Death, Sex & Money Branches Out

Death, Sex & Money is the beloved podcast from WNYC that focuses on relationships, money, family, work and making it all count. Longtime host Anna Sale explores big questions and hard choices often left out of polite conversation. While Sale takes a maternity leave this Spring, she’s turning over the hosting reins to a rotating cast of favorite guests and friends of the show. This season, you’ll hear discussions about death, sex, and money with people the new hosts are most curious about.

So how did Sale feel about incorporating different hosts in her absence?

Death, Sex & Money has always been about talking together about life’s most important, but sometimes uncomfortable, topics,” said Sale. “One of the best parts of making it has been hearing how the show inspires listeners to talk more honestly to people that they care about and admire. So I’m thrilled to be able to listen along as these wonderful guest hosts and guests have the kind of frank conversation our show is known for. It’s a joy to share our platform as a place for these conversations to unfold.”

In the first episode of the season, Lisa Ling hosted Awkwafina. The Crazy Rich Asians actress chatted with Ling about how Bambi helped her process her mom’s death, and why she has no qualms about turning down offers to do high-paying panty liner commercials. Listen in the Pocket Casts app here.


In episode two, actor and Hedwig and the Angry Inch creator John Cameron Mitchell interviewed 91-year-old jazz and cabaret legend Marilyn Maye. Maye opened up about her love affairs with alcoholic men and her fears of ending up in a nursing home.


Episode three, out today, features author Damon Young (of the upcoming book “What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Blacker,” and founder of VerySmartBrothas/senior editor at The Root) and author Kiese Laymon. Both are currently on book tours, promoting their acclaimed memoirs, and while they’ve been friends via social media for years, they’d never met face to face before recording this podcast. The two discuss basketball and body image, money anxieties, and why being a “good dude” might be more about fear than anything else. Give it a listen!


Later in the season expect Al Letson, host of Reveal, to interview journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. Country singer Jason Isbell will catch up with his best friend, GQ editor-in-chief Will Welch about masculinity, mental health and sobriety. Academy Award-winning Mahershala Ali will talk with actor Rafael Casal. Sarah Smarsh (author of “Heartland”) will interview her father, a Kansas construction worker. And Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom (author of “Thick”) interviews Trevor Noah.

The special Death, Sex & Money maternity series runs through end of June, when Sale returns. You can download the Pocket Casts app for iOS or Android, and listen to the show here.

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