Leona | Betrayal Weekly

Summary

Betrayal Weekly — "Leona"

Podcast: Betrayal Weekly
Host: Andrea Gunning
Date: July 23, 2026
Episode Theme:
A deeply personal account of betrayal, cyber-harassment, and resilience, told by Leona, whose life is upended when the person harassing her and her loved ones turns out to be her own husband, Aiden. This episode explores the profound impact of digital abuse within intimate relationships, the struggle for safety, and the long path to healing.

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Episode Overview

Betrayal Weekly launches its new season with Leona’s devastating, true story. What begins as a tale of small-town love quickly transforms into a chilling chronicle of hidden abuse and escalating harassment. Through twists and emotional revelations, the episode uncovers how trust can be weaponized and how survival and recovery come at immense personal cost.

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Key Discussion Points & Timeline

1. Leona's Upbringing and Early Independence

• Small-Town Roots: Leona grew up in a rural Midwest town with fewer than 5,000 people, where everyone knows each other (04:16).
• Family and Work Ethic: She’s Type A, protective, raised with little money, started working full-time at 16 to pay her way (05:04; 05:26).
• No College Tradition: “Nobody in my family has been to college, so all I had known was you start working.” — Leona [05:50]

2. Beginning of the Relationship

• Reconnects with Aiden (high school acquaintance, now in the military) on Facebook (06:02).
• Emotional whirlwind of fast-moving romance: first date, instant connection, meeting families, and envisioning a future together (07:24—11:14).
• Marriage Proposal: Aiden proposes over the phone during his military training; Leona is thrilled and wedding plans begin (14:08; 14:27).

3. Escalation: The Harassment Starts

• The Night Before the Wedding: Leona’s 17-year-old sister receives graphic, harassing texts threatening to release private images unless she sends nudes (16:23).
  • The harasser clearly knows Leona, Aiden, and has hacked Leona’s Facebook account (17:00).
  • Quote: “If you don't send us nudes, then we're going to send out these pictures and release this information about your sister and her husband's sexual relationship.” — Harasser (via Leona) [18:07]
• Trying to ignore/block numbers, but messages escalate and become cruelly personal (25:43-26:41).
• “It felt so personal. What did we do?” — Leona [33:38]

4. Community Impact and Desperation

• The harassment spreads: classmates, friends, and others in town receive similar messages (31:00).
• Community posts on Facebook reveal up to 20 people affected; Leona realizes she's not alone (31:27).
• Paranoia and exhausted relationships: the hacker’s presence dominates Leona’s life and strains her marriage (33:54).
• “I remember just bawling my eyes out like, I'm going to get a divorce in less than six months because of this shit. What is going on?” — Leona [34:28]

5. A False Sense of Resolution

• Aiden “hires” a private investigator, who supposedly traces messages to an IP address two hours away (36:09).
• Messages stop after “PI” intervenes. Relief returns (36:36).
• Leona moves to the East Coast, starts a new life with Aiden after his deployment, has children, and builds a home together (37:48—38:56).

6. A Chilling Discovery — The True Betrayer

• Years later, Leona’s supportive circle of military wives suddenly ghosts her (40:00).
• A friend reveals all the wives were harassed by similar messages—this time, the trail leads directly to Aiden (41:08).
• “Oh my God. It was Aiden. The entire time, it was right in front of my face and I didn't see it. He did.” — Leona [42:37]
  • Aiden is recognized by a male colleague from explicit photos (46:28).
  • The pattern is exactly the same as before; realization devastates Leona.

7. Confronting the Reality and Trauma

• Leona confronts Aiden over Skype, methodically builds up to the question (49:07).
• Key Moment:
  • “He starts panicking…this look on his face that has just seared into my brain forever.” — Leona [50:07]
  • Aiden confesses, blames low self-esteem and humiliation fetish, and claims a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from military service as a causal factor (50:53-51:10).
• Medical diagnosis confirms TBI and PTSD, but Leona notes Aiden’s behavior pre-dated his injury (53:17; 58:30).

8. Separation and Escaping Abuse

• Relationship grows increasingly abusive and dangerous, culminating in physical violence:
  • “I woke up to him choking me...getting him off of me. And he gets down into the fetal position and starts crying. He was like, 'Oh, my God. I was asleep. I'm so sorry.'” — Leona [55:21]
• Leona leaves with her children in the middle of the night, files for divorce, and fights for custody (55:57; 56:42).
• Recognizes herself as a victim of abuse for the first time (56:59).

9. Aftermath and Ongoing Struggles

• Lasting impact on Leona and her sister, who was also targeted as a minor.
• “We were essentially abused by the same person.” — Leona [58:30]
• Aiden is not charged with crimes; Leona still fighting for full custody [58:30—59:09].
• Ongoing challenges with trust and healing, but finds gratitude in small joys with her children (59:34; 60:01).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Leona on Realization and Betrayal:
  “It felt like someone opened my brain and it was spilling onto the floor. Everything I had known to be true was just not.” [03:25, reflected again at 47:28]
• On Community Paranoia:
  “You never knew where it was going to come from.” — Leona [32:08]
• On Aiden’s Confession:
  “He said, yes. I’m so sorry. You mean everything to me. He’s begging me not to leave him.” — Leona [50:22]
• Aftermath Philosophy:
  “It feels like a poison when you are not talking about it. The more you talk about it, the better it gets.” — Leona [60:29]

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Key Timestamps

• Small-town childhood & family background: [04:16—05:50]
• Leona and Aiden’s whirlwind romance: [06:02—12:05]
• First harassment texts received: [16:23—18:07]
• Police report & town-wide discovery: [30:13—31:27]
• False PI investigation & brief peace: [36:09—36:58]
• Ghosting by military wives, confrontation, and Aiden exposed: [40:00—42:37]
• Leona’s confrontation and Aiden’s confession: [49:07—50:22]
• Diagnosis, separation, and escape: [53:11—56:42]
• Reflections on healing and trust: [59:34—60:29]

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Episode Conclusion: Reflections and Resilience

Leona's testimony is a harrowing reminder of how trust can be broken not just by strangers, but by those closest to us. The episode closes with Leona reflecting on the importance of speaking out and reclaiming her future for herself and her daughters.

“Because this podcast changed the view that I had with what I was going through...It feels like a poison when you are not talking about it. The more you talk about it, the better it gets.” — Leona [60:29]

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If you or someone you love is experiencing domestic abuse or harassment, please seek professional help. Links to resources are available in the podcast’s show notes.

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Transcript

[Andrea Gunning]

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[Leona]

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[Leona]

I just lost my mind. It felt like someone opened my brain and it was spilling onto the floor. Everything I had known to be true was just not.

[Andrea Gunning]

I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, a show about the people we trust the most and the deceptions that change everything. For this episode, we've anonymized all the names and locations. Leona grew up in the Midwest in a town where nobody was a stranger.

[Leona]

This town is tiny. There's less than 5,000 people here, so everybody knows everybody.

[Andrea Gunning]

Her family has lived there for four generations.

[Leona]

It's hard to go anywhere and not be running into somebody that I know or knows someone in my family.

[Andrea Gunning]

Just outside of town, the landscape gives way to huge fields of corn and soybeans. It's a big farming community. Lots of kids at Leona's school were part of a youth organization called ffa, Future Farmers of America.

[Leona]

During FFA Week, everyone drove their tractors to school.

[Andrea Gunning]

Growing up, Leona spent a lot of time with her younger sister. They were close and Leona was protective of her. She's an oldest child to her core.

[Leona]

I am definitely type A personality. I want everything to be perfect. I'm a black and white person. I do not do well with gray, so I have to follow the rules.

[Andrea Gunning]

Her family didn't have a lot of money, and if Leona wanted to go to the movies, grab dinner with friends, or go on class field trips, she had to come up with the money herself.

[Leona]

I started working pretty much full time at 16 and so I would go to school till 3, get to work at 3:30, be there till 10.

[Andrea Gunning]

After high school, Leona stayed in her hometown and lived with her parents. She was still a teenager and was saving up money to move out. She dreamed of moving to a bigger city one day, but she needed more financial stability.

[Leona]

Nobody in my family has been to college, so all I had known was you start working.

[Andrea Gunning]

At 18, Leona started working at her state's Department of Revenue.

[Leona]

Shortly after I started that position, I got a friend request on Facebook.

[Andrea Gunning]

It was from a guy she went to high school with. His name was Aiden. They had never been close and she only remembered a couple of vague things about him.

[Leona]

He was a grade above me, he was in theater. And I remember seeing him on stage when I would go watch the performances. But I wasn't going to see him.

[Andrea Gunning]

She accepted his friend request. Then Eden sent her a message asking her how she was doing. The two started chatting.

[Leona]

Where are you living things like that. Catching up about what life looked like for the last couple years.

[Andrea Gunning]

Eden told her that he had joined the military and was living a few states away. She told him about her new job and caught him up on what was happening back home. She started to look forward to Aiden's messages.

[Leona]

It was exciting because I was getting attention and it was from someone who got out of our town. So I was like, okay, maybe I have some chance of getting out of this tiny town.

[Andrea Gunning]

They messaged back and forth for months. Then the holidays rolled around in December.

[Leona]

He said, hey, I'm back home. Would love to get together and have dinner.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona agreed and a few days later

[Leona]

we went on our first date.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona still remembers walking into the restaurant and seeing Aiden.

[Leona]

He was in the military, so it was clean shaven all the things. We sat and we talked for hours, just laughing and having such a good time. I was enthralled with him.

[Andrea Gunning]

If you had seen them at the restaurant that night, you wouldn't have believed it was their first date.

[Leona]

We were just making jokes like we had known each other forever. Just instant connection.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona and Aiden stayed in their booth talking and laughing long after they finished their meal. Even after four hours had gone by, Leona didn't want the date to end.

[Leona]

It was such a significant moment for me. I can tell you exactly what booth we were sitting in. That's how vivid this memory is.

[Andrea Gunning]

As soon as she left the restaurant, she told her friends about the date.

[Leona]

I'm not good at keeping secrets, so I can't at all when something exciting happens in my life, like I just have to tell.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden was equally as excited about her.

[Leona]

We went on the next date within the next few days.

[Andrea Gunning]

They went to the movies and saw A Flight with Denzel Washington. It's an action movie about a pilot who is forced to crash land an airplane. Leona and Aiden were gripping their armrests the whole time after we left.

[Leona]

He was like, why in the hell did you pick that movie?

[Andrea Gunning]

They laughed about it as Aiden drove Leona home. He walked her to her front door.

[Leona]

It was freezing outside because it was December. And I remember him just shivering because he was so cold. And I remember Having our first kiss on my parents porch that night.

[Andrea Gunning]

Eden was changing jobs within the military and was transferred to the reserves. He moved into a place an hour outside of their hometown and made the drive to see Leona whenever he had free time.

[Leona]

He's taking me to his favorite restaurants in this town and we're just hanging out constantly. Were texting all the time, calling each other.

[Andrea Gunning]

That initial spark of attraction kept growing. Pretty soon they were inseparable.

[Leona]

This is a person I want to spend all my time with because I'm having so much fun. Like, we're talking about whatever, we're laughing. And I had never experienced anything like that before. So I'm like, okay, well, this is obvious that this is the person I'm supposed to be with.

[Andrea Gunning]

Eden introduced her to his family.

[Leona]

His dad's a preacher, his mom is a nurse. I loved them.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden's family loved her too.

[Leona]

I immediately became a part of their family. I was hanging out at their house. We were always doing stuff together.

[Andrea Gunning]

In some ways, Aiden and Leona were very different.

[Leona]

Aiden was a very private person, and I'm the complete opposite. I'm an open book.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden planned everything out carefully while Leona was spontaneous. But in many ways, they were similar. Growing up in the same town meant they understood each other's childhoods.

[Leona]

We both were raised in a situation where our families didn't have a lot of money. So the movies were like a gift. You get one piece of candy and it was like a luxury.

[Andrea Gunning]

She and Aiden were just barely adults, not even 21, but they both made their own money and could indulge in little luxuries. These dates felt exciting.

[Leona]

We went to the movies. That was our thing. We got to do that together and kind of heal that smaller version of the both of us that, like, we didn't get to do that when we were kids, but now as adults, we get to choose to do that.

[Andrea Gunning]

It was December of 2012. A new movie had come out that they both wanted to see, the Hobbit. So they grabbed their favorite snacks and settled into their seats. Then Aiden turned to Leona and told her he had a question to ask her.

[Leona]

He said, do you want to go steady with me? I remember being like, absolutely. There's no question about this.

[Andrea Gunning]

It was so exciting. But in a few weeks, Aiden was leaving for the east coast, where he'd complete his next round of military training.

[Leona]

And so we knew our time together was going to go by quick. And so any moment we could, we would spend time together. He ended up staying at my Parents house with us during a snowstorm. We were just hanging out in my room and I decided to tell him that I loved him.

[Andrea Gunning]

As the snow swirled outside, Aiden told Leona that he loved her too. The next week, the day they had both been dreading arrived. It was time for Aiden to leave for the east coast to start his new position in the military. He would fly there from a military base a few hours away from their hometown. Leona came with him to drop him

[Leona]

off and it was pouring rain. It was the kind of rain where the car fogs up and you don't know which temperature to put it on to figure it out.

[Andrea Gunning]

But nothing would stop them from savoring those last hours together.

[Leona]

We are singing at the top of our lungs. We're taking pictures while we're driving, like just being in that moment of like, we're not going to see each other for a very long time, so we're going to just be in it.

[Andrea Gunning]

When they said goodbye, they were both crying. The drive back home without him felt so empty.

[Leona]

I drove home on these curvy ass roads while it's raining and I'm on the phone with my best friend just bawling because I was just so sad, just crying because I'm like, I just drop the person off that I love.

[Andrea Gunning]

Because Aiden was switching jobs within the military, he had to go through basic training again.

[Leona]

And because of that, he was not allowed to have a cell phone for the first several weeks. We would write handwritten letters back and forth. So very like, he's in the military, we're writing letters.

[Andrea Gunning]

In those letters, they began to dream of what they wanted their future together to look like.

[Leona]

We knew we wanted to have kids. We were going to live on the east coast. We're getting married before I'm 21, you know. There was this very detailed plan.

[Andrea Gunning]

Their letters back and forth became a penciled in hopeful blueprint for their life. When Leona missed Aiden, she reread his letters and imagined their future together. Finally, Aiden got a phone.

[Leona]

And so Aiden had called me to like kind of fill me in on what was going on. And then he says, I think we should get married.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona was overjoyed. She didn't hesitate.

[Leona]

This is how it's supposed to be. I found my person, so why waste any more of my time?

[Andrea Gunning]

She was ready to run full speed towards the life they dreamed of. They decided to get married that Christmas. That gave them just over six months to plan the wedding.

[Leona]

All the things started happening very quickly when we were doing wedding Planning. His mom and his sister were involved. His sister was one of my bridesmaids. I went that next week and bought my wedding dress.

[Andrea Gunning]

While they were apart, Aiden and Leona sent photos and intimate messages back and forth on Facebook Messenger. That summer, Eden flew Leona out to visit him on the east Coast. Seeing each other in person, they were even more giddy about their wedding. They talked through every detail together. Because Aiden proposed over the phone. Leona didn't have a ring yet.

[Leona]

And he's like, can you explain to me, like, what you want your ring to look like? What do you want the band to look like? And so I'm explaining this, and I'm kind of leaned up against him, and he was like, do you want it to look like this?

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden pulled a ring out of his

[Leona]

pocket, and he slid it onto my finger, and I was like, oh, my God. It was bigger than I expected it to be. It was like a full carrot. It was better than I had dreamed of.

[Andrea Gunning]

She called her family right away, and they celebrated with her. The rest of her visit was just as magical. They watched fireworks burst through the dark sky and explored the city.

[Leona]

We were kind of getting a feel for what our life was going to look like.

[Andrea Gunning]

Finally, their wedding week arrived, and Aiden traveled back home.

[Leona]

The night of our rehearsal dinner, everyone, all the bridesmaids, all the groomsmen, we went bowling afterwards.

[Andrea Gunning]

They piled into the bowling alley, ordered food, and laughed watching their friends get competitive with each other.

[Leona]

We were just having, like, the best time, enjoying each other's company, laughing, cutting up, no care in the world, because tomorrow we're gonna be married.

[Andrea Gunning]

But then, in the middle of the celebration, something disturbing happened.

[Leona]

My sister starts receiving these text messages from an unknown number.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona's little sister went pale.

[Leona]

She was receiving pictures of someone's penis.

[Andrea Gunning]

The photos were accompanied by a slew of graphic questions.

[Leona]

What is her opinion of the way this is shaped or sized? What do you think about this? Do you think this would be pleasurable to you?

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona was horrified. Her sister was only 17.

[Leona]

It was just like the wind got knocked out of me, and I was like, oh, my God. Like, I'm so sorry. I mean, she's underage.

[Andrea Gunning]

At this point, more and more messages flooded her sister's phone incessantly.

[Leona]

We're bowling, and we're immediately not having fun because my sister and I are having to deal with this. My sister's like, what the hell's going on?

[Andrea Gunning]

Nobody in their friend group recognized the number.

[Leona]

No idea who it is. None whatsoever.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona pulled Aiden aside to tell him what was going on. He looked disturbed.

[Leona]

Aiden was like, oh, that's really bizarre.

[Andrea Gunning]

They were starting to think it was just spam. But then the messages got personal.

[Leona]

They know who I am and they know who Aiden is. The person had hacked into my Facebook account and got all of these photos and these very specific details about our sex life.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona thought of all the intimate exchanges she'd had with Aiden over the last few months. The thought of someone reading them made her sick. Then the text to her little sister took a turn. It started to sound like blackmail.

[Leona]

If you don't send us nudes, then we're going to send out these pictures and release this information about your sister and her husband's sexual relationship.

[Andrea Gunning]

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[Leona]

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[Andrea Gunning]

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[Leona]

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[Andrea Gunning]

On the night before Leona and Aiden's wedding, they went to a bowling alley with their friends. Everyone was having a great time until Leona's sister started receiving disturbing text messages from an unknown number. The text revealed that they had hacked into Leona's Facebook account and accessed hundreds of sexual images and text messages sent between her and Aiden. And now they were threatening to release these photos and texts if Leona's sister didn't comply with their demands.

[Leona]

If you don't send us nudes, then we're going to send out these pictures and release this information about your sister and her husband's sexual relationship.

[Andrea Gunning]

She made her way through the bowling alley to Aiden and told him what happened.

[Leona]

Aiden was like, oh, that's really bizarre.

[Andrea Gunning]

He left his circle of friends and came over to see the text himself. When he saw the messages, his concern heightened. Aiden was a private person. Hearing that someone accessed intimate details about their sex life clearly disturbed him.

[Leona]

You could immediately feel the air in the room. Just leave

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden told Leona's sister to ignore the messages for now. They didn't know who they were dealing with, and they needed to treat this with caution.

[Leona]

We'll just ignore it. Let's just deal with this at a later time.

[Andrea Gunning]

They all stayed at the bowling alley until late that night and tried to have fun. Leona did her best to put it out of her mind and take in all the joy and excitement around her, but it was hard to ignore what happened. The next morning, Leona woke up and it was her wedding day.

[Leona]

I was just so excited to, like, get down that aisle and see him and be with my husband. Like, I'm ready to start our life.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona, Aiden, their families and friends packed into a church in their hometown. Leona walked down the aisle and met Aiden at the altar. When their eyes locked, she felt the same certainty she'd felt on their first date.

[Leona]

I remember knowing that this was the right decision. I'm just crying and, like, I'm wiping a tear off my face. And I was just so happy because he was my best friend. He was someone I could confide in. We had these plans for our future, and it was just so exciting to get it started. Let's start our life. Why are we waiting another second?

[Andrea Gunning]

The rest of the day was filled with dancing, speeches, and wedding cake. Everything was joyful. She tried to stay in the moment and not let the text from the unknown number ruin the day.

[Leona]

I put it out of my mind. This is my day. I'm not gonna let whatever it is interfere with that. We had so much fun. We're all having a good time. But there also is this, like, lurking chaos in the background that you can't quite ignore.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden only got a few days off for the wedding. They didn't have time for a honeymoon. In fact, two days after they got married, he had to return to the base. Leona had been so focused on the wedding that she didn't account for how hard the goodbye would be.

[Leona]

The reality hit me at that point. I'm like, oh, my God, this man that I love so much is about to leave. And I just immediately start crying.

[Andrea Gunning]

They said a tearful goodbye, and Aiden reported back to his base on the East Coast. Leona stayed in their hometown. With the wedding over, she focused her energy on helping her sister deal with the blackmailer.

[Leona]

I just remember being so concerned about it because it was my responsibility to take care of this.

[Andrea Gunning]

She started with the most obvious solution.

[Leona]

I had told my sister to just block the number, but that didn't stop it we would block the one number, and then almost immediately, it would be coming from a different phone number.

[Andrea Gunning]

Then, to her horror, her little sister started receiving screenshots of Leona and Aiden's private conversations.

[Leona]

The person had all of these photos and these very specific details about our sex life.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona felt sick. They really had hacked into her Facebook. They'd seen everything. It was an unthinkable violation. The messages to her little sister all had the same disturbing tone. They were cruel and emasculating towards her husband.

[Leona]

They said, I've seen photos of Aiden, and he's tiny. Can you believe that your sister is with somebody like that? How embarrassing.

[Andrea Gunning]

When ignoring the messages didn't work, Leona's sister texted one of the numbers back.

[Leona]

She would say, leave me alone. Stop texting me. Stop doing this. And they would just still pile in.

[Andrea Gunning]

Nothing she said made the sender back off. She refused to send intimate photos of herself and tried to just keep blocking the numbers, but it was hard to manage. After her sister had been dealing with this for three months, Leona got a text herself.

[Leona]

They said, your sister isn't doing this now. We're escalating it.

[Andrea Gunning]

After that, they sent Leona a photo, an intimate image of herself, one that she'd sent to Aiden. It was clear this image was a bargaining chip, a threat. The messages kept coming.

[Leona]

They were just making fun of our sex life. How embarrassing for you that you have to ask your husband to do this so you can be completely satisfied. This is embarrassing.

[Andrea Gunning]

She wanted to report it, but the idea of showing these messages to the police mortified her. The fear kept her silent, so she ignored them and blocked the number each time they sent her something new. The next month, she went to visit Aiden at his military base. It would be their last time seeing each other before his upcoming deployment. He would be gone for nearly a year. Before he left, they had a peaceful week together.

[Leona]

It was such a great time. I was hanging out with the people that were going to be my support system while he was deployed. We went to the movies all the time. We were hanging out with his friends. It felt like nothing could get in our way. But in the meantime, we're still receiving these messages, and they're getting worse.

[Andrea Gunning]

Finally, Leona snapped. She texted the number back.

[Leona]

I told the person, I'm like, you're ruining my life. You're invading our privacy. What I do with my husband is none of your business. You need to get a different hobby.

[Andrea Gunning]

But it became clear, humiliating her and Aiden was the hacker's full Time hobby, and they had no plans of dialing it back.

[Leona]

Whenever they would start messaging, it would just last for hours. Even if you weren't responding, they would just spammy with information or spammy with texts. And so I'm having to stand up for my husband to this person I don't even know and also trying to figure out how to get them to stop messaging.

[Andrea Gunning]

My sister Leona felt alone in this. A few weeks later, Aiden was deployed to Afghanistan, and she was back at home, laying awake at night thinking about who could be behind these messages. Was it one of their friends, Someone else in town, or a random stranger hundreds of miles away? Even as the messages escalated, she tried not to burden Aiden with it.

[Leona]

I was trying to keep his feelings in check because he is literally deployed in the Middle east, so he's got his own stuff going on. Like, I have to control all of this back home, and I'm failing as a wife. This is falling on me in every way.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona had been trying to handle everything on her own, but nothing was working. In fact, it was only getting worse. She needed help.

[Leona]

I'm gonna go to the police about this.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona and her sister went to the police station together.

[Leona]

I started explaining what's been going on, and they're like, okay, well, we need you to write out everything. So we sit there and we write everything down. And I'm like, what are the next steps on this? What can we do to resolve this? And that's when they said, unless you've been physically attacked, there's nothing we can do. And it just felt like, why did I just waste my time writing all of this down and reporting it to you?

[Andrea Gunning]

A few weeks later, Leona was scrolling through Facebook when she saw a post that made her stop in her tracks. A girl from her high school posted about receiving strange messages from an unknown number.

[Leona]

She posted a screenshot of the messages that she got and the photo.

[Andrea Gunning]

Reading through the messages, Leona immediately recognized the jeering tone.

[Leona]

Look at this person's penis. What do you think about the size or the shape? Do you think this would be satisfying to you?

[Andrea Gunning]

This was clearly Leona's hacker. Her high school classmate turned to Facebook for help.

[Leona]

She asked, has anyone else heard from this person? Like, what is going on?

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona clicked on the comment section of the post. What she saw stunned her. Dozens of comments from other people in her town saying that they, too, had been getting harassing texts from an unknown number.

[Leona]

There were so many people commenting on the post that were like, yeah, I'm Also receiving these.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona was shocked. She thought she and her sister were alone in this. Over the course of that spring, the hacker tightened their grasp on Leona's town. She saw more friends from high school post about the harassment online. No one knew who it was or how to stop them.

[Leona]

They were using email, Facebook, text messages. It was just all the time. You never knew where it was going to come from.

[Andrea Gunning]

When Leona saw her friends or ran into her old high school classmates, the unknown number text always came up. Their entire town was on edge.

[Leona]

And then my close friends started getting messages and email addresses were being spammed with this stuff. It was just encompassing every aspect of my life, like it was everywhere. All of a sudden, more and more

[Andrea Gunning]

people came forward saying that they had received disturbing messages.

[Leona]

I'd say everyone included. Probably like 20 or so people. We all went to the same high school.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona's town is a hard place to hide. Remember, it's home to just 5,000 people. This had to be someone they all knew. Everyone was trying desperately to figure out who was lurking behind the unknown number.

[Leona]

April, May, June, and July were just very intense with the amount of text messages. People in my community are getting stuff. People are posting about it on Facebook, like, who else is getting these messages?

[Andrea Gunning]

For some people in their community, the messages died off or only happened once. But for Leona, they were constant.

[Leona]

It felt so personal. What did we do?

[Andrea Gunning]

Eden and Leona were exhausted, trying to figure it all out. Instead of talking about their plans for a family, all of their energy was taken up by the unknown number.

[Leona]

Our connection is definitely strained because he's working and, you know, the times we are talking, we're bickering about money or this person that's harassing us. He was irritated that every time we talked on the phone, we were having to deal with this. And so it was like, can I just call you and talk to you about literally anything else? We were just trying to make it till November because that's when he would come home.

[Andrea Gunning]

They began to argue more. The hacker was ruining everything in her life, and she worried her relationship with Aiden would be next.

[Leona]

I remember just bawling my eyes out like, I'm going to get a divorce in less than six months because of this shit. What is going on?

[Andrea Gunning]

The harassment drove Leona into a state of constant paranoia and exhaustion.

[Leona]

It was just chaos all the time. Everything around me I was failing at because I couldn't figure out who this person was. I couldn't protect my sister, couldn't protect my husband.

[Andrea Gunning]

Then the texts took a new turn. The hackers seemed to be watching her and her sister.

[Leona]

They would know details about our comings and goings, comments about seeing us out and about. We are always looking over our shoulder. It felt like a stalker type vibe.

[Andrea Gunning]

But she couldn't protect herself because she didn't know what or who to look for.

[Leona]

I was panicking because I had no idea who it was.

[Andrea Gunning]

This was the last straw. Something had to change. She already knew the police couldn't help, but they needed protection. Finally, Aiden had an idea.

[Leona]

He knows people in the military world that can figure this out. He was going to reach out to his friends in the private investigation world. And they were going to figure this out because of an IP address, especially if they're using a Facebook.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden contacted one of his friends who worked as a private investigator. Leona agreed to give it a try. Finally, Aiden called her one day with good news. The private investigator was able to trace the text messages back to an IP address.

[Leona]

Based on these text messages, his PI people had said that they were two hours away. So it's like, okay, he's not in our community, so that seems like we're fine there.

[Andrea Gunning]

For the first time in six months, Leona felt relief. This invisible, omnipresent force had finally been pinpointed to one location, one IP address. This felt like a fixable problem.

[Leona]

His PI then had to step in and take control of it and say something to him to just like, make it stop.

[Andrea Gunning]

Sure enough, after the PI intervened, the messages from the unknown number went from a constant stream to a slow trickle. And then one day, the messages stopped entirely.

[Leona]

This person disappeared. I don't know how this person disappeared, but they stopped. Stopped.

[Andrea Gunning]

The entire town seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Her Facebook feed turned from screenshots of harassing texts back to engagement posts and photos from family reunions. Slowly, people went back to their own lives. That summer, Leona packed up and moved to a town on the east coast near Aiden's military base. For the first time in her life, she was living a thousand miles away from her Hometown. She was 21 now, and Aiden was 23. Aiden was coming home from deployment that fall and they were going to start their life living together for the first time. Leona wanted everything to be perfect when he got there.

[Leona]

I decorated the house. I hung balloons, I hung photos of us welcome home banners. I just made this whole big deal about it because I was so excited to like, really start our life.

[Andrea Gunning]

Finally, the day arrived. Aiden was coming home.

[Leona]

It was the classic Movie of the guy coming home from deployment. You're in the hangar and you're waiting for him. It's the middle of the night, and there's a room full of people. We're just waiting for our loved ones to come home and spotting him from across the room and just, like, wanting to run directly to him.

[Andrea Gunning]

For Leona and Aiden, this was a fresh start, A chance to refocus on their marriage and each other. They had made it out of their hometown, and the stress of the unknown number felt far away. Leona hadn't received any disturbing messages in months.

[Leona]

It was so incredible. There was no deployment on the horizon. We have our home together, and we do our favorite things. We go to the movies. We have date nights.

[Andrea Gunning]

Before long, Leona found out that she was pregnant. They were both thrilled.

[Leona]

I quit my job and just started preparing for our oldest daughter to be born.

[Andrea Gunning]

When their daughter was born, it felt like everything was clicking into place. This was how she had always envisioned their life together. As Leona settled into her new home, she made friends with other military wives.

[Leona]

And we're hanging out with each other all the time. I become really close with one of the other wives, and we're hanging out almost daily. And then right before my oldest first birthday, I find out I'm pregnant again. When our daughter turned one, we had this big party. We invited all of our friends over.

[Andrea Gunning]

Everything seemed normal. But then something bizarre happened.

[Leona]

Everyone disappeared. After that party. I stopped hearing from everybody.

[Andrea Gunning]

After that, all of her new friends suddenly stopped talking to her. Even her closest friend, who she saw almost every day.

[Leona]

I don't understand what happened. We just stopped communicating. And she doesn't answer my text messages.

[Andrea Gunning]

She told Aiden about how all of the women seemed to be ghosting her.

[Leona]

And he's like, I think it's probably best you just distance yourself. I had a lot of things going on, so I was just like, I'm just gonna focus on my family.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona gave birth to their second daughter. She and Aiden savored all of their time with their two girls, but their time together as a family was limited.

[Leona]

He is gearing up for another deployment. Then he deploys six weeks after she's born and he's gone for six months.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona's mom stayed with her during Aiden's deployment to support her and her kids. It was hard being away from Aiden, and Leona looked for things to fill her days. She started filming makeup tutorials.

[Leona]

I'm doing these videos of live doing makeup, and this friend that I was really close with starts popping up on my lives, making comments and reaching back out to me.

[Andrea Gunning]

It was her close friend who hadn't replied to her in months.

[Leona]

And so I'm like, so excited to hear from her. So I called her and I'm like, I'm so excited to hear from you, but what the hell? Where have you been the last year? And she tells me, she's like, well, you need to talk to your husband. And I'm like, what do you mean? And so she proceeds to tell me that he had been harassing all the women in the group and all the wives of the group.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona was confused. Aiden would never harass women. But then her friend said something chilling. Over the past year, some of the military wives had been getting strange, harassing messages from an unknown number.

[Leona]

It was the same stuff that had been happening. And they have proof that it's Aiden.

[Andrea Gunning]

That's why everyone ghosted her. Leona was still in disbelief. Her friends sent her all the screenshots they'd gathered.

[Leona]

It took me three hours to read through all of these screenshots. They were emails. They were Facebook messages.

[Andrea Gunning]

As she read through the messages, her stomach dropped.

[Leona]

What do you think about this? Isn't this embarrassing?

[Andrea Gunning]

It was the exact same language her hacker used.

[Leona]

It felt unreal. I felt like I was looking at myself, watching myself receive this information.

[Andrea Gunning]

In that moment, everything clicked.

[Leona]

Oh my God. It was Aiden. The entire time, it was right in front of my face and I didn't see it. He did.

[Ashley Iconetti]

All of this.

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[Ashley Iconetti]

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[Leona]

Yeah, it's pretty wild.

[Ashley Iconetti]

They've watched us go from dating shows to engagements, weddings, babies, buying homes. Every stage comes with new decisions.

[Leona]

The milestones are the fun part, but

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[Leona]

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[Andrea Gunning]

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A burst pipe? A dead water heater? The AC calling it quits? Who do you call? HomeServe is an easy way to handle unexpected home repairs with plans covering stuff basic homeowners insurance usually won't Instead of scrambling for a contractor, you make one call to get the repair process started. Join the millions of customers who trust HomeServe right now. Go to HomeServe.com podcast for 50% less your first year. That's HomeServe.com podcast savings compared to renewal price void In Florida for six months, Leona and her husband, Aiden, dealt with sexually threatening texts from an unknown number. By the time they moved to the east coast for Aiden's job in the military, the texts had stopped. But after a few years, one of Leona's friends told her the military wives had been receiving disturbing messages from an unknown number. And when she saw all the messages, Leona was horrified. The texts were identical to the ones she had received back in her hometown. The pattern had repeated. Even though they were a thousand miles away, the only constants were her and Aiden. Suddenly, it was horrifyingly clear.

[Leona]

Oh my God, it was Aiden. The entire time he did all of

[Andrea Gunning]

this, the military community figured out it was him because one of the men who works with Aiden was able to recognize him in the photos. In the military, there are often communal showers. That's how he recognized parts of Aiden's body. When Leona saw saw the photo, she recognized it too. It was Aiden. When this happened the first time, Leona believed her private messages with Aiden had been hacked. But now there was no reason why these women would be receiving nude images of Aiden unless he was the one sending them.

[Leona]

This seems Like a joke. What the hell is going on? I was just so pissed. And I had to wait hours before I could confront him because he was in the Middle east again. And so I had to wait almost 24 hours before I could talk to him about it.

[Andrea Gunning]

Those 24 hours crawled by slowly. Leona's reality was coming apart at the seams.

[Leona]

I just lost my mind. It felt like someone opened my brain and it was spilling onto the floor. Everything I had known to be true was just not.

[Andrea Gunning]

She thought back to the moment this all started. A celebration the night before their wedding, when her teenage sister received graphic messages. Aiden was standing right there, pretending to be horrified.

[Leona]

While we're all together, we're all in the same room. I mean, it was right in front of my face, and I just didn't even see it.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden watched Leona and her sister suffer. He even pretended to hire a private investigator to stop the hacker. All the while, he was the one orchestrating all of the chaos. He was the source of their pain.

[Leona]

He knew everything, every step of the way. How have I been duped like this?

[Andrea Gunning]

The Aiden she knew was calm, rational, and private. The texts were volatile, humiliating, and violated their privacy on every level.

[Leona]

I don't even know who he was. My vision of who he was in the moment was just so wildly disconnected.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden felt like a stranger now and a dangerous one.

[Leona]

It's such an evil, black fog feeling. I don't know what love feels like, because I thought that was it. But someone who loves you does treat you like that.

[Andrea Gunning]

The next day, Leona finally got the chance to video chat with Aiden. She knew she had to be strategic.

[Leona]

I got on the Skype call with him, trying to just stay as calm as possible because he can just hang up and be done. So I wanted to lull him in before I said anything to him. So we were just talking about our normal day. He's asking about the girls, and then I told him that I had talked to my friend. And he's like, oh, how'd that go? And I was like, is there anything that you want to tell me that she would be upset about? And he was like, no, I can't think of anything. And I was like, you wouldn't know why she's upset. And he was like, no, I have no idea. I said, okay, I'm gonna ask you one more time, and this time, when I ask you, I'm gonna make sure that you know that I have hundreds of screenshots that tell me otherwise. So, again, is there anything that you would like to tell me.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden had been calm before this moment. Relaxed. But in a split second, his face rearranged into an expression she had never seen.

[Leona]

This look on his face that has just seared into my brain forever. A deer in headlights look. He starts panicking.

[Andrea Gunning]

She asked him one last time, did he do this?

[Leona]

And he said, yes. I'm like, what do you mean? How could you do this to me? I have no idea who you are. And he was just so, like, I'm so sorry. You mean everything to me. He's begging me not to leave him. Trying to make it better.

[Andrea Gunning]

There was one question Leona wanted an answer to. Why did he do this? She couldn't understand the degrading, humiliating messages about his own body.

[Leona]

He told her he has low self esteem, but he also enjoys being talked down to. This was his outlet. He likes to be humiliated.

[Andrea Gunning]

Then Aiden told her he had an explanation for everything. A medical issue.

[Leona]

He's pretty sure he has a brain injury and he just can't control himself when it comes to that type of stuff because his brain is messed up from this deployment that he went on.

[Andrea Gunning]

Specifically, Aiden said he had a tbi, a traumatic brain injury. He got it during combat in Afghanistan when an explosion threw him against the side of a mountain. Leona remembers the call from his commanding officer when it happened, how worried she'd been. But this was the first time she learned the accident had caused a TBI. Severe TBIs can cause changes in personality, out of character, even inappropriate behavior. Aiden told Leona that his brain injury was the root of all of his behavioral issues. But this wasn't who he really was. He wanted to get help.

[Leona]

I took some time over the next few days to, like, just leave me alone. I need to process all of this.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona felt pressure to make her marriage with Aiden work. She had put all of her eggs into this basket. They had two young kids together. She didn't have her own source of income and was completely dependent on him financially.

[Leona]

I'm really good at compartmentalizing things, and I was just grasping at every straw to, like, be okay.

[Andrea Gunning]

While Aiden finished his deployment, she weighed her options.

[Leona]

I can't leave because this is my entire life. This is my one job to make this work, and I can't even do that. So I'm going to double down and do what I can.

[Andrea Gunning]

But when Aiden came home, nothing about their relationship was the same.

[Leona]

I didn't want to be around him. I would sleep in a different room. It felt like living with a stranger.

[Andrea Gunning]

The only thing she could hold onto was the hope that Aiden's behavior really was stemming from a brain injury, that this was a medical issue beyond his control. So she asked Aiden to get a professional opinion.

[Leona]

And so we start down this path of getting these diagnoses.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden went in for imaging and testing. When the results came back, they confirmed he had a traumatic brain injury and ptsd. Leona began doing research about the diagnosis, and some of the information she learned lined up with Aiden's explanation. TBIs can lead to impulsivity, disinhibition, even inappropriate sexual behavior.

[Leona]

The day he got his brain injury diagnosis, I was like, okay, I can breathe. That's what this was. This was just how the military has shaped him, and this is not his fault. I put all of my weight on that.

[Andrea Gunning]

Eden was medically retired from the military. Leona felt like she needed to be there for him. She'd made the vow in sickness and in health, and she clung to that. But deep down, she knew their relationship was broken.

[Leona]

I think in the underlying. I was working on my way out. I was preparing myself.

[Andrea Gunning]

But while she was finding a way

[Leona]

out, he starts acting just super bizarre again.

[Andrea Gunning]

He became incredibly possessive about his phone when she asked him about it, like,

[Leona]

just tell me if you're cheating on me. And he looks me dead in the eyes and he goes, yes, I'm cheating on you.

[Andrea Gunning]

The next chapter was tumultuous. Getting out of Aiden's grasp was not a straightforward path, as is often the case with abusive relationships.

[Leona]

While you're going through this, you're just doing anything and everything to just survive, and you're just outside of your body.

[Andrea Gunning]

The entire time, Leona feared leaving Aiden on his own, with no one to care for him. With his tbi, he was an expert at playing the victim of seeming so terrified of his own behavior that somehow she ended up trying to protect him from himself. Leona would often sleep on the couch. Then one night after Leona fell asleep,

[Leona]

I woke up to him choking me. And I remember just, like, getting him off of me. And he gets down into the fetal position and starts crying. And he was like, oh, my God. I was asleep. I'm so sorry.

[Andrea Gunning]

She looked at Aiden sobbing on the ground. In that moment, it became clear to her it didn't matter if he was sick or hurt. Either way, she was in danger.

[Leona]

Would I want my children to stay in this situation? No.

[Andrea Gunning]

So after that, she faced Aiden and

[Leona]

she told him, I'm done with this. You are not going to treat me like this. I made the decision to leave And I packed up all my stuff, and my mom and my sister came to get me in the middle of the night and get the girls.

[Andrea Gunning]

When she was out of their house, the full weight of the situation caught up with her. She was 28 years old and had two young kids.

[Leona]

I just went off the deep end. Like, I was just so distraught. I didn't sleep for 50 hours after that. I didn't know what was up and what was down. My life exploded in front of my face. What the hell do I do next?

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona decided to divorce Ayden.

[Leona]

We did an uncontested divorce. I agreed to anything and everything to just get it done. I needed to just get out of it alive. I was just concerned that it was either going to be me or him.

[Andrea Gunning]

Then she hired an attorney to fight for custody of her daughters.

[Leona]

When I hired my attorney to hear her tell me that I was an abuse victim, this was the first time anyone had said that to me. I was just like, oh, my God, this really was abuse. This is very serious, what I went through, and I'm lucky to be alive.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden's abuse severely impacted Leona's mental health. She struggled with suicidality, and it was a long road to regain stability.

[Leona]

I just, like, had to pull up my bootstraps and be able to afford to take care of my children.

[Andrea Gunning]

Aiden's abuse extended beyond Leona. Her sister was very much a victim of his, too.

[Leona]

I still struggle with that guilt to this day of, like, I brought this person into our world at my family level. I brought this person into our life, and he caused so much turbulence.

[Andrea Gunning]

Leona's sister endured abuse and harassment at the hands of Aiden, starting when she was a minor. His abuse has had lasting impacts on their relationship as sisters. Growing up, Leona and her sister were close.

[Leona]

But now we have a very strained relationship. We've had conversations about it that have been very tearful. I would love for it to be resolved, and I know she would, too. But we're just completely different because of this. You know, we were essentially abused by the same person.

[Andrea Gunning]

As far as Leona knows, Aiden really did have a tbi, but the incident that caused it happened after he had already started his online harassment. And he never mentioned the impact the TBI had on his behavior until he was caught. This betrayal is recent. As of today, Aiden has not been charged with any crimes. Their daughters live with Leona nearly full time, but Aiden still sees them some weekends. Leona is still fighting for full custody of her daughters, and she plans to tell the court the full story of Aiden's harassment and abuse.

[Leona]

I will make sure my children are raised in a way that they will not be abused this way, but it's hard to do when they still have to have communication with their dad. I give them the pieces to be able to recognize when things are not right. I can't ever get away from it as much as I would like to, but now how I handle him is much different.

[Andrea Gunning]

She's slower to trust others.

[Leona]

I really have trouble giving my full trust to anybody. Having to remind myself that not every single person is out here to try to take advantage of me. Learning to trust yourself as well as a completely different piece of this puzzle that I still haven't figured out.

[Andrea Gunning]

She has fought hard for her independence and stability. She savors the life she's built.

[Leona]

I learned how to be grateful for the little things like curling up in bed next to my children while we're reading. The time that I spend with the people around me. Those moments hit way harder and I'm not just blasting through life trying to survive.

[Andrea Gunning]

We end every weekly episode with the same question. Why do you want to share your story?

[Leona]

Because this podcast changed the view that I had with what I was going through and it finally got me to the point where I felt healed enough and came out the other end. It feels like a poison when you are not talking about it. The more you talk about it, the better it gets.

[Andrea Gunning]

On the next episode of Betrayal Weekly, I was crying, wailing, sobbing. I didn't think that he could take

[Leona]

anything else from me, but I was wrong.

[Andrea Gunning]

That was the last thing that he could do to me. If you'd like to share your story on betrayal, please email betrayalpodmail.com that is betrayalpodmail.com Please note that we are not a mental health organization. If you are in crisis or currently experiencing domestic violence, we encourage you to seek local help or dial 911. Please contact organizations that offer immediate support. In our show Notes, we've included a list of US based resources. You can follow us on Instagram etrialpod or Find Me Me itsandreagunning To access our newsletter and additional content and to connect with the Betrayal community, join our [e-mail] 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. Big thank you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production of 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 Olivia Hewitt. Our story editor is Monique Laborde. Also produced by Ben Fetterman. Our Associate producer is Leah Jablo. Production management by Kristen Melchiori Booking support by Curry Richmond. Our iheard team is Ally Perry and Jessica Krynczyk. Audio editing by Tanner Robbins with additional editing and mixing by Matt d'. Alvecchio. Betrayals theme composed by Oliver Baines. Music library provided by My Music and for more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pod.

[OrderlyMeds Announcer]

Summer is here, which means we all want to look and feel our best. A GLP1 may be right for you. Visit orderlymeds.com to learn more about which GLP1 you could be eligible for. Getting started is fast, easy and happens virtually through telemedicine from licensed professionals. Check it out for yourself. Go to orderlymeds.com podcast that's orderlymeds.com podcast taking care of yourself feels great. Compounded medications are not FDA approved. Eligibility required and determined by a licensed provider. Individual results may vary. See website for details.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Big transfer news today. Who's moving me to the couch with Domino's? Best deal ever since they just added stuffed crust.

[Andrea Gunning]

Any pizza?

[Ryan Reynolds]

Any toppings now with stuffed crust for $9.99. It's a long term contract with no release clause. Only $9.99 yeah, that sounds like the move. I'm heading straight to Domino's. Price is higher for some locations. Excludes excellent specialty pizzas. Select this offer from 6:15 through 7:26 online only. Size availability varies by crust type. Max 7 topping 6 for pan and New York style crust. Minimum purchase required for delivery. Prices, participation, delivery area and charges may vary. This is Troy Millings from Earn your leisure when traveling for events or festivals throughout the country, every dollar matters. We compare flights, prices, hotel rates and restaurant options. So why wouldn't we compare rides? Personally, I always check Lyft before booking a ride. Prices can change throughout the day depending on traffic, weather and what's happening in the city. If you're headed to a concert, out to dinner or catching up with your friends on a Friday night, taking a few seconds to check Lyft could leave you with more money to enjoy the experience, save money, Check Lyft. Whether it's help with hormone therapy, weight management or sexual health, every woman should have access to affordable prescription medication and personalized care that understands the whole woman. Join me, Dr. Doug Lucas, clinical lead of hormone optimization and longevity at LifeMD, along with other leading experts on the podcast. Here's something good on women's health and longevity. To learn more, go to LifeMD.com iHeart

[Andrea Gunning]

this is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.