Disclaimer: Marilyn Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, has denied Evan Rachel Wood’s allegations. He has previously said that her claims are “horrible distortions of reality” and that his intimate relationships were consensual. In January 2025, Los Angeles County prosecutors announced that no criminal charges would be filed following a four-year investigation, stating that the domestic-violence allegations fell outside the statute of limitations and that they could not prove sexual-assault charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The DA’s office also said it “recognize[s] and applaud[s] the courage and resilience” of the women who came forward, noting that their advocacy helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
Visit<a href="https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD"> https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD</a>  and use code HIDDENTHIRD and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! 
Evan Rachel Wood has spent much of her life in the public eye, from Practical Magic and Thirteen to her unforgettable role as Dolores in Westworld. But in recent years, Evan has used her platform in a very different way, speaking publicly about the physical and psychological abuse she says she experienced during her relationship with Marilyn Manson.
In this episode, Evan shares more about that relationship, including the sexual assault she says she experienced during the filming of Manson’s 2007 Heart-Shaped Glasses music video. She talks about the control and isolation she says she experienced, her use of alcohol and drugs during those years, and what it took to survive and rebuild her life. Manson has denied the allegations.
We also go back to the beginning. Evan remembers auditioning for Interview with the Vampire, a role that ultimately went to Kirsten Dunst but helped get her noticed. She talks about moving to Los Angeles with her mother, growing up as a child actor in Hollywood, and appearing in Practical Magic alongside Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
Then came Thirteen. Evan was 14 when she made the R-rated film that became her breakout role. She talks about having to kiss a 23-year-old actor and the impact that experience had on her. It was an early lesson in how little control a young actor can have over what is asked of them.
Evan also talks about the backlash she faced after naming Manson publicly, and how speaking out has affected her career, her family and her sense of safety. She reflects on following the very public Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial while dealing with the fallout from speaking out herself, and on the messages later made public between Depp and Manson, in which the two men discussed Heard and allegations of abuse in crude and dismissive terms.
She also helped pass California’s Phoenix Act, which gave survivors of domestic violence more time to come forward by extending the statute of limitations from three years to five. That fight became part of the HBO documentary Phoenix Rising, which follows Evan as she prepares to name Manson publicly and works to create more time and support for survivors who may not yet feel ready, or able, to come forward.
Join The Hidden Third Patreon today!<a href="https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird">https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird</a>
The Hidden Third is a series of intimate conversations with people who have lived inside hidden worlds, from crime and addiction to exploitation, survival and recovery. Hosted by award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller.
 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Disclaimer: Marilyn Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, has denied Evan Rachel Wood’s allegations. He has previously said that her claims are “horrible distortions of reality” and that his intimate relationships were consensual. In January 2025, Los Angeles County prosecutors announced that no criminal charges would be filed following a four-year investigation, stating that the domestic-violence allegations fell outside the statute of limitations and that they could not prove sexual-assault charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The DA’s office also said it “recognize[s] and applaud[s] the courage and resilience” of the women who came forward, noting that their advocacy helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD and use code HIDDENTHIRD and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! Evan Rachel Wood has spent much of her life in the public eye, from Practical Magic and Thirteen to her unforgettable role as Dolores in Westworld. But in recent years, Evan has used her platform in a very different way, speaking publicly about the physical and psychological abuse she says she experienced during her relationship with Marilyn Manson. In this episode, Evan shares more about that relationship, including the sexual assault she says she experienced during the filming of Manson’s 2007 Heart-Shaped Glasses music video. She talks about the control and isolation she says she experienced, her use of alcohol and drugs during those years, and what it took to survive and rebuild her life. Manson has denied the allegations. We also go back to the beginning. Evan remembers auditioning for Interview with the Vampire, a role that ultimately went to Kirsten Dunst but helped get her noticed. She talks about moving to Los Angeles with her mother, growing up as a child actor in Hollywood, and appearing in Practical Magic alongside Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Then came Thirteen. Evan was 14 when she made the R-rated film that became her breakout role. She talks about having to kiss a 23-year-old actor and the impact that experience had on her. It was an early lesson in how little control a young actor can have over what is asked of them. Evan also talks about the backlash she faced after naming Manson publicly, and how speaking out has affected her career, her family and her sense of safety. She reflects on following the very public Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial while dealing with the fallout from speaking out herself, and on the messages later made public between Depp and Manson, in which the two men discussed Heard and allegations of abuse in crude and dismissive terms. She also helped pass California’s Phoenix Act, which gave survivors of domestic violence more time to come forward by extending the statute of limitations from three years to five. That fight became part of the HBO documentary Phoenix Rising, which follows Evan as she prepares to name Manson publicly and works to create more time and support for survivors who may not yet feel ready, or able, to come forward. Join The Hidden Third Patreon today!https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird The Hidden Third is a series of intimate conversations with people who have lived inside hidden worlds, from crime and addiction to exploitation, survival and recovery. Hosted by award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Disclaimer: Marilyn Manson, whose legal name is Brian Warner, has denied Evan Rachel Wood’s allegations. He has previously said that her claims are “horrible distortions of reality” and that his intimate relationships were consensual. In January 2025, Los Angeles County prosecutors announced that no criminal charges would be filed following a four-year investigation, stating that the domestic-violence allegations fell outside the statute of limitations and that they could not prove sexual-assault charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The DA’s office also said it “recognize[s] and applaud[s] the courage and resilience” of the women who came forward, noting that their advocacy helped bring greater awareness to the challenges faced by survivors of domestic abuse and sexual assault.
Visit<a href="https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD" rel="noopener noreferrer"> https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD</a>&nbsp; and use code HIDDENTHIRD and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup!&nbsp;
Evan Rachel Wood has spent much of her life in the public eye, from Practical Magic and Thirteen to her unforgettable role as Dolores in Westworld. But in recent years, Evan has used her platform in a very different way, speaking publicly about the physical and psychological abuse she says she experienced during her relationship with Marilyn Manson.
In this episode, Evan shares more about that relationship, including the sexual assault she says she experienced during the filming of Manson’s 2007 Heart-Shaped Glasses music video. She talks about the control and isolation she says she experienced, her use of alcohol and drugs during those years, and what it took to survive and rebuild her life. Manson has denied the allegations.
We also go back to the beginning. Evan remembers auditioning for Interview with the Vampire, a role that ultimately went to Kirsten Dunst but helped get her noticed. She talks about moving to Los Angeles with her mother, growing up as a child actor in Hollywood, and appearing in Practical Magic alongside Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman.
Then came Thirteen. Evan was 14 when she made the R-rated film that became her breakout role. She talks about having to kiss a 23-year-old actor and the impact that experience had on her. It was an early lesson in how little control a young actor can have over what is asked of them.
Evan also talks about the backlash she faced after naming Manson publicly, and how speaking out has affected her career, her family and her sense of safety. She reflects on following the very public Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial while dealing with the fallout from speaking out herself, and on the messages later made public between Depp and Manson, in which the two men discussed Heard and allegations of abuse in crude and dismissive terms.
She also helped pass California’s Phoenix Act, which gave survivors of domestic violence more time to come forward by extending the statute of limitations from three years to five. That fight became part of the HBO documentary Phoenix Rising, which follows Evan as she prepares to name Manson publicly and works to create more time and support for survivors who may not yet feel ready, or able, to come forward.
Join The Hidden Third Patreon today!<a href="https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird</a>
The Hidden Third is a series of intimate conversations with people who have lived inside hidden worlds, from crime and addiction to exploitation, survival and recovery. Hosted by award-winning journalist Mariana van Zeller.
 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Evan Rachel Wood: The Cost of Speaking Out Against Marilyn Manson

Join The Hidden Third Patreon today: <a href="https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird">https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird</a>
Try ZipRecruiter for free at<a href="http://ziprecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD"> http://ZipRecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD</a> 
Jim Cole spent two decades as a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, working child-exploitation cases.
Early in his career, he saw a problem. Investigators were focused on the people making, possessing, and distributing child sexual abuse material. But the children in the images often went unidentified.
Jim helped change that.
In 2010, he founded HSI’s Victim Identification Program from scratch, including the first dedicated Victim Identification Laboratory at HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center. Its purpose was to answer a different question: Who is the child in the image, where are they, and are they still in danger?
Sometimes the answer begins with a clue most people would never notice: a window, a label, a piece of furniture, a blanket, something in the background that can lead investigators to a child.
The program has helped identify and rescue thousands of children around the world, and it continues to operate today. When Jim began tracking victim identifications at HSI in 2011, the agency rescued 262 child victims that year. The following year, after the program’s methods and technology were put in place, that number rose to more than 1,000.
This is not an easy subject for a podcast. But given the scale of this crime, and the people most affected by it, it is an important conversation to watch and share. In 2025, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation. Those reports contained 61.8 million images, videos, and other files.
In this episode of The Hidden Third, Jim takes Mariana back to his early years, from his time in the U.S. Army to becoming a patrol officer and then a detective on a Native American reservation in Oregon, investigating everything from narcotics to violent crime. He explains how a series of seemingly accidental turns led him into the work that would define his career.
Jim tells the story of one victim, abused by her father, whose case changed the course of his career and made him determined to focus on identifying children. He also tells Mariana about the schoolteacher who abused children for years before Jim’s team uncovered what he had done.
They discuss the tactics offenders use to groom children and why the people posing the greatest danger are often not who a child or family expects. They also talk about how artificial intelligence is changing this crime, from the creation of new synthetic abuse material to the ways technology can make it harder for investigators to tell what is real, identify victims, and keep up with the volume of material online.
Jim also reflects on the toll of doing this work for decades, what he has carried with him, and why he continues to fight for children who might otherwise never be rescued.
Jim now serves as Senior Advisor for Cyber Strategy and Child Protection at Our Rescue, a nonprofit whose mission is to end human trafficking and child exploitation. He also co-hosts Unlikely Allies: Inside Our Fight with Sonny Von Cleveland, a previous guest on The Hidden Third.
 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Join The Hidden Third Patreon today: https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird Try ZipRecruiter for free at http://ZipRecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD Jim Cole spent two decades as a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, working child-exploitation cases. Early in his career, he saw a problem. Investigators were focused on the people making, possessing, and distributing child sexual abuse material. But the children in the images often went unidentified. Jim helped change that. In 2010, he founded HSI’s Victim Identification Program from scratch, including the first dedicated Victim Identification Laboratory at HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center. Its purpose was to answer a different question: Who is the child in the image, where are they, and are they still in danger? Sometimes the answer begins with a clue most people would never notice: a window, a label, a piece of furniture, a blanket, something in the background that can lead investigators to a child. The program has helped identify and rescue thousands of children around the world, and it continues to operate today. When Jim began tracking victim identifications at HSI in 2011, the agency rescued 262 child victims that year. The following year, after the program’s methods and technology were put in place, that number rose to more than 1,000. This is not an easy subject for a podcast. But given the scale of this crime, and the people most affected by it, it is an important conversation to watch and share. In 2025, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation. Those reports contained 61.8 million images, videos, and other files. In this episode of The Hidden Third, Jim takes Mariana back to his early years, from his time in the U.S. Army to becoming a patrol officer and then a detective on a Native American reservation in Oregon, investigating everything from narcotics to violent crime. He explains how a series of seemingly accidental turns led him into the work that would define his career. Jim tells the story of one victim, abused by her father, whose case changed the course of his career and made him determined to focus on identifying children. He also tells Mariana about the schoolteacher who abused children for years before Jim’s team uncovered what he had done. They discuss the tactics offenders use to groom children and why the people posing the greatest danger are often not who a child or family expects. They also talk about how artificial intelligence is changing this crime, from the creation of new synthetic abuse material to the ways technology can make it harder for investigators to tell what is real, identify victims, and keep up with the volume of material online. Jim also reflects on the toll of doing this work for decades, what he has carried with him, and why he continues to fight for children who might otherwise never be rescued. Jim now serves as Senior Advisor for Cyber Strategy and Child Protection at Our Rescue, a nonprofit whose mission is to end human trafficking and child exploitation. He also co-hosts Unlikely Allies: Inside Our Fight with Sonny Von Cleveland, a previous guest on The Hidden Third. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join The Hidden Third Patreon today: <a href="https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://patreon.com/TheHiddenThird</a>
Try ZipRecruiter for free at<a href="http://ziprecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD" rel="noopener noreferrer"> http://ZipRecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD</a>&nbsp;
Jim Cole spent two decades as a Homeland Security Investigations special agent, working child-exploitation cases.
Early in his career, he saw a problem. Investigators were focused on the people making, possessing, and distributing child sexual abuse material. But the children in the images often went unidentified.
Jim helped change that.
In 2010, he founded HSI’s Victim Identification Program from scratch, including the first dedicated Victim Identification Laboratory at HSI’s Cyber Crimes Center. Its purpose was to answer a different question: Who is the child in the image, where are they, and are they still in danger?
Sometimes the answer begins with a clue most people would never notice: a window, a label, a piece of furniture, a blanket, something in the background that can lead investigators to a child.
The program has helped identify and rescue thousands of children around the world, and it continues to operate today. When Jim began tracking victim identifications at HSI in 2011, the agency rescued 262 child victims that year. The following year, after the program’s methods and technology were put in place, that number rose to more than 1,000.
This is not an easy subject for a podcast. But given the scale of this crime, and the people most affected by it, it is an important conversation to watch and share. In 2025, the National Center for Missing &amp; Exploited Children’s CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation. Those reports contained 61.8 million images, videos, and other files.
In this episode of The Hidden Third, Jim takes Mariana back to his early years, from his time in the U.S. Army to becoming a patrol officer and then a detective on a Native American reservation in Oregon, investigating everything from narcotics to violent crime. He explains how a series of seemingly accidental turns led him into the work that would define his career.
Jim tells the story of one victim, abused by her father, whose case changed the course of his career and made him determined to focus on identifying children. He also tells Mariana about the schoolteacher who abused children for years before Jim’s team uncovered what he had done.
They discuss the tactics offenders use to groom children and why the people posing the greatest danger are often not who a child or family expects. They also talk about how artificial intelligence is changing this crime, from the creation of new synthetic abuse material to the ways technology can make it harder for investigators to tell what is real, identify victims, and keep up with the volume of material online.
Jim also reflects on the toll of doing this work for decades, what he has carried with him, and why he continues to fight for children who might otherwise never be rescued.
Jim now serves as Senior Advisor for Cyber Strategy and Child Protection at Our Rescue, a nonprofit whose mission is to end human trafficking and child exploitation. He also co-hosts Unlikely Allies: Inside Our Fight with Sonny Von Cleveland, a previous guest on The Hidden Third.
 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

He Helped Save Thousands of Abused and Exploited Kids

Visit <a href="https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD">https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD</a> and use code HIDDENTHIRD and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! 
 
Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MARIANA at <a href="https://www.oneskin.co/MARIANA">https://www.oneskin.co/MARIANA</a> #oneskinpod
 
James McGibney is the man who took down Hunter Moore, the "King of Revenge Porn" behind the notorious site Is Anyone Up. He infiltrated Moore's operation, bought the site out from under him for less than $15,000, and turned it into an anti-bullying platform. That story became the hit Netflix documentary The Most Hated Man on the Internet.
But that was more than a decade ago. Today James, a former Marine and cybercrime investigator, is going after something much bigger and much darker.
In this episode of The Hidden Third, Mariana Van Zeller sits down with James to talk about his current investigation into two loosely connected online networks called The Com and 764. The Com is a sprawling group of mostly young people, some as young as 15 and 16, who trade stolen data, run crypto scams that have drained hundreds of millions of dollars from ordinary people, swat their enemies, and in some cases prey on underage girls. 764 is the offshoot that has captured the FBI's attention for coercing minors into producing sexual and self-harm content, sometimes pushing them to suicide.
James walks Mariana through how he traced these networks from low-level "script kiddies" all the way up to what he calls the head of the snake in Pakistan. Along the way he uncovered a billionaire's son who allegedly trafficked a 16-year-old girl into Miami and beat her on tape, a teenage girl who laughed on a recorded call as her crypto scam victim killed himself, and a group of young men flashing quarter-million-dollar nights at Miami clubs while underage girls walked past bouncers uncarded.
The conversation moves through the sextortion crisis pushing American teenagers to suicide before their parents ever find out, why crypto scams have quietly surpassed drug trafficking as the most profitable criminal enterprise in the world, and somewhat of a disagreement between Mariana and James over cheaters.com and the question of who the bully actually is when you publicly out someone for cheating. It also goes somewhere personal. James opens up about his own childhood in foster care and about watching his foster sister be sexually abused. He talks about why every case he takes on today, he takes on for her.
There is a lot more in this one. A guy in Texas moving faster than the FBI because subpoenas take months and he doesn't. Living armed, with private security at the house, because that is now the cost of doing this work. An ISIS hit list. More than a thousand death threats sitting in his Instagram inbox right now. And a very simple explanation of why you should never, ever connect to the free Wi-Fi at your hotel.
 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD and use code HIDDENTHIRD and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MARIANA at https://www.oneskin.co/MARIANA #oneskinpod James McGibney is the man who took down Hunter Moore, the "King of Revenge Porn" behind the notorious site Is Anyone Up. He infiltrated Moore's operation, bought the site out from under him for less than $15,000, and turned it into an anti-bullying platform. That story became the hit Netflix documentary The Most Hated Man on the Internet. But that was more than a decade ago. Today James, a former Marine and cybercrime investigator, is going after something much bigger and much darker. In this episode of The Hidden Third, Mariana Van Zeller sits down with James to talk about his current investigation into two loosely connected online networks called The Com and 764. The Com is a sprawling group of mostly young people, some as young as 15 and 16, who trade stolen data, run crypto scams that have drained hundreds of millions of dollars from ordinary people, swat their enemies, and in some cases prey on underage girls. 764 is the offshoot that has captured the FBI's attention for coercing minors into producing sexual and self-harm content, sometimes pushing them to suicide. James walks Mariana through how he traced these networks from low-level "script kiddies" all the way up to what he calls the head of the snake in Pakistan. Along the way he uncovered a billionaire's son who allegedly trafficked a 16-year-old girl into Miami and beat her on tape, a teenage girl who laughed on a recorded call as her crypto scam victim killed himself, and a group of young men flashing quarter-million-dollar nights at Miami clubs while underage girls walked past bouncers uncarded. The conversation moves through the sextortion crisis pushing American teenagers to suicide before their parents ever find out, why crypto scams have quietly surpassed drug trafficking as the most profitable criminal enterprise in the world, and somewhat of a disagreement between Mariana and James over cheaters.com and the question of who the bully actually is when you publicly out someone for cheating. It also goes somewhere personal. James opens up about his own childhood in foster care and about watching his foster sister be sexually abused. He talks about why every case he takes on today, he takes on for her. There is a lot more in this one. A guy in Texas moving faster than the FBI because subpoenas take months and he doesn't. Living armed, with private security at the house, because that is now the cost of doing this work. An ISIS hit list. More than a thousand death threats sitting in his Instagram inbox right now. And a very simple explanation of why you should never, ever connect to the free Wi-Fi at your hotel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit <a href="https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/HIDDENTHIRD</a> and use code HIDDENTHIRD and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! 
 
Get 15% off OneSkin with the code MARIANA at <a href="https://www.oneskin.co/MARIANA" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.oneskin.co/MARIANA</a> #oneskinpod
 
James McGibney is the man who took down Hunter Moore, the "King of Revenge Porn" behind the notorious site Is Anyone Up. He infiltrated Moore's operation, bought the site out from under him for less than $15,000, and turned it into an anti-bullying platform. That story became the hit Netflix documentary The Most Hated Man on the Internet.
But that was more than a decade ago. Today James, a former Marine and cybercrime investigator, is going after something much bigger and much darker.
In this episode of The Hidden Third, Mariana Van Zeller sits down with James to talk about his current investigation into two loosely connected online networks called The Com and 764. The Com is a sprawling group of mostly young people, some as young as 15 and 16, who trade stolen data, run crypto scams that have drained hundreds of millions of dollars from ordinary people, swat their enemies, and in some cases prey on underage girls. 764 is the offshoot that has captured the FBI's attention for coercing minors into producing sexual and self-harm content, sometimes pushing them to suicide.
James walks Mariana through how he traced these networks from low-level "script kiddies" all the way up to what he calls the head of the snake in Pakistan. Along the way he uncovered a billionaire's son who allegedly trafficked a 16-year-old girl into Miami and beat her on tape, a teenage girl who laughed on a recorded call as her crypto scam victim killed himself, and a group of young men flashing quarter-million-dollar nights at Miami clubs while underage girls walked past bouncers uncarded.
The conversation moves through the sextortion crisis pushing American teenagers to suicide before their parents ever find out, why crypto scams have quietly surpassed drug trafficking as the most profitable criminal enterprise in the world, and somewhat of a disagreement between Mariana and James over cheaters.com and the question of who the bully actually is when you publicly out someone for cheating. It also goes somewhere personal. James opens up about his own childhood in foster care and about watching his foster sister be sexually abused. He talks about why every case he takes on today, he takes on for her.
There is a lot more in this one. A guy in Texas moving faster than the FBI because subpoenas take months and he doesn't. Living armed, with private security at the house, because that is now the cost of doing this work. An ISIS hit list. More than a thousand death threats sitting in his Instagram inbox right now. And a very simple explanation of why you should never, ever connect to the free Wi-Fi at your hotel.
 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

The Vigilante Hunting Bullies, Scammers and Predators

Use code HIDDENTHIRD at<a href="http://monarch.com/"> http://Monarch.com</a> to get 50% off your first year of Monarch Core!
Sharon Yitzhaki was 20 years old when she was pulled off a plane at a Bolivian airport. Authorities searched her bag, and the second bag she was carrying, which belonged to her boyfriend. Hidden in the false bottom was 10 kilos of cocaine. She had no idea it was there.
Her boyfriend had abandoned her days earlier, telling her he'd been deported and asking her to meet him back in Amsterdam, where they both lived. Instead, Sharon was sent to Miraflores, one of the most violent women's prisons in the world.
What happened next is one of the wildest true stories I've ever heard on The Hidden Third.
Inside Miraflores, Sharon was beaten, electrocuted, and developed a severe cocaine addiction. She got clean by asking to be locked in solitary confinement for a month. She adopted a one-month-old baby born inside the prison. She fell in love with a cartel leader locked up in the men's prison next door, and ended up running the drug trade inside her own prison. She was finally released through a Papal edict from Pope John Paul II, and then had to flee the country to avoid being sent back to prison.
In this episode, Sharon opens up about betrayal, hope, addiction, motherhood and love behind bars. As well as what happened to the man who betrayed her and to the woman who brutalized her and countless others inside Miraflores.
Her bestselling memoir is now a feature film called 10 Kilos, in theaters now and coming to digital worldwide on September 29, 2026.
WATCH 10 KILOS Movie🎬<a href="https://l.gourl.es/l/1ed8057e7172162078b18c0d13d0ed75aefdfd66?u=5557164"> Find a theater near you</a>
🎧 Bonus content, uncut interviews, and behind-the-scenes on our Patreon:<a href="http://patreon.com/thehiddenthird"> patreon.com/thehiddenthird</a>
👉 Subscribe for more stories from the hidden economies most people never see.
 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Use code HIDDENTHIRD at http://Monarch.com to get 50% off your first year of Monarch Core! Sharon Yitzhaki was 20 years old when she was pulled off a plane at a Bolivian airport. Authorities searched her bag, and the second bag she was carrying, which belonged to her boyfriend. Hidden in the false bottom was 10 kilos of cocaine. She had no idea it was there. Her boyfriend had abandoned her days earlier, telling her he'd been deported and asking her to meet him back in Amsterdam, where they both lived. Instead, Sharon was sent to Miraflores, one of the most violent women's prisons in the world. What happened next is one of the wildest true stories I've ever heard on The Hidden Third. Inside Miraflores, Sharon was beaten, electrocuted, and developed a severe cocaine addiction. She got clean by asking to be locked in solitary confinement for a month. She adopted a one-month-old baby born inside the prison. She fell in love with a cartel leader locked up in the men's prison next door, and ended up running the drug trade inside her own prison. She was finally released through a Papal edict from Pope John Paul II, and then had to flee the country to avoid being sent back to prison. In this episode, Sharon opens up about betrayal, hope, addiction, motherhood and love behind bars. As well as what happened to the man who betrayed her and to the woman who brutalized her and countless others inside Miraflores. Her bestselling memoir is now a feature film called 10 Kilos, in theaters now and coming to digital worldwide on September 29, 2026. WATCH 10 KILOS Movie🎬 Find a theater near you 🎧 Bonus content, uncut interviews, and behind-the-scenes on our Patreon: patreon.com/thehiddenthird 👉 Subscribe for more stories from the hidden economies most people never see. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Use code HIDDENTHIRD at<a href="http://monarch.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> http://Monarch.com</a> to get 50% off your first year of Monarch Core!
Sharon Yitzhaki was 20 years old when she was pulled off a plane at a Bolivian airport. Authorities searched her bag, and the second bag she was carrying, which belonged to her boyfriend. Hidden in the false bottom was 10 kilos of cocaine. She had no idea it was there.
Her boyfriend had abandoned her days earlier, telling her he'd been deported and asking her to meet him back in Amsterdam, where they both lived. Instead, Sharon was sent to Miraflores, one of the most violent women's prisons in the world.
What happened next is one of the wildest true stories I've ever heard on The Hidden Third.
Inside Miraflores, Sharon was beaten, electrocuted, and developed a severe cocaine addiction. She got clean by asking to be locked in solitary confinement for a month. She adopted a one-month-old baby born inside the prison. She fell in love with a cartel leader locked up in the men's prison next door, and ended up running the drug trade inside her own prison. She was finally released through a Papal edict from Pope John Paul II, and then had to flee the country to avoid being sent back to prison.
In this episode, Sharon opens up about betrayal, hope, addiction, motherhood and love behind bars. As well as what happened to the man who betrayed her and to the woman who brutalized her and countless others inside Miraflores.
Her bestselling memoir is now a feature film called 10 Kilos, in theaters now and coming to digital worldwide on September 29, 2026.
WATCH 10 KILOS Movie🎬<a href="https://l.gourl.es/l/1ed8057e7172162078b18c0d13d0ed75aefdfd66?u=5557164" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Find a theater near you</a>
🎧 Bonus content, uncut interviews, and behind-the-scenes on our Patreon:<a href="http://patreon.com/thehiddenthird" rel="noopener noreferrer"> patreon.com/thehiddenthird</a>
👉 Subscribe for more stories from the hidden economies most people never see.
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Trapped in Bolivia's Deadliest Prison. Then She Took It Over.

Go to<a href="https://meetfabric.com/HIDDENTHIRD"> https://meetfabric.com/HIDDENTHIRD</a> and apply today, risk-free 
Try ZipRecruiter for free at<a href="http://ziprecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD"> http://ZipRecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD</a> 
 
Sarma Melngailis was once the queen of New York’s vegan scene — a Wharton‑educated former Wall Street analyst who turned Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck into celebrity hotspots frequented by Alec Baldwin, Woody Harrelson, Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady, and many more.
Then her life collapsed into one of the most infamous restaurant scandals of our time: a controlling partner, psychological abuse, coercive control, missing millions, a fugitive manhunt, Rikers Island, and the Netflix true crime documentary Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.
In this episode of The Hidden Third, Sarma sits down with me to break down how a serial con man and psychological abuser — a man who first introduced himself to her as “Mr. Fox” — took over her mind and her life. We dig into:
<ul>
 <li>How a serial con man/abuser who called himself “Mr. Fox” (Anthony Strangis) slowly took control of her decisions, her finances, and her reality.
</li>
 <li>The elaborate belief system he built around her: promising to make her dog Leon immortal, claiming access to a powerful otherworldly “family,” and turning wire transfers into supposed tests of loyalty.
</li>
 <li>How he used spiritual language and “tests” to coerce her sexually — pressuring her into sex and sexual acts under the guise of bringing light, protection, and transformation into her life.
</li>
 <li>The “meat suit” — how he used his own body and weight gain as yet another test of her devotion, and a tool of psychological control.
</li>
 <li>How the press treated her, including the viral tabloid story that she was caught because “the vegan ordered a pizza” — a headline she says is completely false.
</li>
 <li>Why she believes Bad Vegan unfairly portrayed her story, and what the documentary leaves out.
</li>
 <li>How scammers and psychological abusers gain power over smart, empathetic people — and why intelligence alone isn’t a shield against coercive control.
</li>
 <li>The mechanics of coercive control, isolation, and emotional abuse, and how one person can quietly take over your decisions, your money, and your sense of reality.
</li>
 <li>How she was diagnosed as being on the spectrum late in life — and how that helped her understand both her vulnerabilities and her strengths.
</li>
 <li>Her relationship with Alec Baldwin — and her thoughts on his marriage to Hilaria Baldwin.
</li>
 <li>The cost of public shame, and what recovery looks like after fraud, prison, and global headlines — including her attempt to reclaim her story through her memoir The Girl with the Duck Tattoo.
</li>
</ul>
If you’re interested in true crime, scam stories, cult psychology, coercive control, or the dark side of fame and celebrity culture, this interview goes far beyond the documentary and tells the story in Sarma’s own words. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Go to https://meetfabric.com/HIDDENTHIRD and apply today, risk-free Try ZipRecruiter for free at http://ZipRecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD Sarma Melngailis was once the queen of New York’s vegan scene — a Wharton‑educated former Wall Street analyst who turned Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck into celebrity hotspots frequented by Alec Baldwin, Woody Harrelson, Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady, and many more. Then her life collapsed into one of the most infamous restaurant scandals of our time: a controlling partner, psychological abuse, coercive control, missing millions, a fugitive manhunt, Rikers Island, and the Netflix true crime documentary Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives. In this episode of The Hidden Third, Sarma sits down with me to break down how a serial con man and psychological abuser — a man who first introduced himself to her as “Mr. Fox” — took over her mind and her life. We dig into: How a serial con man/abuser who called himself “Mr. Fox” (Anthony Strangis) slowly took control of her decisions, her finances, and her reality. The elaborate belief system he built around her: promising to make her dog Leon immortal, claiming access to a powerful otherworldly “family,” and turning wire transfers into supposed tests of loyalty. How he used spiritual language and “tests” to coerce her sexually — pressuring her into sex and sexual acts under the guise of bringing light, protection, and transformation into her life. The “meat suit” — how he used his own body and weight gain as yet another test of her devotion, and a tool of psychological control. How the press treated her, including the viral tabloid story that she was caught because “the vegan ordered a pizza” — a headline she says is completely false. Why she believes Bad Vegan unfairly portrayed her story, and what the documentary leaves out. How scammers and psychological abusers gain power over smart, empathetic people — and why intelligence alone isn’t a shield against coercive control. The mechanics of coercive control, isolation, and emotional abuse, and how one person can quietly take over your decisions, your money, and your sense of reality. How she was diagnosed as being on the spectrum late in life — and how that helped her understand both her vulnerabilities and her strengths. Her relationship with Alec Baldwin — and her thoughts on his marriage to Hilaria Baldwin. The cost of public shame, and what recovery looks like after fraud, prison, and global headlines — including her attempt to reclaim her story through her memoir The Girl with the Duck Tattoo. If you’re interested in true crime, scam stories, cult psychology, coercive control, or the dark side of fame and celebrity culture, this interview goes far beyond the documentary and tells the story in Sarma’s own words. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Go to<a href="https://meetfabric.com/HIDDENTHIRD" rel="noopener noreferrer"> https://meetfabric.com/HIDDENTHIRD</a> and apply today, risk-free&nbsp;
Try ZipRecruiter for free at<a href="http://ziprecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD" rel="noopener noreferrer"> http://ZipRecruiter.com/HIDDENTHIRD</a> 
 
Sarma Melngailis was once the queen of New York’s vegan scene — a Wharton‑educated former Wall Street analyst who turned Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck into celebrity hotspots frequented by Alec Baldwin, Woody Harrelson, Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady, and many more.
Then her life collapsed into one of the most infamous restaurant scandals of our time: a controlling partner, psychological abuse, coercive control, missing millions, a fugitive manhunt, Rikers Island, and the Netflix true crime documentary Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.
In this episode of The Hidden Third, Sarma sits down with me to break down how a serial con man and psychological abuser — a man who first introduced himself to her as “Mr. Fox” — took over her mind and her life. We dig into:
<ul>
 <li>How a serial con man/abuser who called himself “Mr. Fox” (Anthony Strangis) slowly took control of her decisions, her finances, and her reality.
</li>
 <li>The elaborate belief system he built around her: promising to make her dog Leon immortal, claiming access to a powerful otherworldly “family,” and turning wire transfers into supposed tests of loyalty.
</li>
 <li>How he used spiritual language and “tests” to coerce her sexually — pressuring her into sex and sexual acts under the guise of bringing light, protection, and transformation into her life.
</li>
 <li>The “meat suit” — how he used his own body and weight gain as yet another test of her devotion, and a tool of psychological control.
</li>
 <li>How the press treated her, including the viral tabloid story that she was caught because “the vegan ordered a pizza” — a headline she says is completely false.
</li>
 <li>Why she believes Bad Vegan unfairly portrayed her story, and what the documentary leaves out.
</li>
 <li>How scammers and psychological abusers gain power over smart, empathetic people — and why intelligence alone isn’t a shield against coercive control.
</li>
 <li>The mechanics of coercive control, isolation, and emotional abuse, and how one person can quietly take over your decisions, your money, and your sense of reality.
</li>
 <li>How she was diagnosed as being on the spectrum late in life — and how that helped her understand both her vulnerabilities and her strengths.
</li>
 <li>Her relationship with Alec Baldwin — and her thoughts on his marriage to Hilaria Baldwin.
</li>
 <li>The cost of public shame, and what recovery looks like after fraud, prison, and global headlines — including her attempt to reclaim her story through her memoir The Girl with the Duck Tattoo.
</li>
</ul>
If you’re interested in true crime, scam stories, cult psychology, coercive control, or the dark side of fame and celebrity culture, this interview goes far beyond the documentary and tells the story in Sarma’s own words. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Bad Vegan: Scam, Abuse & Netflix Scandal | Sarma Melngailis Speaks Out

Pro skater and actor Fabian Alomar takes Mariana from L.A.’s skate scene to years in a high-security prison, where survival meant being ready for anything - even stashing blades where the sun doesn’t shine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

Pro skater and actor Fabian Alomar takes Mariana from L.A.’s skate scene to years in a high-security prison, where survival meant being ready for anything - even stashing blades where the sun doesn’t shine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pro skater and actor Fabian Alomar takes Mariana from L.A.’s skate scene to years in a high-security prison, where survival meant being ready for anything - even stashing blades where the sun doesn’t shine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

From Prisoner to Actor | The Hidden Third with Mariana van Zeller

From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all. Launching October 15th! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all. Launching October 15th! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all. Launching October 15th! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices" rel="noopener noreferrer">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

The Hidden Third Trailer

From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all.

New episodes drop every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. The Hidden Third is a co-production of Muck Media and The Roost Podcast Network.

Society & Culture

Documentary

True Crime

From Emmy and Peabody Award–winning journalist Mariana van Zeller comes THE HIDDEN THIRD, a weekly dive into the underground markets that quietly power a third of the global economy. Every episode Mariana sits down with people who know these worlds firsthand - the hustlers, smugglers, scammers, kingpins, and those trying to shut them down. The series reveals how they function, why they endure, and the profound ways they impact us all. New episodes drop every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts. The Hidden Third is a co-production of Muck Media and The Roost Podcast Network.

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