My Best Break-Up

In this special episode recorded live at The Greene Space in New York City, writer Ashley C. Ford explains how she broke up with her college boyfriend, Kelly, so they could figure themselves out and grow as individuals. After two years of being just friends, Kelly appeared at her doorstep to announce that he had things figured out—and he wanted Ashley back. For real, this time.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

We’ve all fantasized about reconnecting with a high school crush, but sometimes reality isn’t so dreamy. As an awkward teen in Toronto, Shan Boodram was one of many girls who pined for a popular basketball player. A decade later, he finally asked her out—and despite several red flags, she began dating him. But all those years of unrequited feelings soon turned into a toxic relationship that Shan needed to leave in order to protect her heart and herself.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode Sponsors: TakeCareOf.com, CODE: BreakUp; Daily-Harvest.com, CODE: My Best Break-Up

We asked Courtney Perkins, creator of the hilariously accurate @NotAllGeminis Instagram account, to answer our questions about astrology and relationships. Which signs are most compatible? Which pairings will have the worst breakups? What’s the difference between sun, moon, Mars, and Venus signs, and how do they influence the way we date? All this, plus Courtney explains how she saw the Brangelina trainwreck coming and why Geminis are just misunderstood.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Folk singer and violinist Gaelynn Lea didn’t just grow up in Duluth, Minnesota—she was rooted in it, from the icy landscape to the thriving local music scene. But in 2016 she won NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest, which opened up a world of touring opportunities and helped her find fans and community in places she’d never been. For the first time, Gaelynn realized that home can be anywhere, even a budget hotel room.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode Sponsors: Bollandbranch.com, CODE: My Best Break-Up; Zola.com/Breakup

“Criminal” host Phoebe Judge’s latest podcast, “This Is Love,” explores love stories that don’t always seem like love stories—from an episode about a whale to one about the color blue. Phoebe explains how she’s gained a sense of certainty about love, and why a show about love is actually a lot like a show about crime.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Behind author Jenny Han’s smile is the story of a breakup. Eight years ago, she met a dream dentist—gentle, caring, warm—and fell into a routine of blissful cleanings. Then, her dentist dropped a bombshell: She thought Jenny should get braces and jaw surgery to correct a misalignment. Other specialists disagreed, but Jenny found herself strangely conflicted about standing up to this woman who’d spent so much time poking around in her mouth.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode Sponsors: TheFarmersDog.com/MyBestBreakUp; HelloFresh.com/BreakUp60, CODE: BreakUp60

Comedian Kelli Dunham was raised Evangelical, not Catholic, but she always knew she loved Jesus. So, at age 19, she decided become a nun, offering herself up in service to God and the Church. She tried to be obedient, following her strict order’s rules, but finally she realized that the Jesus she loved wasn’t the Jesus of the convent—and that her identity as a queer woman called her to find a new community.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode Sponsors: StitchFix.com/MyBestBreakUp; Daily-Harvest.com, CODE: MyBestBreakUp

We asked you to share your best break-up stories, and wow, did you deliver. We’ll hear about a woman who discovered she’d been shopping for her boyfriend’s other girlfriends, a man who took a bribe to dump his fiancée, a fool who thought he could lie to three women at once, and a woman who lost her relationship and her job in the span of two days. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger… right?

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Connie Lim (aka MILCK) had a long love affair with cigarettes, even though she knew it was unhealthy—and a serious risk to her career as a singer. And like so many bad relationships, when it came time to break up, she found she couldn’t do it cleanly. It took a few tries, a few rebounds, and a whole lot of frustration. Once she made it to the other side, though, she realized why she’d needed cigarettes in the first place.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode Sponsors: BollandBranch.com, CODE: MyBestBreakUp; Framebridge.com, CODE: MyBestBreakUp

Lots of comedians poke fun at themselves for laughs. And as Hannah Gadsby explains, her deep unease with success, coupled with the invisibility she often felt as a queer, autistic woman, turned self-deprecation into an automatic response on stage and off. But now Hannah has made a conscious decision to view the world in a new way—without a filter of shame.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode Sponsors: Fab Fit Fun, CODE: MyBestBreakUp; ZipRecruiter.com/BreakUp

Design*Sponge founder Grace Bonney knows what it’s like to strive for someone else’s idea of perfection. For a long time she tried to be the person she felt the niche design blog world wanted her to be: thin, straight, flawless — basically, an Anthropologie rack come to life. Then she turned 30 and realized that, in fact, she needed to be herself.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode Sponsors: StitchFix.com/MyBestBreakUp and TheFarmersDog.com/MyBestBreakUp

For a long time, comedian Karolena Theresa thought a perfect body was something she should strive for. But eventually that mindset started interfering with all the other things she cared about, like performing, napping, and rocking bikinis. So she had to call it quits with bad body image.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode Sponsors: Daily Harvest, CODE: My Best Break-Up; Boll & Branch, CODE: My Best Break-Up.

Relationship expert Tracy McMillan faced the toughest break-up of her life when her son turned 18 and went away to college. She’d overcome her own difficult childhood and vowed to be the best parent she could be—and that, she realized, meant sending her son off to college to start is own life's journey.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode sponsors: ZipRecruiter and FabFitFun, CODE: MyBestBreakUp

Arianna Margulis got dumped in the middle of Central Park. By a guy who claimed she “interfered with his meditation schedule.” (Really? Really.) Luckily for all of us, Arianna channeled her hurt into the hilariously relatable Instagram cartoon @butlikemaybe and lived to tell the tale.

Hosted by Maeve Higgins. Brought to you by Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine. We want to hear YOUR story. Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com. #MyBestBreakUp

Episode sponsors: Framebridge.com code MYBESTBREAKUP and Stitchfix.com/MYBESTBREAKUP.

Sometimes, the best beginnings start with an ending. Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine bring you this warm and funny show - My Best Break-Up - hosted by the charming Maeve Higgins and featuring a different break-up story each week. You will fall in love with our guests, as they describe how their break-ups transformed their lives. Leaving a relationship, dumping your dentist,suddenly becoming an empty nester or even stepping back from your religion, we want to know where that break-up took you. Share YOUR story with us #MyBestBreakUp.

Find us @hellosunshine on Instagram and Twitter and hello-sunshine.com.