Eilene Zimmerman, SMACKED

Eilene Zimmerman is the author of the memoir, Smacked: A Story of White-Collar Ambition, Addiction, and Tragedy. Eilene has been a journalist for three decades including a six-year stint as a columnist for The New York Times Sunday Business Section. This memoir is Eilene’s exploration of her ex-husband’s secret drug addiction/overdose, her own culpability, and an analysis of what's going on in the white-collar professional world in terms of unhappiness, depression, anxiety, and substance use. Eilene and I discussed the feeling of powerlessness when sharing children with an ex-spouse, what it is like to examine a relationship once you learn the whole truth, and the idea that we often try to fix problems in our childhood with our own marriages. I was so impressed by the amount of research Eileen put into this book! From traveling around the country talking to addiction psychologists and therapists, to posing questions about mental health, stress, and happiness on several online forums for lawyers to answer anonymously, this woman covered it all. Please listen!