Confessions

This confession gets into a topic that carries a lot of stigma: couples therapy. Most people think, “If you’re in counseling, your marriage, relationship, whatever, is about to be kaput.” Not so! People seek out therapy together for a number of reasons other than hating each other’s guts, like our listener on this episode, who wants to go to couples therapy with her partner to talk through the next big stages of life toget...

A friendship breakup can hurt more than a romantic breakup, especially when you don’t see it coming. This listener's friend of over a decade suddenly lost her dad by suicide. She supported her through this grieving process—her friend even shared sensitive details about her dad's death that she likely didn't tell anyone else. One day, our listener's friend stopped answering her text messages and their friendship of over a d...

Our listener had a sex dream about her best friend's boyfriend. 😟 She's never really been into him, so now she feels super awkward. What does this kind of dream mean? Does she secretly like her best friend's boo??

Our guest Layne Dalfen founded The Dream Interpretation Center in Montreal in 1997. She has been a lecturer at Concordia University in Montreal since 2005. You can find Layne at www.thedreamanalyst.com.

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The world sucks. Your imagination is probably a nicer, safer place. The listener in this episode is writing in to ask if it's irresponsible to give herself permission to be delusional. If everyone else on TikTok can be delulu, why can't she?

Our guest Antoni Bumba is a transgender content creator dominating multiple niches with her notorious pop culture parodies, astrology hot-takes, and daily unfiltered vlog-style videos. ...

Sometimes, telling your best friend the truth means that feelings might get hurt. In these situations, you have to ask yourself, “Am I willing to risk a friendship to do what I believe is the right thing?” Our listener is not a fan of her best friend’s girlfriend and things are moving quickly—like, moving in together after six months quickly. Should she tell her how she feels or let the trainwreck keep rolling by?

Our guest...

It's just nature that we want what we can't have. In this confession, our listener is struggling with an office crush that's been haunting her for 18 months. "It's so painful as nothing will ever happen between us but the infatuation is so persistent," she says. Oh, and she's married, which makes matters worse. How can she get this man out of her head without finding a new job?

Our guest Heather Havrilesky writes the popula...

Our listener caught the travel bug from influencers on Instagram, but she's afraid that she will have a different experience than them in the same beautiful, dazzling locations across the globe because she's Black. Her family members and friends have shared their tales of racism while traveling abroad—being mistaken for a sex worker in Italy or being treated like a zoo animal in China. Is it worth spending a bucket of mone...

We're switching up the format in this episode and hear confessions from SEVERAL listeners related to a topic that we probably (unfortunately) all know something about—bad, weird, and awkward sex. At Cosmo, we’re all about having good sex, but sometimes, things just go awry. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ You live and you learn from those experiences, but you sure never forget them.

Our guest Chrissy Chlapecka is an emerging musician and social ...

There are bad exes...and then there are harmful exes. Unfortunately, this discussion is focused on the latter. Our listener was stuck in a relationship with a person who, along with his family, went out of their way to rob her of her self-worth. Now that she’s single and free, she’s having trouble picking up the pieces from her time with this man. All she wants is to be able to move on. And, heads up: this episode contains...

Building your life after college is an emotional game of "choose your own adventure." Our listener is just about to graduate, and while her dream has been to live in New York City and pursue a career in fashion journalism, her family just bought a home far away from Manhattan. She's faced with a choice: Stay with her family and find a remote job or spread her wings and leave home to live the city life she's always dreamed ...

​​Opening up a relationship can be a very fulfilling and exciting choice for a couple. In this instance, our listener and their partner opened up their marriage sexually but agreed to draw a boundary: no catching feelings. Still, her spouse fell in love with someone else and it nearly ended in a divorce. How should they build their relationship back after major trust was lost?

Our guest Zachary Zane is on IG and Twitter as ...

Is it helpful or nosy to give your friends unsolicited financial advice? In this episode, our listener is sick of their friend borrowing money to pay their electric bill when Miu Miu shoes are sitting in their closet and their credit card is maxed out. All we know is that setting boundaries with your bestie gets sticky when money is involved.

Our guest Tiffany "The Budgetnista" Aliche, America's favorite personal financial ...

Becoming a parent is a daunting adventure for many, and social media often magnifies its challenges. Our listener shares that after witnessing the primal scream of under-resourced parents (read: mostly mothers) on Instagram during the pandemic, she is more afraid than ever about becoming a mom. The stats validate her concerns: As of 2016, women spend about four hours a day on unpaid work, compared with about 2.5 hours for ...

Here’s a word that might send a shiver down your spine depending on your luck in this lifetime: in-laws. Yeeeah. I’ll give you a minute to unclench. While your in-laws might make Thanksgiving a royal headache or send you unsolicited articles about your parenting choices, they probably haven’t launched a full-blown smear campaign against you…to your own husband. And if they have, well, you’ll relate to this listener.

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At Cosmopolitan, we’re famous for keeping your secrets and for getting to the bottom of your most burning questions. From toxic in-laws to friends with messy finances to having a crush on your coworker — Confessions is a safe space to talk out all the gory-but-helpful details of getting through life's weirdest stuff.

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