Todd Tilghman had been a pastor for more than 20 years when he realized he wanted to do something new. Call it an itch, a calling, a midlife crisis but Todd knew he needed to do something else. And so he tried out for The Voice. This episode is about Todd’s journey from pastor to singing sensation but it is mostly about how his wife of more than 20 years, Brooke, pushed him and encouraged him to get there. Todd and Brooke have weathered so many seasons in their two decade marriage. They got married young, nearly got divorced, came back together, were blessed with eight children, two of them adopted from Korea. They dealt with Brooke’s anxiety and depression, with money ups and downs, raising a family of ten on a pastor’s salary. And when Todd needed that change it was Brooke who pushed him to follow his dreams.

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Laura Stachel and her husband Hal Aronson save lives every single day through their work providing solar power to hospitals around the world. Neither of them ever could have done it on their own. Their marriage has informed their work and their work has informed their marriage. Laura is an OB-GYN and public health professional. When she traveled to Nigeria on a research trip she realized that women and children were dying during childbirth because hospitals had no electricity. When she brought the problem to Hal he saw the solution. He immediately began to design solar energy programs for these hospitals. Today We Care Solar is a vibrant nonprofit that has reached more than 6,200 health facilities serving more than 7.5 million mothers and newborns. Visit them at WeCareSolar.org

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This is the story of a female police chief in Philadelphia and how she reacted to Floyd’s murder and how she managed her police force through what came next. But it’s much more than that. This is also about the woman who supported that police officer, her partner, now wife, Jackie. This is a love story. But it is also a story about policing and how things do have to change.

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When Aimee Oates got pregnant with her first baby she told her husband John that the two of them were hitting the road with him and his band Hall & Oates. It wasn't a thing that usually happened. Wives, babies, they didn't usually come on the road with this old boys club. But Aimee was adamant. And they did it. They traveled as a family with the iconic rock group Hall & Oates. Their son took his first steps in a casino. They barely ever spent a day apart. I have always been curious about what it is like to be married to a rock star. I don't think Aimee and John's story is necessarily representative of all rock stars, but it is so beautiful how they found an unconventional way to nurture their family and their marriage all over the world.

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COVID-19 has divided Americans in so many ways in the past year. Many Americans have completely opposite views on whether or not they want to be vaccinated right now. And those conversations are happening very close to home, sometimes within the same home. We were so curious to know what was said behind closed doors when one spouse was pro-vaccine and the other one was against getting the COVID-19 vaccine. We put out a call to the Committed community and got way more responses than we expected. Today's episode contains two stories of couples who do not see eye to eye on getting the vaccine and how they manage to get through being on very opposite sides of the issue.

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If you binge-watched Tiger King during the beginning of the pandemic like Nick and I did then you may think you know everything there is to know about Carole and Howie Baskin. You probably have an idea about them in your head, maybe even a suspicion or two. But there is so much that you didn't see on Tiger King. We got to interview Howie and Carole about it all -- the documentary, Joe Exotic, the murder for hire plot, the cat sanctuary, Dancing with the Stars -- but most of all about their beautiful love story filled with compassion, humor and dedication to a cause.

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Chris had proposed to Goldie when they were 18. He got down on one knee at Cinderella's castle. When you're that young you think marriage might be like a fairytale, that the prince being down on one knee is the one thing that will make it all better. 

But their first years of marriage were hard. They were totally broke and Goldie was dealing with trauma from past sexual abuse. She developed an autoimmune disorder where she was in pain all the time. Pain that made her want to take her own life. 

Chris never gave up. When Goldie tried to commit suicide he doubled down on his efforts to be by her side, to provide constant hope and optimism, to do anything and everything to save his wife's life.

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Reverend Roxy and Reverend Joshua come from completely different backgrounds. He’s a white guy from Colorado. She’s a Black woman from Brooklyn. They met while they were both chaplains in the military. They fell in love fast and hard despite all their differences. Being in an interracial couple in America has never been easy, but right now, as our country deals with a much overdue racial reckoning, there is often even more of a learning process involved. 

Joshua had to learn how to grow and adapt and restructure his world-view in a multitude of different ways because he was raised in an environment where race or racial issues weren't really something he was ever confronted with. Roxy had to learn to educate Joshua, and also when to step back and let him educate himself. They both had to learn how to have an open and honest dialogue to express how they really felt.

They really enjoyed figuring out how to grow together. And after they got married they discovered they loved working with other couples to do the same thing. Together they created a premarital counseling and wedding officiated business. Reverend Roxy is something of a wedding celebrity these days. She’s performed ceremonies on shows like Love is Blind and Married at First Sight, usually in some fantastic designer gown that should be on a red carpet.

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Leah was terrified of getting married. She didn’t want to give up her independence. But a terrible accident at a construction site changed everything Leah thought she wanted. Her longtime boyfriend Kelsey rushed to her bedside to be with her and she proposed to him from the hospital. The two of them have had to figure out how to navigate their first year of marriage during a pandemic and with Leah paralyzed from the waist down.

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For forty years Phil Donahue and Marlo Thomas tried to keep their celebrity marriage out of the spotlight. But after being married for four decades, or what felt like a hundred years as Phil says, they got interested in researching what makes a marriage work and last and thrive over such a long period of time and they decided to put their own marriage front and center in a new podcast. Marlo never wanted to get married. But she was so smitten with Phil after appearing on his show in 1977 she finally took the plunge. Marlo became a stepmom to Phil's four boys, they lived long distance and figured out how to make it work. They survived Hollywood and cross country moves and jealousy over co-stars. Their wit and wisdom about commitment is unparalleled. We are so excited to share their long love story with you and introduce you to their incredible new podcast called Double Date. Fans of Committed will just adore the interviews Phil and Marlo do on double date with celebrities like Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, Sting and Trudy Styler and so many more. 

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