Beautiful Stories From Anonymous People

Gethard chats with a Soprano. As in the highest of the four singing voices in Opera, not a character from a popular HBO show. The caller speaks about troubled relationships from her past and, even more troubling, a serious childhood trauma. (Trigger warning: discussion related to childhood sexual abuse.) This episode is brought to you by Redbox (www.redbox.com/games), Honest Tea (www.honesttea.com/podcast), Away (www.awaytravel.com/stories), Thumbtack (www.thumbtack.com).

On her lunch break, today's caller engages in some light hearted chit chat about office gossip and her (sometimes frustrating) side gig as a wedding photographer. But then, when a hot button political issue comes up, things start to get heated. This episode is brought to you by Redbox (www.redbox.com/games code: STORIES), Subaru (www.meetanowner.com), Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful), and Hulu Plus (www.huluplus.com).

Ever wonder what it's like to be paid to secretly watch shoppers on camera? This week's caller works in the retail field of "loss prevention." He tells Gethard about the time he confronted a shoplifter and got punched in the face, and discusses how the American heroin epidemic is directly correlated with retail theft. Plus, Gethard hears a little bit about the caller's unorthodox personal life. This episode is brought to you by Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful), Hulu Plus, Blue Apron (www.blueapron.com/beautiful), Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CG).

This week's caller is a somewhat unconventional podcast fan. He loves Beautiful/Anonymous even though he's never technically heard an episode. Hmmm. Mysterious. He shares his unique experience with the medium, his outlook on life, and his best party tricks.  This episode is brought to you by Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful), Hulu Plus, ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/BEAUTIFUL), Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/BEAUTIFUL), Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel (www.audible.com/Esther), and Detour (www.detour.com/BEAUTIFUL).

A poet-to-be calls in to the Beautiful Anonymous live tour. She and Gethard get off to a slow start. That might work in the studio, but the live audience gets a little restless! So the caller turns to the people closest to her to help ramp up the excitement. This episode is brought to you by Mack Weldon (www.mackweldon.com code: BEAUTIFUL), Detour (www.detour.com/beautiful) and Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful).

Struggling to realize her creative ambitions in early adulthood, this week's caller confronted body image issues when younger. Gethard gives her a pep talk and discusses the challenge of being creative while dealing with other people's judgement. This episode is brought to you by Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful), Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel from Audible (www.audible.com/Esther), and Detour (www.detour.com/beautiful).

Raised in a tumultuous household and married at eighteen to the pastor's son, today's caller was divorced before she turned twenty. Betrayal, love triangles and shotgun deaths are all a part of the wild ride that she's lived in her twenty-six years. This episode is brought to you by Mack Weldon (www.mackweldon.com code: BEAUTIFUL), Squarespace (www.squarespace.com code: CG), Detour (www.detour.com/BEAUTIFUL), and Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful).

Against the odds, a caller from one of the earliest, most listened-to calls manages to get through for a second time. Unprecedented! The caller gives Gethard an update on what's happened in his life since his first call over a year ago. They chat about dealing with internet commenters (which might instigate some more internet comments). This episode is brought to you by Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful), Blue Apron (www.blueapron.com/beautiful), Casper Mattresses (www.casper.com/beautiful), and ZipRecruiter (www.ziprecruiter.com/BEAUTIFUL).

Big parties with lawyers gathered around piles of cocaine. Inequality in the criminal justice system. Huge corporations ripping off the families of jailed inmates. Gethard talks to a public defender about these topics, and discovers her favorite word: alleged. This episode is brought to you by Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful) and Adam and Eve (www.adamandeve.com code: STORIES).

One hour ago, in the rain, this week's caller experienced her first kiss. She tells Gethard about the high school experience in 2017 covering the new (Snapchat, group texting, nerd culture being cool) and the established (SATs, teen pregnancy, crushes). She also explains how writing Harry Potter fan fiction in the 6th grade led to her current hobby, writing romance novels. This episode is brought to you by Subaru (www.meetanowner.com), Talkspace (www.talkspace.com/beautiful), and Adam and Eve (www.adamandeve.com code: STORIES).