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So Your Parents Are Old

Vanessa Grigoriadis

Journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis talks to friends, experts, and celebrities about the chaos of dealing with aging parents. From Medicaid nightmares to emotional meltdowns in storage units, it’s a brutally honest, often hilarious look at one of life’s most disorienting stages. Come for the catharsis, stay for the gallows humor and unfiltered conversations. If you’re currently the parent to your parents, this is your group chat in podcast form.

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  • 25 episodes
  • Avg 34 min
  • English

Episodes 25

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  • S1 · E38
    June 23 · 33 min

    How To Avoid Scams with Patrick Coughlin

    Cybersecurity expert and author of The Dark Side of the Boom Patrick Coughlin joins Vanessa to talk about the scams coming for our parents and their bank accounts. They get into AI voice cloning, spoofed numbers, why seniors are such major targets, and what to do when someone calls with an emergency that feels terrifyingly real. Check out Scamwise for help spotting suspicious texts, emails, phone calls, and mail.

  • S1 · E36
    June 9 · 34 min

    Senior Living, and When Does Gen X Move In? With Neil Nagraj and Laura House

    Senior care advisor Neil Nagraj and podcaster Laura House join Vanessa to talk about the impossible math of senior housing: when aging in place stops working, what assisted living actually is, and why so many families wait for a crisis before making a plan. Also discussed: memory care, Medicaid myths, long-term care insurance, and Gen X’s grim future. Learn more about Neil’s company, The Senior Housing Authority. For more from Laura, listen to How’s Your Boomer? or subscribe to the newsletter.

  • S1 · E35
    June 2 · 40 min

    Revisit: No One Should Live This Long with Comedian Lewis Black

    This is an episode where we get mad! Comedian ⁠Lewis Black⁠ cared for his late elderly parents, who lived to 101 and 104. He talks about something nobody wants to even think about: what he'll do when he's too old to care for himself. Hear more from Lewis in his podcast, ⁠Lewis Black's Rantcast⁠, or read one of his ⁠books⁠.

  • S1 · E34
    May 26 · 34 min

    Feeling At Peace with Your Life with Joan Lunden

    Joan Lunden joins Vanessa to talk about her new memoir, JOAN: Life Beyond the Script, and the moments that forced her off-script: bringing her baby to work at Good Morning America, living through divorce in public, surviving breast cancer, caring for her mother, and deciding what she wants for her own later years. If you want to hear more about preserving brain health, listen to our episode with Dr. Majid Fotuhi.

  • S1 · E32
    May 12 · 36 min

    Love, ALS, and Life After Survivor with Jonathan Penner

    When Jonathan Penner’s wife Stacy Title was diagnosed with ALS, their life changed with shocking speed. He joins Vanessa to talk about caregiving, survival, and the hard-won wisdom of staying present even when everything is getting worse. Connect to resources through Compassionate Care ALS (CCALS). You can also read the Vulture article about Stacy’s fight to make one final movie: Walking Time Bomb. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Lily Houston Smith is our senior producer; music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.

  • S1 · E31
    May 5 · 27 min

    Using Rankings to Your Advantage with Ben Harder and Liz Pearce

    How do you choose a hospital or senior living community when everything feels impossibly high-stakes? Vanessa talks with two U.S. News & World Report journalists — Ben Harder, managing editor and chief of health analysis, and Liz Pearce, director of senior living — about what those rankings really measure, and what they can’t. See their rankings for Best Hospitals for Rehabilitation, Best Nursing Homes, Best Senior Living, and — their newest report — Best Home Health. Also check out our episode with Amara Walker.

  • S1 · E30
    April 28 · 25 min

    Parents During the Covid Era with Jill Bialosky

    When a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the grieving starts years before the end. In The End Is the Beginning, Jill Bialosky tells her mother’s story in reverse. Jill and Vanessa talk about what it means to “eulogize” someone while they’re disappearing, and how writing can be both tribute and survival. You can read Jill’s New York Times essay on losing her mother during the pandemic. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Lily Houston Smith is our senior producer; music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.

  • S1 · E29
    April 21 · 29 min

    How to Fix Everything with Julie Kashen

    Elder care and childcare costs are rising fast, while wages and support for caregivers lag behind. Longtime care policy advocate Julie Kashen breaks down how we got here, what it would look like if we treated care as real infrastructure, and offers a surprisingly hopeful framework for what’s still possible. Learn more about Julie's work at The Century Foundation.

  • S1 · E28
    April 14 · 32 min

    Starting a Business in the Care Space with Kim Elliott

    Kim Elliott’s caregiving story includes a leukemia diagnosis, a stem cell transplant, and some truly deranged insurance battles. She talks with Vanessa about surviving all of it — and building Gray Monster so other caregivers don’t have to start from scratch.

  • April 6 · 40 min

    Putting Your Parents on Videotape with Michelle Boyaner

    Michelle Boyaner reflects on lives and relationships while sharing insights from her acclaimed film It’s Not a Burden: The Humor and Heartache of Raising Elderly Parents, which explores the joys and struggles of caring for aging loved ones. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • March 31 · 40 min

    Selena Gomez’s Mommy Issues

    In this episode of Infamous, Vanessa and her co-host Natalie Robehmed learn about a wild family drama from The Cut writer Angelina Chapin. It’s about Selena Gomez and her mother Mandy Teefey’s mental-health startup, Wondermind. They discuss the pressures created when celebrity and mental health advocacy become a business. Read Angelina’s story, “What Happened at Wondermind?” Read Vanessa’s book, Blurred Lines: Sex, Power and Consent on Campus, and check out Natalie on Instagram at @natrobe To connect with the So Your Parents Are Old team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! To connect with Infamous's creative team, join the community at ⁠joincampsidemedia.com⁠

  • March 24 · 27 min

    Perimenopause and Brain Fog with Anna Holmes

    Anna Holmes joins Vanessa to talk about the unnerving overlap between having a parent with dementia and experiencing perimenopause brain fog, and the terrifying question that raises: is this just aging, or the beginning of something worse? It’s a candid, darkly funny conversation about how to stay present, even when we’re afraid. For more from Anna, you can read her New Yorker article, My Mother’s Memory Loss, and Mine or order one of her amazing books. Also discussed: read about the new AI dementia glasses. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • March 17 · 25 min

    A Presidential Legacy of Care with Josh Carter

    Josh Carter, grandson of President Jimmy Carter, grew up in a family where caregiving wasn’t just a value — it was a way of life. He talks with Vanessa about caring for a grandmother with memory loss, supporting a father with Parkinson’s, and parenting a child with serious medical needs. Learn more about the VEO-IBD Foundation. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  • March 10 · 35 min

    Curing Grief with Cody Delistraty

    Writer Cody Delistraty joins Vanessa to talk about his book The Grief Cure, a quest narrative through loss, myth, medicine, and modern grief culture. From the controversial diagnosis of Prolonged Grief Disorder to the American obsession with “getting over it,” Cody argues against the promise of closure, for something far messier (and more human). Also discussed: Cody’s articles on mourning in America, the “magic” of AI, and techno-spiritualism; and How to Change a Memory by Steve Ramirez. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.

  • March 2 · 33 min

    How You (Yes, You) Can Live a Long, Healthy Life with Dr. Majid Fotuhi

    What if cognitive decline isn’t inevitable? Dr. Majid Fotuhi, author of The Invincible Brain, explains why the brain is more changeable than we think, and how daily habits can affect blood flow, inflammation, and the memory center of the brain. Vanessa and Dr. Fotuhi cover the difference between normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia, plus the “five pillars” of brain health. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.

  • February 23 · 33 min

    Your Parents' Finances with Beth Pinsker

    Vanessa talks with certified financial planner, MarketWatch columnist, and My Mother’s Money author Beth Pinsker about the maddening reality of financial caregiving. They cover long-term care insurance, reverse mortgages, and why all this is ultimately about love, not control. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.

  • February 16 · 45 min

    Soap Operas and Aging with Mal Young

    Mal Young, the British television producer and writer best known for his work on The Young and the Restless, joins the show to talk about his parents. With warmth and candor, he reflects on their influence, quirks, and the lessons that shaped both his life and career. Learn more about Mal in this interview. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.

  • February 9 · 32 min

    Savannah Guthrie and Other Good Daughters with Allison Alford

    If you’re the one keeping the family together—texts, holidays, appointments, feelings—you’re probably “daughtering.” Vanessa talks with Baylor professor and communication expert Allison Alford, author of Good Daughtering, about the invisible work adult daughters do. They dig into guilt, burnout, “daughter rage,” and how to set boundaries that still feel loving (and are actually sustainable). To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.

  • February 2 · 27 min

    You Deserve More with Ai-Jen Poo

    Vanessa talks with labor leader and care advocate Ai-jen Poo about the panini generation, and what happens when government fails to invest in care infrastructure. To see what you can do to help, check out Ai-jen’s organization, Caring Across Generations. To connect with the team, find us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Youtube⁠, or shoot us an email at soyourparentsareold@gmail.com. We want to hear from you! Our production team is Shoshi Shmuluvitz, managing producer and editor; Lily Houston Smith, senior producer; Ashley Warren, production manager; Yi-Wen Lai-Tremewan, studio recordist; and music by Mark McAdam and Amber Devereux.

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