The Real Stuff with Lucie Fink

Today's guest is Keltie Knight—a name a lot of you will know from her years hosting E! News, and someone I've wanted on this show since it started. Our paths actually crossed years ago through her best friend Christina Perry, an early guest on this podcast. Keltie has a new book out called The F*ck Them Theory, and the title isn't just a bit; it's a real philosophy Keltie built after a very specific moment fell apart. A few years ago, from the outside, her life looked like a highlight reel: a hit podcast celebrating ten years, a huge festival she'd built from scratch, a career at the top of Hollywood's red carpet circuit. What nobody could see was that she was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, quietly learning her show was about to be canceled, and cycling through Xanax, gabapentin, Ambien, and antidepressants just to function. It all came to a head on a yacht in Ibiza, in the middle of what should have been a celebration. From there, we get into the parts of Keltie's life she doesn't usually put in front of a camera: her brother's mental illness, the decision to have him hospitalized, and how she processes the fear of being defined by rejection instead of it. We also talk about the strange psychology of "success" itself: why getting everything you thought you wanted rarely feels like enough, and why Keltie thinks the secret isn't becoming more perfect, but getting comfortable being messy in public. It's a conversation about ambition, image, and the gap between the two, and one of the most honest ones I've had on this show in a while. Follow Keltie: https://www.instagram.com/keltie/ Sponsors: Instant Hydration: Visit https://www.instanthydration.com/realstuff and use my promo code REALSTUFF for over 40% off your first subscription order. Forkful: Visit https://www.forkfulmeals.com/LUCIE for 50% off your first order. Cotton: Learn more at https://www.TheFabricOfOurLives.com Watch this episode in video form on Spotify or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's guest is Sabrina Chazen, a size-inclusive fashion blogger and full-time content creator I've wanted on the show since day one. We met on a brand trip in Miami a couple of years ago, and within minutes of talking to her, I knew: this woman does not hold back. It's honestly wild that it's taken us two years to actually record this. Sabrina came on ready to talk about her GLP-1 journey, something she's barely spoken about publicly despite being one of the earliest people I knew to try it (before it was the topic of conversation it is now). However, her story isn't the one you'd expect. The drug didn't make her smaller. She lost some weight at first, then her insurance stopped covering it once her bloodwork improved, and things unraveled from there (including, at one point, quietly taking it from her dad's fridge). What she describes isn't really about the number on the scale; it’s what the medication was doing for her body that had nothing to do with weight loss at all—and how strange it feels to explain that to a world that assumes GLP-1s are only about getting thin. Then the conversation shifts into something even more raw: a friendship breakup that Sabrina has alluded to online for over a year but never told in full. It starts at her local club, with Sabrina checking in on a friend's kids during a rough patch, and ends, later that same night, with her own son bleeding from a head injury and that same friend going silent for hours when she needed her most. It’s a real, unfiltered conversation about boundaries, forgiveness, and the specific chaos that hits women's friendships in their late 30s and 40s; something Sabrina says she's never experienced at this level before in her life. We also get into the business side of Sabrina's world: how she quietly built a six-figure affiliate marketing career, one link at a time, starting with a goal of just $100 a day. Thank you, Sabrina, for finally sitting down with me and for trusting our audience with all of it. If you're watching on YouTube, drop a comment and let her know you're rooting for her! Follow Sabrina: https://www.instagram.com/sabrinachazen/ Sponsors: Quince: Go to https://www.Quince.com/REALSTUFF for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Labcorp OnDemand: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Watch this episode in video form on Spotify or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to the second part of the conversation with my husband, Michael. If you missed part one, we covered parenting, marriage, and life with two toddlers. This time, we're talking about what happens when your husband becomes your business partner, too. It's been just over six months since Michael left his corporate job to join me full-time at Lucie Fink Media, and we're getting into what that's actually looked like day-to-day. Michael walks through his role overseeing the finances of the business, including a tracker spreadsheet that helped us catch a payment we never received from a brand deal, and how that role has expanded into bigger projects: helping spearhead our Spotify Video partnership, exploring equity investments in brands we believe in, and starting early conversations around a scholarship fund for students who want to get into media but don't have an easy path in. We also get honest about the friction points: our very different working styles (Michael is methodical and slow-paced, I move fast and want things done immediately), how we navigate boundaries between work time and personal time, and a moment early on where our different paces led to a real "whoa, let's not do that again" meeting. Then we open it up to your questions from Instagram, including what's given Michael the most joy since leaving corporate (spoiler: his health has changed dramatically), whether we took a financial hit as a family when he left his salary behind, and how we handle delegating tasks to each other. We also still don't have an official job title for him, so let us know in the comments what you think it should be! Sponsors: Cotton: Learn more at https://www.TheFabricOfOurLives.com Labcorp OnDemand: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Nutrafol: Visit https://www.nutrafol.com and enter promo code REALSTUFF for $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping. Ladder: If you have an iPhone, head to https://www.ladder.fit/REALSTUFF and get a free 7-day trial with no credit card and $10 off your first month. Vinted: Download the Vinted app for free to start listing with no seller fees. Watch this episode in video form on Spotify or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm bringing my husband Michael back on the show for a special two-part episode. This week is all about parenting. Michael and I recently became co-CEOs of our life together, when he left his corporate job to join me at Lucie Fink Media. Today, we’re catching up on the family side of things, and we're recording it in a pretty unusual setting: we've moved in with Michael's parents for the entire summer while our house undergoes a renovation—which means we're currently living under one roof with ten people, including Michael's sister, her husband, and their six-month-old baby. We get honest about the sibling dynamics between our two kids, Milo (almost five) and Coco (almost two). We also talk about a couples therapy session we did (not about our marriage, but about how we tag team parenting when one of us is at a breaking point), and the specific hand signal our therapist suggested for when one of us needs to step away. Michael also shares some parenting mistakes worth learning from, including a Nanit monitor feature he wishes he'd never turned on, and the shockingly simple trick (a 10:30pm wake up and a whispered secret code word) that finally stopped Milo's middle of the night wake ups. We close out the episode with a rapid fire round of your questions, covering everything from what surprised us about having a boy and a girl, to what we wish we'd known before having kids, to how we handle disagreements as parents. Part two, all about working together since Michael left corporate, is coming next week! Sponsors: Quince: Go to https://www.Quince.com/REALSTUFF for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Labcorp OnDemand: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. ButcherBox: Go to https://www.ButcherBox.com/realstuff for $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ground beef for life, or free chicken thighs or top sirloins in every box for a year – with free shipping always. instant hydration: Go to https://www.instanthydration.com/realstuff and use my promo code REALSTUFF for over 40% off your first subscription order. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few months ago I posted about attending an Instagram event in New York City, where they walked me through Teen Accounts. This is a feature now used by hundreds of millions of teenagers worldwide. The reaction split my audience right down the middle. Parents of teens thanked me for sharing it, while parents of young kids (myself included) responded with skepticism. So I decided to go straight to the source. Today I'm sitting down with Tara Hopkins, who works in policy at Instagram. My kids are still young, so phones and social media still feel like a distant (and sometimes terrifying) hypothetical for future me. But it's already a big topic of conversation in my house, and I had a lot of questions. Tara's career path alone is worth the listen: from the European Parliament in Brussels, to the UK's largest child protection charity, to Instagram in her early 40s, when she said she "wanted to start to learn again." She's also a mom of two teenagers, 16 and 13, so she's not just building this stuff, she's living it at home, too. In this episode, Tara walks me through how Instagram's AI can detect that a user is a teen even if they lie about their age, why 97% of 13-to-15-year-olds stay in the most restrictive settings without ever asking to change them, and how 94% of parents surveyed in the US said Teen Accounts have been helpful. Tara also walks through the specifics, like the 60-minute time notification and the 10pm to 7am sleep mode. During our discussion, I bring up something that's bugged me for a while: why does my own educational content, like the stuff I share about periods and reproductive health, sometimes get flagged? Her answer actually helped clear up a lot of my own misconceptions. There’s a part near the end that you may find especially interesting. We talk about what parents can and cannot see in their teen's DMs, and why they drew that line exactly where they did. Instagram Teen Accounts —now inspired by 13+ movie ratings—are designed to give parents peace of mind that their teens are safer with the right protections in place. Learn more about Instagram Teen Accounts at https://about.fb.com/news/2025/10/instagram-teen-accounts-pg-13-ratings/ Support your family’s online experience with expert guidance and tools from Meta’s Family Center. Explore resources today, including Meta’s Screen Smart Program, at https://familycenter.meta.com. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's audience caller is Chloe and she's a milestone guest for The Real Stuff: our first trans guest in three seasons! A couple of past callers with similar stories backed out right before we hit record, which tells you everything about how much courage this actually takes. I'm endlessly grateful to Chloe for being the one who said yes. Here's the twist: Chloe didn't discover she was trans as a kid, or a teenager, or even in her 20s. She was 45 years old and sitting in a UK office on her lunch break when she downloaded a FaceApp filter that gender-swaps photos. It started mostly as a joke. She pressed the button expecting to laugh. Instead, she disappeared into the bathroom for almost an hour, just staring at the picture. That was October 2023. What follows is Chloe walking us through absolutely everything—and I mean everything. The month she couldn't sleep. Coming out to her wife of nearly a decade (whose response was somehow even more generous than you'd hope for). Coming out to her parents, her job, eventually the whole world via a single Facebook post. The diagnosis process. And yes, the actual cost of transitioning, dollar for dollar and pound for pound. From NHS waitlists to $80,000 surgeries in California to significantly cheaper options in Thailand. We also get into a genuinely fascinating deep dive into the anatomy of the surgery itself.  Chloe, now separated and in her late 40s, is traveling solo, dating again, and finally—for the first time in her life—getting to be herself, out loud, in public. Thank you, Chloe, for trusting us with your story! Follow Chloe: https://www.instagram.com/lucyseekelly/ Sponsors: Forkful: Head to https://forkfulmeals.com/LUCIE for 50% off your first order today! Ladder: If you have an iPhone, head to https://www.ladder.fit/REALSTUFF and get a free 7-day trial with no credit card and $10 off your first month. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's audience caller, Betty, wrote in with a story I genuinely didn't know how to categorize when I first read it: she told me that her best friend "kidnapped" her nephew. Twice. Once for 19 days. Once for 93. But the deeper we got into it, the more I realized the headline doesn't capture exactly what happened here. Betty's wife is an identical twin. Her sister, Stephanie, married Carolyn, who quickly became Betty’s bestie. Being married to identical twin sisters, they had a lot in common. After years of trying to conceive (six rounds of IUI and IVF, and one devastating miscarriage), they finally had their son. Stephanie was on the birth certificate. She never missed an appointment. She planned the whole nursery. But she wasn't the biological mother, and in the eyes of the law, that distinction turned out to matter more than any of them could ever imagine. Betty walks us through watching her best friends' marriage quietly fall apart during a hard pregnancy, the night everything broke—a fight over a piece of paper that would have made Stephanie's parental rights official—and the 19 days that followed, where an entire family blocked their numbers, and a police station laughed off a mother's missing baby report. We also get into the messier parts: the advice Betty gave in the moment that she's still not sure was right, and the friendship she's not sure can ever be repaired. This episode exposes how fragile legal protection can be for non-biological parents, how a friendship can dissolve almost overnight, and how differently the same story can sound depending on who's telling it. Sponsors: Nutrafol: Visit https://www.nutrafol.com and enter promo code REALSTUFF for $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping. Labcorp OnDemand: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode is a little different. It's just me, going deep on something I've never fully unpacked before: what it's actually been like to write my first novel. I take you back to 2023, when I tried to sell a nonfiction book about the science of curiosity—and how both publishers I was in talks with pulled out of the auction the morning it was supposed to happen. I thought that was the end of my book-writing chapter. It wasn't. Fast forward to January of this year, one conversation with Michael turned into an idea for a psychological thriller (think Gone Girl meets Severance), and within three hours of posting a single Instagram video announcing it, a literary agency reached out wanting to represent me, before I'd written more than two pages! I get into why that happened, what it says about the power of a platform in 2026, and the very unglamorous reality of book proposals, 43 chapter summaries, and my own "fatal flaw" as a writer (spoiler: I can't write a messy first draft to save my life). But this episode isn't really about publishing logistics. It's about the strange split between the person you think you know from my videos—grounded, married, happy—and the darker, stranger stories I've always needed somewhere to put. Sponsors: Labcorp OnDemand: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Spindrift: Visit https://www.drinkspindrift.com and use code "lucie" for 15% off. Cotton: Learn more at https://www.TheFabricOfOurLives.com ButcherBox: Go to https://www,ButcherBox.com/realstuff for $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ground beef for life, or free chicken thighs or top sirloins in every box for a year – with free shipping always. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's guest spends her days looking at women in various states of undress, and somehow, the whole thing is a lot less sexual than you'd think. Meet Nomi, a boudoir photographer who splits her time between a jungle studio in rural Jamaica and a loft space in Brooklyn. For the past decade, she's been helping women feel at home in their bodies, one photo session at a time. On the surface, this is a conversation about a unique profession involving lingerie, nudity, and how to pose for a sexy photo. But underneath it, it's a conversation about womanhood, body image, and healing. Nomi shares how recovering from the eating disorder she developed at 16 shaped the philosophy behind her work. She talks candidly about why so many clients apologize for their stomachs, why boudoir sessions can unexpectedly bring sexual trauma to the surface, and why she believes the industry is quietly becoming a form of art therapy. We also dive into the business side that most people never consider: why she prices her sessions the way she does, what it's like to run every part of her business as a one-woman show, and how she built a career that's as emotionally demanding as it is creatively fulfilling. Along the way, she shares the unexpected story of how she met her husband in a Facebook group for Jewish singles before ending up on a farm in Trelawny, Jamaica. Listen for the moment she compares a boudoir session to a trip to the gynecologist. It's an analogy that completely reframes what professional comfort with nudity actually looks like—and it may change the way you think about the vulnerability of it altogether. Follow Nomi on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boudoirbynomi/?hl=en Work with Nomi: https://boudoirbynomi.com Sponsors: Labcorp OnDemand: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Alaya Naturals: Visit https://www.alayanaturals.com/realstuff and enter code REALSTUFF at checkout for 20% off your order. Forkful: Head to https://forkfulmeals.com/LUCIE for 50% off your first order today! Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's audience caller episode is one I’ve been so excited to share. Riana is a travel blogger (http://teaspoonofadventure.com) who, after having her daughter in early 2025, did something most new parents run far from: instead of taking a typical parental leave, she and her husband sold almost everything they owned and spent nine months slow-traveling through Canada, France, the UK, and Spain—with a five-month-old baby and their dog in tow. At first glance, this is a trip story. But really, it's a story about permission. Permission to build a life that doesn't fit the mold, permission for a dad to take 15 months of paternity leave when most take a few weeks, and permission to feel the FOMO and the exhaustion of new parenthood while still choosing adventure over fear. We get into everything: how her husband's paternity leave became the centerpiece of the plan, the family pushback (“you’re taking my grandbaby away!”), and how they kept relationships close despite being thousands of miles apart. Riana also opens up about money in a way most people never do. She breaks down the full cost of the trip, exactly how much her travel blog earns per month, and where they blew way past their budget. My favorite part of this conversation is when we get into the "vacation vs. trip" debate and how Riana found unexpected joy in the parts of travel she never would've chosen for herself before becoming a mom. If you're a parent, a soon-to-be parent, or just someone who's ever wondered "could I actually do this with a baby?”—this one's for you. Here’s that article from the Huffington Post: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/vacation-or-trip-a-helpful-guide-for-parents_b_7789310 Sponsors: Magnetic Me: New customers get 15% off sitewide at https://www.magneticme.com Quince: Go to https://www.Quince.com/REALSTUFF for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Labcorp OnDemand: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Spindrift: Visit https://www.drinkspindrift.com and use code "lucie" for 15% off. Alaya Naturals: Visit https://www.alayanaturals.com/realstuff and enter code REALSTUFF at checkout for 20% off your order. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story. I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone. Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod Find Lucie here: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/ Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's guest is Dr. Kolbe Hancock, a fertility specialist at Spring Fertility in New York City—but before she was delivering babies, she trained to be a professional ballerina. Kolbe's path took a hard left turn at 16, when a hip injury from years of overuse (and an unhealthily low body weight) ended her ballet career overnight. It was in the aftermath, interning at an orthopedic clinic for dancers, that she witnessed something that changed her life: dancers so calorie-deprived that their bones resembled those of women decades older. That was her lightbulb moment into reproductive endocrinology. In this episode, we get into it all: what actually happens in your body when you lose your period from undereating, why she calls your menstrual cycle a "vital sign," the years she spent (like me) not truly understanding her own cycle while on birth control, and what it's like matching intended parents with gestational carriers and egg donors.  We also don't shy away from theethics, including where the field is headed as genetic testing on embryos becomes more advanced, and the uncomfortable questions that it raises about what parents should be "allowed" to select for. If you're in the trying-to-conceive world, or just want to understand your own body better, this one is a masterclass. Visit https://www.springfertility.com to book an initial fertility consult to learn more about your reproductive health. Use code REALSTUFF for $150 off the consultation. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode is about sex. And I know that word alone is enough to make some people skip past this one — which is exactly why I wanted to make it. This episode is a little different from our usual format. You'll hear from audience callers who responded to our casting call asking for your spiciest, most unexpected sex stories. What we got back was so much more than I anticipated — hilarious, raw, surprising, and genuinely human. But first, you'll hear excerpts from my conversation with Vanessa Marin, a licensed sex therapist with over 20 years of experience who joined me to bring some real expertise to the table. My conversation with Vanessa includes a 30-day kissing challenge she and her husband actually did, the concept of "the ick" and what gratitude research says about relationship satisfaction. We also chat about her GET intimate technique: three surprisingly simple things that can rebuild connection even in the driest of dry spells. Then you'll hear a clip from my full conversation with Melanie, which is available as its own episode linked below. Melanie is deeply involved in the BDSM community, and what I expected to be a conversation about kink turned into a deep dive on trust, communication, consent, and something called subspace — which I genuinely had never heard of before. She completely shifted some of my assumptions, and if this clip intrigues you, I highly recommend going back to listen to the full thing. And finally, you'll get a taste of my conversation with Emily — also linked below as its own full episode — whose story starts as a spicy, unusual submission and takes a turn I truly didn't see coming. There's a chicken coop. There's a sensory deprivation box. There's a lot more I'm not going to spoil here. What I will say is that this one goes somewhere I never expected, and I think it's one of the most unexpectedly moving conversations we've had on this show. These are real stories from real people — and I think that's exactly the point. So many of us feel like we're the only one having the experiences we're having. We're not. Follow Vanessa: https://www.instagram.com/vanessaandxander/?hl=en Listen to Melanie's full episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-real-stuff-with-lucie-fink/id1724982367?i=1000763998066 Listen to Emily's full episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-real-stuff-with-lucie-fink/id1724982367?i=1000752856564 Sponsors: Clean Simple Eats: Clean Simple Eats is undeniably clean and 100% delicious. Shop the best-tasting protein drinks at https://www.CleanSimpleEats.com  Spindrift: Visit https://www.drinkspindrift.com and use code "lucie" for 15% off. SKIMS: Shop SKIMS Fits Everybody collection at https://www.skims.com/realstuff #skimspartner Ogee: Go to https://www.ogee.com/LUCIE and use code LUCIE to get 20% off certified organic makeup that performs like luxury. Labcorp: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m finally talking openly about my body — something I've sidestepped since I first started posting online. I've always had a naturally slim frame, and from the moment I started sharing myself on the Internet, many people in the world had something to say about it. In a world where most people are trying to lose weird, I know having a naturally slim frame isn’t a relatable starting point for most people. But I'm done dancing around it. I'm walking you through my entire weight gain journey: how a gallbladder surgery and a later celiac diagnosis changed my body in ways that had nothing to do with how I wanted to look, the unsolicited comments I've gotten from strangers online for years, and why I finally decided — for reasons that have nothing to do with the comments — that I wanted to get stronger and put on some healthy weight. I get into what I've learned from working with a health coach, the realities of trying to build muscle and nourish my body intentionally, and why this has been a slower and more complicated process than people might assume. I also talk about one of the wildest lessons of this whole experience: no matter what your body looks like or what you post, someone will tell you it's wrong. I've heard it from both ends now, and I have thoughts. Sponsors: Labcorp: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Spindrift: Visit https://www.drinkspindrift.com and use code lucie for 15% off. Alaya Naturals: Visit https://www.alayanaturals.com/realstuff and enter code REALSTUFF at checkout for 20% off your order. Rhoback: Use code REALSTUFF at https://www.Rhoback.com for 20% off your first order through the end of this week. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we have another incredibly sweet love story! When Lucy wrote in to share how she and her wife fell in love, I knew I had to have her on to share all of the details. Lucy and Liv spent years believing they were both completely straight. They were best friends, inseparable, and deeply connected, but neither of them ever imagined their friendship could become something more. Then, during a Thanksgiving trip that neither of them expected to be life-changing, everything shifted. In this conversation, Lucy walks me through the entire journey: growing up assuming she was straight, forming an intense friendship with Liv, the confusing and exhilarating moment their feelings changed, and how they navigated falling in love while trying to make sense of what it meant for their identities, families, and futures. We talk about friendship, sexuality, labels, intuition, and what it feels like when a connection is so powerful that it completely rewrites the story you thought your life was going to follow. Whether you've questioned your own identity, experienced an unexpected love, or simply enjoy a beautiful love story, this episode is a reminder that sometimes the most important relationships arrive in ways we never could have predicted. Sponsors: Clean Simple Eats: Clean Simple Eats is undeniably clean and 100% delicious. Shop the best-tasting protein drinks at https://www.CleanSimpleEats.com  Cotton: Learn more at https://www.TheFabricOfOurLives.com  Ritual: For a limited time, save 25% on your first month at https://www.Ritual.com/REALSTUFF  Spindrift: Visit https://www.drinkspindrift.com and use code lucie for 15% off. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This conversation brought me so much joy! Claudia's story came to me in the most roundabout way — she emailed me about something else entirely, and I was so captivated by what she shared that I basically poached her and brought her straight to The Real Stuff. And I'm so glad I did. Claudia grew up in the Bronx with a crush on a boy named Adam — the cute, older kid from the neighborhood who skipped grades and had every girl's attention on the playground. She never really got her shot. They went to separate high schools, lost touch, both got married to other people, had kids, lived full lives. And then Facebook connected them once again. What unfolded from that reconnection is the kind of story that makes you believe in timing, fate, and the idea that some feelings never actually go away. We talk about what it felt like to fall in love in your late 40s with all the intensity of a teenager, how they navigated divorce, blended families, and a prenup the second time around, and why she thinks the timing, even with all the years in between, might have been exactly right. Sponsors: Ogee: Thanks to today's sponsor, Ogee: A higher standard for beauty. Go to https://www.ogee.com/LUCIE and use code LUCIE to get 20% off certified organic makeup that performs like luxury. Spindrift: Visit https://www.drinkspindrift.com and use code lucie for 15% off. Quince: Go to https://www.Quince.com/REALSTUFF for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit https://www.luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, I'm sitting down with Olivia Levin — the woman behind what is widely considered the number one Taylor Swift fan account in the world, Swifties for Eternity. Olivia started on Tumblr at 13, got followed by Taylor herself, was invited to a secret session at the Holiday House at 17, and somehow turned all of that into a full-time career complete with brand deals, a ticket business, and a book deal with Simon & Schuster. We get into everything in this one — what it was actually like inside Taylor's house the night of the Reputation Secret Session, the moment Taylor made eye contact with her across the room, and what they talked about one-on-one. We also go deep on the business side: how Olivia monetized a fan account, the legalities of building a brand around a celebrity, and the online backlash she faced for charging $3 a month to help fans get face-value Eras Tour tickets. But honestly, the conversation that stuck with me most was about what it means to build your entire career on the back of another person and whether that's really all that different from any of us. We talk about parasocial relationships, the difference between obsession and admiration, the 13 lessons Olivia took from Taylor's career into her own life, and what she'd say to anyone who has a niche passion they can't figure out how to monetize. Olivia also just released her book, The Story of Us: How the Taylor Swift Fandom Changed Our Lives. You can purchase it here: https://amzn.to/4uNCfgS  Sponsors: Spindrift: Visit https://www.drinkspindrift.com and use code lucie for 15% off. Blissy: Wake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep. Use code LUCIE for an extra 30% off at https://www.blissy.com/LUCIE Labcorp: Visit https://www.OnDemand.Labcorp.com/realstuff and use code "realstuff" to save up to 15% on select tests. Magnetic Me: New customers get 15% off sitewide at https://www.magneticme.com Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit https://www.luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s guest, Anabel Gonzalez, grew up battling baseline depression her whole life, and when she had her son, postpartum hit her like nothing she'd ever experienced. She describes it as "the final boss of depression" and coming out the other side required ketamine infusion therapy, which she says didn't just heal her postpartum depression, it healed a lifelong battle with her brain. But that was only half of the story. After healing her mind, Anabel turned her attention to her body and fell deep into the world of gut health, fermentation, and the microbiome. That obsession led her to identify a gap in the entire probiotic industry: everyone was giving you the same strains on repeat, when diversity is actually the strongest indicator of a healthy gut. So she cold-emailed a Johns Hopkins immunologist, pitched her the idea, and her company, Good Bacteria, was born. We also go pretty deep on mushrooms, spirituality, and the surprisingly philosophical question of what it means to surrender — whether that's in a ketamine chair or on a forest floor. This one ranged wide and I loved every second of it! Use code LUCIE for 25% off at itsgoodbacteria.com Sponsors: Tru Fru: Find it now in the freezer aisle of your grocery store. Spindrift: Visit drinkspindrift.com and use code lucie for 15% off. Cotton: Learn more at TheFabricOfOurLives.com Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's audience caller, Cassidy, wrote in after I put out a casting call about kink, but what unfolded in our conversation went so much deeper than sex. It turned into one of the most layered discussions I've had on this show about mental health, medical gaslighting, abusive relationships, divorce, and ultimately, healing. Cassidy spent over a decade being told nothing was wrong with her. Doctors dismissed her symptoms, she cycled through diagnoses of depression, anxiety, and OCD, and it wasn't until 2021 that she finally got answers: autism and eventually a functional neurological disorder. All while surviving (though she didn't know it at the time) an emotionally and sexually abusive 22-year marriage. What I found so fascinating about Cassidy is how she eventually took her healing into her own hands, literally, by exploring rope bondage as a way to regulate her nervous system and rewrite traumatic neural pathways. And she does it with a level of self-awareness, nuance, and calm that honestly blew me away. There's also a moment in this episode I want to flag before you listen: I asked Cassidy point-blank how she could be so open on a public platform about her ex-husband, his abusive behaviors, and the details of their relationship. Her answer surprised me, and it says a lot about who she is. I always find myself fascinated by what makes some people willing to go fully on the record and others not, and this conversation gave me a lot to think about. Follow Cassidy: https://www.instagram.com/whisperingerudite/ Sponsors: Tru Fru: Find it now in the freezer aisle of your grocery store. Spindrift: Visit drinkspindrift.com and use code lucie for 15% off. Ritual: For a limited time, save 25% on your first month at Ritual.com/REALSTUFF Clean Simple Eats: Clean Simple Eats is undeniably clean and 100% delicious. Shop the best-tasting protein drinks at CleanSimpleEats.com. Blissy: Wake up with clearer skin, smoother hair, and cooler sleep. Use code LUCIE for an extra 30% off at blissy.com/LUCIE Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's caller, Liz, has one of the most incredible stories I've ever heard on this show. After connecting with a pregnant, homeless woman named Cassandra in a Facebook adoption group, Liz received a single photo of a newborn baby and a message saying that she had been listed as the mother on the baby's birth certificate...with no other explanation. That photo sent her, her sick husband, and her two kids on a six-hour drive to Pittsburgh, where they spent two weeks fighting the state, navigating emergency court hearings, and sitting in a NICU doing skin-to-skin with a baby born addicted to drugs. This episode covers open adoption, neonatal abstinence syndrome, the complicated ethics of intervening in someone else's crisis, and what it looks like to build a family in the most unexpected way imaginable. Sponsors: Clean Simple Eats: Clean Simple Eats is undeniably clean and 100% delicious. Shop the best-tasting protein drinks at CleanSimpleEats.com. Tru Fru: Find it now in the freezer aisle of your grocery store. Cotton: Learn more at TheFabricOfOurLives.com. Magnetic Me: New customers get 15% off sitewide at magneticme.com. Spindrift: Visit drinkspindrift.com and use code lucie for 15% off. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have to be honest — when I put out the casting call for people with interesting jobs, I wasn't expecting anything quite like this. Alexandra Sunshine is a senior editor at Kensington Books and, as she describes herself, is the number one romantic editor in the U.S. right now — meaning she has acquired more projects in the romantic genre than anyone else in the country. And yes, "romantasy" means exactly what you think it means: fantasy worlds, magical creatures, swords and crowns... and a lot of very explicit sex. In this conversation, Alex takes me on a full tour of the spicy book world — from the BookTok explosion that completely disrupted publishing, to the sub-genres you didn't know existed (shifter romance, omegaverse, dark romance, "why choose"... we get into all of it). We talk about why women are devouring these books right now, what it says about female sexuality and modern relationships, and why the "touch her and die" trope is basically the ultimate female fantasy. We also get into the surprisingly funny realities of her job: copy editors fact-checking whether a sex position is physically possible, boardroom conversations about explicit content, and the "chili pepper scale" that her sales team ultimately rejected. We also ended up having a really honest conversation about my own book (the psychological thriller I'm currently working on), and Alex gave some genuinely great advice for anyone who's been sitting on a story idea and hasn't started yet. Follow Alex: https://www.instagram.com/Alexhsunshine/ Follow Kensington Books: https://www.instagram.com/kensingtonbooks/ Alex's Book Recommendations Rain of Shadows and Endings by Melissa Roehrich: https://amzn.to/4cZJg6A  Chasing the Wild by Elliott Rose: https://amzn.to/4d5ZcEe Chasing the Ring by Lauren Rowe: https://amzn.to/4cQZIY7 Chasing the Rush by Lauren Rowe: https://amzn.to/4tMkwWB Sponsors: Ogee: Thanks to today's sponsor, Ogee: A higher standard for beauty. Go to ogee.com/LUCIE and use code LUCIE to get 20% off certified organic makeup that performs like luxury. Quince: Go to quince.com/realstuff for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Magnetic Me: New customers get 15% off sitewide at magneticme.com Rhoback: Use code "REALSTUFF" on Rhoback.com for a generous 20% off your first order through the end of this week. Nanit: The Nanit Smart Baby Monitor System is 20% off for Mother's Day. Use code LUCIEFINK at nanit.com to get the 20% off plus a free travel case. Spindrift: Use code LUCIE at DrinkSpindrift.com for 15% off your next order of Spindrift. Watch this episode in video form on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmevEcbh5h5FEX0pazPEtN86t7eb2OgX  To apply to be a guest on the show, visit luciefink.com/apply and send us your story.  I also want to extend a special thank you to East Love for the show's theme song, Rolling Stone.  Follow the show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therealstuffpod  Find Lucie here:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/luciebfink/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@luciebfink  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/luciebfink Website: https://luciefink.com/  Subscribe to my free newsletter "The Lucie List" here: https://thelucielist.beehiiv.com/subscribe Executive Producer: Cloud10 Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices