Welcome to season 3 of the Bad Mothers podcast.

In the first season of the podcast, I focused on women who are estranged from their mothers and thinking about whether they want to become mothers. The second season included more talk about motherhood – how our dogs might play a role in our choices about kids, or how we can reframe our perspective if things don’t go the way we want. I also interviewed a few other brilliant women who wrote about being estranged, being mothers, or both.

This season, I’m interested in exploring sibling estrangement, particularly when it results directly from maternal estrangement. I write often about my sisters – we’re very close, and I’ve always attributed that partly to the fact that we bonded over our shared experience with our mom. But that’s not always the way it goes.

I’m kicking off the season with Dr. Katie McKenna, who gives us the lay of the land when it comes to narcissistic family systems, and explains how sibling rifts can develop. Then I talk to my father, who taught me from a very young age that my sisters are my most important relationship. I wanted to understand why he thought that was an important lesson to impart, and explore whether it helped my sisters and I cope better with our mother and remain close in spite of estrangement from her.

Then we get into several interviews with women who open up about their own sibling estrangements—we talk about what happened, how they’ve managed, and advice for others in the same situations.

The season rounds out with writer talks on books featuring estrangement stories, and two healing professionals with advice on how to overcome these painful experiences.

I hope this season offers you something useful. As always, please share your thoughts in the comments or email me at [email protected].

Episode 1 will be available next week.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit monicacardenas.substack.com