Jane Fonda didn’t just change Hollywood; she rattled American politics, beauty standards, and the birth of modern fitness culture. We're sharing a preview of a new podcast, Big Lives, and a special episode about Jane. Every week, journalists Kai Wright and Emmanuel Dzotsi dig into the BBC archive to explore the story behind the icons who shape our culture—trailblazers like David Bowie, Meg Ryan, Amy Winehouse and Tina Turner—and better understand how each legend set the stage for our contemporary cultural landscape. Here, Kai and Emmanuel trace how the Oscar-winning “nudie cutie” became a firebrand activist, conservative boogeyman, and unlikely fitness mogul. From the 1960s Barbarella sex symbol to “Hanoi Jane” to the face of the VHS home workout revolution, we unravel the woman who kept reinventing herself—and became one of the most polarizing figures in American history. Find Big Lives wherever you get podcasts.

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What if psychedelics could transform the way we treat trauma, chronic pain, and insomnia? This week, neuroscientist and psychedelic researcher Grace Blest-Hopley joins the show to break down the research on psychedelics and female biology. She discusses how psychedelics work in the brain, and the ways that psychedelic-assisted therapies might be beneficial for women in midlife.

Links to resources mentioned in this episode:

Hystelica’s resources on psychedelic retreats

The Heroic Hearts Project

Psychedelics and Neuroplasticity: A Systematic Review Unraveling the Biological Underpinnings of Psychedelics

Exploring the Therapeutic Effects of Psychedelics Administered to Military Veterans in Naturalistic Retreat Settings

The acute effects of classic psychedelics on memory in humans

Psilocybin with psychological support for treatment-resistant depression: six-month follow-up

Single-Dose Psilocybin for a Treatment-Resistant Episode of Major Depression

Psilocybin produces substantial and sustained decreases in depression and anxiety in patients with life-threatening cancer: A randomized double-blind trial

Johns Hopkins study on psychedelics and Alzheimer’s

Note: In this show, we use “women” as shorthand for people with XX chromosomes. We understand sex and gender are more complex, and acknowledge the experiences we describe reach beyond that word.

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With the 96th Academy Awards this Sunday, we wanted to revisit this episode from last year. The Oscars seems to be cursed with a series of chaotic live television gaffes. But one moment in Academy Award history takes the cake. In 1974, a scrawny white man named Robert Opel ran across the stage butt naked, right as the Best Picture category was being announced. New Yorker magazine writer and Oscars aficionado Michael Schulman recounts the queer, wonderful, and historic life of the 1974 Oscars streaker.

You can read the full story here: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/02/06/what-became-of-the-oscar-streaker

You can find Michael Schulman’s new book Oscar Wars here.

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