Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky

This week on Reclaiming, Monica welcomes actor, author, and creator Dylan Mulvaney for a deeply candid and surprisingly joyful conversation about identity, art, and the radical act of choosing joy in the face of public hate. Dylan retraces her path from a musical theater kid with a secret to documenting her transition for a billion people in her viral "Days of Girlhood" tik tok series. She reflects on surviving the “beergate” controversy, and how that traumatic moment of becoming a political symbol pushed her not to retreat, but to reclaim her story on her own terms—first through a spiritual ayahuasca journey, and then on stage in her one-woman show. Along the way, Monica and Dylan find profound common ground on the dizzying experience of surviving a global scandal, the specific pain of being turned into a caricature by the media, and the quiet, determined work it takes to piece your narrative back together. Expect laugh-out-loud moments about the absurdity of fame, a shared belief in humor as the ultimate survival tool, and even some breaking out into song mid podcast.
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This week on Reclaiming, Monica welcomes three-time Emmy winner Uzo Aduba for an expansive conversation about identity, creativity, and the quiet courage it takes to reclaim yourself—over and over. Uzo retraces her path from being the only Nigerian-American kid in her class growing up, to inhabiting some of TV’s most indelible women, from Suzanne “Crazy Eyes” Warren in Orange Is the New Black to Shirley Chisholm in Mrs. America. She reflects on the discipline of choosing roles that let her evolve on-screen as quickly as she does off, the tenderness of becoming her mother’s caregiver during a cancer battle, and the seismic joy (and humility) of welcoming her first child. Along the way, Monica and Uzo trade stories about finding comedy inside chaos, finding dignity in dating and indulge in a few serious theater geek tangents!
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This week on Reclaiming, actress and producer Madelaine Petsch gets real about what it actually takes to keep going when Hollywood keeps saying no. Before landing her breakout role of Cheryl Blossom in Riverdale, she faced more than 250 rejections — and instead of letting them define her, she used them to build resilience, confidence, and a thicker skin.

Madelaine opens up about learning how to set boundaries to protect her peace in an industry that constantly asks for more, and why horror movies became an unexpected form of emotional regulation — a safe way to give her nervous system a jolt and feel in control of anxiety instead of consumed by it. She also reflects on navigating a deeply personal chapter of her life: supporting her father through serious mental health challenges and how that experience reshaped her understanding of strength, compassion, and self-preservation.

And because this is Reclaiming, the wisdom doesn’t stop with her own journey — Madelaine even turns the tables and offers Monica some very earnest (and very funny) advice on how to finally get her ship-based period piece made. Hollywood, consider this your official notice.

Make sure to check out Madelaine's new movie "The Strangers" - in theaters now!
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This week on Reclaiming, Monica sits down with actor, writer, and activist Jameela Jamil for a passionate conversation about pleasure, purpose, and the ways modern life has quietly taught us to live without community. Jameela reflects on her desire to build a chosen village, why friendships deserve as much investment as romantic relationships, and how capitalism and isolation have reshaped our ideas of fulfillment. She opens up about nearly dying as a teenager, rejecting the idea that life is a test to endure, and why peace, laughter, and joy are not indulgences but necessities. Together, they explore loneliness, patriarchy, burnout, and the radical idea that a meaningful life might be rooted not in productivity, but in connection, curiosity, and shared humanity
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When Monica dreamed up Reclaiming, she imagined conversations that could stretch and reshape what reclamation means — identity, agency, voice, dignity, desire, self-worth, ancestry, joy, and even the things we didn’t know we needed to take back.

Across 48 guests, we asked the same question:
What is something you're working on reclaiming right now?

The answers turned into a breathtaking tapestry — big, small, public, private, famous and familiar — from reclaiming bodies and boundaries to relationships with family, fame, faith, narrative, pleasure, community, and the powerful decision to rewrite the story of your own life.

This special episode gathers every one of those moments into a single watch. You’ll hear reflections that are messy, triumphant, hilarious, tender, surprising — and yes, one guest even reclaimed her misaligned zodiac sign.

It’s a reminder that reclaiming isn’t a destination — it’s an ongoing practice, a return to ourselves over and over again.
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