From cult leaders to con artists and undercover FBI agents, PRETEND exposes those pretending to be someone they're not.

***

LaDonna Humphrey, a respected true crime author and podcaster, has built a strong reputation through her detailed investigations. However, beneath her acclaimed public image lies a troubling undercurrent of allegations and dark secrets. As former associates, friends, and family come forward with disturbing claims. These people have never spoken out... until now.

The question arises: Who's really afraid of LaDonna Humphrey?

***

Listen to PRETEND on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2vaCjR7UvlN9aTIzW6kNCo

Listen to PRETEND on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pretend/id1245307962

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Introducing Live From Melbourne from The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast.

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Rennae and Petko are back in effect down under, coming through live from the Australian Open with behind-the-scenes takes on the first two rounds of play, including Coco Gauff's massive improvement.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

Immediately after moving with C and M from Zambia to Seattle, WA, Sophie starts bringing C to various doctors, reporting severe health issues. Just three days after C’s third birthday, she is diagnosed with Alternating Hemiplegia of Childhood (AHC), a rare, one-in-a-million neurological disorder. 

Simultaneously, Sophie enrolls her older daughter, M, in an elite gymnastics program. We speak to some of the moms who knew Sophie from the gym to get a better picture of Sophie and the two girls. They reveal a picture of a woman who, despite seeming to move from one crisis to the next, is somehow caring for a medically fragile child, nurturing an aspiring Olympian and financing all of this without a job or a partner. 

***

Links and Resources:

Chad Goller-Sojourner’s Sitting in Circles with Rich White Girls: Memoir of a Bulimic Black Boy will be adding show dates in spring 2025. Click HERE for more information. 

Preorder Andrea and Mike’s new book The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy

Catch Andrea and Mike at their Seattle Book Launch Event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/andrea-dunlop-and-mike-weber-the-mother-next-door-tickets-1097661478029

Check out You Probably Think This Story's About You: https://brittaniard.com/podcast

Click here to view our sponsors. Remember that using our codes helps advertisers know you’re listening and helps us keep making the show!

Subscribe on YouTube where we have full episodes and lots of bonus content.

Follow Andrea on Instagram for behind-the-scenes photos: @andreadunlop

Buy Andrea's books here.

To support the show, go to Patreon.com/NobodyShouldBelieveMe or subscribe on Apple Podcasts where you can get all episodes early and ad-free and access exclusive ethical true crime bonus content.

For more information and resources on Munchausen by Proxy, please visit MunchausenSupport.com

The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s MBP Practice Guidelines can be downloaded here.

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Introducing Finding Holiday Happiness from How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality.

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The holidays are supposed to be a time of joy. But all too often, the darker, colder days of winter, and even the stress of preparing for the holidays themselves, can lead people to feel something else: rushed, stressed, lonely, or even hopeless. How can you make sure this year is bright? Science shows that there's a wisdom to parts of traditional winter celebrations – a wisdom that's been honed over centuries to help us all find light, joy, and connection during the darkest and coldest time of the year. 

Join Dave as he chats with Laurie Santos about how to unpack the psychological secrets of celebrations from Christmas, to Hanukkah, to Yule, and more. They’ll also discuss how we can put that wisdom into practice, whatever our beliefs, to make this season a happier and healthier one for all.

Laurie Santos hosts the podcast The Happiness Lab and is a Professor of Psychology at Yale, where she teaches the most popular class in the university’s history. Learn more about her work at her website. 

DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

In the second episode of season 5, Andrea dives into how Sophie’s Evangelical Christian beliefs colored her worldview. From claiming that adopting a child from Zambia was God’s path for her life to allegedly performing an exorcism, Sophie’s faith is an integral part of this case. We hear from Dr. Lauren Turek, an Associate Professor of History at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX and author of To Bring the Good News to All Nations: Evangelical Influence on Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Relations, gives us a context about Evangelical Christianity in the US and abroad and helps us understand Sophie’s religious upbringing and worldview. Andrea is then joined by some of the Nobody Should Believe Me team: Senior Producer Myrriah Gossett and Lead Researcher/Producer Erin Ajayi to attempt to fill in the many blanks left by Sophie’s memoir about her time in Zambia. The three of them lay out a timeline leading up to Sophie’s adoptions of M and C, while at the same time examining the series of omissions and half-truths riddling Sophie’s story.

***

Links and Resources:

Learn more about Dr. Lauren Turek: https://laurenturek.com/

Preorder Andrea and Mike’s new book The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy

Catch Andrea and Mike at their Seattle Book Launch Event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/andrea-dunlop-and-mike-weber-the-mother-next-door-tickets-1097661478029

Click here to view our sponsors. Remember that using our codes helps advertisers know you’re listening and helps us keep making the show!

Subscribe on YouTube where we have full episodes and lots of bonus content.

Follow Andrea on Instagram for behind-the-scenes photos: @andreadunlop

Buy Andrea's books here.

To support the show, go to Patreon.com/NobodyShouldBelieveMe or subscribe on Apple Podcasts where you can get all episodes early and ad-free and access exclusive ethical true crime bonus content.

For more information and resources on Munchausen by Proxy, please visit MunchausenSupport.com

The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s MBP Practice Guidelines can be downloaded here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing What Is Your Life's Purpose? | Oprah's Book Club with Eckhart Tolle from The Oprah Podcast.

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BUY THE BOOK!

“A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle available here.

“The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment” by Eckhart Tolle available here.

"Stillness Speaks" by Eckhart Tolle available here.

For more information you can visit Eckhart Tolle’s website.

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Oprah

Oprah’s Book Club: Presented by Starbucks offers a conversation with global thought leader Eckhart Tolle about his groundbreaking work, "A New Earth," which has sold fifteen million copies worldwide. Oprah says it has had more effect on her than "any other book by a living author."

Eckhart talks about overcoming cancer and reveals simple, transformative lessons on diminishing ego and becoming a more conscious human being. Oprah and Eckhart also engage readers, including the actor Chris Evans, as they share their favorite teachings and quotes from the book.

Eckhart and Oprah are joined by a live audience at the Starbucks Reserve® Empire State Building® store for conversation over the new Starbucks Cortado, a small but robust coffee classic made with three Starbucks® Blonde Roast ristretto shots and velvety steamed milk.

Whether you're new to Eckhart's work, or have been forever changed by his wisdom, this is the conversation for our times.

SUPPORT THE SHOW

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Listen to the full podcast:

Spotify

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#oprahsbookclub

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DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

We begin the season by delving into Sophie Hartman’s 2016 memoir about her time in Zambia, Crowns of Beauty, where we learn about how a young woman from Michigan came to be the adopted mother of two Zambian girls by the age of 25. We learn about Sophie’s deep roots in evangelical Christianity and her state of mind prior to and during the adoptions of M and C; examining the way she portrays herself as both a martyr and savior. We’re also joined by Chad Goller-Sojourner, a performance artist and transracial adoption coach, to help listeners understand the complexities of transracial adoptions. 

***

Links and Resources:

Chad Goller-Sojourner’s Sitting in Circles with Rich White Girls: Memoir of a Bulimic Black Boy will be adding show dates in spring 2025. Click HERE for more information. 

More information on Chad’s background with transracial adoption: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q76t_IpbJil2vWQVsNnw7f8Ms8p_lstK/view

Preorder Andrea and Mike’s new book The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy

Catch Andrea and Mike at their Seattle Book Launch Event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/andrea-dunlop-and-mike-weber-the-mother-next-door-tickets-1097661478029

Check out You Probably Think This Story's About You: https://brittaniard.com/podcast

Click here to view our sponsors. Remember that using our codes helps advertisers know you’re listening and helps us keep making the show!

Subscribe on YouTube where we have full episodes and lots of bonus content.

Follow Andrea on Instagram for behind-the-scenes photos: @andreadunlop

Buy Andrea's books here.

To support the show, go to Patreon.com/NobodyShouldBelieveMe or subscribe on Apple Podcasts where you can get all episodes early and ad-free and access exclusive ethical true crime bonus content.

For more information and resources on Munchausen by Proxy, please visit MunchausenSupport.com

The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s MBP Practice Guidelines can be downloaded here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing Do You Sometimes Feel Lonely? | The Oprah Podcast from The Oprah Podcast.

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In this episode of The Oprah Podcast, Dr. Vivek Murthy, the outgoing U.S. Surgeon General, offers his parting prescription for fighting loneliness and building lasting community.   

America’s top doctor shares what he’s learned from his patients, his years on the frontlines of public health, and from his father’s tiny village in India. 

Dr. Murthy also answers questions about how to overcome loneliness from people who Zoom in from around the country. 

Also referenced in this episode: Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle

Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@Oprah

Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social:

https://www.instagram.com/oprah/

https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/

Listen to the full podcast: 

https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381

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DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].

In this last bonus episode before our season 5 premiere next week, we’re airing Andrea’s conversation with Dr. Catherine Ayoub, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, APSAC member, nurse practitioner, and counseling and consulting psychologist. Cathy tells listeners about her background and first encounter with Munchausen by Proxy. She and Andrea chat about the different groupings of perpetrators and the characteristics/background that may signal that an abuser can be rehabilitated. Cathy dives into family dynamics, and her current study on the long-term effects of this abuse.

***

Links and Resources:

More about Dr. Cathy Ayoub: https://www.childrenshospital.org/directory/catherine-ayoub

Preorder Andrea and Mike’s new book The Mother Next Door: Medicine, Deception, and Munchausen by Proxy

Click here to view our sponsors. Remember that using our codes helps advertisers know you’re listening and helps us keep making the show!

Subscribe on YouTube where we have full episodes and lots of bonus content.

Follow Andrea on Instagram for behind-the-scenes photos: @andreadunlop

Buy Andrea's books here.

To support the show, go to Patreon.com/NobodyShouldBelieveMe or subscribe on Apple Podcasts where you can get all episodes early and ad-free and access exclusive ethical true crime bonus content.

For more information and resources on Munchausen by Proxy, please visit MunchausenSupport.com

The American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children’s MBP Practice Guidelines can be downloaded here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Introducing Be Ready When the Luck Happens | The Oprah Podcast with Ina Garten from The Oprah Podcast.

Follow the show: The Oprah Podcast

BUY THE BOOK!

"Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir" by Ina Garten, published by CROWN PUBLISHING | PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE, is available wherever books and audio books are sold: 

In this episode of The Oprah Podcast, culinary icon and bestselling author, ‪Ina Garten, opens up about deeply personal stories from her number one New York Times best-selling, no-holds-barred memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens. 

The Barefoot Contessa herself shares details about overcoming a difficult childhood, her love story with her husband, Jeffrey, and lessons she's learned as a woman ahead of her time with a legendary career.

Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social:

https://www.instagram.com/oprah/

https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/

Listen to the full podcast: 

https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].