All Episodes

April 13, 2021 84 mins
The pods very own psychologist, Karen Cowan, takes the hot seat in this extended edition, opening up about her tumultuous upbringing in an aristocratic yet deeply dysfunctional family. Born into wealth overshadowed by heroin addiction, alcoholism, and bipolar disorder, she navigated a childhood filled with fear, anxiety, and debilitating asthma—never truly feeling safe.

Forced to grow up fast, Karen found strength in protecting her younger sister, helping her cope with her father’s imprisonment and her mother’s repeated hospitalisations due to alcoholism and mental illness. She also reflects on the painful consequences of her mother’s forbidden love with a teenage boy and the subsequent emotional toll.
Ultimately, it was love that saved Karen, her marriage to film producer Paul Cowan (The Crying Game, The Krays, Dance with a Stranger) became her anchor, transforming her life and leading her to a career in mental health, resilience, and healing.


Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

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

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark

My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

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

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.