Episode 4: Nothing Left But White T-Shirts

Season 3, Episode 4 | Say It Happened

In this episode, Em returns to the time when survival became a full-time job. Working at a restaurant while being interrogated by the state police, she found herself juggling custody exchanges, rent, gas money, and court—while barely feeding herself.

Between the hunger, the shame, and the deeply absurd lies told about her, Em breaks down what happens when someone tries to build a case against you using fiction—and systems believe it anyway.

This is a story about how the body keeps score, how anxiety can eat you alive, and how easily false stories gain traction when they’re wrapped in the right performance.

Some names have been changed to protect the privacy of those not responsible for harm.

Topics in this episode include:

• Hunger, survival jobs, and invisible labor
• Being targeted by false allegations during a custody battle
• The absurdity of some “evidence”—and how easily it’s weaponized
• How state systems can be used to retraumatize survivors
• What it feels like when even truth becomes suspect

Trigger Warning:

This episode discusses coercive control, false allegations, food insecurity, and systemic retraumatization in the context of domestic abuse and custody conflict.

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