Podcast
So Your Parents Are Old
Hosted by Vanessa Grigoriadis · EN
Journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis talks to friends, experts, and celebrities about the chaos of dealing with aging parents. From Medicaid nightmares to emotional meltdowns in storage units, it’s a brutally honest, often hilarious look at one of life’s most disorienting stages. Come for the catharsis, stay for the gallows humor and unfiltered conversations. If you’re currently the parent to your parents, this is your group chat in podcast form.
23episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Revisit: No One Should Live This Long with Comedian Lewis Black
6d ago00:40:08Tap to summarizeThis is an episode where we get mad! Comedian Lewis Black cared for his late elderly parents, who lived to 101 and 104. He talks about something nobody wants to even think about: what he'll do when he's too old to care for himself. Hear more from Lewis in his podcast, Lewis Black's Rantcast, or read one of his books.
Transcribe →Feeling At Peace with Your Life with Joan Lunden
2w ago00:34:56Tap to summarizeJoan Lunden joins Vanessa to talk about her new memoir, JOAN: Life Beyond the Script, and the moments that forced her off-script: bringing her baby to work at Good Morning America, living through divorce in public, surviving breast cancer, caring for her mother, and deciding what she wants for her own later years. If you want to hear more about preserving brain health, listen to our episode with Dr. Majid Fotuhi.
Transcribe →The Most Complicated Dad Ever with Jessie Buttafuoco, from The Gratitudeology Podcast
3w ago00:59:34Tap to summarizeThis week, we’re sharing an episode from The Gratitudeology Podcast with Jamie Hess, featuring Jessie Buttafuoco. Jessie opens up about the shocking event that changed her family forever, the media storm that followed, and what it means to revisit a painful chapter with perspective, honesty, and compassion.
Transcribe →Love, ALS, and Life After Survivor with Jonathan Penner
4w ago00:36:39Tap to summarizeWhen Jonathan Penner’s wife Stacy Title was diagnosed with ALS, their life changed with shocking speed. He joins Vanessa to talk about caregiving, survival, and the hard-won wisdom of staying present even when everything is getting worse. Connect to resources through Compassionate Care ALS (CCALS). You can also read the Vulture article about Stacy’s fight to make one final movie: Walking Time Bomb.To connect with the team, find us on Instagram and Youtube, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Lily Houston Smith is our senior producer; music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.
Transcribe →Using Rankings to Your Advantage with Ben Harder and Liz Pearce
May 500:27:37Tap to summarizeHow do you choose a hospital or senior living community when everything feels impossibly high-stakes? Vanessa talks with two U.S. News & World Report journalists — Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis, and Liz Pearce, director of senior living — about what those rankings really measure, and what they can’t.See their rankings for Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation, Best Nursing Homes, Best Senior Living, and — their newest report — Best Home Health. Also check out our episode with Amara Walker.
Transcribe →Parents During the Covid Era with Jill Bialosky
Apr 2800:25:33Tap to summarizeWhen a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the grieving starts years before the end. In The End Is the Beginning, Jill Bialosky tells her mother’s story in reverse. Jill and Vanessa talk about what it means to “eulogize” someone while they’re disappearing, and how writing can be both tribute and survival. You can read Jill’s New York Times essay on losing her mother during the pandemic.To connect with the team, find us on Instagram and Youtube, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Lily Houston Smith is our senior producer; music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.
Transcribe →How to Fix Everything with Julie Kashen
Apr 2100:29:20Tap to summarizeElder care and childcare costs are rising fast, while wages and support for caregivers lag behind. Longtime care policy advocate Julie Kashen breaks down how we got here, what it would look like if we treated care as real infrastructure, and offers a surprisingly hopeful framework for what’s still possible.Learn more about Julie's work at The Century Foundation.
Transcribe →Starting a Business in the Care Space with Kim Elliott
Apr 1400:32:22Tap to summarizeKim Elliott’s caregiving story includes a leukemia diagnosis, a stem cell transplant, and some truly deranged insurance battles. She talks with Vanessa about surviving all of it — and building Gray Monster so other caregivers don’t have to start from scratch.
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Putting Your Parents on Videotape with Michelle Boyaner
Apr 600:40:30Tap to summarizeMichelle Boyaner reflects on lives and relationships while sharing insights from her acclaimed film It’s Not a Burden: The Humor and Heartache of Raising Elderly Parents, which explores the joys and struggles of caring for aging loved ones.To connect with the team, find us on Instagram and Youtube, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Selena Gomez’s Mommy Issues
Mar 3100:40:46Tap to summarizeIn this episode of Infamous, Vanessa and her co-host Natalie Robehmed learn about a wild family drama from The Cut writer Angelina Chapin. It’s about Selena Gomez and her mother Mandy Teefey’s mental-health startup, Wondermind. They discuss the pressures created when celebrity and mental health advocacy become a business. Read Angelina’s story, “What Happened at Wondermind?”Read Vanessa’s book, Blurred Lines: Sex, Power and Consent on Campus, and check out Natalie on Instagram at @natrobeTo connect with the So Your Parents Are Old team, find us on Instagram and Youtube, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you!To connect with Infamous's creative team, join the community at joincampsidemedia.com
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