All Episodes

November 2, 2023 2 mins

Join us on November 9th for new stories of resilience, memory, and the way in which long-held family secrets so often need out.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Nobody thinks they're joining a cult. People in cults don't
know they're in cults. And my parents thought they were
in a nonviolent drug rehabilitation society, which is kind of
how it started. It was just trying to get addicts clean,
and it did a pretty good job of doing that,
saved a lot of people's lives.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
First, that's Michael jo Lay reflecting on his unique and
complicated childhood.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
But then you isolate people and you start getting group
think going, and then there's kind of like this quirk
of human psychology that they tend to line up behind,
very often a narcissistic and abusive man, and that's what
happened in our case.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
I'm Danny Shapiro and welcome to the new season of
Family Secrets. I can't wait to share ten astonishing new
stories with you, stories of resilience, memory, and the way
in which long held family secrets so often need.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
To come out.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
Welcome to season nine, which drops on Thursday, November ninth.
Here's Susan ko Itto recalling the risks she took to
crack the code of her identity.

Speaker 3 (01:07):
I said to the receptionist, I just need to get
something from my car, I'll be right back, and I
race walked out to my car and threw it in
the seat and just drove off as fast as I could.
And that was how I got those records which had
my birth mother's name. I was like, I am like
breaking the law? What am I doing here? Is this

(01:28):
a crime? Am I going to jail for this?

Speaker 4 (01:29):
What did I do?

Speaker 3 (01:31):
I was terrified. My heart was pounding so hard.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
And Daniel Wallace, whose role model shaped and surprised him.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
And on the edge of that roof, looking down twenty
five feet or so to the pool below, was William.
He was cut off, jeans, nothing else, spotlighted in the sun,
his long golden hair draping over his shoulders. He dove
off the roof into the pool and lived. It was

(02:01):
clear to me whether that was going to be how
this all turned out, but he did it. He got
out of the pool, climbed the house again, which was
no easy feet, walked across the hot tar to my parents' bedroom,
and jumped off again.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
I hope you'll join me and my extraordinary guests for
this new season of Family Secrets, coming Thursday, November ninth,
on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you'll get
your podcasts

Family Secrets News

Advertise With Us

Follow Us On

Host

Dani Shapiro

Dani Shapiro

Show Links

AboutStore

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.