All Episodes

June 5, 2024 39 mins
Lena, compelled by her strict upbringing, marries a culturally appropriate man who promises to provide for her needs. But after discovering his success and adoration are a facade, she finds herself trapped in a marriage of deception, control, and abuse.

chapters

(00:00) listen with caution
(00:16) next on lovelustfear
(01:46) about lena
(02:47) lena’s story
(33:10) questions & answers
(37:59) closing thoughts
(38:50) charity & organizations
(39:19) submit your story
(39:30) disclaimer

quotes

“I came from a traditional Armenian family. my cultural heritage is from Turkey. my grandparents were both survivors of the Armenian genocide. my parents were first generation, I'm second. And I was raised in a very strict household.” - Lena

“My father would say conflicting statements like you can do anything you want to do in life as long as you put your mind to it. Whereas my mother on the other side would say a girl's place is in the home taking care of her family.” - Lena

“He took me to the most extravagant Restaurant. he was dressed to the nines, and he got me flowers and gifts, and you're beautiful. You're perfect. I've never imagined myself with anybody so wonderful as you and I think that we could build a future together.” - Lena

“It progressively got worse and worse and worse. he started to degrade me, and he got very controlling. He told me what I could wear, how I could wear it. how to wear my makeup, how to wear my hair, And he told me what type of underwear to wear, and if I didn't do it, then there was going to be some form of emotional punishment.” - Lena

“And she said, ‘You've got 30 minutes to get your cats in their carriers, get your purse on your back, and get out of the house or I'm going to call the police.’” - Lena

“...if you're in a situation where you're dealing with a narcissist and you're married to that, start planning, look for a way out. stash money away, get your jewelry, and hide it. And when the time is right, it's going to present itself and you get the hell out when you know you're supposed to leave and don't look back.” - Lena

music | sounds

Music (CC BY 4.0):
Lost Place Atmospheres (001-003) by Sascha Ende
Very Low Note by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Other Music and Sound Effects by Syouki Takahashi, Geoffrey Harvey, Alex Wit, cybercutie, Timothy Kulig, Pixabay, Samuel F. Johanns, UNIVERSFIELD, Yevhenii Kovalenko, Leigh Robinson, and Alesiadavina from Pixabay

Spacetime by Mountaineer

stay aware | follow | share (lena)

The Midnight Mission - TMM (Downtown Los Angeles, CA)
https://www.midnightmission.org/
https://www.instagram.com/themidnightmission/
Phone: 1.213.624.9258
The Midnight Mission is the oldest continuously operating human service organization in the Los Angeles region. Centered in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles, The Midnight runs one of the most efficient direct service operations in the country. With only five executive managers throughout its 100-year history, The Midnight has been a consistent beacon of light for those with nowhere else to turn.

National Domestic Violence Hotline (24/7/365)
Call 1.800.799.SAFE (7233)
Text: START to 88788 
https://www.thehotline.org/
https://www.facebook.com/NationalDomesticViolenceHotline
https://www.instagram.com/NDVHofficial/

story submission information 

If you would like to consider being a guest on lovelustfear or would like your story featured anonymously, please contact us below.

submission link | https://lovelustfear.aidaform.com/lovelustfear
E-mail | lovelustfearpod@gmail.com
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/lovelustfearpod/

subscription links

Chartable
https://link.chtbl.com/lovelustfear
Amazon Music
https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/b06d0ea8-cb29-4c3a-98e6-0249d84df748/lovelustfear
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/0e3ndcf5u8lZ5lhN1lvWec
Apple
.css-j9qmi7{display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webkit-flex-direction:row;-ms-flex-direction:row;flex-direction:row;font-weight:700;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:2.8rem;width:100%;-webkit-box-pack:start;-ms-flex-pack:start;-webkit-justify-content:start;justify-content:start;padding-left:5rem;}@media only screen and (max-width: 599px){.css-j9qmi7{padding-left:0;-webkit-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webkit-justify-content:center;justify-content:center;}}.css-j9qmi7 svg{fill:#27292D;}.css-j9qmi7 .eagfbvw0{-webkit-align-items:center;-webkit-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-items:center;color:#27292D;}
Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

The Burden

The Burden

The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.

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

Connect

© 2026 iHeartMedia, Inc.