bodies regardless of our age, color, gender expression, mobility and size, because our bodies matter. Please rate, review, subscribe and share The Laverne Cox ...
Aug 17, 2023•23 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Attorney, writer and political commentator Elie Mystal joins Laverne to talk about the radically conservative United States Supreme Court, the constitutional amendments through history and his eye-opening book, Allow Me To Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution . He explains how the judges’ own personal tastes make the largest impact on decisions and how the right’s unification has reaped a pipeline of conservative judges the left cannot replicate. They also talk about options like stac...
Aug 10, 2023•48 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Chase Strangio is Deputy Director for Transgender Justice with the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, and a nationally recognized expert on transgender rights. Miss Peppermint is an actress, musical performer, and she nearly won season 9 of RuPaul’s Drag race. She's become the ACLU’s first-ever Artist Ambassador for Trans Justice. Laverne has brought these two powerhouses on to discuss how we can change the conversation about trans people from surgery and transition to humanity and privacy. They tal...
Aug 03, 2023•54 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Content Warning: this episode contains discussion about eating disorders, addiction, and recovery. This interview was recorded in March 2023. In this incredibly vulnerable conversation, Laverne and Glennon Doyle, writer and co-host of the podcast We Can Do Hard Things , give a masterclass in real talk. Nothing is off limits as they dig into everything from addiction, perfectionism, boundaries and figuring out how much is “enough” in our hustle culture, to honoring their inner child, their bodies...
Jul 27, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 2
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jul 27, 2023•2 min
Laverne is back for Season 2! In this intimate recording, she fills us in on her big, busy beautiful life, what she's been up to, and how she’s changed. It's dreamy! But there’s still work; there’s always the work. This time she’s tackling her second season with a whole new perspective. Please rate, review, subscribe and share The Laverne Cox Show with everyone you know. You can find Laverne on Instagram and Twitter @LaverneCox and on Facebook at @LaverneCoxForReal. As always, stay in the love. ...
Jul 25, 2023•22 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Season two of The Laverne Cox Show is dropping July 27th! In the meantime, why not re-listen to all of the amazing episodes from Season 1? The conversations were so good, so deep and so important, one listen is not enough! Episodes Featured: Class & Poverty Shaming w/ Mary O'Hara Overcoming Trauma Through Art w/ Billy Porter Residential Segregation & Structural Racism w/ Richard Rothstein Beauty as Capital w/ Kimberly Foster Becoming a Love Warrior w/ Dr. Cornel West See omnystudio.com/l...
Jul 11, 2023•3 min
On this final episode of the season, the one and only Billy Porter talks about his life in show business. He also candidly shares the trauma of his student days at Carnegie Mellon, the AIDS crisis, and bankruptcy, and his evolution into a multi-award winning superstar. Billy has wisdom to share about what it means to be a true artist dedicated to your craft and explains how his creative expression has been a tool to work through his trauma. Much of that trauma ironically stemming from working in...
Oct 21, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 26
On this episode, Jennifer Burton Flier joins Laverne again to go deeper into the Community Resiliency Model and to tie in so many of this season’s episodes on healing. They’re all connected! Laverne and Jennifer go over practical skills that you can use to build your resiliency for this (very) challenging world. Those skills are tracking, resourcing, grounding, gesturing, shift and stay, and help now. You can find more helpful therapeutic tips and information in the first episode with Jennifer B...
Oct 14, 2021•49 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Poor people have always been shamed. Writer, producer and award-winning journalist Mary O’Hara says that’s not new, but the last 40 years of government and corporate interests have created a focused initiative to demonize people who need financial and social assistance. Between the creation of the Welfare Queen trope in the 80’s and vilifying single mothers in the 90’s, most people do whatever they can to not be associated with safety nets. They’re ashamed. In this powerful conversation, Laverne...
Oct 07, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 24
In this episode, Laverne introduces us to her opera singing teacher of 25 years, the celebrated opera lecturer, Metropolitan Opera Broadcast co-host and retired diva, Ira Siff. Ira is the creator of La Gran Scena, the all-male cross-dressed opera troupe that performed internationally for over 20 years to much critical acclaim with a cult-like following. Ira was the prima donna of La Gran Scena as his diva alter ego, Madame Vera Galupe-Borszkh. Vera was an amalgamation of the most famous opera st...
Sep 30, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Season 1Ep. 23
There truly is no better person to discuss spiritual matters with than the delightfully foul-mouthed Reverend Valerie Spencer, therapist, activist and creator of Holistic Empowerment Institute. After an epiphany while meditating on the beach, Valerie decided to “take the God out,” which she explains. Now she specializes in healing that goes beyond physical and mental health. Valerie makes spiritual and relational healing approachable while drawing from a mélange of religious, ethno-spiritual, an...
Sep 23, 2021•59 min•Season 1Ep. 22
This episode is about addressing misinformation, educating, and correcting the record. Right wing media has gone largely unchecked making false claims, distorting statistics, and outright lying primarily about gender-affirming care for trans kids and trans women and girls in sports. The mean-spirited outcry has led to legislators quoting this media and bills becoming very real laws intended to extinguish transgender people. 2021 has seen the highest number of state bills presented and passed in ...
Sep 16, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 21
In this episode, Dr. Joe Dispenza shares with us techniques to heal the body through meditation. When Joe was a young man he had his spine crushed in a biking accident. Doctors told him that without invasive surgery he may never walk again. Defying the odds, he was able to rebuild his spine in just a few short months using nothing but his thoughts. Since then, he’s devoted his life to the healing potential of the mind-body connection. // Please rate, review, subscribe and share The Laverne Cox S...
Aug 19, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 20
