It’s funny to think that back in the 1980s, a leak of nude pictures could cause a headline-grabbing scandal, but that’s exactly what happened to the first Black woman to ever wear the Miss America crown. Vanessa Williams, then 21, was roundly demonized in the press, and was subjected to intense public outrage for her supposed transgression. She was even forced to resign her crown, an overreaction that the pageant would apologize for decades later. Alicia has the whole sorry saga, and the powerful comeback story of one of the great talents in American entertainment – plus a couple of divorces!

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In 1936, America was shocked by the details that emerged in a murder trial in New York City. A young heiress, romanced by an older German financier with deep ties to the Nazi party, decided to end things when it became clear that he wouldn't end his marriage to his wife in Germany. Dr. Fritz Gebhardt took Vera Stretz's rejection badly, a gun was drawn, and when police arrived around 2:30 that morning, Fritz was dead and Vera refused to explain why she'd shot him. 

Alicia has the full story from our Trashy Tabloids series on Patreon. Want early, ad-free episodes, limited series, Trashy Tabloids, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at patreon.com/trashydivorces!

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Check out of the noise of the world with a podcast covering people who've already checked out - but had their own brushes with fame before they went. Dead and Kind of Famous is a delightful new podcast from Courtney Blomquist (not famous) and Marissa Rivera (kind of famous) that examines the lives of the people who reside at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. But these aren't the interred A-listers like Judy Garland and Burt Reynolds. These are the other people, the ones who pressed up against fame but never quite got their feet on it, and whose stories are certainly as interesting as their better known brethren.

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Back in 2021, Stacie was captivated by the tale of betrayal told by Barbara Berry, the first wife of superlawyer Johnnie Cochran. For years, he juggled two families and an eye-popping number of other mistresses, while also subjecting Barbara to physical and emotional abuse more directly.

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Fourth quarter time, Trash Pandas, and while we have no idea what the score is on the other game, over here, it's three up, one to go. Back in 2022, Alicia covered the absolute pressure cooker of the first marriage of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, and today he'll close out our special Game Day Trashy Divorces Encore Plus.

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And we're back from the half-time break with our third quarter musical champion, Paul McCartney! Sir Paul's second marriage - and first divorce - to Heather Mills was public, trashy, and extremely expensive, just the way we like them.

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In the second quarter of our Game Day Trashy Divorces Encore Plus series, Alicia heads back to her April 2020 story that puts some realism into the man, the myth, the legend: John Lennon. Turns out that the voice of a generation was pretty awful in his first marital go-round.

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As you may know, there's a big football game coinciding with our regular Sunday releases, so we thought we'd indulge some trashy champions of our own: The Fab Four. In this Beatles-themed Game Day spectacular, we begin with Alicia's Season One story of the terribly trashy love triangle between Beatle George Harrison, his wife, model Pattie Boyd, and guitar legend Eric Clapton.

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We know you love a good Dumpster Dive (our analytics make that very clear!), so we're back with another rundown of all the celebrity news that fits. In the dumpster this week:

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In this Encore Plus episode, Alicia’s got the intense story of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, which we first aired back in September of 2019. Whitney, of course, was an incredible talent whose path was in many ways set by the agendas of those around her. Her 14-year-long marriage to Bobby Brown was ultimately catastrophic, and her untimely death was tragic beyond words.

Want early, ad-free episodes, regular Dumpster Dives, bonus divorces, limited series, Zoom hangouts, and more? Join us at patreon.com/trashydivorces!

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