Toxic

What do Mara Wilson (of Matilda/Mrs. Doubtfire fame) and Britney Spears have in common? Both women—along with many, many more—have been targeted by the Hollywood fame machine that often takes cute, young stars, tries to turn them into sexpots and then watches their creations crash and burn, selling it all to us as entertainment. Earlier this year, Wilson penned an op-ed for the New York Times speaking out against the sexualization of young women in Hollywood and why she felt for Spears, who's dealing with her own nightmare fall-out after her 2007 "breakdown." Jenna and Amanda delve into both women's journeys, the latest on the #FreeBritney movement, how we are all complicit in what went wrong and why the media we choose to ingest matters.

On June 10, 2016, while visiting friends in San Diego, former Marine Raymond McLeod strangled to death his 30-year-old girlfriend Krystal Mitchell before fleeing to South America. In Episode 16, we delved into McLeod's life on the run and how he's recently been put on the U.S. Marshal's Service 15 Most Wanted fugitive list. Krystal's badass mom, Josephine Wentzel, has been searching for McLeod since her daughter's death, vowing to make his life a living nightmare until he's found. She recently spoke with Amanda about what she's discovered via the AngelsofJustice.com project, how we can help(Internet sleuths, report), and what gives her strength to take on this manhunt while also raising her two young grandchildren left behind.

Abusive partners can brainwash victims to a point where they don't even realize what they just endured was domestic violence until years after they've escaped. In this episode, we break down how it took a freelance writing gig about domestic violence for Shelley to realize a previous partner was actually more than just a toxic a-hole, he was a dangerous and manipulative abuser escalating his power and control. Getting out just in time, she considers herself "one of the lucky ones." From revenge porn to a near-fatal motorcycle ride, "Alex" knew exactly what he was doing in order to keep his ex-girlfriend terrified enough to stay and our guess is he's still out there doing it to a new women. Hi, lack of accountability, party of one, your table is ready.

In 2016, Phoenix-resident Raymond McLeod murdered his 30-year-old girlfriend, Krystal Mitchell, while they were visiting friends in San Diego. The scary-AF-looking heavily tatted ex-Marine bodybuilder then thought he could blend in seamlessly if he fled to South America ... and unfortunately, he may have been right. Or, people there don't follow true crime. He's managed to escape capture for five years and the U.S. Marshals Service recently placed him on their Most Wanted List with an unprecedented reward of $50,000 for anyone with information leading to his arrest. After telling Mitchell's story and being even more convinced dating is a complete hellscape, Amanda and Jenna invited on security expert and author Spencer Coursen (www.coursensecuritygroup.com), whose first book "The Safety Trap" hits shelves May 18. As a nontoxic male whose job it is to keep people safe, Coursen offers up some smart takeaways on how to avoid or get out of relationships we know are rife with danger.

Shia LaBeouf was recorded on video in 2015 telling complete strangers that he would have killed his now-ex-wife, Mia Goth, if they hadn't intervened during an argument. The viral video watched by over a million became entertainment. A shocking did-you-see-that? moment seemingly forgotten days later. In 2019, LaBeouf strangled girlfriend FKA Twigs, only one facet of more than two years of his abusive choices. She recently filed a civil suit against the actor in hopes of raising awareness about domestic violence. Call us crazy, but it appears that rich, powerful and supposedly talented people who are surrounded on all sides by enablers continue to harm women whenever they want without ramifications. In this episode, Jenna and Amanda delve into our ACE scores (adverse childhood experiences) and how they play into our risk factors in adulthood, and also trauma-bonding, and how it can trap victims with abusers, despite what logic may try to tell them.

In this episode, Amanda and Jenna try to cover the latest headlines around men being toxic but there are SO MANY. From Derek Chauvin to the Minnesota Supreme Court saying "Go for it, Rapists!", to an astounding number of mass shootings committed by men so far in 2021, to Matt Gaetz buying teenage girls to have sex with and then bragging about it, it's just a toxic masculinity jackpot up in here lately, but in the worst way. After that, we tell the story of Vicki's stalker, "Stalker Steve," who decided that Vicki breaking up with him was unacceptable (hi, male entitlement!) and stalked her relentlessly for two years, at one point calling her 1,200 times in one month alone. We offer tips for how to respond to stalking (spoiler alert: you don't) and share what Vicki did that was super smart that ended up putting her stalker behind bars.

Talking dating and sex with your pre-teen or teenager can be nerve-wracking, and your inclination may be to avoid it altogether — after all, won't TikTok and P*rnhub teach them eventually? Ugh, no, stop it. Shafia Zaloom, author of "Sex, Teens & Everything in Between" (www.shafiazaloom.com) tells us we should consider changing the focus from drowning our kids in warnings and scary stuff to talking up the plus side of healthy, consensual relationships and sex. Radical thought. She also walks us through an exercise where we need to picture a bear. Listen, it's eye-opening and shockingly, Jenna and Amanda have very different bears. This week, Amanda is also joined by her good friend and parent of a teen Alissa Weber, who she taps for intel on what it's like parenting this age group and what the kids these days are talking about in terms of sex.

Last Tuesday night, Robert Aaron Long, instead of dealing with his own mental health issues like a responsible grown-up person, decided it made more sense to murder seven women and one man he claims are responsible for him not being able to stop thinking dirty thoughts and police are all, "He had a bad day." After we break down that mess, we tell the story of "The Army Dude" who abused his wife for seven years while also abusing alcohol while also flying helicopters and the Army said, "Let's pretend we don't know this is happening." We hear from his ex-wife on how she wishes the military would have done literally anything to help.

Are some men born without a filter? The answer is yes, yes they are. In another episode of Why Some Men Don't Know How to Human Decently, we discuss men in positions of power who are just, frankly, awful. Bosses who have think "leaning in" means something entirely different than it actually does. We break down the slew of toxic bosses Amanda's had to deal with early in her career and how she actually felt more respected in the last place you'd think of. We share others' examples of their worst boss stories and touch on the female farm worker rape crisis in California. Also, why some female bosses choose to emulate the toxicity of their male counterparts (ugh).

A very married Piers Morgan has been shaming the brave and brilliant Duchess Meghan Markle on Good Morning Britain for almost five years because he believes she "ghosted" him after she drank an alcoholic beverage in his vicinity at a pub in 2016. Thankfully, Morgan fired himself from the show on Monday after being called out by an amazingly brilliant, non-toxic male coworker on air (clip included!). Listen to this fuckery and tell us that men don't have a problem with their egos.