ABOUT THIS EPISODE
We all carry them. But what exactly makes something a secret — and when does keeping one start costing you more than it's worth?
In this episode, Evelina and Danny get into it from the very first minute: affairs, white lies, the tooth fairy, Crocs, and the secrets we keep not to deceive others — but just to survive the rooms we're in.
Danny opens up about growing up in a household where loving musical theater felt like something to hide, and what it really cost him to conceal his identity across multiple worlds — family, auditions, Broadway — for over a decade. It's an honest, funny, and genuinely moving conversation about the cognitive load of masking, the shame that secrets breed, and why belonging can sometimes feel like it requires becoming someone else entirely.
Evelina, meanwhile, confesses to lying three times before 6am, running across her house in the dark, and hiding a tooth fairy box in a pantry. Not her finest hour. Possibly her best story.
In this episode:
- Where secrets end and lies begin (and why the line is blurrier than you think)
- Gossip as the brain's junk food — and why we keep reaching for it
- Masking, minority stress, and the hidden tax of being "different" in any room
- Why radical honesty is overrated and unsolicited opinions are the enemy
- The beach ball theory of suppressed emotions (you know how this ends)
- What resilience actually is — and why it's built, not born
- The secret Danny kept until he was 32, and what finally lifted the weight
Sneaky science alert: Shame researcher Brené Brown, Bronnie Ware's five regrets of the dying, anti-fragility theory, and the psychology of identity concealment — all snuck in between a couch confession and a very strong take on Crocs.
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Curious About… is hosted by musician & psychologist Evelina Bereni and Broadway performer & counsellor Danny Beiruti.
