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This is an iHeart podcast. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings appearance on the puzzler with A.J.
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Jacobs.
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The question is, what is the most.
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Entertaining listening experience in podcast land?
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Jeopardy Truthers believe in? I guess they would be conspiracy theorists. That's right. They give you the answers and you still blew it. The Puzzler listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I just think the process and the journey is so delicious. That's where all the good stuff is. You just can't live and die by the end result. That's comedian Phoebe Robinson. And yeah, those are the kinds of gems you'll only hear on my podcast, the Bright side. I'm your host, Simone Boyce. I'm talking to the brightest minds in entertainment, health, wellness and pop culture. And every week we're going places in our careers and ourselves. So join me every Monday and let's find the bright side together. Listen to the bright side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Lauren came in hot.
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From viral performances to red carpet looks that had everyone talking the podcast. The Latest with Lauren LaRosa is your go to for everything. VMAs. We will be right here breaking it all down. I'm gonna be giving y' all the headlines, breaking down everything that is going down behind the scenes and getting into what the people are saying. Like what is the culture talking about? That's exact Be getting into here at the Latest with Lauren LaRosa, everything. Be amazed to hear this and more. Listen to the latest with Lauren, the Rosa from the Black Effect Podcast Network or the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
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Culture eats strategy for breakfast, right?
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On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us, I was joined by Valisha Butterfield, media founder, political strategist and tech powerhouse for a powerful conversation on storytelling impact and the intersections of culture and leadership.
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I am a free black woman.
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From the Obama White House to Google to the Grammys, Valisha's journey is a masterclass in shifting culture and using your voice to spark change. Listen to Culture Raises us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Hey, I'm Kurt Braunohler.
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And I am Scotty Landis. And we host Bananas, the podcast where we share the weirdest, funniest real news stories from all around the world and.
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Sometimes from our guests personal lives too.
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Like when Whitney Cummings recently revealed her origin story on the show there's no.
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Way I don't already have. This is probably just why my personality is like this. I've been surviving rabies for the past 20 years. New episodes of Bananas drop every Tuesday. The exactly right network.
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Listen to bananas on the iHeartRadio app.
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Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Hey there, folks. It is the evening of Monday, September 8th, as we record this. And what the actual hell. We just watched the number one trending show on Netflix called Unknown Number the High School Catfish. Our mouths dropped open for pretty much the entire hour and a half of this documentary. And Robach has been absolutely chomping at the bit to get everything off her chest and off her mind and spirit about what we just saw. And I told her, wait, don't do it until we hit record. Well, folks, we just hit record. And now welcome to this episode of Amy and tj. First reaction. Before we even explain anything about this documentary, you tell me how you feel.
A
Appalled, disgusted, shocked, and just in disbelief. I'm in disbelief of what I saw.
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Disbelief is a good one. Can't believe what we saw. And now I'm looking. I have softened. Shock and disbelief was first. I have a difficult time getting to anger just yet. And so let's get into all of that. Folks, if you don't know what this thing is about, we want to give you a heads up. We're not going to give a spoiler and if we do, we're going to give you a heads up. We're not going to give a spoiler before what, the next five minutes, I should say, as we set it up. But we're going to have to talk about the reveal and what this story is. It's out there and it's public. We just, in case you haven't seen it and wanted to, we at least want to give you a heads up before we tell you about what went down. Is that fair?
A
I would say we couldn't do a proper podcast without discussing what the twist is or what the true. This isn't even a script. That's the thing. It's not a movie script. This is real life. It's always been said, truth is stranger than fiction. This documentary is proof. If you ever didn't believe it, this documentary is proof. And so we're gonna have to give the spoiler. So if you haven't seen it, I would say put us on pause, go watch the Netflix documentary and then come back and see if you want to join in on this, because I guarantee you you're gonna have feelings.
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Yes. And as you listen along here, we promise we will give you a heads up before we give the thing or anything away. But just to set it up here, Robes is. I mean, the tease and the trailer and what this is set up as a group of friends begin getting harassed from an unknown number. And it is relentless. And so this goes along and follows the story and investigation, what happens to these kids until the ultimate reveal of what happened.
A
Yeah. And I have to give Netflix so many kudos because they really did an artful job in telling a story. So you actually are. You're actually along for the. The horror of it, where it builds. You start to see the initial texts and then there's a little bit of a lull and then they come back. And when they come back, they're relentless, they're ferocious, they're unending. Sometimes there's 50 texts a day of just hardcore bullying that actually crescendos into telling the victims, the recipients of these texts, to go kill themselves. Like it gets that graphic and that disturbing.
B
You reminded me, I'm still not quite sure the ages they were. What grade at the time?
A
Ninth grade. So we're talking 14, 13. 14 years old.
B
Okay. And this is in Bill City, Michigan. And this happened 20. 20, 2022.
A
Yeah, within the last few years.
B
Yeah. This is so. Yeah, this is all very current.
A
The kids are still in high school.
B
Yes, There you go. The kids are still in high school. And they did talk to all the kids. But it revolves around Owen and Lauren, these two youngins who were kind of sweet on each other and started dating. And then Owen started getting these messages from an unknown number. E. Owen and Lauren started getting these messages, essentially trying to break them up. Now, it's hard, and I meant to write some down. It's hard to give the. An accurate description of what and just how horrible these messages were. You put it in context that it's coming to a 13 year old. It's hard to understand the things that were being said to these children.
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They were in. They were very sexually graphic.
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Yes.
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For even someone who Is in their 20s, it was sexually graphic. These are kids. Yes. I felt that I was like, whoa. And these kids, if I had been their age, I wouldn't have even known some of what the texts were or what they were referring to. That's how sexually graphic they were. But it all was this kind of obsession with Owen. And then because he was with his girlfriend from seventh grade, Lauren, then all of the anger and vitriol and just unbelievably just horrible, horrible things were being said to Lauren, like calling her a skank and because she was thin, like making fun of her flat ass and her just her unwillingness to be sexual with her boyfriend. Just all the things that girls are vulnerable and embarrassed about at that age. In ninth grade, when you're becoming a woman and to have someone texting you, telling you you're not sexy and you don't have the body and you, and you're a skank and you, you dress provocatively but you won't give it up and just all the things that already girls are insecure about, to have somebody just zeroing and honing in on that is just awful.
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Again, 13 year old all of these kids are. And several of them started getting their. These messages from unknown numbers. To your point about Lauren, this is probably one of the saddest things is that this unknown number had no idea who it was, where it was coming from, actually had an impact on how she felt about herself. And she started changing the way she dressed.
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That's. And how she felt about herself. She talked about having thoughts of suicide. Owen talked about having thoughts of suicide.
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The power of words in messages coming through a cell phone, it's. It's horrific to see what happens. So the kids then start doing their own investigation, trying to figure it out. The police get involved, parents get involved, everybody, the school gets involved. So everybody's trying to track it down. They can't track down who it is necessarily so easily because they're using some kind of technology that allows it to look like it's coming from a different cell phone or different phone numbers every single time. So it's not that simple until they finally get what was the FBI involved And they do proper research.
A
Correct. But before is it before the FBI got involved, the person who was sending these messages was clever enough to start sending people out on wild goose chases. So creating texts that made it seem as though another student was the bully or another student was the bully. So then other students were getting involved because they were being accused. And then their lives were unraveling because then they looked like they were the culprit and it wasn't true. And yes, once the FBI got involved, they were able to track down IP numbers, basically IP addresses. Excuse me.
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And let's jump on that, but I wanted to to your point. I didn't make this point enough about what you just said. How Chloe.
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Yes.
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This caused friendships to break down forever. This caused marriages to end, families were split, all because somebody unknown number sending negative, nasty Constant bullying via text.
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Constant like 50 texts a day. Constant like a full time job.
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Yes. So, yes, this, this is where we are to pick up on what you're saying. Now the FBI gets involved and they start trying to track down IP addresses and what phone numbers are attached to them.
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Correct. So the people who, the victims who were receiving all of these unwanted and horrific texts, Owen actually gave his phone, this is kind of what broke the case wide open, gave his phone to the FBI, who then did a full extraction. Is that what they called it? And they were able to look at all of the texts that came in and there were plenty to look at. And they were able to cross reference, even though they were using this app or whatever that created different numbers, there was still an underlying number attached to two different IP addresses. And when you find out what was it about 2/3, maybe 3/4 of the way through the documentary, you find out the number that is finally cross referenced. Because they went through all the students and all the potential because the information that by the way, this harasser, this bully was using was referencing things that were said, even a picture that only someone who was intimate in a friend group or in a family unit could possibly have known. So they knew that was what was so creepy about it. It wasn't like some stranger from afar. It was somebody who intimately knew these characters. So they were cross referencing numbers, you.
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Know, and they made a very good point. And I'm not sure where you would have come down on this as a parent, but I said that is really smart when they were telling them, hey, just get your kids numbers cut off, get new phones, new numbers and all of this will go away. And the parents said, no, we actually want to figure this out. We want to figure out who this is because clearly it's somebody in our circle.
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This person is in our homes. This person is being invited to family gatherings. This person is a part of our inner circle. And how could we ever trust our inner circle again if we don't know who this is?
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So they, and they build us up robes very dramatically. And this is where now folks will tell you if you haven't scene and you want to wait for the big reveal. This is where the spoiler is going to come in. So we'll let you know. We are about to go ahead and discuss, I guess really the more the meat and the reveal of this. But robes, it was as we were watching, like you said, the first third, two thirds of it. We of course we had guesses about who it's going to be. And it's probably going to be that. And. And we said early on, it's probably an adult. So some of the things they said, you know, that's probably got to be the shocker part of this. This was the biggest possible shocker of anybody that could have been the culprit.
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Yes. Because the poor girl Lauren, who was being berated and being called every name in the book, including telling Lauren to go kill herself. And I'm really, like, not even giving the worst of the quotes. Those texts were coming from her own mother. So Lauren's mother, Kendra, ultimately was the person who was behind the texts. These graphic, horrific, sexual bullying and frankly, threatening texts all were coming from her own mother. And then the question becomes, why? Why?
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So, as you say, and you sit here, anyone listening, if you want, you struggle to come up with the why. And so, again, a very good part of the documentary is that Netflix got the body cam footage of when the officer went in there and they had to confront her in her home and had to bring her daughter in as well to see all this break down. You see, I'm not sure what comes over her. When she knew the gig was up, she immediately confessed. And there wasn't much of an emotional reaction.
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Babe, that was what freaked me out.
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The most bizarre.
A
She actually had. No, she had zero emotion. And at the little bit you might have seen was so minuscule. It would be like telling me that a distant second cousin had passed. Like, there was almost no emotion that crossed over her face when she realized that she was caught. And her biggest thing was, I don't want Lauren to know. Is everyone going to know?
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Yeah. She said that was what she cared about.
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And the officer was like, pretty sure there's no way to avoid that. And she kind of was like, okay. Literally knowing what she had been doing for a year and a half, two years almost, at that point, just harassing two young kids to the point where they both considered suicide. And she had zero emotion when she got caught as a mom, as a wife. And there were more lies. Her whole. She had a whole other web of lies that she was selling her husband in addition to selling this all to her daughter to be the comforter in chief, to be that mom who was there for her daughter, who was being bullied because she was going to be the comforter when she was the actual one who was inflicting the pain.
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This is a. Look, this. This is a shocking story. And it's easy to mock. It's easy to. It's easy to berate. It's easy to attack this woman and scratch your head. Certainly from a parent. I know a lot of you listening now. If you've watched already, you have the same question. Why? Why? Why? It makes no sense why? Okay, if she was sweet on the boy, fine. Send a couple things, try to break them up. Why are you constantly harassing your daughter to the point she is wanting to consider suicide and keeping that up for months and months and months? Well, folks, stay here because next we are going to tell you what the mom says her logic is for doing and you decide whether or not you buy it or not, that this woman desperately needs help. Everybody. You know she don't lie about that, right?
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Lauren came in from viral performances to red carpet looks that had everyone talking the podcast the Latest with Lauren LaRosa is your go to for everything VMA's. We will be right here breaking it all down. I'm going to be giving you all the headlines breaking down everything that is going down behind the scenes and getting into what the people are saying. Like what is the culture talking about? That's a different exactly what we'll be getting into here at the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. Everything be amazed.
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Let's get to it. Time to do it.
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I'm the homegirl that knows a little bit about everything and everybody to hear this and more. Listen to the latest with Lauren, the Rosa from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
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Just like great shoes, great books take you places through unforgettable love stories and into conversations with characters you'll never for. I think any good romance. It gives me this feeling of like butterflies. I'm Danielle Robay and this is bookmarked by Reese's Book Club. The new podcast from hello Sunshine and I Heart Podcasts, where we dive into the stories that shape us on the page and off. Each week I'm joined by authors, celebs, book talk stars and more for conversations that will make you laugh, cry and add way too many books to your TBR pile. Listen to Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club on the iHeartRadio app. Apple Podcasts are wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Books is the official audiobook and ebook home for Reese's Book Club. Visit Apple Co reesapplebooks to find out more. Imagine that you're on an airplane and all of a sudden you hear this. Attention passengers. The pilot is having an emergency and we need someone, anyone to land this plane. Think you could do it? It turns out that nearly 50% of.
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Men think that they could land the.
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Plane with the help air traffic control.
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And they're saying like, okay, pull this.
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Until this, pull that, turn this. It's just I can do my eyes closed. I'm Manny. I'm Noah.
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This is Devin.
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And on our new show, no Such thing, we get to the bottom of questions like these. Join us as we talk to the leading expert on overconfidence.
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Those who lack expertise lack the expertise. They need to recognize that they lack expertise.
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And then as we try the whole thing out for real. Wait, what? Oh, that's the Runway. I'm looking at this thing. Listen to no such thing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A foot washed up, a shoe with.
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Some bones in it. They had no idea who it was.
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Most everything was burned up pretty good.
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From the fire that not a whole lot was salvageable.
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These are the coldest of cold cases. But everything is about to change. Every case that is a cold case that has DNA right now in a backlog will be identified in our lifetime. A small lab in Texas is cracking the code on DNA using new scientific tools. They're finding clues in evidence so tiny you might just miss it.
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He never thought he was going to get caught.
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And I just looked at my computer screen, I was just like, ah, gotcha. On America's Crime Lab, we'll learn about victims and survivors, and you'll meet the team behind the scenes at othram, the Houston lab that takes on the most hopeless cases to finally solve the unsolvable. Listen to America's Crime Lab on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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What would you do if one bad decision forced you to choose between a maximum security prison or the most brutal boot camp designed to be hell on earth? Unfortunately for Mark Lombardo, this was the choice he faced. He said, you are a number, a New York state number, and we own you. Shock incarceration, also known as boot camps, are short term, highly regimented correctional programs that mimic military basic training. These programs aim to provide a shock of prison life, emphasizing strict discipline, physical training, hard labor, and rehabilitation programs. Mark had one chance to complete this one program and had no idea of the hell awaiting him the next six months. The first night was overwhelming and you don't know who's next to you and we didn't know what to expect in the morning. Nobody tells you anything. Listen to shock incarceration on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Welcome back to Amy and tg, where we are talking about Unknown number the High School Catfish. It is the number one movie on netfl Netflix. We just finished watching it and we are still reeling. You are actually listening, as I know you all know, to two horror movie fanatics. We love thrillers. We love horror movies. We love plot twists. We love a good script with great writing. I have to say, this documentary, this thing that actually happened in a small town in Michigan had me reeling in a way that very few horror movies can even accomplish. Where I, I. We usually can figure out who probably the killer might be. And it's not that shock. This just shook me. I was shocked.
B
You know, you. You bring up the horror movie thing and let me see. You made me think of it just now. There's some horror movies at the end that you get the twist and you go, that's so stupid. That doesn't make sense. That would never actually happen. That was the twist at the end of this. Like, of course it's not the mom. That's dumb.
A
Actually, babe, when they started, I thought they were breadcrumbing us and there was gonna be some other twist when it seemed as though all of the evidence pointed to Lauren's mom, Kendra. And you and I looked at each other, we said, there's more. Like, there's no way it's her. Like, they're just. They're just. They're making us think it's Kendra, but it's not actually Kendra. That's how much we didn't believe it.
B
When they started setting it up.
A
And then it wasn't until Kendra herself fully admits it. And we thought, oh, my God, this actually is what happened.
B
Like, I challenge you to watch this without, like, literally your jaw dropping. Literally, your jaw will drop. And watching. And like you said, ro, this is something you cannot make up. This is a true story of what happened. Now, the mom, of course she's a part of the documentary now. That's another brilliant part of this and that. The first again, thirds or two thirds, and where they're explaining and setting up the story. Kendra, we don't know she's the actual culprit. They have her as a part of the documentary, just as a concerned parent.
A
So you really think that she's a part of the solution?
B
Yes.
A
Or at least trying to find a solution for her daughter. And she seems like that caring, doting mom who wants to figure out who's doing this to her poor child. And so that also creates Just this total bombshell of a moment when you realize that Kendra actually is the person behind all of the hate. And look, when we're looking for the why, because that's, of course, the next thing you think, how could a mom do this? But why would a mom do this? And, yes, okay, fine, she might have been obsessed with Owen. She might have had some weird fantasy about him, but that still doesn't explain how cruel she was to her daughter. She still could have done something to break them up. And once she broke them up, it didn't end. She just kept on with her daughter in such a cruel fashion. And when we heard from the investigators, the detectives and their theory, all of a sudden, a light bulb went off. Munchausen. Where? Look, I'm only familiar with this, as some people are. I did the Gypsy Rose case back in the day, where you have a mom who tries to make her daughter or her child sick, so then she then gets sympathy, but they're actually causing their child to be physically unwell by either poisoning them slowly or whatever. But it's all about getting attention and being the caregiver in chief, basically where you're needed and you're wanted and you're getting attention. So the theory is that perhaps Kendra did this so that she then could be there for her daughter and forge this beautiful bond and connection at a time when we know our teenage daughters kind of drift off and they have boyfriends and friends and they go to high school, and suddenly mom isn't. So if she's being bullied, who's she going to run to? Her mom. So how crazy is it that Kendra would be bullying her daughter only to be able to be the one to comfort her when she came home?
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Okay, Munchausen syndrome. That's. She didn't mention it. I think other.
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She did not mention that.
B
Others did mention that as a possibility. What she mentioned, essentially, is that she was ill. She didn't know how much help she needed. She hadn't dealt with trauma from her past. She does, at some point, talk about she had been raped at the age of 17. And some of that trauma she has not and had not dealt with. She talked about the possibility that she was seeing herself and some of the negativity. She was saying that she was too. Herself was too thin. She had own issues with her own body. So some of the messages she was sending to her daughter were almost maybe even talking to herself. Do you. I don't understand. There's no way I. I didn't study the trauma. And what Makes people behave in certain ways. But she explained things about herself that I think of. Maybe we talked to a therapist. They would say, okay, I can see this, I can see this, and I can see this. I think this woman is. Is complicated, and I think she went through something, But I just don't think you. A normal person does this. And I don't want to dismiss her as just evil or a hateful woman. I don't know what to label her as. I don't know what category to put her in, but I'm trying to understand, because what she has done is so far, the messages, again, I don't think we're doing a good service Robes, because the messages are so bad.
A
I actually am uncomfortable saying the messages out loud. And I think anyone who's listening to this at this point has watched it, so they know what we're talking about. We don't even need to repeat them. But here's my. I appreciate what you just said. And I am as well, trying to not be as judgmental as I want to be, because that was my reaction as a mom and as a human, because I believe she must have got, I hope in the sense, in terms of a defense, that she did go through something that created this version of her. But I see a mom who wants to be center of attention. I see a mom who is narcissistic. I see a mom who doesn't care who she hurts to get the attention or feed the desires she has. And if anything, to project your pain and your trauma onto your daughter, I don't think is a natural thing. I think we try to avoid it. We all mess up our kids to some degree without realizing it. But this was so intentional. This was so hurtful. This was not done in a. In a moment of passion or fury or frustration, but this was done repeatedly, consistently, methodically. And to me, that is what makes it so evil. And then to justify it by saying, well, I had my own trauma. I think she found a aha moment where there is some truth to that and then tries to use that to justify all that. Of all of her atrocious behavior and to point out the level of manipulation. This poor girl, Lauren, and you see her on the documentary. I think one of the most heartbreaking things about it for me was to hear Lauren talk about how she loves her mom so much and wants to have a relationship with her. She's desperate for her mom's love. There was some sort of dynamic created over the years where there was this neediness that Lauren needed Kendra And Kendra needed Lauren to need her. And when she saw Lauren slip away, she created a bigger need for her. And somehow it's so sad. Lauren cannot break free from it.
B
No, I'm Ken. That's, I'm sure that's the ways a lot of people see it. And I'm, I, I'm not there. I, I think there is something, as I watch, there was something very loving about that mother in taking care of that child.
A
She loved how it made her feel to have Lauren love her again.
B
I'm not, I'm not going to put that on that woman for from that child's birth to she sent that first nasty message is that that woman was never genuinely in love with that child and a mother to that child. Now I also will acknowledge that there is something possibly that happened to this woman that messed her up. Sure, of course her up real bad. And she kept, she referred to and she said I spiraled and this all got out of control. And I believe and she said it was an escape from real life is what she used. I am, we all are looking for an answer because none of us can understand. You see the messages and you go how could anybody send this to somebody? Then you hear that a mother sent it to her 13 year old child.
A
I, I feel sick.
B
No way.
A
I feel sick.
B
No way to understand that. The one thing where I am a little, I pause on any of this. For whatever reason, she didn't come across that sincerely scary and sympathetically in the way she was talking and giving some of these answers. It was bizarre how she was coming off.
A
She was removed emotionally.
B
And you know what, then that probably speaks to something in her as well. I just, this is an awful, awful, awful story.
A
I think what's scary about it. Look, obviously this, thank God is not in any way, shape or form anything we've ever heard of before. But just to recognize, oh my goodness, that people are capable of this is I think the scariest thing of all. To me this documentary was way more frightening than any horror movie I have ever watched.
B
But it also reminds, I mean take out the dynamic at the end, at least the reveal, but also showed you just how, just how much of an impact words can have. Text messages from somebody they didn't know, ended relationships, ended friendships, ended marriages, ended families, people lost homes, all these things over text messages. That was a scary part of it as well. As far as the entertainment value, Netflix and all of that. The documentary was just really, really done well. Really done well. But man, you all check it out and have whatever conversation you need to have with your kids, with your loved ones. But man, and be mindful of folks. I don't know why I'm. I'm usually that guy, but I'm trying to listen and understand before I just completely condemn what I find to be just indefensible. Indefensible.
A
But she did it is indefensible. But I do like your takeaway, and I think it's a good way to end that. We all should always remember to be mindful of the power of our words. Let's use them for good. So thank you for listening to us tonight. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Helms. Have a good night, everybody. Let's start with a quick puzzle. The answer is Ken Jennings appearance on the puzzler with A.J.
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Jacobs.
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The question is, what is the most entertaining listening experience in podcast land? Jeopardy. Truther believe in? I guess they would be conspiracy theorists. That's right. They gave you the answers and you still blew it. The Puzzler listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I just think the process and the journey is so delicious. That's where all the good stuff is. You just can't live and die by the end result. That's comedian Phoebe Robinson. And yeah, those are the kinds of gems you'll only hear on my podcast, the Bright side. I'm your host, Simone Boyce. I'm talking to the brightest minds in entertainment, health, wellness and pop culture. And every week we're going places in our communities, our careers, and ourselves. So join me every Monday and let's find the bright side together. Listen to the Bright side on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Lauren came in hot.
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From viral performances to red carpet looks that had everyone talking the podcast. The Latest with Lauren LaRosa is your go to for every everything VMA's. We will be right here breaking it all down. I'm gonna be giving y' all the headlines, breaking down everything that is going down behind the scenes and getting into what the people are saying. Like what is the culture talking about? That's exactly what we'll be getting into here at the Latest with Lauren LaRosa, everything DMA's to hear this and more. Listen to the Latest with Lauren LaRosa from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.
B
I was diagnosed with cancer on Friday and cancer free the next Friday. No chemo, no radiation, none of that On a recent episode of Culture Raises Us podcast, I sat down with Warren Campbell, Grammy winning producer, pastor and music executive to talk about the beats, the business and the legacy behind some of the biggest names in gospel, R and B and hip hop. Professionally, I started at Death Row Records. From Mary Mary to Jennifer Hudson, we get into the soul of the music and the purpose that drives it. Listen to Culture Raises us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
A
Hey, I'm Kurt Braunohler.
B
And I am Scotty Landis and we host Bananas, the podcast where we share the weirdest, funniest real news stories from all around the world.
A
And sometimes from our guests personal lives too.
B
Like when Whitney Cummings recently revealed her origin story on the show.
A
There's no way I don't already have rabies. This is probably just why my personality is like this. I've been surviving rabies for the past 20 years. New episodes of Bananas drop every Tuesday. Exactly.
B
Network Listen to bananas on the iHeartRadio.
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Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Episode: Netflix’s “Unknown Number, The High School Catfish” Had Us REELING
Date: September 8, 2025
Platform: iHeartPodcasts
In this gripping episode, Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes react—raw and unfiltered—to Netflix's new number one documentary, "Unknown Number: The High School Catfish." The documentary, based on a recent Michigan case, unravels an intense and disturbing story of relentless anonymous cyberbullying targeted at high school freshmen, ultimately leading to a jaw-dropping reveal about the perpetrator's identity.
Amy and T.J., self-admitted horror and thriller fanatics, compare the real-life twists of the story to the wildest plots from fiction—but underscore that its horror comes from being all too real. Together, they process their immediate feelings, dissect the storytelling, explore the psychology behind the crime, and reflect on the broader implications for families and young people.
[31:11] Both draw broader lessons about the destructive power of cyberbullying, with T.J. highlighting how mere messages can devastate lives, families, and communities—even absent physical violence.
Amy and T.J. keep the conversation candid, empathetic, and occasionally incredulous, combining journalistic rigor with personal reflections as parents, horror fans, and observers of human nature. They openly grapple with anger, sympathy, and disbelief, often speaking directly to listeners who may be parents or young people themselves.
Amy and T.J. urge listeners to watch the documentary—if they can stomach it—and to use it as a springboard for difficult but vital conversations about digital safety, mental health, and the unseen power words can hold. Their closing message is one of cautious hope: be vigilant, be compassionate, and remember to use words to heal rather than harm.