Estranged: When Family Bonds Break

By Anita Rao,

Published February 18, 2022 at 9:59 AM EST

Anita has a close nuclear family unit but knows that's not the case for everyone. Meeting folks who — by choice or circumstance — are estranged from members of their family, she hears reflections on finding belonging elsewhere and seeking support from non-traditional sources. She also learns from two siblings who were estranged for more than 40 years that while reconciliation is possible, it's not for everyone.

Meet the Guests:

Writer Raksha Vasudevan talks about her estrangement from her father, mother and brother and how being an immigrant shapes how she thinks about her family story.
Tiffany Scott's father left their family and stopped speaking with her in 2016. She talks about what it was like to be ghosted by her dad and how she's still making sense of her family's experience.
Siblings Fern Schumer Chapman and Scott Schumer share their 40-year estrangement story and what led to their reconciliation eight years ago. Fern wrote the book “Brothers, Sisters, Strangers: Sibling Estrangement and the Road to Reconciliation.”