Madison McGhee from Ice Cold Case joins Brittani Ard to talk about something we don't discuss enough: how social media makes grief feel performative and what that pressure does to families dealing with tragedy. Madison gets real about why her dad's murder is still unsolved, the wild misconceptions people have about the case, and the power of public pressure. Madison also catches Brit up on what she's been up to—her tour, Teen Vogue Op-Ed , and her new podcast L.A. Crimes with the L.A. Times. It'...
May 28, 2025•1 hr 8 min
Brittani Ard catches up with Gina and Viv, whose journey from broken trust to renewed connection captivated listeners in season 2. In this intimate follow-up conversation, they reflect on their deliberate approach to rebuilding their relationship—establishing boundaries, embracing vulnerability, and finding patience in the healing process. Gina and Viv share how they've navigated the delicate balance between honoring past wounds and creating new foundations, offering insights into the subtle yet...
May 20, 2025•45 min
We will be back next week with another episode of You Probably Think This Story's About You. In the meantime enjoy this episode of The Secret Room. _____ The Secret Room: “On the Backs of Turtles.” Dustin reveals a childhood secret he kept from his father for thirty years. The story centers on a regrettable and cruel act Dustin committed as a child, which, unbeknownst to his father, had a profound impact on their relationship. Despite the initial harm caused by Dustin's actions, the secret unfol...
May 13, 2025•1 hr 3 min
We are hard at work on season 3, we'll be back soon with more episodes. For now enjoy this conversation with Michele and Jake from LoveLustFear. ___ Brittani Ard, host of You Probably Think This Story's About You, joins Jake and Michele on lovelustfridays for a raw and thoughtful conversation about trauma, relationships, and the emotional weight of storytelling. She opens up about her transition from a career in architecture to podcasting, and the lessons she's learned along the way. The discuss...
May 06, 2025•55 min
We'll be back next week with another episode. In the meantime enjoy Season 11 of Dakota Spotlight. ___ Welcome to Season 11 of Dakota Spotlight. This season, we uncover the haunting 1999 murder of a young man in Bismarck, North Dakota—a tragic event that reverberated through the community and left a lasting impact on everyone involved. In Episode 1, we set the stage during a bustling winter weekend in Bismarck, when the city was filled with out-of-town visitors attending the state wrestling tour...
Apr 29, 2025•48 min
This week host Brittani Ard puts producer Sydney Gladu behind the mic to talk through the making of season 2. The two talk about the process of sharing listener stories. You will also hear a sneak peek into what’s next for the show. All chapters are available ad free on Patreon: https://patreon.com/BrittaniArd Share your story with Brittani. Production of BDE Unlimited Sponsor information at https://brittaniard.com/sponsors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
Apr 22, 2025•30 min
We'll be back next week. In the meantime, enjoy this episode of Second Hand Therapy: Love, Vulnerability and Boundaries It's a deep dive into the complexities of modern relationships today... Louie opens up about his struggles with balancing healthy boundaries and offering genuine love, while reflecting on his partner's perceived lack of effort in their shared home life. He explores the challenges of conflict resolution, emotional growth, and the fear of embracing vulnerable love. Michael shares...
Apr 15, 2025•55 min
Brittani Ard reconnects with season 2 guests Lou and Eve, who formed an unexpected friendship after discovering they had survived an abusive relationship with the same man. In this candid follow-up conversation, Lou and Eve discuss the public response to their podcast episode, their personal milestones in the healing process, and how their traumatic experiences have shaped their approaches to parenting. Their story offers a powerful testament to resilience and the transformative potential of sol...
Apr 08, 2025•31 min
Brittani and Cash, season two guest who shared her personal story of foster care, catch up on the wake Cash’s story has made in her own life. Cash discusses the impact of sharing her narrative, the feedback received from her adopted family, and the importance of framing traumatic experiences in an empowering way. All chapters are available ad free on Patreon: https://patreon.com/BrittaniArd Share your story with Brittani. Production of BDE Unlimited Sponsor information at https://brittaniard.com...
Apr 01, 2025•24 min
Andrea Dunlop, creator of "Nobody Should Believe Me," joins Brittani for an intimate studio conversation about the reality behind podcast success and the bumps along the way. Together, they pull back the curtain on their creative processes, share hard-won insights from their journeys, and reveal exclusive details about their upcoming projects. All chapters are available ad free on Patreon: https://patreon.com/BrittaniArd Share your story with Brittani. Production of BDE Unlimited Sponsor informa...
Mar 25, 2025•1 hr 6 min
Over 390,000 children are in the foster care system. Each one needs someone to advocate for them. Brit has been a volunteer for the King County CASA program for almost 10 years and she believes that we need to make sure all children can grow up safe and loved. This is a special episode that is part of Podcasthon March 15th-21st – a global collaboration with over 1600 podcasters using their platform to share with you a charity or organization that is important to them. Check out their website to ...
Mar 20, 2025•8 min
[Gina’s Story Part 3/3] Twenty years after their first romance imploded, Gina and Viv cautiously rebuild—this time with intention rather than impulse. What begins as innocent daily check-ins quickly intensifies, compelling Gina to clear her dating roster and fly to Colorado. As they navigate their reunion with careful boundaries, both discover they've grown into exactly who they needed to become. The transformation radiates beyond their relationship, as those closest to Gina watch her rebuild a ...
Mar 18, 2025•27 min•Season 2Ep. 10
[Gina’s Story Part 2/3] How often do our exes actually go to therapy and what stars have to align to bring two people back together? In this chapter, we trace back through the wreckage of their first love to understand why everyone warned Gina not to reach out to Viv. As they each unpack their past and 1000 miles apart - from electric beginnings to devastating endings. Viv had finally found peace in solitude. Gina had found her groove. But one Facebook message changes the rest of their lives. Al...
Mar 11, 2025•33 min•Season 2Ep. 9
[Gina’s Story Part 1/3] In this chapter, we follow Gina on her journey from a self-described "passive participant" to someone actively choosing her path. After a decade of comfortable numbness in her marriage, the universe delivered three seismic shifts: a divorce, a job loss, and the sale of her house. At 42, Gina found herself at a major crossroads as she tried to settle into a new apartment with three dogs. But as Gina learns to embrace the chaos and say "yes" to life, an old flame from Color...
Mar 04, 2025•27 min•Season 2Ep. 8
This episode references to sexual assault and other mature themes. [Cash’s Story Part 2/2] Not every foster parent is equipped to navigate the delicate balance of care and control—and not all have the best intentions. Cash returns to the shadowed emotional landscape of the Love family household, hoping to understand the world she survived. What she uncovers, however, is far darker than she expected. Now a mother herself, Cash wades through the murky waters of her past, determined to break the cy...
Feb 25, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 7
[Cash’s Story Part 1/2] Cash’s journey through foster care is a tale of survival in a system full of harsh realities. Torn from her home and separated from her siblings, she was thrust into a world of uncertain foster placements, each one a new battle with its own dark challenges. In a system that seemed indifferent to her pain, Cash fought back with resilience—finding success in school and finally forming a meaningful bond with her adoptive mom, Wanda. But survival comes at a cost. Now, at 32, ...
Feb 18, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 6
This episode references to sexual assault and other mature themes. The chapters we fear the most often hold the keys to our liberation. For Brittani, confronting the sexual assault she endured at 13 was not just a reckoning—it was a battle for her own voice. Her journey was anything but straightforward, winding through years of suppressed memories, silent struggles, and an internal war she fought alone. For 14 years, Brittani carried the weight of her silence, hiding behind walls that had protec...
Feb 11, 2025•23 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Season 2 will resume next week, in the meantime enjoy this episode from lovelustfear! All chapters are available ad free on Patreon: https://patreon.com/BrittaniArd Share your story with Brittani. Sponsor information at https://brittaniard.com/sponsors ____ lovelustfear | emma | you should be scared Emma seeks comfort in the arms of a former client whose initial charm and good looks give way to his darker traits, trapping her in escalating emotional turmoil and abuse. music | sounds Music (CC BY...
Feb 04, 2025•39 min
Season 2 is currently in production! While we put the finishing touches on upcoming episodes, we're excited to share something special: the first episode of The Confessions of Anthony Raimondi. __ The Confessions of Anthony Raimondi–Episode 1: GenesisIn 1978, Pope John Paul I was found dead in his bed just 33 days after he was elected. The official story is that he suffered a fatal heart attack. But in the years since his death, some have claimed he was murdered to cover up crimes in the Vatican...
Jan 28, 2025•38 min
This episode references domestic violence and other mature themes. [Lou’s Story Part 3/3] Two women, bound by a shared history of manipulation and abuse. What started as Lou’s solitary search for a single photograph spiraled into an unexpected connection with Eve —another woman ensnared by the same dark past. Together, they began to unearth what had long been buried, but the truth is rarely kind, and it only reveals itself when you’re ready to face what lies beneath. Piece by painful piece, Lou ...
Jan 21, 2025•30 min•Season 2Ep. 4
This episode references domestic violence and other mature themes. [Lou’s Story Part 2/3] Lou is searching for a photograph of John — but it’s not just a picture she’s after. Beneath the surface of one man’s destruction lies a tangled web of resilience and buried truths waiting to be uncovered. In this chapter layers of manipulation are stripped away, exposing the hauntingly intertwined lives of Eve and Lou —two women forever linked by their shared past with John. As their stories unfold, they c...
Jan 14, 2025•31 min•Season 2Ep. 3
This episode references domestic violence and other mature themes. [Lou’s Story Part 1/3] Lou's story isn’t just about survival—it’s a battle cry of reclamation. In this chapter she unravels the deeply personal account of her entanglement with John, her manipulative and abusive ex-boyfriend. The emotional wounds of their relationship left scars that refused to fade, but it was the unexpected moment of seeing him again years later that pulled her back into the shadows of her past. As the trauma r...
Jan 07, 2025•37 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Season five of Nobody Should Believe Me tells the story of Sophie Hartman: a young, white midwestern evangelical missionary who travels to Zambia and comes home with two vulnerable sisters in her care. When she returns to the states, she lands far away from her family in Seattle, WA where she embarks on a medical odyssey with her younger daughter, C, reporting a variety of alarming symptoms: from chronic vomiting, to seizures, to days-long episodes of full-body paralysis. Eventually, C is diagno...
Jan 03, 2025•3 min
Our stories rarely unfold the way we expect. In the first eight chapters, Brittani Ard uncovered something about herself she never expected: the most powerful weapon she had was her own voice. It wasn’t just a tool for healing — it was a force strong enough to confront her past and rewrite her future. But that discovery came at a cost. Retracing Kanon’s steps wasn’t just heartbreaking, it was a journey through pain, betrayal, and revelations since childhood that she wasn’t prepared to face. Yet,...
Dec 31, 2024•29 min•Season 2Ep. 1
This isn’t your typical true crime story. Brittani Ard steps back into the shadowy labyrinth of memories, scars, and fragile ties that bind us to our past. Where wounds still ache and the bonds of connection blur between salvation and entrapment. After revealing her own story in the first 8 chapters, she’s pulling at the threads of the past—threads so delicate they threaten to unravel everything. This time, it’s not just her story. It’s the stories of others whose lives intertwine with hers in w...
Dec 03, 2024•4 min
Brittani is diving into your Season 1 questions with experts specializing in dating, scams, deception, and the legal consequences of manipulation. In part 2 of this interview Damona Hoffman shares valuable dating tips, focusing on how to effectively use the algorithm to align your dating experience with your personal preferences. She provides insights on what changes to make in your dating profile to attract the type of partner you’re looking for, focusing on authenticity and getting quality mat...
Oct 29, 2024•48 min
Brittani is diving into your Season 1 questions with experts specializing in dating, scams, deception, and the legal consequences of manipulation. In this episode, Brittani sits down with dating coach Damona Hoffman to explore real issues like recognizing red flags and navigating dating norms. They discuss the effects of trauma on dating and share practical advice for making the most of dating apps. Damona's book, "F the Fairytale," tackles common dating myths and offers a straightforward approa...
Oct 22, 2024•34 min
We meet accomplished novelist and loving mother Andrea Dunlop as she embarks on a journey to understand the series of events that tore her family apart. We learn that her older sister has been investigated twice for Munchausen by Proxy abuse, which inspired Andrea to learn everything she could about this complex and misunderstood issue. We see Andrea become captivated by the story of Hope Ybarra and go along with her to meet Hope’s father, sister, and brother: the first people Andrea has ever sp...
Oct 15, 2024•32 min
Delve into the dark side of online romance as Brit revisits the Kanon story, joined by con expert Jim Grinstead. This eye-opening episode will transform your perspective on digital dating and what to look out for. Brit and Jim explore the intricate world of love cons, unraveling tales of deception and financial exploitation featured in Jim's podcast, Scams and Cons. Together, they dissect the psychology behind emotional manipulation, offering valuable insights into the mechanics of these scams a...
Oct 08, 2024•25 min
In this episode, Brit talks with Hugh Barber, a seasoned trial lawyer and former criminal prosecutor in Seattle. They discuss sensitive topics including sexual assault, rape, and the nuances of collecting evidence and reporting crimes. Hugh offers valuable insights on the importance of immediate actions following abuse. The conversation also delves into the challenges women face in reporting sexual crimes, as well as Brit’s personal experiences with law enforcement. The episode touches on broade...
Oct 01, 2024•32 min
