This week, we’re revisiting a conversation with Reclaiming’s very first guest, actor Alan Cumming. The Traitors, which Alan hosts, continues to soar in popularity, earning six Emmy nominations this year. Grounded in their longtime friendship, Alan opens up to Monica about how creativity helped him survive an abusive childhood. He reflects on the healing power of speaking openly about his trauma, how sharing his story has helped him move forward, and why he still wrestles with the fear of becoming a father himself. It’s a raw and honest conversation about confronting the past, breaking cycles, and finding a way forward.

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This week Monica sits down with award-winning filmmaker, Women Rising founder, and author Sara Hirsh Bordo for a deeply personal conversation about chronic illness, self-silencing, and the hidden cost of being the “good girl.” Sara shares how her autoimmune diagnoses transformed her from documentarian into subject—and led her to write Autoimmunity and the Good Girls: How Permission to Put Ourselves First Has the Power to Keep Us Well. Drawing on her personal experience, original research now downloaded in more than 26 countries, and more than 50 hours of interviews, Sara explores how conditioning women to be agreeable, useful, and endlessly giving can shape their relationships with stress, identity, and their own bodies. Together, Monica and Sara unpack the difference between kindness and self-abandonment, why setting a boundary can feel like betrayal, and what it means to treat the body as a witness rather than an enemy.

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Celebrated novelist Chang-rae Lee joins Monica this week on Reclaiming for an insightful conversation about immigration, identity, and the stories we construct to make sense of our lives. Chang-rae opens up about coming to the United States from Seoul at age three and how the loss of his mother at the beginning of his writing career shook his sense of self. He and Monica examine his belief that all immigrant novels are dystopian novels and their shared fascination with the stories that live in the aftermath of life altering events. Together, they move between displacement and belonging, fear and creative freedom, the gravity of history and the reclamation of play—and consider whether taking back your story might also mean refusing to be confined by a single one. Plus, Chang-rae reveals how his new novel, A Tender Age may be his most autobiographical yet.

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The incomparable Allison Janney is nominated for an Emmy this fall for her role in The Diplomat, so we’re revisiting one of our favorite conversations with her. Allison opens up about the silver-screen legends who shaped her early career—Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman—and how their mentorship changed everything. She reflects on how her breakout role in The West Wing introduced her to Bradley Whitford, who now plays her on-screen husband in The Diplomat, and reveals why political roles are actually a total stretch for her. Allison also shares her journey of self-exploration through ketamine, MDMA, mushrooms, and even astrology—and how those experiences have helped her see herself and the world more clearly. Finally, she reflects on her deep friendship with Matthew Perry and the shared understanding that comes from loving people who carry pain and brilliance in equal measure.

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Writer, poet, and thinker Siri Hustvedt joins Monica this week on Reclaiming for a profound conversation about the physical reality of grief, the shared self created by long love, and finding language for what remains after someone dies. Siri opens up about losing her husband and creative partner, writer Paul Auster, after 43 years together and how writing her memoir Ghost Stories became an act of survival. She and Monica explore the trope of female hysteria, the misogyny Siri faced as a woman intellectual,  and what it took to stop feeling guilty for being outspoken. Together, they move between the body and the mind, science and mystery, devastating loss and sustaining humor—and consider the ways life asks us to reclaim ourselves over and over again. 

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Comedian, writer, and The Daily Show correspondent Josh Johnson joins Monica this week on Reclaiming for a thoughtful conversation about finding connection through humor, embracing what makes us different, and learning to live with the knowledge that nothing is guaranteed. Josh gets real about losing his father at 26 and how it rewired the way he shows up for people, why retiring his mom became his North Star goal, and how the exact traits that once got him labeled the weird kid are now his sharpest weapon on stage. He and Monica dip into grief, politics, comedy, and the wild idea that just saying the uncomfortable thing out loud might be the most powerful move you've got.

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Bestselling author and cultural critic Roxane Gay joins Monica this week on Reclaiming for a deep, candid conversation about the body, feminism, trauma, and the ways power protects itself — in publishing, politics, media, and the stories we tell about survivors. Roxane takes us inside the writing of Hunger, her landmark memoir about sexual violence, survival, and the body she built as a fortress, reflecting on what it means to live with trauma without pretending to be “cured” of it. She offers her sharp analysis of abuses of power — from the media’s handling of the Epstein files to the failures of political institutions to meet moments of moral urgency with courage. Together, Roxane and Monica explore the problem with pedestals, the liberation of learning to say no, and the grace required to embrace our own complicated humanity on our own terms. Plus, Roxane dishes on co-writing her first romance novel with actor Channing Tatum!

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Actress, author, and advocate Jamie Lynn Sigler joins Monica this week on Reclaiming for a deeply honest conversation about chronic illness, the burden of secrecy, and the freedom that comes from finally telling the truth. Jamie Lynn reflects on growing up in the public eye as Meadow Soprano on The Sopranos and being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at just 20 years old, as her career was taking off. For 15 years, she kept her MS private, afraid that revealing the truth about her body might cost her work, her identity, and the image of strength she felt compelled to maintain. She opens up about the shame of feeling as though her illness made her “a problem,” and the profound sense of safety she found in James Gandolfini, the one person on set she trusted with her diagnosis. Jamie Lynn also shares how becoming a mother changed everything, ultimately pushing her to stop hiding so her sons would never have to carry her secret for her. Together, she and Monica explore the difference between strength and silence, the healing power of vulnerability, and the philosophy behind Jamie Lynn’s new memoir, And So It Is: A Memoir of Acceptance and Hope. This is a conversation about reclaiming your body, your story, your voice, and the life waiting on the other side of shame.

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This week on Reclaiming, we're revisiting one of our favorite interview with Miley Cyrus—global icon, shape-shifting performer, and fearlessly candid storyteller. Miley opens up about her earliest days in the spotlight, the complicated legacy of Hannah Montana, and the personal cost of growing up famous. She shares why her latest music feels like medicine, how she’s learned to set boundaries with the public, and the lessons she’s still unlearning about shame, identity, and self-worth. With humor, honesty, and striking insight, Miley opens up about family estrangement and reconciliation, the armor of persona, and why she’s finally starting to feel free in her own skin.

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Emmy-winning actress, producer, author, and transgender rights trailblazer Laverne Cox joins Monica this week on Reclaiming for a live taping at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in Seattle. With her new memoir, Transcendent, out in the world, Laverne opens up to Monica about what it means to finally tell her story in her own words—from childhood trauma and self-worth to fame, healing, and the complicated cost of visibility. She retraces her path from growing up in Mobile, Alabama, where homophobia taught her early lessons about shame, to finding freedom, community, and creative purpose in New York City. Laverne reflects on how, after nearly 20 years spent struggling as a working actress, Orange Is the New Black changed everything, making her the first openly transgender person nominated for an Emmy in an acting category. Together, she and Monica explore vulnerability, the difference between being seen and being safe, and how Laverne continues to reclaim dignity for trans people everywhere.

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Queer Eye star, fashion entrepreneur and producer Tan France joins Monica this week on Reclaiming for a vulnerable conversation about identity and belonging. Tan retraces his path from growing up as a gay, Pakistani, Muslim kid in England, to building a wildly successful fashion business designing modest clothing for Mormon women in Utah. He takes us back to the accidental Queer Eye audition he never really wanted—one he only attended in the hopes of making gay friends—and how that reluctant yes launched him into global visibility. Tan also shares what it was like to have his coming out accelerated by the show’s premiere, forcing deeply personal conversations with his traditional Muslim family. Together, he and Monica explore the emotional cost of being seen before you feel ready, the power of humor and how Tan has reclaimed fashion, family, and fame on his own terms.

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