16 | Kyleigh Leddy, Author of The Perfect Other: Shining Light on Schizophrenia, Tips for Aspiring Authors & More

Dec 8, 2023

33:45

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TW: schizophrenia, suicide

In this week's episode, Forbes 30 Under 30 Honoree, published author and licensed therapist, Kyleigh Leddy, joins the pod to talk about her book The Perfect Other, the importance of mental health, her creative process and what self-discovery means to her.

About The Perfect Other:

As a child, all Kait Leddy had ever wanted was a little sister. When Kyleigh was born, she and Kait were inseparable; Kait would protect her, include her, cuddle, and comfort her. To Kyleigh, her big sister was her whole world.

But as Kait entered adolescence, her personality changed. She began lashing out emotionally and physically and sometimes lost touch with reality, behavior that worsened after a traumatic head injury. The family struggled to keep this terrifying, often violent, side of Kait private—at school and in her social life, she was still the gorgeous, effervescent life of the party. Powerless to help, Kyleigh watched in horror as her perfect sibling’s world began to collapse and Kait was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

Then, in January 2014, twenty-two-year-old Kait disappeared. Though her body was never found, security footage showed her walking to the peak of Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Bridge, where it is presumed that she jumped. In this extraordinary memoir— a story of hope, grief, mental illness, and enduring love—a grieving Kyleigh reflects on her sister and their life together, honoring their bond and searching for answers and a way to find meaning in this devastating loss.

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