Every Monday morning step into the office of iconic psychotherapist Esther Perel and listen in as real people in search of insight bare the raw, intimate, and profound details of their stories. From breakups and open relationships to workplace conflicts and fractures in the family, it’s a place to hear our own stories reflected in the lives of others. So…where should we begin? Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
169 episodes transcribedMore than a decade ago, the film Her imagined a love story between a human and an artificial intelligence. Today, it no longer feels like fiction....
He knows she isn't real, but his feelings for her are. When he set out to build a personal assistant, he didn’t expect to fall in love. What began as...
A divorced woman calls Esther to untangle a new love that brings both exhilaration and heartache. She is in a relationship with a married man whose ma...
Through forty years of marriage, they built a life together. They immigrated to the United States, raised children, grew a business, and established a...
Their whole relationship is based on one big misunderstanding, with infidelity on both sides. Years later, they still can't see the other's perspectiv...
She's 26 and has never been in a relationship that made her feel happier or more fulfilled than when she's single. She's questioning whether being in...
She has a crush on her coworker, which feels thrilling and unsettling all at once. Fresh off a divorce and shaped by earlier relationships marked by i...
We hear from a couple who have long been happy in their marriage, except for one thing: their sex life. In moments of intimacy, one freezes, the other...
Esther speaks with a young man whose confession of love for a close friend sets off a chain reaction he never expected. After exposing his love, his s...
She comes to Esther reeling from the end of a five-year relationship marked by love, deceit, and manipulation. After discovering her partner’s infidel...
They met dancing, and it was love at first sight. But only after they began dating did they realize the vast differences between them: differences in...
He comes to Esther with a question about how to feel worthy without constantly having to prove himself. For him, it’s not just personal, it’s also ra...
Three years after Esther spoke with a Ukrainian couple separated by war, she calls them back to learn where they are now and whether their relationshi...
Since the age of 8, she’s been the one holding her mother together and shouldering adult responsibilities long before her time. Now, as an adult herse...
This is a classic session of Where Should We Begin? A husband and wife are united in their desire to help their daughter, two years after she suffered...
She’s reeling from a relationship that brought both deep love and deep betrayal. After discovering that her boyfriend had been lying about the terms o...
They met in vet school and married just as they reached graduation. But now his work takes him around the world, forcing them to live apart for months...
She unknowingly changed the course of his life, and he's loved her ever since. It's been decades, and even though he now dates men, he wonders how to...
Post-breakup rumination is a familiar spiral. We replay the signs, question our judgment, and wonder how we didn’t see it coming. This week, Esther sp...
When her younger sister gets engaged, a woman finds herself spiraling with unexpected grief and frustration. She’s spent years in relationships with m...
