Hey friends — we're hitting pause for a few weeks, and we wanted to pop in before we go.

LAH is deep in the final countdown to her first solo art exhibit, Auroras in Sad Prose — an immersive show that weaves together her nature-inspired artwork, poetry, and a curated playlist of music that has carried her through healing and heartbreak. It's beautiful, it's personal, and it's all hers. We could not be prouder.

Behk is heading out on a well-earned vacation.

We have a new multi-part episode ready and waiting — but we're not going to drop Part One and make you sit with a cliffhanger all summer. That's not who we are. So we're holding it until we're back and can give it to you properly.

In the meantime, we chatted about what's been getting us through lately: The Midnight Bookshop, Dolly Parton's rock album (yes, really — and yes, it's incredible), Maternal Instinct on Netflix, and a few other things that have us thinking, feeling, and occasionally screaming at our TVs.

We'll be back in a month or so with new episodes, some stories we've been sitting on, and maybe — maybe — a toxic coworker arc. 👀

If you've submitted your story and haven't heard back, please check your spam folder. We've responded to everything. We don't want anyone falling through the cracks.

See you on the other side of summer. 💜

— Behk & LAH

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The system failed her. She told the truth anyway.

Part II picks up with Emma making the drive back to his house — not for reconciliation, but for answers she was never going to get. She arrived to find a man who looked like a total mess, said nothing about her new car, and within minutes set a large knife in front of her on the bed.

What followed was assault. Coercion under the guise of reconnection, with a loaded gun and that knife within arm's reach. Completely restrained, face down, staring at red velvet curtains while Stranger Things played in the background. A phone appeared. A photo she never consented to. A chuckle.

She got out the only way she knew how. Fawning. Years of trauma had taught her body exactly what to do to avoid things turning violent. When she got home and finally looked at her phone, she found two photos and a four-second video of herself — taken without her knowledge or consent. Both illegal. A week later, a lawyer by her side, she filed a police report.

The DA picked up the case the same day. A felony warrant was issued the next morning. He spent two weeks on the run — attending the concert they were supposed to go to together, posting on social media, and quietly soliciting Mad Libs-style fake witness statements from strangers. Emma sent everything to the DA. They did nothing.

The grand jury disposed the case. No forensic phone examination. No follow-up interview. The victim advocate stopped returning her calls. The restraining order was denied. He still has the material. He always will. Her healing journey can be interrupted any day by whatever he decides to do with it next.

She is learning to live with that. And she came on this podcast anyway — because people like him thrive on secrecy, and she promised herself she would never be quiet. 🎭

If you haven't listened to Part I — go back. You need the context.

Resources: Are We Dating the Same Guy? — search your city's name to find your local group.

Content Warning: Sexual assault, non-consensual recording, coercive control, digital abuse, physical restraint, weapons intimidation, stalking, and institutional victim blaming. Listener discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know needs support: National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 RAINN Sexual Assault Hotline: 1-800-656-4673

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three weeks. That's all it took.

Emma spent five years healing after a particularly brutal relationship ended in 2018. Five years of solo travel, self-improvement, building herself back up from the inside out. By the time she met him at a tattoo shop, she was — by her own account — at a psychological peak. More extroverted than she'd ever been. Solo traveling. Thriving. Finally ready.

He was stoic. Grounded. Rough around the edges with what looked like a soft inside. He even knew someone she'd lost. Something about that pulled her in.

He was a covert narcissist. And she had almost exclusively experienced overt ones. Which is exactly why she almost missed it.

Emma's story moves fast — because the relationship did. Within weeks of officially dating, the mask began to slip. The hot and cold behavior that left her shaking. The 3am meltdowns that kept her from sleeping before early morning shifts while he rolled out of bed at noon. The sexual boundary violations he would reframe as her fault the moment she named them. The drinking she didn't understand the extent of until it was too late. The way he screamed at his teenage son in the kitchen over something menial — arms by his sides, not flinching — and how it reminded Emma of herself as a little girl.

And then there was the premonition. Sitting in his bedroom, out of nowhere, a clear and vivid image she couldn't explain. Him. A gun. Someone on the other end of it. She filed it away and didn't tell anyone.

Her mom had the same feeling the same weekend. Neither of them knew.

Emma is thoughtful, self-aware, and unflinching about the moments she wishes she'd moved differently — and honest about why she didn't. She talks about what it feels like when your mind knows you need to leave, but your body has become chemically hooked on someone the way it hooks on a drug. She talks about what it means to date a covert narcissist when every abuser you've ever known was overt. And she introduces us to a man who described himself — out loud, without irony, at 45 years old — as chaos incarnate.

He wasn't wrong.

This is Part I. It does not end where you think it will.

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of narcissistic abuse, coercive control, sexual coercion and boundary violations, emotional manipulation, verbal abuse, alcoholism, childhood trauma, chronic illness, dissociation, and references to violence. Listener discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence of any kind, you are not alone. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 for free, confidential support — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Angel was raised by a woman she called the Vortex of Solitude. Someone who could walk into a room, and you could feel the darkness.

She was also, in Angel's words, genuinely funny. Charismatic. Someone Angel loved — the way you love the mother you were given, even when she was the one doing the damage.

Angel's story starts at the very beginning. A car accident when Angel was a year and a half that took her mother's leg and became the foundation of a mythology Angel spent decades trying to fact-check. A childhood of hoarding, drug addiction, pathological lying, and volatility that could flip from fine to catastrophic over a Diet Pepsi. A mother who befriended Angel's friends to preemptively spin the narrative. Who made Angel stay up through the night babysitting her in case she dropped a cigarette in the hoard. Who missed her high school graduation because she didn't clean a house she wasn't allowed to throw anything away in. Who, when sixteen-year-old Angel, exhausted out of her mind at dawn, said, " Mom, your hair is so pretty today — cut off a lock of hair, shoved it in her hand, and told her she'd be dead by morning.

Angel still has the hair.

She talks about what it means to grow up not knowing your own history — because when a narcissist tells your story long enough, even your own memories can't be trusted. She talks about the sexual abuse she reported, and wasn't believed. The DCS call that went nowhere. The first marriage that followed directly from a childhood that taught her she deserved exactly what she got.

And she talks about the moment everything changed. Rocking her six-month-old son in the nursery, looking at this tiny person she was now responsible for, and understanding with complete clarity — if I don't change, the cycle continues.

She walked into that room one person. She walked out different.

Angel is Behk's friend, and this one felt like a long-overdue catch-up session and a masterclass in survival all at once. She processes with humor, tells the truth without apology, and is proof that the survivor gene is absolutely real.

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of narcissistic abuse, physical and sexual abuse, parental neglect, childhood trauma, substance abuse and addiction, self-harm, suicidal ideation, sexual assault, and intergenerational trauma. Listener discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence of any kind, you are not alone. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 for free, confidential support — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you or someone you know is struggling with substance use, SAMHSA's National Helpline is free, confidential, and available 24/7: 1-800-662-4357

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She's back — and she's healing, but she's not done. Shirley, our guest from the season two episode The Relative Truth, returns with a long-awaited update. After nine years with a man who cheated with his own cousin, Shirley has done the work: betrayal coaching, a podcast of her own, and a hard-won emotional reckoning — including one final, tearful goodbye to the house that held all of it.

But just when she found her footing, a new relationship brought new trauma — and this time, she believes she was dealing with something darker. Shirley shares her experience with what she describes as a malignant narcissist, someone who weaponized her past wounds against her and has left a trail of victims behind him. She's not staying silent, and she's got receipts.

This episode is emotional, empowering, and a little wickedly themed (intentionally). Shirley also shares updates on her podcast, The Audacity, her new women's support community, and closes the episode by reading a beautiful letter — a healed woman's final word to the narcissist who taught her to love herself.

If you haven't heard Shirley's original episode, go back and listen to The Relative Truth (S2E22) first — you'll want the full context before this one.

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Follow on Instagram: @theaudacitypodcast2.0. Join the Facebook Group: theaudacityofmen. Listen to the podcast: The Audacity Podcast with Amber, Charlotte, and Shirley

Content warning: infidelity, narcissistic abuse, toxic relationships, grief, chronic illness, and discussions of manipulation and coercive control.

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Some people leave the church quietly. Becky Garrison stayed and took notes.

A satirist, journalist, and Yale Divinity School-trained religious critic, Becky spent over a decade as Senior Contributing Editor at The Wittenburg Door — the nation's oldest, most irreverent Christian satire magazine — before the institution gave her more material than she bargained for. Her latest book, Gaslighting for God, is part exposé, part survival manual, and somehow genuinely funny. Because when the narcissist is behind the pulpit, sometimes the only sane response is satire.

Becky joins Behk & LAH to talk about what happens when the tactics we recognize in toxic relationships — the love bombing, the narrative rewriting, the coercive control, the manufactured reality — get wrapped in a scripture verse and called sacred. She traces her own journey from preacher's kid to what she now calls an "epiphytic agnostic Anglican," explains why progressive spiritual spaces can be just as dangerous as conservative ones, and makes the case that your gut instinct is one of the most underrated tools you have.

The conversation goes deep — from the NXIVM case and the prosecution of Keith Raniere, to the OneTaste orgasmic meditation case and why charging Nicole Daedone with human trafficking rather than prostitution was a critical distinction for survivors, to the Archbishop of Canterbury's resignation following a pattern of sexual abuse among clergy in the Church of England. Becky also breaks down why narcissistic collapse looks exactly like a three-year-old's temper tantrum, why you cannot rationalize with someone in the middle of one, and why learning to recognize the pattern is genuinely liberating.

Her parting advice: trust your gut. We are taught not to. But your intuition — nurtured, cared for, and freed from the trigger responses of unhealed trauma — is the most powerful narcissist detector you have. 🎭

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Resources & Links: 📖 Get the book: Gaslighting for God — Lake Drive Books 📖 🌐 Website: beckygarrison.com ✍️ Substack: beckygarrison.substack.com

Cases mentioned in this episode: 🔗 NXIVM / Keith Raniere — women's empowerment organization prosecuted for sex trafficking and racketeering 🔗 OneTaste / Nicole Daedone — orgasmic meditation organization prosecuted for human trafficking 🔗 Archbishop of Canterbury resignation — following reports of sexual abuse patterns among Church of England clergy

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of spiritual abuse, religious trauma, coercive control, sexual coercion, human trafficking, narcissistic abuse, and references to political and institutional abuse of power. Listener discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence of any kind, you are not alone. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 for free, confidential support — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The charges were dropped this morning. Annie got the call the day we recorded.

That moment alone — a DA personally writing a letter, a detective calling ahead to warn her, a system finally seeing through the fog he spent years creating — is the kind of validation that doesn't arrive on a schedule. It arrives when it's ready. And it arrived that day.

Part II picks up where we left off: the gun safe emptied, the car packed, the decision made. But leaving, as so many survivors know, is not the end of the story. It is often where the real battle begins.

What followed was a masterclass in post-separation abuse. False child abuse allegations. Eighteen secretly recorded videos hoarded for months. A will drafted by him and his father — signed the day before a beach trip — that would have handed everything, including their children, to his family if anything had happened to her. A neurologist he was calling behind her back, managing her appointments, controlling her results. A smear campaign that started on their wedding day.

And through all of it — two toddlers to raise, a rental to furnish, a legal war to survive, and not one child support payment received.

Annie is still in it. She is not on the other side yet. But she has an underlying peace she cannot fully explain, a burner phone, a really good attorney, and the Tortured Poets Department on repeat.

She said it herself: she is very much living "The Smallest Man That Ever Lived." Twice.

🎧 If you haven't listened to Part I yet — start there. You need the context.

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of domestic violence, coercive control, financial abuse, sexual coercion, medical abuse and gaslighting, psychological manipulation, child abuse allegations, post-separation abuse, legal abuse, postpartum depression, and references to suicidal ideation (attributed to the abuser's manipulation, not the survivor). Listener discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence of any kind, you are not alone. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 for free, confidential support — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Annie mentioned a resource we want to pass along: Aimee Says (aimeesays.com) — an AI tool built specifically for domestic violence survivors to log events, organize evidence, and prepare for legal proceedings. Free version available.

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Season 4. We're starting with Annie — and Annie's story is not for the faint of heart.

Annie had a husband, young children, and a house in the middle of nowhere that felt less like a home and more like a carefully constructed trap. The rural isolation was intentional. So was everything that followed.

When her husband decided Annie was "crazy," he didn't just say it — he built a case. He had her committed to a mental health facility, maintained back-channel communication with her psychiatrist, and walked away with a borderline personality disorder diagnosis he could wield against her for years. Every time she pushed back. Every time she tried to be heard. Every time she dared to trust her own reality.

He had an answer for all of it. She was crazy. The paperwork said so.

Part one ends where Annie's survival instinct finally took over — the moment he opened the gun case, laid out every weapon, and spread the ammunition out in front of her like a message she wasn't supposed to misunderstand. Annie picked up her children from school and ran.

This is only the beginning.

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of toxic narcissistic behavior and any topics that may disturb some listeners. Listener discretion is advised.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence of any kind, you are not alone. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788 for free, confidential support — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The pumpkins are out. The candles are lit. Behk & LAH are back for their annual Cozycore Autumn episode — and this one comes with gifts. 🎃🕯️

In this year's cozy special, we're slowing all the way down. Fuzzy socks, fall playlists, self-care rituals, and the kind of warm conversation that feels like a blanket you didn't know you needed. We're also sharing some personal updates, pulling back the curtain on what's coming for the show, and announcing a short hiatus while we rest, recharge, and get ready for what's ahead.

Oh — and we have two surprises for our listeners this season. You're going to want to tune in to find out what they are. Trust us. 🎁

While we're on our little break and revisit your favorite episodes. And as our thank you — here's a playlist curated just for you by Behk & LAH. 🍂

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We're taking a little detour from the narcissists this week. Consider it a palate cleanser. 🎃

In this special Halloween edition, Behk & LAH are setting the toxic relationships aside for one episode to bring you all the spooky autumn energy you didn't know you needed. Favorite fall rituals, cozy simmer pots, pumpkin everything — and then things get a little darker. Personal ghost stories that will have you side-eyeing every shadow in your house. Plus a special guest who stops by to read a haunting creepypasta that is not for the faint of heart.

Light a candle. Grab a blanket. Turn on a lamp or two. 🕯️

Narcissists, Gaslighters, & Cheaters, Oh My! — real folks, real stories, survival & healing.

Behk and LAH are not doctors or therapists. Nothing shared on this podcast should be taken as medical or professional advice.

Have a story you'd like to share? We'd love to hear it. Submit yours here.

If this show has meant something to you, consider supporting us on Patreon for exclusive content — every bit helps us keep the curtain rising.

Hosts: Behk & LAH

Follow us on Instagram + Facebook @ngcompod

Production & Design: LAHarden

Music: No Reason Why by Anchor

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.