Susan Burton - Empty
07/07/21 • 56 min
Susan Burton is the one-time producer & now editor of the Pulitzer Prize winning weekly public radio show and podcast - This American Life - heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations across America; with another 2.5 million people downloading the podcast each week.
Susan’s radio documentaries have won numerous awards, including an Overseas Press Club citation, & The film Unaccompanied Minors, which was directed by Freaks & Geeks creator Paul Feig, is based on one of her personal essays. And Susan’s writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Slate, The New Yorker, & she’s a former editor of Harper's.
Susan graduated from Yale in 1995. So as far as professional pedigree goes, she’s incredibly inspiring.
And yet, despite all the successes & achievements, Susan has silently lived with anorexia & binge eating disorder since she was 13 years old. Now in her 40s, Susan bravely shares with me - as she has in her incredible memoir EMPTY - that food’s been the source of her anxieties for as long as she can remember.
And whilst Susan’s working towards recovery, she’s the first to admit, she’s still a work in progress.
This is Susan’s story ...
BUT BEFORE YOU GO...
Find out more about Susan here
Find out where to buy Susan’s incredible memoir, "Empty", here
Listen to This American Life here
Follow Susan on Find out more about Tam here
Follow Tam on Insta
Follow BRAVE JOURNEYS on Insta
Join the conversation and chat about the episode here
NEED MORE INSPIRATION?
Find other BRAVE JOURNEYS episodes here
CREDITS:
Creator, Host & Executive Producer: Tammi Faraday
With thanks to my special guest: Susan Burton
Audio Editor: Zoltan Fecso
With very special thanks to George Weinberg.
BRAVE JOURNEYS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we record this podcast on, the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan of the Boon Wurrung who are part of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respect to their Elders, both past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Susan Burton is the one-time producer & now editor of the Pulitzer Prize winning weekly public radio show and podcast - This American Life - heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations across America; with another 2.5 million people downloading the podcast each week.
Susan’s radio documentaries have won numerous awards, including an Overseas Press Club citation, & The film Unaccompanied Minors, which was directed by Freaks & Geeks creator Paul Feig, is based on one of her personal essays. And Susan’s writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Slate, The New Yorker, & she’s a former editor of Harper's.
Susan graduated from Yale in 1995. So as far as professional pedigree goes, she’s incredibly inspiring.
And yet, despite all the successes & achievements, Susan has silently lived with anorexia & binge eating disorder since she was 13 years old. Now in her 40s, Susan bravely shares with me - as she has in her incredible memoir EMPTY - that food’s been the source of her anxieties for as long as she can remember.
And whilst Susan’s working towards recovery, she’s the first to admit, she’s still a work in progress.
This is Susan’s story ...
BUT BEFORE YOU GO...
Find out more about Susan here
Find out where to buy Susan’s incredible memoir, "Empty", here
Listen to This American Life here
Follow Susan on Find out more about Tam here
Follow Tam on Insta
Follow BRAVE JOURNEYS on Insta
Join the conversation and chat about the episode here
NEED MORE INSPIRATION?
Find other BRAVE JOURNEYS episodes here
CREDITS:
Creator, Host & Executive Producer: Tammi Faraday
With thanks to my special guest: Susan Burton
Audio Editor: Zoltan Fecso
With very special thanks to George Weinberg.
BRAVE JOURNEYS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we record this podcast on, the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan of the Boon Wurrung who are part of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respect to their Elders, both past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Previous Episode
Eilene Zimmerman - Missing the Warning Signs: A Story of White Collar Addiction & Tragedy
Eilene Zimmerman noticed that the man who’d loomed large in her life for nearly 30 years - her ex-husband and father of her two children – PETER – seemed increasingly out of sorts.
He’d been looking progressively thin, seemingly preoccupied, couldn’t shake flu like symptoms and was becoming a more and more unreliable parent to their kids.
Eilene assumed Peter’s appearance and erratic behaviour was due to stress and overwork. As a senior partner at a prominent law firm, he’d been working more than 60 hours a week for more than 20 years.
But putting that aside, Peter seemed to have it all: a high-flying legal career; an exquisite waterfront property; luxurious cars, and other largesse that came with his affluent uber-successful life.
But when their son Ethan returned from a few days at Peter’s beach home, he shared with his mum, Eilene, that his dad was very sick, but despite desperate pleas, Peter refused point blank to go to hospital.
After two days of trying to reach Peter, Eilene drove to his house and made a shocking discovery.
The man she knew and loved for almost three decades had been living a secret life; one that started with pills and ended with opioids, cocaine and methamphetamine. You see, Peter was prosperous and powerful in the eyes of everyone else – but at the end of the day he was a man with demons and a lethal addiction that ultimately cost him his life.
And Eilene, Peter’s ex-wife, was left to pick up the pieces; all the pieces.
BUT BEFORE YOU GO...
Find out more about Eilene here
Follow Eilene on Insta
Follow Eilene on Facebook
Find out more about Tam here
Follow Tam on Insta
Follow BRAVE JOURNEYS on Insta
Join the conversation and chat about the episode here
NEED MORE INSPIRATION?
Find other BRAVE JOURNEYS episodes here
CREDITS:
Creator, Host & Executive Producer: Tammi Faraday
With thanks to my special guest: Eilene Zimmerman
Audio Editor: Zoltan Fecso
With very special thanks to George Weinberg.
BRAVE JOURNEYS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we record this podcast on, the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan of the Boon Wurrung who are part of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respect to their Elders, both past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Next Episode
Dr. Mark Cross - The Anxious Shrink
Doctor Mark Cross has worked in psychiatry for three decades and specialises in treating young people, complex PTSD, women’s mental health & anxiety disorders.
Mark’s also a senior Lecturer at the University of NSW & a conjoint lecturer at Western Sydney University. He sits on the Board of SANE AUSTRALIA - whose mission is to improve the health of those living with complex mental health issues, as well as reducing stigma & in 2015, Mark received the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists NSW Branch Meritorious Service Award for his “significant contribution” to psychiatry.
And if that’s not enough of a professional pedigree, Mark was the lead psychiatrist on the ground-breaking series Changing Minds for the ABC - that followed patients in the locked ward of the Mental Health Unit of Liverpool Hospital.
Mark’s fundamental message is that mental illness is exactly that, an illness, not a character defect. He wants us all to be unafraid to speak about how we are REALLY doing.
Oh, and did I forget to mention – he’s also lived with anxiety all his life and refers to himself as the “anxious shrink”.
How could he NOT be a guest on Brave Journeys??? Free therapy for me!!! Woo Hoo!!!
This is Mark’s story...
BUT BEFORE YOU GO...
Find out more about Mark here
Find out where to buy Mark's incredible memoir, "Anxiety: Expert Advice from a Neurotic Shrink Who’s Lived with it All His Life" here
Follow Mark on Facebook
Watch Mark's incredible weekly community vodcast, The Anxious Shrink, here
Find out more about Tam here
Follow Tam on Insta
Follow BRAVE JOURNEYS on Insta
Join the conversation and chat about the episode here
NEED MORE INSPIRATION?
Find other BRAVE JOURNEYS episodes here
CREDITS:
Creator, Host & Executive Producer: Tammi Faraday
With thanks to my special guest: Dr Mark Cross
Audio Editor: Zoltan Fecso
With very special thanks to George Weinberg.
BRAVE JOURNEYS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we record this podcast on, the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan of the Boon Wurrung who are part of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respect to their Elders, both past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/brave-journeys-with-tammi-faraday-182850/susan-burton-empty-16289853"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to susan burton - empty on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy