Duologue with Leslie Heaney

May is Mental Health Awareness Month — and I wanted to do something that felt real rather than performative. So I called a suicidologist. His name is Mark Kaplan, and he has spent his career studying why people die by suicide: the data, the risk factors, the gaps in how we think about prevention, and what any of us can actually do. This conversation is personal for me and I think it will be for most of you, too. We cover the numbers (they're staggering), why so many people we lose don't fit the profile we expect, what the research actually says about warning signs, and what upstream prevention means — practically, not as a policy abstraction. If you've ever been touched by this — directly or indirectly — this one's for you.

If you or someone you love is struggling, help is available 24/7 — call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

00:00:03 Introduction & Context
00:01:11 What Is Suicidology
00:03:33 Origins of the Field & 988
00:05:59 Mark's Personal Entry
00:08:17 Silent Suicides
00:10:39 Upstream vs. Downstream
00:13:05 The Numbers: 50,000 a Year
00:15:27 Why the Rate Is Still Rising
00:17:46 Social Media's Role
00:19:53 80% of Suicides Are Men
00:22:16 Older Adults & Not Being a Burden
00:24:42 Veterans & Suicide
00:26:58 Global Comparisons
00:29:07 Risk Factors Deep Dive
00:31:30 Precipitating Events & Leslie's Story
00:33:56 Behavioral Warning Signs
00:36:16 Red Flag Laws & Firearms Policy
00:38:42 The Window Problem
00:41:03 What Mark Would Change
00:43:28 Harm Reduction & Mental Health
00:45:49 Universal Prevention
00:48:08 Primary Care as First Line
00:50:57 What You Can Actually Do
00:53:18 Loneliness, Social Media & Closing

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If there was ever an episode to send to every parent you know, this is it.

I sat down with Dr. Cara Natterson — pediatrician and author — and Vanessa Curl Bennett, and we went there. All the way there. Breast buds, NARBs, vaginal discharge (yes, we said it out loud), the sex talk, consent with kindergartners, and what to do when your kid's been watching porn before you've ever had the conversation.

Their book, This Is So Awkward, is one of the most practical, honest, funny, and genuinely useful things I've read as a parent of teens. It walks you through the science of what's happening in your kid's body, helps you recognize your own baggage so it doesn't derail the conversation, gives you scripts for the actual hard moments, and — my favorite part — ends each section with perspective from young adults who've already been through it.

We talked about: what breast buds actually mean (and why they're showing up years before a period), how to handle the first bra conversation without making it weird, what the NARB is and why your son needs a strategy for it, the concept of "not now" vs. "never" when it comes to alcohol, sex, and body hair, how the average age of first porn exposure is now 12 — and what that means for the conversations you need to have, and how to teach consent starting in kindergarten, long before sex ever enters the picture.

I laughed. I cringed. I took notes. You will too. Find Cara and Vanessa at lessawkward.com.

00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:25 Breast Buds: The First Physical Sign of Puberty
00:05:58 How the Puberty Timeline Has Shifted
00:08:24 The Sign Most Parents Don't Know to Look For
00:13:01 Breast Development in Boys — Yes, Really
00:17:32 Introducing Bras Without the Shame Spiral
00:24:24 Body Privacy & the White Soccer Jersey
00:33:16 Not Now vs. Never
00:37:39 Boys' Puberty: NARBs, Wet Dreams & Why It's Not a Punchline
00:42:18 Hair, Manscaping & How to Start the Conversation
00:53:46 When to Start the Sex Conversation
00:56:11 Consent Starts in Kindergarten — and French Fries
00:58:31 The Porn Data Every Parent Needs to Hear
01:03:12 Where to Find Cara & Vanessa

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Leslie sits down with two of the country's most respected immigration attorneys — Bo Cooper, former General Counsel of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and Austin Fragomen, of the global immigration law firm Fragomen — to walk through what the U.S. immigration system actually looks like from the inside.

Right now, there are roughly 4 million people waiting in various visa categories for a path to permanent residence in the United States. In this conversation, Leslie, Bo, and Austin break down exactly how that line works: the three legal pathways to permanent residence (family, employment, and humanitarian), why some people wait months while others wait over two decades depending on country of origin and family relationship, how the asylum system was designed in the aftermath of World War II and whether it fits the crises of today, and what is actually happening with deportation, birthright citizenship, and student visas.

They also discuss what Congress could do — and why comprehensive reform has remained out of reach for decades.

Whether you have been following immigration in the news and want to understand the underlying system, or you are simply curious about how this process works for real people — this is a clear, factual, and genuinely clarifying conversation.

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00:00:03 Introduction
00:02:33 The Three Pathways to a Green Card
00:07:20 Family-Based Immigration Explained
00:12:09 Why the Post-WWII Refugee Definition Is Outdated
00:14:32 How Long Is the Line? The 4 Million Figure
00:16:56 Employment Visas: H-1B, L Visas, and the Skills Gap
00:21:43 The Afghan Translator Story and the Refugee System
00:24:08 Asylum vs. Refugee: What's the Difference
00:38:12 Student Visas and the China Security Concern
00:45:25 Birthright Citizenship Around the World
00:50:10 Deportation, Enforcement, and What's Actually Possible
01:01:57 What Congress Could Do — and Why It Hasn't

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Testosterone levels in men have declined more than 25% over the last two decades. And most people — men and women alike — have no idea why, what it means, or what to do about it.
In this episode, Leslie sits down with Shalin Shah, CEO of Marius Pharmaceuticals and one of the leading voices in the testosterone therapy space, to have the conversation that a lot of doctors still aren't having. Leslie brings her own experience — she's been on topical testosterone as part of her HRT protocol — and together they go deep on why T levels are dropping, how to know if yours are low, and what the treatment landscape actually looks like in 2026.
They cover the difference between total and free testosterone and why the number your doctor shows you may be almost meaningless. They talk about the FDA panel that convened in December 2025, what was asked of regulators, and why the outcome could change how millions of people access care. They discuss why testosterone got classified as a controlled substance in 1990, the faulty studies that put cardiovascular and prostate cancer warnings on labels for decades, and what the landmark 2023 Traverse Study finally put to rest.
They also talk about women — because testosterone is a female hormone too, and the gap between how men and women access treatment is still significant.
If you've been curious about this subject — whether for yourself, your partner, your father, or your sons — this is the conversation to start with.
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00:00:00 Introduction & Leslie's Personal Story
00:02:18 The State of Testosterone Today
00:05:57 What's Causing the Decline
00:08:00 Symptoms of Low T & Why You Should Get Tested
00:10:10 Why Your Doctor Probably Isn't Testing You
00:12:24 What's a Normal Testosterone Level?
00:16:20 Testosterone and Women
00:20:00 Leslie's HRT Journey & Treatment Options
00:25:20 Natural Ways to Boost Your Levels
00:30:03 The FDA Panel — What Was Discussed
00:33:20 The Prostate Cancer Study — 3 People, 80 Years of Policy
00:36:30 What Needs to Change & What's Next
00:40:34 Outro

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When Acquavella Galleries first mounted a Matisse exhibition in 1973, the lines stretched down the block. Now, more than fifty years later, the gallery has done it again — and the wait was worth it.

Leslie sits down with Eleanor Acquavella, Director at Acquavella Galleries, to go inside Matisse: The Pursuit of Harmony — a once-in-a-generation exhibition on view free to the public at their East 79th Street townhouse through May 22nd. Over 50 works borrowed from private collections, many unseen publicly, brought together by a family that has spent six decades knowing exactly where the best Matisse works live.

In this conversation, Leslie and Eleanor explore how Matisse used sculpture to unlock his painting, his rivalry with Picasso, the odalisque and what it reveals about his relationship to color and form, and why top-quality Matisse works almost never come up for sale. They also discuss why and how the world is having a "Matisse moment" right now — with major shows opening simultaneously in Paris, Chicago, San Francisco, and Baltimore — and why New York has not seen anything like this in years.

Whether you're an art lover, a curious visitor to New York before May 22nd, or someone who wants to understand how the private art world really works — this one is for you.

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00:00:03 Introduction
00:01:30 About the Exhibition
00:03:51 The 1973 Show and 50 Years Later
00:06:08 Borrowing from Private Collectors
00:08:25 How Sculpture Unlocked Matisse's Painting
00:10:40 The Odalisque Explained
00:15:31 Matisse vs. Picasso
00:29:54 The Global Matisse Moment
00:32:17 The Matisse Art Market
00:37:04 What's Next for Acquavella
00:41:54 Outro

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