Ghosted

Grief gets softer when you stop hiding it. Lo shares the raw, darkly funny story of losing both parents young, from the complicated loss of a mother changed by a brain aneurysm and alcoholism to the devastating day she found her dad, Fred, at home alone.

This conversation is for anyone carrying loss that never quite got the language it deserved. Lo and host Emma get into the kind of grief that starts in childhood, lingers for years, and resurfaces in unexpected ways - anger, guilt, anxiety, PTSD, and the loneliness of being an only child with no parents by 32.

You’ll hear Lo unpack the messy truth of grieving a parent who was physically present but never really there, why her dad’s death hit like losing both parents at once, and how dark humor became part of her survival. She opens up about the moment she realized she had to stop pretending everything was fine, the trauma of finding him, and the difficult work of learning to live with an image she can never unsee.

Emma and Lo also talk candidly about the relationship between grief and identity, what it means to build community online, and why speaking openly about loss can make other people feel a little less alone.

At its core, this episode is about what grief changes, what it reveals, and why the people we lose should still be spoken about out loud. If you’ve ever loved and lost, or if you’re trying to understand how someone keeps going after unimaginable loss, this one will stay with you.

This week on Ghosted, we’re joined by Ashley Spivey for one of the most honest conversations we’ve had yet.

Ashley opens up about losing her dad, suddenly becoming his executor, and then discovering that her boyfriend had cheated on her just months later. That heartbreak eventually led her to The Bachelor and, years later, to a life she never could have imagined for herself.

But Ashley’s story didn’t stop there. She gets incredibly candid about fertility struggles, miscarriages, pregnancy loss, and ultimately losing her son, CJ, who she carried and gave birth to stillborn.

We talk about what it means to grieve a child, the complicated realities of pregnancy and fertility loss, and the ways the healthcare system can make already devastating experiences even harder to navigate. Ashley also shares why she continues to use her platform to talk openly about the things people are often expected to suffer through quietly.

This is a conversation about grief, motherhood, loss, advocacy, healthcare, and finding a way to keep living when your life looks completely different than you imagined.

Ashley is honest, vulnerable, funny, and incredibly open about the parts of her story that so many people are afraid to talk about.

Because sometimes grief doesn’t just change your life. It changes the way you see the world.

Two years after losing her mom to alcoholism, COVID, and a trauma no one talks about, Jackie Clark opens up about the kind of grief that never arrives all at once - it builds, it lingers, and it changes every milestone that comes after. If you have ever loved someone complicated, lost a parent young, or wondered how people keep living when the story ends badly, this conversation will hit hard.

Emma welcomes Jackie to Ghosted for a raw, honest, and surprisingly hopeful conversation about losing her mother, Dorothea, at 22, and learning how to hold anger, love, guilt, and gratitude in the same breath. Jackie shares what it was like to watch addiction unfold over years, navigate a COVID-era hospital death, and process the surreal reality of saying goodbye while wearing protective gear in an ICU.

You’ll hear how grief shows up in the details most people never mention - the calls you never want to get, the legal and logistical chaos after someone dies, the delayed crash of emotions, and the strange loneliness of having to explain your loss to new people over and over again. Jackie also opens up about the village that carried her through it, including her brother, her aunt, her therapist, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Caroline, who has become a beautiful source of support as Jackie plans her wedding without her mom.

We also get into the ways she keeps Dorothea close: wearing her necklace, carrying her memorial card while traveling the world, and making choices that let her mom be present in the moments she missed. Jackie talks about moving from New York to Berlin and then Australia, how grief and healing evolved over time, and why she now believes you can be devastated and joyful at the same time.

This episode is for anyone navigating loss, supporting a grieving friend, or trying to understand the complicated truth that you can miss someone deeply and still be angry at what they left behind. Jackie’s story is heartbreaking, honest, and full of the kind of love that keeps going.

Grief after suicide can feel isolating, messy, and impossible to name. Madison Rhodes shares the story of losing her younger brother Seth and the hard-won lessons she’s learned about healing, therapy, and talking openly about suicide without shame.

Madison opens up about the guilt she carried after Seth died in 2017, why she threw herself into NAMI and suicide-prevention advocacy, and the moment she realized she had skipped over her own grief in the process. She also explains how storytelling became both a lifeline and a purpose, eventually inspiring the novel she’s writing now about a girl navigating sibling loss by suicide.

You’ll hear honest, practical guidance for anyone supporting a loved one through mental health struggles or substance misuse—including why it matters to ask direct questions, how to talk without making someone shut down, and why language like “died by suicide” helps reduce stigma. Madison and Emma also dig into the unique burden carried by siblings, the pressure to be “the strong one,” and how community can make impossible grief feel a little less lonely.

Emma and Madison cover what it means to keep someone’s memory alive in ordinary, human ways—birthdays, favorite foods, old friends, and the tiny rituals that make a loss feel less abstract. Madison also shares what changed after years of therapy, what grief looks like now, and the loudest lesson Seth left behind: live boldly, be yourself, and don’t be afraid to take up space.

In just a few days, it will mark 25 years since September 11, 2001. For Matt Bocchi, that day is not just a moment in history, it’s the day he lost his dad.

Matt was nine years old when his father was killed in the World Trade Center. In this deeply honest conversation, he talks about the immense responsibility he felt to suddenly become “the man of the house,” while still being a kid himself. He shares what it was like to navigate his own grief while watching his mom and family grieve the person they loved.

But Matt’s story doesn’t end with 9/11.

He opens up about addiction and sobriety, the trauma work he’s done, and the sexual abuse he experienced from his uncle and how those experiences shaped so much of the way he has moved through the world. Now a new father himself, Matt reflects on what he carries with him, what he is working to heal, and what he hopes to do differently.

Matt’s willingness to speak openly about grief, trauma, addiction, abuse, fatherhood, and healing is incredibly powerful. This is a heavy conversation, but it is also one about resilience, honesty, and what can happen when we stop carrying things alone.

Andrea Hurley knows that grief doesn’t have an expiration date.

More than 20 years after losing her dad to cancer, Andrea opens up about the shift that happens when someone dies, how hard it is to watch someone you love suffer, and why grief can still feel incredibly difficult decades later.

But Andrea has also taken what she experienced and turned it into a mission. Through her work with coaches and cancer alongside the UConn men’s basketball program, she helps support and honor families navigating cancer, using her own experience to show up for people going through some of the hardest moments of their lives.

And yes, we talk ALL things UConn basketball: the superstitions, the emotions, how grief shows up in sports, and what it’s like being married to head coach Dan Hurley.

We also talk about something I found especially beautiful: how Andrea’s dad encouraged her to go to Seton Hall, a decision that ultimately led her to meet Dan and build the life she has today. Even after someone is gone, their influence can continue shaping the life you’re living.

This episode is fun, silly, heartfelt, and serious all at once and it’s a reminder that grief can change over time without ever completely disappearing.

Whether you’ve been grieving for 20+ years, are supporting someone through cancer, or just really love UConn basketball, this one is for you.

By the age of 18, Morgan Whisnant had lost both of her parents to cancer. Today, she’s the creator of Pickle Girl Runs, where she’s raised more than $18,000 for Comfort Zone Camp while sharing her grief journey with thousands online.

In this episode, Morgan opens up about what it was like to lose both parents so young, why she spent years avoiding her grief, and how anxiety became intertwined with her loss. We talk about the pressure to be “okay,” the loneliness of grieving in young adulthood, and what finally gave her permission to start talking about what she’d been carrying for years.

Morgan also shares how training for the Australian Marathon and fundraising for Comfort Zone Camp became more than a race—it became a way to reconnect with her parents, build community, and find purpose through grief. This is a conversation about surviving unimaginable loss, learning that healing isn’t linear, and discovering that joy and grief can exist at the same time.

This week on Ghosted, we’re joined by our first Canadian guest, Lea, co-founder of Puppy Sphere., who shares the story of losing her older sister to suicide. We talk about the impossible task of trying to understand depression, the lasting impact of a death like this, and the heartbreaking reality that a man was later convicted for selling poison online to people seeking to end their lives.

Lea opens up about the joy her sister brought into every room, why she believes depression can feel like an evil force living inside someone, and how she’s spent every day since trying to better understand the people and families affected by suicide loss.

She also shares another layer of grief: learning just one month after her sister’s death that her partner of ten years had been unfaithful, forcing her to navigate two profound losses at once.

We talk about setting boundaries while grieving, accepting that everyone mourns differently, and the loudest lesson her sister left behind: she was the glue that kept their family together. Today, Lea honors that legacy by stepping into the role of big sister and working alongside much of her family at Puppy Sphere., caring for the people her sister loved most.

This conversation is raw, compassionate, and a reminder that even after unimaginable loss, love can continue to hold a family together.

This week on Ghosted, I’m joined by Addy Zandi, founder of @samesiescandy, for a conversation about unimaginable loss, family, and finding joy again.

When Addy was young, her mom, Mary, lovingly known as Tootie, died suddenly from a heart attack. Addy and her brother were home and performed CPR, a traumatic experience that forever changed their lives.

This episode is just as much about how Tootie lived as it is about how she died. Addy shares the incredible relationship she had with her mom, the woman who raised her and her siblings to dream big, work hard, embrace fun, and believe they could achieve anything. Those values continue to shape Addy today as she builds @samesiescandy, a company inspired by the joy and connection her mom always created.

We also talk about the close relationship Addy has with her siblings and her dad, how their family adapted after losing their mom, and what it was like watching her dad step into a role he had never expected to fill. Addy reflects on the challenges of seeing a parent date again and the deep appreciation she has for the father and caregiver he became.

This conversation is honest, heartfelt, and surprisingly lighthearted. It is a reminder that grief and joy can exist at the same time, and that the people we love continue to shape the lives we build long after they are gone.

Sophie Elortegui was ghosted by both of her parents, Marty and Rick.

In this episode of Ghosted, Sophie shares what it’s like to lose both of her parents and how their incredible love story continues to shape the way she loves, grieves, and lives today. We talk about the unique experience of grieving two parents whose lives were so deeply intertwined that you can’t miss one without thinking of the other, and how they continue to show up in both life’s hardest moments and its happiest ones.

Sophie reflects on the different ways she misses each parent: longing for her mom in that childlike way only a mother can fill, while cherishing the friendship and life lessons she shared with her dad. One of the greatest gifts he left her was the belief that “there are no problems, only solutions.” While she can’t change the fact that her parents are gone, she can choose to build a life they would be proud of.

Whether you’ve experienced the loss of a parent, are navigating grief after losing both parents, or are searching for hope after loss, this conversation is a reminder that honoring the people we love isn’t just about remembering them—it’s about living fully because of them.

This episode is a heartfelt, funny, and hopeful conversation about grief, parent loss, resilience, healing, and carrying the love of those we’ve lost into every chapter that comes next.