Every parent thinks their kid is an angel, until they get caught lying through their braces.

It’s every parent’s nightmare, and it’s no different for Heather & Emily. This week, they dive into the first big betrayal of parenting: when your “good kid” tells their first real lie. What starts as a story about a teenager skipping online driver’s ed quickly turns into a full-blown therapy session on trust, guilt, and why motherhood feels like an emotional scam half the time.

Any lie, big or small, can shake the sacred bond between parent and child. Through laughter and painful honesty, Heather & Emily explore why kids lie (spoiler: it’s not always malicious), how parents react, and what rebuilding trust really looks like.

1. Why even “good kids” lie and how to recognize emotional avoidance early
2. The difference between discipline and connection (and when guilt stops working)
3. How to rebuild trust after a lie without turning into your own mother
4. Why humor can be a survival skill when parenting teenagers
5. What it means to create safety, not fear, when your child disappoints you

1. 01:35 – The “swappers” mix-up in Galena, Illinois (and why hotel staff thought they were swingers)
2. 05:15 – The truth comes out: how one teen lied about driver’s ed for months
3. 10:42 – When parents realize their guilt trips don’t work anymore
4. 14:20 – Why kids lie: fear, pressure, and the comfort of being believed
5. 18:05 – Lying by omission and how to handle the “I forgot to tell you” loophole
6. 21:10 – How childhood environments shape honesty, shame, and comfort in adulthood
7. 24:55 – Eyebrows, nipples, and why giving a f*** doesn’t match the outfit

1. The Parental Trust Framework: How to rebuild credibility without punishment cycles
2. The Boundary-Based Discipline Model: Teaching accountability through empathy
3. The Comfort Culture Mindset: Creating safe, emotionally warm homes that invite truth-telling
4. The Humor-as-Healing Principle: Using laughter to defuse guilt and humanize mistakes

“It’s not just a lie. It’s the crack it leaves in the trust.”

Every parent hits this moment. The first lie isn’t a betrayal, it’s a mirror. The only way to repair the break is with connection, not control. Laugh, cry, pour a drink, and remember: surviving parenthood means learning to forgive your kids and yourself.

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It’s a new year! Yay! Guess what? The only thing changing is the calendar.

This week, Heather & Emily dive into the reality of the New Year: exhaustion, grief, guilt, burnout, and the constant myth of “balance.” From dead dogs to New Year’s resolutions that last 48 hours, this is real talk about surviving life when it’s coming at you sideways and 100 MPH.

It's been a year filled with loss, growth, and too many gas station dinners. We talk about grieving pets, overworking, raising teens, and realizing that being human means laughing through the mess.

It's another hour of sarcasm, vulnerability, and inappropriate humor, all just to remind you that self-care isn’t about green juice, it’s about boundaries, belly laughs, and sometimes saying “no.”

1. Why “new year, new me” is the dumbest lie we keep telling ourselves
2. How to grieve, laugh, and function like a semi-stable adult
3. Why boundaries are better than resolutions
4. How friendship and humor can save your sanity
5. What it means to live through chaos without pretending to be fine

1. 03:10 – Year in review: the highs, lows, and one dog-shaped heartbreak
2. 08:45 – Parenting, loss, and trying to hold it together anyway
3. 14:55 – Why “balance” is bullshit and boundaries matter more
4. 21:20 – Overworking, guilt, and learning how to rest without the shame spiral
5. 27:40 – Friendship as therapy and the healing power of inappropriate laughter
6. 32:55 – The “Year of the Horse” and what to do when life kicks back

1. Rose & Thorn Reflection: A simple way to celebrate wins and acknowledge pain
2. Boundary Reset Framework: Setting clear limits without guilt or apology
3. The Chaos Acceptance Mindset: Learning to find humor in life’s disasters
4. Friendship Survival System: Why one real connection beats a thousand surface-level ones

“Farts are funny, boundaries are sexy, and survival is enough. Stop chasing perfect — start living messy.”

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(In other words, just another lighthearted episode…)

Ok, so what happens when a mother tells her teenage son she was sexually assaulted?

And how do you actually teach empathy in a world that’s forgotten what it looks like?

This raw and unfiltered episode dives into these important conversations, blending dark humor, vulnerability, and truth. Heather and Emily explore how trauma, parenting, and modern culture collide, exposing why silence feels safer than honesty and how fear is passed down across generations.

From survivor psychology to the chaos of raising kids in the age of AI and social media, this episode asks the hard questions everyone avoids

●     Why saying “I was raped” can feel like losing control of your own story

●     How grooming and fear shape silence and self-blame

●     What it means to raise sons who respect boundaries and daughters who protect themselves

●     How social media destroyed empathy and accountability

●     Why AI intimacy and digital detachment are redefining connection in the worst way

●     02:30 – Christmas chaos, family overload, and post-holiday exhaustion

●     05:45 – The Diddy documentary and how power protects predators

●     09:10 – What it takes for a survivor to finally tell her son the truth

●     14:20 – Teaching teenage boys about consent and the reality of sexual violence

●     18:10 – How fear, shame, and silence shape survival behavior

●     20:40 – The internet’s empathy problem and the rise of digital cruelty

●     23:15 – “Maybe everyone needs an AI girlfriend”, a darkly comic take on human disconnection

●     Survivor Communication Framework: How to own your story without letting shame speak for you

●     Grooming Psychology Lens: Understanding manipulation, fear, and control

●     Parenting for Empathy Model: How to teach respect and accountability across genders

●     Digital Humanity Reset: Why disconnecting from social media might save your sanity (and your soul)

“You lose control of your story the second you say it out loud. But silence doesn’t protect you, it just keeps the wrong people comfortable.” Take the conversation offline. Talk to your kids. Teach empathy early.

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Listener Warning: This may be the most brutally honest episode we’ve done to date. If you’ve been a victim of SA yourself, we’re here to share our own stories to try and help - but you may also find it triggering.

Why do so many women stay silent about sexual assault, even when the truth is clawing at their insides? In this raw, unfiltered episode, Heather and Emily crack open the emotional, cultural, and psychological mess behind why we don’t tell, sparked by a heated real-life argument and the disturbing new Diddy documentary.

This conversation blends gallows humor with uncomfortable truth as the hosts dismantle victim-blaming, grooming dynamics, power imbalances, and the societal gaslighting that keeps survivors quiet. Buckle up: this is middle-aged-woman rage, survivor wisdom, and “we’re done being polite” energy at its finest.

• The real psychological mechanics of grooming, and why “she said she wanted it” is the biggest lie in the playbook of abusers.
• How power imbalances warp consent and keep victims trapped long after the abuse ends.
• Why so many survivors never speak up, even years after the event, including fear of blame, shame, disbelief, and identity collapse.
• How cultural narratives protect powerful men, from Diddy to Weinstein to Epstein — and why ordinary women feel the fallout.
• Why being defensive (“but I’m a man, I understand!”) shuts down meaningful conversation and re-traumatizes survivors.

00:41 — Heather and Emily break in the new studio and immediately spiral into chaos.

04:55 — The Diddy documentary and the triggering question: Why didn’t you tell?

11:40 — When a “friend” insists Cassie “wanted it”, and everything goes off the rails.

18:29 — Grooming explained: the psychology behind compliance masquerading as consent.

23:34 — Emily shares why she didn’t speak out at sixteen and how manipulation shapes memory.

27:10 — Heather’s story: self-blame, drinking culture, and the moment everything clicked.

30:58 — “No is no”, the TikTok dog analogy that bulldozes every consent excuse.

Heather & Emily — two brutally honest, smart-mouthed, middle-aged women who’ve lived through the party years, the trauma years, and the “I don’t give a fuck anymore” years. They’re not experts, they’re survivors, and their lived experience is the entire goddamn point.

• Grooming as a psychological compliance system
• Power imbalance theory in abusive relationships
• Survivor silence patterns and trauma response mapping
• Cultural immunity of celebrity predators
• Consent clarity cues ("No is no," even dogs get it)

“Silence doesn’t mean consent. Silence often means survival.”

If this episode hits home, share your story privately with Heather and Emily, or share the episode with someone who needs to hear two women say the thing out loud that nobody else will.

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When life feels like one long to-do list, Heather and Emily crack open the truth about burnout, boundaries, and the brutal comedy of middle-aged womanhood.

Between parenting teens, surviving peri menopause, and juggling full-time careers, the hosts wrestle with the question:

When is enough actually enough?

This episode is a raw, laugh-so-you-don’t-cry conversation about emotional overload, invisible labor, and the impossible myth of “having it all.”

What You’ll Learn:

• The emotional cost of doing everything for everyone—and how guilt keeps women stuck in burnout
• Why “I’m fine” is often code for “I’m one text away from snapping”
• How boundaries are less about saying no and more about not losing yourself,
• The hidden anxiety of productivity and the myth of being “put together”
• Why humor, honesty, and friendship are the best therapy you’ll never pay for

Episode Highlights:

• 03:00 – When burnout becomes your baseline and chaos feels normal
• 08:45 – The invisible labor of motherhood and middle-age multitasking
• 14:20 – Anxiety, boundaries, and the guilt of saying no
• 20:10 – The messy reality of perimenopause and mood swings that make no sense
• 25:40 – How humor saves you from losing your mind (and your sanity)
• 30:50 – Closing reflections: learning to rest without apologizing

Tools, Frameworks, or Strategies Mentioned:

• Self-awareness as a boundary-setting tool
• “Fixer Mode” and how it feeds emotional exhaustion
• The art of saying no without apology
• Mindful reframing: turning guilt into permission for rest

Closing Insight:

“Burnout doesn’t happen because we’re weak. It happens because we’ve been strong for too damn long.”

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right and still losing your mind, this one’s for you. Pour a drink, drop the guilt, and let Heather and Emily remind you that you’re not broken, you’re just human.

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What happens when your mother chooses a religion over you, and then suddenly decides she wants back in your life?

In this unapologetically raw episode of Pissy But Pretty, Emily opens up about the gut-punch moment her estranged mother, a devout Jehovah’s Witness, tried to reconnect after 23 years of silence. What unfolds is a brutally honest look at religious trauma, manipulation disguised as forgiveness, and the lifelong scars of conditional love.

This isn’t a redemption story, it’s a reckoning.

• How religious systems manipulate guilt and emotional obedience under the guise of forgiveness
• The emotional toll of disfellowshipping and what it means to be exiled from your own family
• How narcissistic parents weaponize silence, gifts, and “God’s will” to control adult children
• The fine line between protecting yourself and seeking closure
• Why humor, therapy, and community are survival tools for breaking free from religious and familial conditioning

• 00:00 – The chaos begins: Live from Wisconsin, aging, and no-sleeve confessions
• 03:10 – Emily shares her story of being disfellowshipped by the Jehovah’s Witnesses
• 07:48 – The shocking “knock on the door” from her mom’s old friend
• 13:30 – Manipulation wrapped in an apology: decoding the text from “Mom”
• 19:22 – Narcissism, religion, and guilt: why “be patient with me” is emotional bait
• 25:05 – Therapy, triggers, and the fear of reopening old wounds
• 32:11 – Sisterhood, shared trauma, and the power of being seen
• 39:10 – Silence as a boundary versus silence as punishment

Heather and Emily—two middle-aged women who’ve lived a thousand messy lives, bring brutal honesty, dark humor, and hard-won wisdom to the mic. They’re not preaching; they’re purging.

• Preparing vs. Protecting Paradox – The difference between raising from fear and preparing from love
• The Manipulation Playbook – Guilt, Gaslight, and “God Told Me To” as tools of control
• Silence as Power – How withholding response becomes an act of resistance against narcissistic behavior

“Silence isn’t the silent treatment, it’s a boundary.”

This episode will hit home for anyone recovering from toxic families, high-control religions, or narcissistic manipulation. Listen, laugh, cry, and remember: healing doesn’t mean inviting the pain back in.

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What happens when your sweet, rule-following middle schooler suddenly turns into a high schooler with hormones, Snapchat, and car keys?

In this brutally honest and hilariously unfiltered episode, Heather and Emily unpack the raw, messy reality of raising teenagers in 2025, from digital dangers and mom guilt to finding your own identity after motherhood. It’s a deep dive into chaos, control, and the comedy that keeps moms sane.

• The Preparing vs. Protecting Paradox, when to let your kid learn the hard way vs. when to step in
• How social media creates invisible danger zones for teens, and what parents can do about it
• Why “mom guilt” is the most universal emotional hangover
• How to balance work, parenting, and not completely losing your sense of self
• The real talk about anxiety, identity, and motherhood in the modern age

00:00 – Heather and Emily on graduation week and realizing their “babies” are now high schoolers

07:12 – The Preparing vs. Protecting debate: how much freedom is too much?

14:38 – Parenting in the age of fentanyl, sextortion, and social media predators

23:05 – When mom guilt meets burnout, and why balance is a myth

30:44 – Raising different kids with different rules: the “Customized Chaos Model”

37:18 – The “Let Them” philosophy and learning to step back

43:50 – Why identity after motherhood matters more than ever

48:10 – Laughing through the fear, the humor that keeps moms alive

• Preparing vs. Protecting Paradox, A mindset shift that helps parents decide when to intervene and when to let their kids learn
• Open Door Policy — Encouraging open, shame-free communication with teens about drugs, safety, and sex
• Customized Chaos Model — Adapting parenting styles to match each child’s unique emotional blueprint
• Mom Guilt Loop — The repetitive cycle of guilt working moms face (and how to step out of it)
• Mel Robbins’ “Let Them” Framework — A practical reminder to let go of control and let kids grow

Heather and Emily remind us that motherhood isn’t a performance, it’s a survival sport. You’ll screw up, you’ll overthink, and you’ll love harder than you ever thought possible. The secret? Keep laughing through it.

What happens when “we were drinking” becomes the excuse for chaos?

On this week's episode of Pissy But Pretty, Heather and Emily go full throttle into the Karen Read trial, bar culture, and the dangerous dance between booze, bad decisions, and blurred accountability (because they know. First-hand, actually).

It’s equal parts hysterical and haunting: a raw conversation about what drinking does to memory, judgment, and the human instinct to justify everything.

From blackout stories to brutal truths, this episode exposes how easily a night out can spiral into something tragic, and why being sober doesn’t just mean giving up alcohol, but finally owning your shit.

• Why “I was drunk” is not a get-out-of-jail-free card, legally or morally
• The ripple effect of bar culture, chaos, and group drinking denial
• How the Karen Read case spotlights accountability versus addiction
• Why self-awareness and sobriety are the ultimate rebellion
• The power (and pain) of taking responsibility for who you used to be

00:00 – Heather nearly causes a car accident (and laughs about it)

03:10 – Karen Read’s “not guilty” verdict and the cult of public opinion

07:45 – “We were drinking”: when alcohol becomes the universal excuse

12:20 – Bar culture, blackout memories, and the lie of “truth serum”

17:00 – Flirting, fighting, and the chaos of booze-fueled confidence

21:15 – The sobering mirror: anger, regret, and growing the hell up

25:40 – Final reflections: accountability beats the hangover every time

• Accountability Over Victimhood Framework – The no-bullshit approach to emotional responsibility
• Trigger Inflation Concept – (Referenced from prior episodes) Why normalizing bad behavior numbs self-awareness
• Bar Culture Loop – The social cycle of chaos, denial, and regret

“You’re still responsible for your actions, even if you were drunk. Especially if you were drunk.” – Heather

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Everybody’s “triggered” these days, but who’s actually responsible for dealing with it?

In this no-bullshit episode, Heather and Emily dive headfirst into trigger culture, the broken mental health system, and why accountability matters more than coddling. It’s raw, it’s hilarious, and it’s the kind of brutally honest conversation you didn’t know you needed.

• Why feelings are valid but not always true, and why that distinction matters.
• How “trigger inflation” cheapens real trauma like sexual assault and abuse.
• The ugly truth about mental health access and involuntary commitment.
• Why leaders need both empathy and authority to survive workplace chaos.
• How humor (and yes, dildos in history) helps us tackle the heaviest topics.

00:00 – Why does everyone think their triggers are someone else’s problem?

05:12 – The crisis in mental health care and why access is broken

12:40 – When mental health hits home: bipolar disorder and boundaries

19:15 – Trigger culture vs. real trauma: Me Too, abuse, and power dynamics

26:45 – Respect and leadership: balancing empathy and authority at work

32:20 – History’s weirdest “therapy”: dildos, hysteria, and bad science

37:10 – Humor as survival: laughing through uncomfortable truths

39:20 – Final reflections: accountability, respect, and resilience

This one’s just Heather and Emily, two middle-aged women with wild pasts, strong opinions, and zero filters. No guest, no sugarcoating, just brutal honesty and laughs.

• Accountability Over Victimhood Framework – Feelings are personal responsibility, not collective burden.
• Trigger Inflation Concept – How overuse of “trigger” language weakens recognition of real trauma.
• Boundaries in Leadership – Communicate, don’t confront; respect is a two-way street.

“Your feelings can be very valid without being true.” —Heather

At the end of the day, accountability beats victimhood, and humor makes it survivable. Tune in, laugh out loud, and maybe get triggered (in the best way).

👉 Subscribe, rate, and leave us a review. Or don’t, we’ll probably talk shit about you either way.

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From Juvie to Sober AF: Surviving and Owning Your Messy Past (Ft. Ryan)

Buckle up, weirdos—today’s episode is proof that wildly poor choices, parental baggage, and the “I could out-party everyone I knew at 13” origin story don’t have to define your whole damn life. Heather and Emily (your favorite ex-hot-mess express passengers) are joined by the one and only Ryan: Army veteran, former gang kid, king of survival, and actual miracle human.

 We’re talking lockups, gang life, “growing up” inside the military, obliterating rock bottom, and learning how to become someone you actually want to hang with—no matter how dark your foundation is. If you’ve ever wondered how to outgrow all the chaos you inherited and created, this is the honest, hilarious, occasionally uncomfortable, and devastatingly real chat you need.

Ever thought you were too wrecked to start over? Curious what REALLY happens when a soldier trades battlefields for brunch tables? Listen up—Ryan’s got receipts and a whole lot of hope. Ready to get raw, laugh-cry, and maybe FINALLY forgive your wild side? Press play.

Episode Highlights:

04:58 - It was definitely angry. I think at the time. I think a lot of my anger probably stemmed from dad issues. My father was not very present as a child. He really wasn't present at all when I was young. And I think wanting to know him and feeling like he just didn't care about me and stuff just made me a really pissed off little kid.

06:41 - But now, being grown and having kids–I am divorced. I've actually been married and divorced twice. This most recent divorce is with mother of my children, and our relationship isn't that great. So now I kind of get it, you know? Like, now it makes more sense why you don't want to be around a person. It's tough. I've had to make that decision to be around my children, and it comes with a lot of headache and problems and arguments on her side.

09:20 - I feel like I'm always supposed to deal with everything with violence. That's kind of how we are raised. You know, violence of action is the winner on the battlefield. It's not in the civilian world. And I spent 11 years in the army and only spent 30 days getting out, so you get trained to do a thing so well. And then I'm back out in the civilian world in a month.

Disclaimer:

Pissy but Pretty is all about real talk—raw, unfiltered, and sometimes messy. We tackle tough topics with honesty and humor, but we know that some conversations can hit deep.

If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual abuse or addiction, help is available:

📞 National Sexual Assault Hotline – 800-656-HOPE (4673)

📞 Substance Abuse & Mental Health Helpline – 800-662-HELP (4357)

You’re not alone—support is just a call away.

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