Getting Curious With Jonathan Van Ness

Check out the JVN Patreon for exclusive BTS content, extra interviews, and much much more - check it out here: www.patreon.com/jvn  JVN is joined by the brilliant Dr. Judith Joseph, a board-certified psychiatrist and researcher, to explore high-functioning depression — what it is, how to recognize it, and why so many people struggle with it in silence. Together, they break down the signs that often go unnoticed, unpack the stigma around seeking help when things "seem fine," and share tools for finding support and healing. Whether you're curious about your own mental health or looking to better understand a loved one, this episode is for you.  Full Getting Better Video Episodes now available on YouTube.  Not A Phase.  Trans Lifeline Follow Dr. Judith Joseph on Instagram @drjudithjoseph  Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Anne Currie and Chad Hall Our theme

Ready to take a fresh path to self-discovery? Every Monday, Jemma Sbeg brings you a new mantra and shares how you can apply it to your own life. Whether you’re facing a major transition or just looking to evolve your everyday routine, Mantra is the podcast for you. Join Jemma every week for reflections, practical tips, and personal insights that’ll inspire you to live with intention and unlock your true potential. Follow Mantra with Jemma Sbeg wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Check out the JVN Patreon for exclusive BTS content, extra interviews, and much much more - check it out here: www.patreon.com/jvn  This week on The Monday Edit:  the impact of the Big Beautiful Bill, updates on the Idaho Four Case, JVN’s life as Pet Parent, beating the summer heat and sun, and a potential cure for HIV.  Not A Phase.  Trans Lifeline Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn and senior producer Chris @amomentlikechris  New video episodes Getting Better on YouTube every Wednesday.  Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Check out the JVN Patreon for exclusive BTS content, extra interviews, and much much more - check it out here: www.patreon.com/jvn  Separation of Church and State is under attack, and the spread of White Christian Nationalism is ever present. Luckily, organizations like Americans United for Separation of Church and State are on the ground and fighting back in a major way. Brian Silva, the VP of Outreach from AU stopped by the pod to help us spot the most recent examples of the White Christian Nationalist agenda, and how we can get involved (and get excited!) about grassroots organizing.  Full Getting Better Video Episodes now available on YouTube.  Not A Phase.  Trans Lifeline Americans United is on Instagram @americansunited and on Tiktok @au.org www.au.org  www.au.org/donate  Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall

Check out the JVN Patreon for exclusive BTS content, extra interviews, and much much more - check it out here: www.patreon.com/jvn  This week on The Monday Edit: JVN life updates, cuts to NPR funding, the recent attacks on Iran, the NYC mayoral primary election win for Zohran Mamdani, and a quick update on the killer whale’s salmon supply in the Pacific Northwest with this week’s Patreon guest, Dr. Deborah Giles from the SeaDoc Society.  Not A Phase.  Trans Lifeline Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn and senior producer Chris @amomentlikechris  New video episodes Getting Better on YouTube every Wednesday.  Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Check out the JVN Patreon for exclusive BTS content, extra interviews, and much much more - check it out here: www.patreon.com/jvn  This week on Getting Better, JVN sat down with internet sweetheart, icon, and author - the effervescent Drew Afualo. Talking all things clapping back to trolls, nuanced conversations on the internet, and why being woke isn’t a bad thing.  Full Getting Better Video Episodes now available on YouTube.  Not A Phase.  Trans Lifeline Drew Afualo is on Instagram @drewafualo and on Tiktok @drewafualo  Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Take the online quiz and introduce Ollie to your pet. Visit https://www.ollie.com/better today for 60% off your

This week on The Monday Edit: JVN sat down with Chase Strangio from the ACLU to debrief on last week’s 6-3 ruling by the Supreme Court on U.S. v Skrmetti - ruling in favor of continuing Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care. Chase made history in December 2024 as the first openly Trans lawyer to argue in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. All that, plus! JVN and Chris break down the Karen Read verdict.  Chase Strangio is Co-Director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project as well as a nationally recognized expert on transgender rights. Chase’s work includes impact litigation, as well as legislative and administrative advocacy, on behalf of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV across the United States. Prior to joining the ACLU, Chase was an Equal Justice Works fellow and the Director of Prisoner Justice Initiatives at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, where he represented transgender and gender non-conforming individuals in confinement settings. In 2012, Chase co-founded the Lorena Borjas Community Fund, an organ

Money, money, money, money…MO-NEY! The Money with Katie Show host Katie Gatti Tassin here to talk with JVN all about how we can beat capitalism, get ahead, and get informed about the system that we’re all operating in - whether we like it or not! Katie’s new book Rich Girl Nation is out now.  Money with Katie was founded in 2020 by Katie Gatti Tassin to document everything she learned about personal finance on her journey to financial independence. As a former public relations major in corporate America with a penchant for swiping her Discover card, her obsession about personal finance hit her hard out of left field — and as she watched her net worth grow in tandem with her financial literacy, she realized just how valuable the information was. Sharing it with others became an obsession. She left her full-time job at the end of 2021 to devote all of her energy to building this business, and Money with Katie was acquired by Morning Brew in 2022.  Full Getting Better Video Episodes now available on YouTub

This week on The Monday Edit: JVN sat down with Cristina Jiménez Moreta to talk about her new book Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear Into Pride, Power, and Real Change and the work being done at United We Dream, the country’s largest youth-led immigrant organization - which Cristina co-founded. Plus our breakdown of the Tony awards and our HBOTW! Cristina Jiménez Moreta is an award-winning community organizer, political strategist, prominent advocate for social justice, and author. She is the Co-Founder and former Executive Director of United We Dream (UWD), the nation's largest immigrant youth-led organization. Cristina immigrated to the U.S. from Ecuador with her family in 1998, seeking a better life. She grew up undocumented in Queens, New York, and has since become a powerful voice in the fight for immigrant rights and equity. Cristina is currently a Distinguished Lecturer at the City College of New York's Colin Powell School, where she also co-teaches Leadership for Democracy and Social Justice (L

This week we’re joined by political commentator and Gen Z Icon, Matt Bernstein - the creator behind @MattXIV and A Bit Fruity Podcast. Together, Matt and JVN discuss the very real Gen Z red wave, finding your peace amidst online political discourse, make-up (yes, darling!), and much much more - plus, we find out just how many Millennial references Matt can pick up on. Matt Bernstein unpacks the events, people, and culture wars shaping the world around us.. On his podcast, On A Bit Fruity, he takes deeper dives into those issues — joined by celebrities, experts, and journalists who help us laugh and learn along the way. Episodes of A Bit Fruity Podcast drop bi-weekly wherever you get your podcasts or on YouTube. Full Getting Better Video Episodes now available on YouTube. Not A Phase. Trans Lifeline Matt Bernstein is on Instagram @MattXIV Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Pro

This week on The Monday Edit, we have a very special guest joining in on the Monday fun: best selling author Anna Malaika Tubbs stopped by to tell us all about her new book, Erased: What American Patriarchy Has Hidden from Us and helps us hone in on real time examples of our Patriarchy is being weaponized today. Anna unpacks how the United States has constructed a unique—and often invisible—gendered hierarchy, one that is inextricably linked to whiteness and a deeply flawed binary system. From the founding fathers to the current Supreme Court, from the erasure of women in the Constitution to the ongoing fight for the Equal Rights Amendment, Dr. Tubbs reveals the mechanisms that have kept women’s contributions hidden and their voices suppressed. Anna Malaika Tubbs is a scholar, advocate, and bestselling author (The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation) whose work brings a fresh, urgent perspective on American history and its gendered systems

Matt Rogers, comedian, actor, writer, host, half of the duo behind Las Culturistas and multi hyphenate extraordinaire is on Getting Better this week to enter our queer millennial world on all things pop culture, pride heroes, lgbtqia+, Celine Dion, Tony Awards, Ariana Grande, Epic Universe and of course... JK Rowling. He tells us his and Bowen Yang’s origin story, how Las Culturistas came to be, what's next for him, and of course - Tony predictions! Matt Rogers is an actor, comedian, writer, podcaster and television host. Named one of Variety's Comics To Watch in 2021, he is co-host of the popular podcast “Las Culturistas” alongside SNL's Bowen Yang, which was named Time Out New York’s #1 Comedy Podcast and Time Magazine’s “50 Best Podcasts to Listen to Right Now”. Matt can be seen in SEARCH PARTY, SHRILL, AWKWAFINA IS NORA FROM QUEENS, OUR CARTOON PRESIDENT, the animated Netflix series Q-FORCE, and as the host of the HBO Max competition series HAUTE DOG. Matt has written for comedies such as THE OTHER TWO

This week on The Monday Edit: the Dry and Salty Environment of Salt Lake City, Supreme Court revoking the safe haven program, Elon’s drug dealer, the West Village Crypto Kidnapping, conspiracy theories, and propaganda we are not falling for! Not A Phase. Trans Lifeline Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn and senior producer Chris @amomentlikechris New video episodes Getting Better on YouTube every Wednesday. Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#1 New York Times Best Selling Author Julie Murphy stops by to talk with JVN about the recent attacks on local libraries, investing in independent bookstores, why exposure to Queer voices is paramount for young readers - plus! The two go all in on their new YA book Let Them Stare. Julie Murphy is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of books for all ages including Dumplin’ (now a film on Netflix and one of TIME Magazine's 100 Best YA Books of All Time), Dear Sweet Pea, and If the Shoe Fits. She is also the co-author of the Christmas Notch series with Sierra Simone. Julie has been featured by Good Morning America, Teen Vogue, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and more. When she’s not writing or reliving her reference desk glory days, she can be found watching made-for-TV movies, hunting for the perfect slice of cheese pizza, and planning her next great travel adventure. Julie is also the founder of Bittersweet Books, a story production and intellectual property company. To learn more about Bitterswee

This week on The Monday Edit: The Let Them Stare drop, Karen Read Retrial, The Supreme Court Deadlock, eating around friends, and independent bookstores. Not A Phase. Trans Lifeline Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn and senior producer Chris @amomentlikechris New video episodes Getting Better on YouTube every Wednesday. Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Revenge, why do we want to get revenge so bad? And where does that urge come from? And how do we go from wanting to get revenge to being able to forgive someone or others? James Kimmel Jr., Yale lecturer and co-founder of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Studies, is on Getting Better this week to teach us just that. James gives us insight into the psychology of these complex emotions, the parts of the brain affected, and what research, studies and science shows us about forgiveness. James Kimmel, Jr., JD, is a lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, the founder and co-director of the Yale Collaborative for Motive Control Studies, and a researcher, lawyer, and novelist who focuses on neuroscience, psychology, revenge, addiction, forgiveness, and violence. A breakthrough scholar and expert on revenge and forgiveness, he first identified compulsive revenge seeking as an addiction and first developed the behavioral addiction model of revenge and the brain disease model of revenge addiction as p

This week on The Monday Edit: Astrological events this week, drone sightings, Birthright Citizenship, Trump’s Qatari 747. Swifties Clowning about the 2025 AMAs, and friendship trauma. Donate: Not A Phase. Trans Lifeline Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn and senior producer Chris @amomentlikechris New video episodes Getting Better on YouTube every Wednesday. Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Currie, and Chad Hall Our theme music is also composed by Nathanael McClure. Curious about bringing your brand to life on the show? Email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week’s expert is Aliza Kelly, a renowned celebrity astrologer, author, columnist, and host of the podcast, “Horoscope Weekly.” JVN and Aliza go all in on Jonathan’s chart, and how astrology can truly be a self-care practice. Together, they’re diving into the profound ways engaging with astrology can become a meaningful and empowering form of self-care, providing tools for self-understanding, navigating challenges, and aligning with one's inherent strengths. Aliza Kelly is a renowned celebrity astrologer, author, columnist, and host of the podcast, “Horoscope Weekly.” She writes a column in New York Magazine's The Cut, maintains a robust online community, and is the author of 5 books, including her latest title, It’s All Magic: 365 Reflections on Astrology, Tarot, and Manifestation. Aliza has been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times, and is a regular guest on The Drew Barrymore Show. Learn more at alizakelly.com. Full Video Episodes now available on YouTube. You can fol

This week on The Monday Edit - we’re making public push back fun with Strict Scrutiny’s co-host Leah Litman talking all about her new book Lawless: How the Supreme Court Came to Run on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes. We’re also talking about why public schools are becoming the battle ground for the separation of church and state with Alessandro Terenzoni, VP of Public Policy from Americans United for Separation of Church and State - we’re going IN on the supreme court this week, if you can’t already tell. Plus! We’re serving you a healthy dose of queer joy (like we always do over here on the Monday Edit, duh!). Leah Litman is a professor of law at the University of Michigan and a former Supreme Court clerk. In addition to cohosting Strict Scrutiny, she writes frequently about the Court for media outlets including The Washington Post, Slate, and The Atlantic, among others, and has appeared as a commentator on NPR and MSNBC, in addition to other venues. She has received the Ruth Bader

Dan Harris, host of the 10% Happier Podcast, best selling author, and former ABC News Anchor sits down with JVN to talk about how we can get comfortable with failure and how to stop letting fear control your life. Dan unpacks how failure became the unlikely catalyst for lasting change. Whether you're battling self-doubt or just trying to bounce back, this conversation offers real tools, raw honesty, and a fresh perspective on how falling down can actually move us forward. Dan Harris is a journalist, best selling author, and host of the 10% Happier Podcast. He served as an anchor and correspondent for ABC News, including roles on Nightline and Good Morning America.  Full Video Episodes now available on YouTube. You can follow Dan Harris on Instagram @danharris. Not A Phase. Trans Lifeline. Follow us on Instagram @gettingbetterwithjvn Jonathan on Instagram @jvn  Senior Producer, Chris McClure Producer, Editor & Engineer is Nathanael McClure Production support from Julie Carrillo, Anne Curri