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Andrea Gunning
This is an I Heart podcast.
Podcast Host/Announcer
Guaranteed human.
Andrea Gunning
Hey all, I'm Jamie Lynn Sigler, a mom, actor and advocate. I know how overwhelming it can be trying to decide which treatment is right for you. I've been there. But you should know you're not alone. You can do this. Start with some research, talk to the community, and most importantly, don't be afraid to ask your doctor questions. You might find results that speak for themselves. That's how I landed on qysimta. Ask your doctor if Qysimpta ofatumumab could be right for you. You can check out the details@qysimta.com this.
Saskia
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Andrea Gunning
That makes too much sense.
Saskia
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Sponsor/Advertiser Voice
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures hey.
Andrea Gunning
This is US Olympic gold medalist Tara.
Saskia
Davis Woodhull and I'm US Paralympic gold medalist Hunter Woodhull.
Andrea Gunning
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Saskia
A clear path and a team that you can absolutely trust.
Andrea Gunning
So when it came to getting the.
Saskia
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Andrea Gunning
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Sponsor/Advertiser Voice
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Andrea Gunning
Saskia was days away from her wedding. She thought she was ready to marry Mike, her partner and best friend of five years. But then, a few nights before their wedding, she saw something.
Saskia
I remember we were in bed. I can't tell you what was happening before, after, but it was literally like a snapshot in time.
Andrea Gunning
In the middle of the night, she opened her eyes, disoriented, exhausted. Mike was wide awake on his laptop. And on his screen, she could see two people.
Saskia
And I didn't know if it was like a movie or whether he knew them. And I remember being really confused and saying, like, what's going on?
Andrea Gunning
She couldn't make sense of what she was seeing, but it felt wrong. She didn't know, couldn't know that she was getting a glimpse of the real Mike, the one who only came out at night.
Saskia
And he said, oh, say hi.
Bridget
I'm.
Andrea Gunning
Andrea Gunning, and this is Betrayal. Season five, Episode two In Sickness and In Health. We're going to return to that night a few days before the wedding, when Saskia saw something on Mike's computer. But to understand what was going on there and all that came next, we need to go back in time. Because this wasn't a random crime and Saskia wasn't a random victim. She believes Mike chose her for a reason. The key to understanding this story is understanding Saskia herself. The strong parts of her and the vulnerable parts, too. So let's return to the beginning. Saskia grew up in a suburb of D.C. where she still lives today. In many ways, she had a great childhood. At times, it sounded to me like something out of a 70s TV show. She's always been an animal lover. And growing up, her cat would walk her and her friends to school.
Saskia
We'd be like, go home, Chong.
Rob
Go home.
Andrea Gunning
Her cats came with the names Cheech and Chong. Her friend Megan remembers those walks. And that cat very well.
Megan
He would just come behind us, walk us to school, and when we got to the crosswalk, he would go his merry way. I have no idea, like, who knows.
Andrea Gunning
Where he went they were latchke kids living the quintessential suburban life. Saskia's older sister has lots of happy memories of playing with Saskia and their two brothers. Here's Marisa.
Marisa
We would go down to the creek behind our house, and we had a huge fort there, and we would just spend a lot of time traveling the creek and looking for crayfish.
Andrea Gunning
But these joyful moments were only part of the story.
Marisa
I think that our childhood was this odd combination of idyllic and traumatic and traumatic to nobody's fault. You know, our parents did their very best. They were amazing people, but they had a lot of challenges. Sometime in his 30s, my dad had what we term his breakdown.
Andrea Gunning
Their dad was a smart guy. He went to Stanford undergrad and Georgetown law. He loved musicals and museums. And before his breakdown, he was a constant source of conversation and laughter. But that version of their father feels like a distant memory because after his.
Marisa
Breakdown, he was just a very fragile, mentally ill person.
Andrea Gunning
Sometimes there were times when their dad seemed stable, but then he'd enter a period where he'd lose touch with reality.
Marisa
He would be hospitalized, and then he would be good for a while. But, you know, he never returned to his baseline, the man that my mother married and the person that he wanted to become. I think I've always been aware that something was shattered, you know, and that he couldn't be that anymore.
Andrea Gunning
Saskia was just a baby when her dad got sick. For her whole childhood, he was on disability and in and out of the hospital. Her mom had to focus on managing her husband's care and keeping the family afloat financially. As the youngest of four, Saskia was often forgotten.
Saskia
Home didn't feel like a place that I was even really wanted. I don't think I got a hug from either of my parents, and I don't think I got an I love you from my mom until I started giving them out when I was in college as well. I definitely wish I had a closer relationship with my parents at a younger age. I think it would have fared me well to have felt like I was important, but my friends gave me that.
Andrea Gunning
She and her friends spent a lot of time unsupervised. Here's Saskia's friend Megan again.
Megan
Nowadays, kids would just be on their phones for five hours, but back then, there was nothing to do. So we grew up drinking. My mom was not a drinker, but she kept this boxed wine in the fridge. I mean, we would drink box wine at 10 in my mom's house.
Andrea Gunning
By 13, they were getting Drunk all the time.
Megan
We just sat on my floor, got hammered, walked around at the park. That's what we did, like, all the time. Growing up from a very young age, binge drinking every weekend, that was our culture. And we thought Saskia was lucky because her parents would go away, the older siblings would be in charge and there would be parties all the time. So we partied at Sas's house a lot.
Andrea Gunning
By the way, Saskia's friends and family often call her Sauce. You'll hear both names throughout the season. Sas has always struggled with anxiety and depression. And when she was a kid, she learned that drinking could be an escape.
Saskia
Since I had been introduced to it at such a young age, it was the thing that I knew that helped me. It helped me cope with a lot of things that I hadn't dealt with yet, like stuff from my childhood. And it still stayed my coping mechanism for a long time.
Andrea Gunning
As the friends entered high school, then college, drinking became their main activity. Here's Megan.
Megan
We were way worse when we were older because we got more money. Everyone, all of us were in the tank every weekend. We did the same thing over and over. Just wash, rinse, repeat.
Andrea Gunning
Still, Sasia knew when the partying needed to take a backseat. Like when her friend Heather had a baby with a guy who became abusive. They were young, only 21, but Saskia skipped parties with her other friends to show up for Heather. Here's how Heather remembers it.
Heather
Our other friends were out, like, partying and going to bars. SaaS always stayed by me and checked on me, still hung out with me, came over to help me with the baby. She was just the most solid friend I had.
Andrea Gunning
That's just who Saskia is. Deeply loyal and deeply empathetic. She's the kind of friend who was only ever a phone call away. It's that caring nature that led her to become a social worker.
Saskia
I've always been interested in how, you know, the mind works. And I've always had a lot of empathy for people who struggle with mental health. Probably because my dad's own mental health struggles, my own mental health struggles.
Andrea Gunning
For 17 years, Saskia worked in Child Protective Services, or CPS. She did physical abuse and neglect investigations. Then she transitioned to supporting teens in the foster care system. Many of these kids never had adults looking out for them or people they could count on. While working at cps, Saskia became friends with Rob. He's an attorney who worked with kids in the system. Rob wanted to participate in this series because he has a lot to say about Saskia's. Character.
Rob
Nobody that I have worked with in 27 plus years has done what Saskia has done, has been the social worker for these teens in care with such optimism and joy and encouragement as Saskia.
Andrea Gunning
Rob's wife Colleen, saw that same spark in her. Colleen was also a social worker with cps. She remembers the first time she met Saskia at a team training during an icebreaker. No one was responding when asked for volunteers and Saskia was just like, okay and like jumped in and was just fun and energetic. Colleen can still picture Saskia's smile that day. Saskia has always been someone who brings light to dark situations. But at home, she struggled. The love and care she so easily gave to other people she wasn't getting from her first husband, Chris. When that marriage began to fall apart, she turned to Rob and Colleen. This period of time was definitely the.
Rob
First time that I saw Saskia as not a bubbly, joyful person.
Andrea Gunning
She had gotten quieter.
Rob
She did share with me that she had been drinking more and more. She was concerned about that.
Saskia
I did drink a lot because I felt so lonely. I felt neglected.
Andrea Gunning
Saskia told us there were nights during that marriage where she'd take it too far. Blackout. From her sister Marisa's perspective, Chris wasn't helping.
Marisa
In her first marriage, they partied too much. There was a lot of drinking and kind of over the top behavior.
Andrea Gunning
When Saskia finally ended things with Chris, it felt like a new beginning.
Saskia
I was confident in knowing that that was the right thing to do. I had wrapped my head around, this is not the person that I need to put all my energy into anymore. And that felt like a relief.
Andrea Gunning
She started to really work on herself.
Saskia
I went to therapy, you know, did talk about some of the issues with childhood, worked through some past relationship tendencies.
Andrea Gunning
She'd never been in a stable, loving relationship or had one modeled for her. As you heard in episode one, she gravitated towards bad boys and big personalities. Chaos.
Saskia
And Mike felt the opposite of that.
Andrea Gunning
When she met her new boyfriend, Mike Levingood, she could tell right away this guy was her chance to build something different, something real.
Saskia
He felt stable and he felt safe and he felt loving and he felt caring and he felt like a partner. And I felt like, okay, I'm doing things differently this time.
Andrea Gunning
Everyone in her life could see this was a positive change for Saskia. Here's her sister, Marisa.
Marisa
I've always viewed her as my baby sister, as a very strong person, but somebody who's vulnerable. And he gave her a sense of stability. He would keep Routines, he worked out, he made food that was healthy. He drank, but it didn't seem like he drank to excess. He was solid.
Andrea Gunning
Saskia's friend Heather thought so too.
Heather
Mike just seemed calm, put together, just chill. And at the time, I thought that was so good and what Sask really needed.
Andrea Gunning
From day one, Saskia's friends and family made it known that they liked Mike. The encouragement went a long way.
Saskia
They thought he was great and stable and good for me. He really cared about me. I finally met someone who I was in a healthy relationship with.
Andrea Gunning
It didn't take long for Mike to become her confidante. He showed a genuine interest in getting to know the real her, even the fragile parts. Early on, Saskia opened up about her dad's mental illness and how it impacted her childhood. She talked about her own struggles with anxiety and depression and how after her first marriage, she felt broken.
Saskia
He found me at a very vulnerable place and I really needed somebody to help me, someone to show me real love and affection and time and all the things that I didn't get from my childhood or from my first marriage. Mike gave me all those things.
Andrea Gunning
Mike was there for her through it all. If you can remember, Mike was her rock in the divorce and he supported her as she carried her sister's baby, giving her nightly massages and talking through any challenges in the process. With Mike by her side, this pregnancy was one of the happiest, healthiest times in her life.
Saskia
And that all changed after I had the baby.
Andrea Gunning
She'd been with Mike for four years at that point. Four great years. But just after Saskia gave birth to her sister son, it was like the other shoe dropped. It began one morning when she had trouble getting out of bed.
Saskia
It was like I was under quicksand or something. I wasn't totally conscious. I couldn't wake up, I couldn't walk. I just felt like there were weights on my body and I just needed to sleep many more hours, even though I thought I'd been sleeping all night.
Andrea Gunning
She'd never experienced anything like this before. And quickly this feeling became a regular occurrence. She'd had anxiety and depression her whole.
Saskia
Life, but I've never struggled that bad with my mental health. I've never felt like such trash about myself. I'd be in a conversation and I'd have to, like, just get out of there. Like, everything just felt so overwhelming. I was literally just trying to survive and get to the next day and then the next day and the next day.
Andrea Gunning
She became haunted by insomnia. She'd experienced it before, but never this bad. She was going days without sleeping.
Saskia
I felt like, if I can't sleep, how am I supposed to take care of the kids? How am I supposed to get to work the next day? It was awful.
Andrea Gunning
Her doctors prescribed pills to help her sleep, but nothing seemed to work.
Saskia
The only thing that made me feel better was alcohol, to be honest with you. And now I realize that contributed, but it was survival to me at the time. I just felt like I was fighting all the time just to stay alive.
Andrea Gunning
What she was experiencing was severe, so much so that it began impacting her ability to do her job.
Saskia
I had a friend at work who let me use her office just to go in and cry when my anxiety became so much.
Andrea Gunning
After consulting with her doctors, she decided to take time off. She started taking medical leave here and there. Sometimes there'd be months when she couldn't go into the office.
Saskia
My coworkers had to take on more cases. These teenagers that I was really close with and really dependent on me had to get switched to other workers. I felt like I was letting down my kids, letting down everybody at work.
Andrea Gunning
No matter how sick she got, Mike stood by her. He encouraged her to try new meds and new treatments, anything to help her feel better. He also made sure she was taking care of herself in other ways.
Saskia
If I needed to sleep in, if I wasn't feeling well, he could take the kids to their sporting events, and he would always make dinner every night. It left me able to do the things that were helpful to me.
Andrea Gunning
She felt unbelievably grateful for him. They weren't even married, and he was there for her as a real partner.
Saskia
It felt like he was helping me, and I'm losing it. That's what it felt like. I was struggling so much, and I just wanted to survive and get through.
Andrea Gunning
He continued to write her love letters, letting her know he wasn't going anywhere. Here's an excerpt from one of those letters read by a voice actor. I wish I could just take away all your worry and give you the.
Marisa
Peace of mind that you deserve. Now that we have each other, there is nothing we can't handle together.
Andrea Gunning
It was in the middle of her decline that Mike proposed to her. His timing made the gesture even more significant to Saskia. He wanted to spend a life with her even when she was at her lowest. That meant the world. She didn't know what she'd do without him. When Mike suddenly wanted to move up the wedding, it was confusing to her, but she went along with it.
Saskia
Him wanting to have the wedding quickly felt strange, but I had no reason to doubt his intentions.
Andrea Gunning
He loved her and she only saw the best in him. Until that night. Just before the wedding, when Saskia awoke to find Mike on his laptop, she saw two bodies on the screen. Something was off, but she wasn't in a state to understand any of the details.
Saskia
I was in like a twilight or in a fog.
Andrea Gunning
Remember, Sasuke was taking meds to manage her mental health and insomnia, and she was so desperate for a good night's sleep that she'd often drink on top of her meds.
Saskia
If we're drinking and I take my medication at night, I'm not going to be waking up.
Andrea Gunning
This moment with the computer, it was confusing and concerning. But the next morning I didn't really remember it.
Saskia
I didn't process it. I didn't know what it meant.
Andrea Gunning
When she woke up, she only had a blurry image of what she'd seen and a quiet feeling of unease. She was about to marry this man. Was there something he was hiding from her?
Saskia
I was freaked out and talked to Heather about it.
Andrea Gunning
Saskia drove to her friend Heather's house to pick up favors for her wedding. Right away, Heather could tell Saskia was upset. Heather brought her into her living room and Saskia explained what little she remembered. With so few details, Heather didn't see cause for alarm. Here's Heather.
Heather
I took it as like he was probably just watching porn and testing the waters. And I said, you know, maybe he thought you'd be into it. I definitely minimized it and did not think anything of it.
Andrea Gunning
That is, until the day she found out what Mike had done.
Heather
And I was like, holy shit. Knowing what I know now, I should have been like, get out.
Andrea Gunning
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Rob
30 years ago, Scream changed horror forever. Now it's all led to this. In Scream 7, Sidney Prescott thought she'd finally escaped the nightmare of Ghostface, raising her family in a quiet town far away from the horrors of Woodsboro. She was wrong. And this time the target isn't just her. It's her teenage daughter Tatum, who's the same age Sidney was when the terror began. Neve Campbell returns in her iconic final girl role as Sidney Prescott, facing the most brutal and psychological Ghostface yet, joined by franchise favorites Courteney Cox, Jasmine Savoy Brown and Mason Gooding, alongside terrifying new blood including Isabel May McKennie, Grace, Asa Gurman and more. Directed by franchise creator Kevin Williamson in his directorial debut, Scream 7 is packed with edge of your seat scares and shocks for everyone, with references and callbacks for screen fans everywhere, Ghostface is the terrifying horror icon alongside Freddy Jason and Michael Myers. And after 30 years, the mask still means one no one is safe. See Scream 7 in theaters February 27, because screams are always better when you hear them together.
Movie Promo Announcer
Hey y'. All, Love is about to get real complicated. Prime Video is bringing the heat with the new movie Relationship Goals, a romantic comedy starring Kelly Rowland, Clifford, Method Man Smith, Robin Thede and Annie Gonzalez. The film is based on Pastor Michael Todd's New York Times bestseller, where Kelly Rowland plays Leah Caldwell, a powerhouse TV producer who's this close to shattering that glass ceiling. As the first woman to run New York's top morning show, she's got her eyes on the prize. But then, plot twist. Her ex, Jared Roy, played by Method man, slides back into the picture, competing for the same job. But he says he's a changed man. All thanks to that best selling book Relationship Goals. Lea is laser focused on that career. Glow up. The only problem? The chemistry between her and her ex is undeniable. And those old flames might just be ready to reignite. So if you're ready for laughs, love and a whole lot of heart, stream Relationship Goals now only on Prime Video.
Sponsor/Advertiser Voice
Support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously on Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens three thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S P500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Investment Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
Andrea Gunning
Just before their wedding, Saskia caught Mike looking at something on his computer. It was the middle of the night. After he thought Saskia had gone to sleep, Saskia saw two people on the screen. What they were doing, what Mike was doing, she didn't know. She had taken sleeping meds and drank alcohol the night before, which clouded her memory. With her friend's reassurance, Saskia pushed the incident out of her mind and went ahead with the wedding.
Saskia
There was so much evidence that he was well intentioned. He was a great husband, a great guy. He was part of my family. We had a combined little Brady Bunch.
Andrea Gunning
It was one weird moment in five years of a great relationship. Plus she didn't even know if she'd really seen anything. She wasn't going to let that get in the way of getting married. And maybe her gut feeling was just her nerves. The wedding day was beautiful, but it also came with a lot of difficulty. On what should have been the happiest day of her life, Saskia was falling apart. She felt like she had to take medication just to remain stable.
Saskia
It sucks when you feel like you just have to get through your wedding. I don't think I was ever present in any of those moments because I was struggling so bad. I was just trying to like get through to happier times because I thought that I should be happy.
Andrea Gunning
It didn't make sense. She had a great job, great kids and now a great husband and I.
Saskia
Didn'T understand it because I'm like, I have this guy who's so in love with me and has my back, but yet I feel so much pressure to hold it together.
Andrea Gunning
After the wedding, she thought she'd feel some relief, but the more she held on, the sicker she got. And now it wasn't only her mental health that was taking a hit. She was physically ill too.
Saskia
I just felt paralyzed.
Andrea Gunning
We asked her to describe what that was like in her body.
Saskia
You can't open your eyes fully, you can't wake up, and if you do try to get up, you're going to pass out. I remember getting out of bed and I went in the shower. I kind of felt like I was underwater or something. I felt such a heaviness, you know, you see dots started to feel dots. And I sat down with the shower still on and like reached up, pushed the shower off, crawled back to my bed. I mean, I must have slept for another six hours or something.
Andrea Gunning
She had that same feeling the morning of her kids picture day.
Saskia
And I remember waking up and again feeling like I was underwater but trying to make my way to my kids rooms, which was down a hallway. And I ended up passing out and I had hit my head against something.
Andrea Gunning
She was bleeding so bad she had to get staples in her head. Whatever was wrong with her, it was getting worse. Other strange symptoms kept popping up.
Saskia
I was picking my skin so bad that I had people at work telling me, like, why are you picking your face? I could hear my stomach gurgling all the time, like making loud noises and just. I always had so much nervous energy.
Andrea Gunning
People at work were taking notice. Here's Vera, one of her co workers from Child Protective Services.
Bridget
She was fidgety, she was anxious, she.
Saskia
Looked nervous, she lost weight, she kept picking her hair. You could see that she was dealing with something.
Andrea Gunning
Over the two years this had been going on, Saskia did all that she could to get well. She changed her diet, got an exercise routine, tried tons of different medications. She saw specialists and sought out experimental.
Saskia
Treatments, but nothing was helping me.
Andrea Gunning
Saskia's sister, Marisa, was especially worried. This process of tweaking meds was a familiar one, one she'd been helping their dad navigate for years.
Marisa
People don't understand the medication processes, especially if you're severely mentally ill. It's not a quick fix. You don't go and get the Zoloft and you're better the next day. It's a constant process of tweaking, adding, minusing, changing, which takes months and it winds up being A cocktail of. Then you have symptoms and side effects. Okay, let's use this to address the insomnia because this medication is working, but now you can't sleep. Okay, let's try that. Come back in a month.
Andrea Gunning
As time went on, Saskia grew more and more desperate for answers, anything that would bring her back to herself.
Saskia
I thought I was hanging on by a thread to, like my sanity and using prescription drugs and alcohol and whatever else to try to hold on long enough that I could get better.
Andrea Gunning
It got to the point that Saskia checked herself into the hospital twice.
Saskia
They just adjusted my medications, and I felt more hopeful, I felt healthier. My sleep got a little bit better.
Andrea Gunning
Everyone saw Saskia's improvement, including Mike. He wrote her a card in the hospital encouraging her to keep going.
Marisa
I am so proud of you for fighting so hard. It can't be easy for you, but I'm here for you 1000%. Remember the good times. They will come back. Just remember that you are never alone.
Saskia
It felt like just what I needed.
Andrea Gunning
After a few days in the hospital, she would feel better. It was as if a fog had lifted.
Saskia
I would start to do better and get out and have some hope, and I would quickly, like, decompensate again.
Andrea Gunning
As they watched Saskia's ups and downs, Marisa and Mike were at a loss. Sasca seemed to be going down a similar road to her dad. Here's Marisa.
Marisa
My dad got to a point where we couldn't get him back to baseline, but I spent a good portion of my adult life trying to help him find quality of life. We didn't want Saskia to lose her baseline. You know, we wanted her to have her life. And so it's like that seems to be slipping away. There was a lot of talking with Mike about how to fix this. What should we do? Go to the doctor? Let's try this, let's try that. That's kind of where we were at in that phase. Hoping it was not just what was going to be and trying to fix it, but not understanding why it had gotten more intense and, like, why she was struggling so much.
Andrea Gunning
That first year after their wedding was one of the hardest for everyone, and it only grew harder when Saskia and Marisa lost their mom.
Marisa
She had had a massive stroke, and it was completely unexpected. And we all met at the hospital. My dad was in a mental hospital at the time in Baltimore, and we wanted to go get him. When we pulled the tube so that we could all be together and say goodbye.
Andrea Gunning
Saskia's sister Brothers and dad all spent the night around the hospital bed. But because of her health, Saskia had to miss her mother's last moments.
Marisa
SaaS wanted to, but she could not risk that night of sleep. One night of no sleep would have been devastating for her. And I understood that because that's the level of what she was going through.
Saskia
I just couldn't handle it, and it makes me sad that I couldn't have been present for that.
Andrea Gunning
Saskia's friends knew what a devastating loss this was and at such a vulnerable time. So they came together to show their love for Saskia and to grieve with her. Her friend Bridget organized a dinner at Saskia's house.
Bridget
Saskia's mom, Erna, used to make lasagna. So I made a lasagna dinner, and I came over, and we were all gonna have drinks and just hang out. Family time. And we had some drinks, and everyone's fine. And not too long after, Saskia was all of a sudden incoherent. It was odd because it happened so fast. And I was like, wow. Like, would she go do shots in the kitchen? Like, what's going on? To the point where she couldn't talk, she couldn't walk, she couldn't stand up.
Andrea Gunning
Bridget had seen Saskia get drunk many times before. They'd been best friends since grade school. This was something else. Bridget thought she should go lie down.
Bridget
I walked her up the steps. She's falling against the wall. I got her into her bed.
Andrea Gunning
Her body was limp, but her eyes were wide open. And Saskia has no memory of any of this.
Saskia
I don't remember Bridget bringing me to the room. I don't remember her being next to me in the bed. I don't remember talking to her.
Andrea Gunning
But the moment is seared into Bridget's mind.
Bridget
I just laid down next to her, and I remember it so vividly. Her whole body is so tense, and I just remember stroking her arm and just giving her, like, affirmations, like I would do to my son. And I was just like, you're safe. You're loved, you're surrounded by family. And I just kept repeating that, and I could feel her tenseness. And she was just out, and I was just heartbroken for her.
Andrea Gunning
Everyone was heartbroken and worried. But on that day, in the thick of everything else Saskia was going through, any reaction would have been appropriate.
Bridget
As observers, we kind of chalked it up to, she just drank too much because she was so sad because she lost her mom. That combined with whatever medication she's prescribed, like not going too well.
Andrea Gunning
Marisa had never seen anything like it.
Marisa
We were all incredibly concerned about what was going on. Does she need to go to the hospital? This is not normal. Mike was the calming, reassuring force. He said, no, I've got her. I'll take care of her. Don't worry. She'll just go to sleep and we'll wake up in the morning and I'll let you know how she is.
Andrea Gunning
Everyone headed out. Wrote it off as a bad night. But Bridget would never forget how Saskia felt in her arms, the tension in her body as she went to sleep.
Bridget
That's your home, that's your husband. You're supposed to be safe. It's like she subconsciously knew something was going to happen.
Rob
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Saskia
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Andrea Gunning
Saskia's friends watched helplessly as her health declined. She was no longer the silly bubbly sauce they'd grown up with. She struggled just to get through the day. She hit a new low at her mom's celebration of life when all of a sudden she was blackout drunk. But this night wasn't a one off. Incidents like this kept happening. It wasn't like when they were younger, when Saskia or another friend would take things too far to party. Heather says this seemed to be after.
Heather
A normal couple of drinks. And it happens so frequently.
Andrea Gunning
Bridget remembers another hard day around the same time. It was Saskia's son's eighth birthday party. It was at a climb zone and Saskia was determined to make it a special day. Here's Bridget.
Bridget
She had made all these cute hors d' oeuvres for all the kids and she printed out these little things and she tied it to it. She was so proud of these goody bags and she was so proud of like he was going to do what he wanted to do and he was super excited about it. And I'm on my way to the party and I'm calling her and she's not answering and I'm like, that's odd.
Andrea Gunning
Bridget tried Mike. He was in the car with the kids.
Bridget
He was like, yeah, I'm on my way. We're going to be a little bit late. But I couldn't get Saskia awake and I was like, what do you mean you couldn't get her awake? She was so looking forward to this party. I don't understand it. How could she have slept with this? She was so excited.
Andrea Gunning
The party went smoothly thanks to Mike and Saskia's friends. But Saskia's absence put a dark cloud over the whole event. Afterwards, Bridget got a text from Mike.
Bridget
He was like, thanks again for helping today with the candle and other stuff. And I said, anytime, you guys are family. Is Sas okay? And he said yes. She thinks she took more sleeping pills accidentally last night. So she was completely zonked out, but is awake and okay now.
Andrea Gunning
Megan, Saskia's sister in law, felt frustrated by this explanation.
Megan
At the time we were all kind of like pissed, like, what are you doing? This is your son and you can't.
Andrea Gunning
Come to his birthday party at 1.
Megan
O' clock in the afternoon or whatever it was. You know, it's like you can't just like muster up enough energy to like get there. Nope.
Andrea Gunning
To this day, this is one of the most difficult moments for Saskia to look back on.
Saskia
I was so excited for the birthday party. Sorry. And then in the morning I couldn't get up and it broke my heart. I felt so guilty about it. I just wanted to be a good mom and a good wife and my kids remember those things. Like, my son knows I didn't go to his birthday party that year.
Andrea Gunning
It ate her up inside. Still does. And in moments like this, she was all the more indebted to Mike. He helped her get the care she needed, supported her as she took more time off work. And on top of all that, he was stepping up as a dad, driving her kids to school, scheduling their activities and cleaning the house. He was showing up for her family in ways she couldn't.
Saskia
It would make me rely on him more because I just felt worse about myself and then I would just rely on him more. I'm so lucky to like have this guy, even though I'm losing it and even though I have these mental health problems and I'm drinking too much and, you know, it made me hold on harder.
Andrea Gunning
His support became more and more important. Nearly three years into her medical crisis, Sasuke was no closer to a solution. One morning in 2018, she found herself on the bathroom floor.
Saskia
I just remember waking up to him in a frenzied voice like, get up, get up. And I remember opening my eyes and I was on the cold floor and there were two perfect lines of blood and I was just like so in like a twilight, right? Like so kind of out of it.
Andrea Gunning
Mike was terrified. She must have fallen. With his help, she slowly stood up.
Saskia
I remember looking in the mirror and seeing my eye. It was swollen shut and completely closed.
Andrea Gunning
It was the day of her high school reunion. All of her friends were ready to go. Saskia texted them she wouldn't be able to make it. She sent Bridget a photo.
Bridget
She had the darkest black eye and she was like, I'm not showing up looking like this. She wouldn't be able to explain it. She didn't even understand it. She was walking to the bathroom and she face planted because her body couldn't hold it. She didn't understand why she couldn't control herself and why these things were happening.
Andrea Gunning
Some of her friends, like Heather, tied the incident to her drinking or the way alcohol interacted with her meds.
Heather
I thought she probably got drunk and fell.
Andrea Gunning
Whether it was the alcohol or her medications causing the change, Saskia was growing more difficult to be around. She was increasingly erratic.
Heather
She was just so paranoid and accusing us of doing things behind her back, saying things behind her back. And the only thing we were doing behind her back was talking about how worried we were about her and what was going on.
Andrea Gunning
Saskia knew her friends were worried, but she also felt judged.
Saskia
I was going crazy and I was an embarrassment. I was isolating myself from my friends, thinking that they didn't have the best intentions for me. And I worried that I would be that failure like my dad was believed to be.
Andrea Gunning
Her dad couldn't outrun his mental health struggles, and maybe Saskia was destined for the same. As Saskia pushed her friends away, they knew she'd always have Mike. So as they became more and more concerned, they went to him. They tried to get him to talk to Saskia about her drinking and her meds. Every time, he assured them he had everything under control. As Heather recalls, he seemed like everything was fine. Then came October 27, 2018. It had been two years since Saskia and Mike's wedding. Three years since her health took a turn for the worse.
Saskia
My friend Allison was having a Halloween party, and my sister was nice enough to have the kids for a sleepover over her house.
Andrea Gunning
Allison's house was done up for the occasion. There were themed snacks and a photo wall, and everyone went all out with their costumes.
Saskia
I was a cowgirl and Mike was a cowboy. Pretty generic, but I still had some remnants of a black eye. And, you know, a lot of people asked me about it and I kind of just said, I don't know how, but I think that I fell and I'm okay.
Andrea Gunning
After her last fall, everyone was on high alert around Saskia. And before long, that concern seemed justified. According to Megan, Sas was wasted again.
Megan
And I say again because at that point, it was a real recurrence. By that time, she was getting in the tank all the time.
Andrea Gunning
Bridget tried to get Mike's help.
Bridget
I was like, you know, Saskia seems pretty messed up. I just grabbed her water and he was like, no, she's fine. And it was a very abnormal response because anyone who has to deal with somebody who's drunk, you're not going to be like, no, she's fine. So I was very shocked that he just downplayed it.
Andrea Gunning
Heather couldn't understand how Mike could be so calm.
Heather
Even when some of our friends approached him with concerns, he was like, she's fine.
Andrea Gunning
Eventually, Mike did get Saskia to leave. It was late, and when they got home, Mike went right to the bedroom. Saskia took a moment downstairs to eat and take her nighttime meds, which I.
Saskia
Always did, so that I could sleep through the night.
Andrea Gunning
Then she went up to their room. Mike was already in bed.
Saskia
He was facing his nightstand, and I wasn't sure if he was sleeping or not so. I, like, went and put my arm around him and we started making out. And I remember him telling me that he was going to use the bathroom and to hold on. A lot of time passed and I'm sitting there thinking, what is going on? And then I guess I fell asleep. Next thing I remember, I kind of opened my eyes and looked up and I saw him laying like opposite from me.
Andrea Gunning
Her eyes fluttered open. She didn't know how much time had passed. But Mike was awake. He was lying with his head at the end of the bed. He wasn't looking at Saskia. He was on his laptop.
Saskia
The open screen was facing me. I saw what looked like a mostly naked back and butt with some light blue underpants on.
Andrea Gunning
But just as quickly as she opened her eyes, she was getting sucked back into the darkness. The drugs, the alcohol rushed in like a riptide, pulling her back into the depths. She had been here once before, a few nights before her wedding. But this time she held onto the light. She needed to remember. So she focused on the glow of the screen.
Saskia
I told myself this is really important and I need to remember anything that I can. And trust me, I was feeling pretty out of it. I don't know how I was able to do this, but I remember looking and I saw the name Chatterbait. And then I remember seeing 1600 followers. I didn't know what that meant, but I just knew. Just remember these things. These are significant. And I passed back out. The next morning I woke up and I remembered.
Andrea Gunning
Somehow, despite the meds in her system, she was able to hold onto that image of the person in their underwear and those words, chatterbait. 1600 followers.
Saskia
But I had no idea until I confronted him later in the day, the depth of what he was doing. I said, I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing and I'm not going to tell the police if you totally come clean and you tell me what has been going on. So I asked him to show me the website and he opened it on the laptop and the picture was there. It was the picture from the night before. And I was like, that's my underwear. I realized I was like, that's my underwear. I said, is that me? And he said, yes, that's you. And he said, I guess we're both.
Marisa
A little bit crazy.
Andrea Gunning
On the next episode of Betrayal. She let out this blood curdling scream and ran down the hall. Then the sheriffs came sprinting. They didn't know what had happened. They just heard this scream and came sprinting down after her and she was just in shock.
Marisa
Like what is going on.
Andrea Gunning
For resources on sexual violence, visit rainnn.org betrayal that's R A I N N.org betrayal. You can also get free confidential 24. 7 support through RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline. Just text HOPE to 6467 or call 1-800-656, hope you are not alone. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team or want to tell us your story, email us@betrayalpodmail.com that is betrayalpodmail.com or follow us on Instagram betrayalpod. To access additional content and to connect with the betrayal community, join our substack@betrayal.substack.com we're grateful for your support. One way to show support is by subscribing to our show on Apple Podcasts. Don't forget to rate and review Betrayal. Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show is executive produced by Nancy Glass and Jennifer Faison, hosted and produced by me, Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Kaitlyn Golden. Our supervising producer is Carrie Hartman. Our story editor is Monique Laborde. Also produced by Ben Fetterman. Associate producers are Olivia Hewitt and Leah Jablo. Production management by Kristen Melchiori. Additional support by Curry Richmond. Our iHeart team is Ali Perry and Jessica Krynczyk. Audio editing by Tanner Robbins with additional editing and mixing by Matt d'. Alvecchio. Special thanks to Saskia, her friends and family and special thanks to Will Pearson and Carrie Lieberman. Betrayal's theme is composed by Oliver Baines. Music Library provided by MyB Music and for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Saskia
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Andrea Gunning
So here's the idea.
Saskia
You get it now. You call it an early present for next year. What do you have to lose?
Andrea Gunning
Give it a try@mintmobile.com Switch limited time 50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for 12 month plan taxes and fees.
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Andrea Gunning
Running my small business was like playing.
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Saskia
Now QuickBooks gives me access to a.
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Andrea Gunning
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Podcast by iHeartPodcasts and Glass Podcasts
Published: February 5, 2026
This episode delves into the life of Saskia Inwood, chronicling her journey from a tumultuous childhood to adulthood, and how her seemingly loving and supportive partner, Mike, ultimately betrays her in unimaginable ways. The episode explores themes of trauma, resilience, the “perfect victim” myth, and the devastating impact of hidden abuse. Through interviews with Saskia, her friends, and family, listeners are taken through her early life, struggles with mental health and addiction, the supportive facade of her marriage to Mike, and the disturbing discoveries leading up to his exposure.
“Home didn't feel like a place that I was even really wanted … I don't think I got a hug from either of my parents ... until I started giving them out when I was in college.” — Saskia [07:28]
“Growing up from a very young age, binge drinking every weekend, that was our culture.” — Megan, Saskia’s friend [08:25]
“Nobody that I have worked with in 27 plus years has done what Saskia has done ... with such optimism and joy ... as Saskia.” — Rob, attorney [11:16]
“He found me at a very vulnerable place ... Mike gave me all those things.” — Saskia [15:54]
“Now that we have each other, there is nothing we can’t handle together.” — Excerpt from Mike’s letter, read by Marisa [20:17]
“It was like I was under quicksand or something … I was literally just trying to survive and get to the next day.” — Saskia [16:57–17:25]
Escalating Health Events:
“I remember getting out of bed and I went in the shower. I kind of felt like I was underwater ... and I sat down with the shower still on ... crawled back to my bed. I must have slept for another six hours or something.” — Saskia [30:11]
Disbelief and Desperation:
“I was going crazy and I was an embarrassment. I was isolating myself from my friends, thinking that they didn't have the best intentions for me.” — Saskia [49:15]
Strange Behavior from Mike:
“He said, ‘Oh, say hi.’” — Saskia, recalling Mike’s reaction when caught [03:44]
Minimization by Friends and Self:
Ongoing Medical Crisis:
“I told myself this is really important and I need to remember anything that I can ... I saw the name Chatterbait. And then I remember seeing 1600 followers … Just remember these things. These are significant. And I passed back out.” — Saskia [53:35]
“I realized I was like, that's my underwear. I said, is that me? And he said, yes, that's you. And he said, I guess we're both a little bit crazy.” — Saskia and Mike [54:29–55:16]
On Family Neglect:
“Home didn't feel like a place that I was even really wanted.” — Saskia [07:28]
On Coping with Early Trauma:
“It helped me cope with a lot of things that I hadn't dealt with yet, like stuff from my childhood.” — Saskia [09:10]
On Mike’s Perceived Support:
“If I needed to sleep in, if I wasn't feeling well, he could take the kids to their sporting events … He would always make dinner every night.” — Saskia [19:21]
On Sickness and Self-Blame:
“I just wanted to be a good mom and a good wife and my kids remember those things ... my son knows I didn't go to his birthday party that year.” — Saskia [46:02]
On Realizing the True Nature of Her Abuse:
“I told myself this is really important and I need to remember anything that I can ... I saw the name Chatterbait … Just remember these things. These are significant.” — Saskia [53:35] “I realized ... that's my underwear ... is that me? And he said, yes, that's you.” — Saskia [54:29]
Friends’ Retrospective Realization:
“And I was like, holy shit. Knowing what I know now, I should have been like, get out.” — Heather [22:50]
The episode is emotionally raw, candid, and deeply empathetic. Drawing heavily from interviews with Saskia and those close to her, the narrative is unflinching in depicting the messiness and pain of living through hidden abuse, the spiral of self-doubt and illness, and the ways in which a perpetrator can manipulate their victim and inner circle. It challenges listeners to examine assumptions about “the perfect victim,” highlights the importance of listening to and believing survivors, and foreshadows Saskia’s coming fight for justice.
Next Episode Preview:
A preview teases an explosive reveal and the involvement of authorities, as Saskia fully comes to terms with Mike’s betrayal and seeks justice [55:21].
Resources:
For help with sexual violence: rainn.org/betrayal or call 1-800-656-HOPE.