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<v Speaker 1>Hi listeners wondery in Bloomberg's hit series The Shrink next

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<v Speaker 1>Door is moving from podcast to screen, but you can

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<v Speaker 1>listen to all episodes right now and hear why Will

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<v Speaker 1>Ferrell and Paul Rudd signed on to play the real people.

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<v Speaker 1>In this unreal true story, journalist Joan Nosira investigates a

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<v Speaker 1>decade's long story of how a New York psychiatrist deliberately

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<v Speaker 1>and maliciously took over his client's lives. The most notable

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<v Speaker 1>victim was a wealthy businessman named Marty Markowitz. Over the years,

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<v Speaker 1>Joe got to know Marty and saw direct and clear

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<v Speaker 1>evidence of how his shrink I Kershkoff manipulated him and

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<v Speaker 1>systematically took over his life. The Shrink next Door is

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<v Speaker 1>an incredible, jaw dropping story about how Marty nearly lost

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<v Speaker 1>everything to a man he thought was his friend and

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<v Speaker 1>most trusted confidant. It's strangely funny and told terrifying at

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<v Speaker 1>the same time, and it's well worth a listen. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>about to play you a preview of The Shrink next Door,

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<v Speaker 1>but while you're listening, make sure to follow The Shrink

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<v Speaker 1>next Door on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or you can

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<v Speaker 1>Binge the entire series ad Free with Wondery plus on

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<v Speaker 1>the Wondery app.

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<v Speaker 2>Every neighborhood has its share of mysteries. We can live

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<v Speaker 2>our entire lives and barely know the people just one

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<v Speaker 2>door down. I have a summerhouse in Southampton, a couple

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<v Speaker 2>of hours outside of New York. This part of the

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<v Speaker 2>Hamptons is called the Bayside. It's quiet, peaceful, a place

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<v Speaker 2>to escape from the city in the hot summer months.

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<v Speaker 2>Sampson and Jackie Gillot have a house on the same

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<v Speaker 2>street as me.

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<v Speaker 3>My name is Jacqueline Guillot and we're married thirty five years.

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<v Speaker 3>We're married fifty two years.

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<v Speaker 2>They've been coming here since the eighties. Most of the

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<v Speaker 2>houses on our street are single story with wooden clappered fronts.

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<v Speaker 2>But there's one house on the street that stands out

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<v Speaker 2>for starters. It's just bigger than most of the other houses.

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<v Speaker 2>It's two stories instead of one, and it's the only

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<v Speaker 2>one on the street with a separate guesthouse out back.

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<v Speaker 2>And then there's the way it looks.

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<v Speaker 3>The house is spectacular, with windows and windows and windows.

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<v Speaker 2>Everything about it is over the top.

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<v Speaker 3>There's a pond with goldfish lots of fish and a

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<v Speaker 3>waterfall to the pond too.

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<v Speaker 2>It's bigger, bolder, brasher than anything else on the street.

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<v Speaker 2>In twenty ten, my wife Dawn and I bought the

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<v Speaker 2>house next door. It wasn't long before a man popped

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<v Speaker 2>over to our house to introduce himself. He was dressed

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<v Speaker 2>like a maintenance man, green khaki pants, a long sleeve

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<v Speaker 2>workshire and a faded baseball cap. He welcomed us to

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<v Speaker 2>the neighborhood and then he handed us a folder of

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<v Speaker 2>press clippings.

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<v Speaker 4>I literally just took them and said thank you. But

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<v Speaker 4>he wanted us to have them, you know, he really

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<v Speaker 4>wanted Joe.

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<v Speaker 2>To have him. There were articles that a psychiatrist, doctor

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<v Speaker 2>Isaac Hirshkoff, had written and articles that had been written

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<v Speaker 2>about him. In mid August, an invitation arrived to a

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<v Speaker 2>summer barbecue next door, hosted by doctor Hirshkoff Ike. This

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<v Speaker 2>would be the last of three big summer parties he

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<v Speaker 2>threw every year. It was a warm afternoon. I chatted

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<v Speaker 2>with a few people, sipped on my glass of wine,

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<v Speaker 2>and began to wander around. At some point I found

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<v Speaker 2>myself in the living room. There was a fake giraft bust,

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<v Speaker 2>Venetian masks, plastic parrots hanging from the ceiling, even a

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<v Speaker 2>giant gong. But what struck me most with the photographs,

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<v Speaker 2>lots and lots of photographs, and in nearly every one

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<v Speaker 2>of them there was ike Hirshkoff with a different celebrity,

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<v Speaker 2>Ike with Henry Kissinger, ike with Ellie Wisell, ike with Brookshields,

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<v Speaker 2>ike with Gwyneth Paltrow, even ike with OJ Simpson. It

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<v Speaker 2>was like one of those diners where the walls are

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<v Speaker 2>covered with pictures of celebrity patrons. At that moment, the

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<v Speaker 2>man himself appeared. He greeted me like a long lost friend,

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<v Speaker 2>and said that my wife and I should come over

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<v Speaker 2>soon for a drink, and then he was gone. Sure enough,

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<v Speaker 2>a few days after the summer party, the same maintenance

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<v Speaker 2>man we'd met before showed up at our door again.

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<v Speaker 2>This time he brought an invitation for drinks. It was

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<v Speaker 2>very formal, as if he was reading from a script.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, like doctor Hirshkoff would want you to come

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<v Speaker 2>over right at such and such a time, on such

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<v Speaker 2>and such a day.

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<v Speaker 4>The formality of it blew me away, and he was very,

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<v Speaker 4>very exacting about how it had to go. So we

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<v Speaker 4>went one of the strangest evenings I've ever had in the.

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<v Speaker 2>Hamptons or anywhere else for that matter, but.

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<v Speaker 4>Definitely the Hamptons.

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<v Speaker 2>Ike and his wife Becky welcomed us in and ushered

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<v Speaker 2>us to a round kitchen table. There were snacks laid out,

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<v Speaker 2>carrots and celery. I served white wine. So what I

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<v Speaker 2>remember is him talking incessantly about being a sex therapist

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<v Speaker 2>and a celebrity therapist. And I can't remember the details,

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<v Speaker 2>but that just really sticks in my mind that he

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<v Speaker 2>kept going on and on about that. It was more

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<v Speaker 2>like a monologue than a dialogue. That's what I remember.

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<v Speaker 2>What do you remember?

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<v Speaker 4>I just remember thinking these people are I felt suffocated.

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<v Speaker 2>I talked about his work.

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<v Speaker 4>I've never seen anything like it. But I remember thinking

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<v Speaker 4>he was very brazen about the details of his life,

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<v Speaker 4>considering we were strangers, and also considering what he does.

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<v Speaker 4>He did talk about an NBA sports guys and somebody

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<v Speaker 4>a Yankees player. I just thought he lacked a lot

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<v Speaker 4>of discretion given.

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<v Speaker 2>His feel We listened politely as he went on and on.

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<v Speaker 4>I just remember looking towards the door.

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<v Speaker 2>Finally, after about an hour. I said we needed to

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<v Speaker 2>get home, and we got.

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<v Speaker 4>Up to leave, and it was very clear that I

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<v Speaker 4>wanted a photograph.

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<v Speaker 2>A photograph of me.

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<v Speaker 4>I think he came out and said, well, we'd like

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<v Speaker 4>to get a picture of you, and it was just Joe.

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<v Speaker 4>It wasn't Joe and I.

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<v Speaker 2>So I take my picture, hit it to his wall,

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<v Speaker 2>and then we left as fast as we could.

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<v Speaker 4>I remember getting to her home, collapsing on a couch

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<v Speaker 4>or something.

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<v Speaker 2>Dawn told me she never wanted to go back. There

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<v Speaker 2>was no sign of the maintenance man the night Dawn

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<v Speaker 2>and I went over, but I knew he was still around.

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<v Speaker 2>Sometime we'd be on our deck and we'd see him

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<v Speaker 2>outside working in the yard. When I returned to the

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<v Speaker 2>Hamptons the following summer, I noticed something strange at the

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<v Speaker 2>house next door. I would see the maintenance man out

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<v Speaker 2>on the property doing his usual work in the backyard,

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<v Speaker 2>but ike Hirshkoff was gone. I would never see him,

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<v Speaker 2>or his wife, Becky, and the Hamptons again. There were

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<v Speaker 2>no more summer parties. It was as if they had

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<v Speaker 2>simply disappeared. And that's when I learned that everything I

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<v Speaker 2>had thought i'd known about my neighbor was wrong. It's

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<v Speaker 2>a wild story. That's the maintenance man, the guy who

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<v Speaker 2>came to our door with the press clippings, the guy

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<v Speaker 2>we saw working around the yard. That was Marty Markowitz,

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<v Speaker 2>the same guy who had first gone to see doctor

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<v Speaker 2>Isaac Hirshkoff as a patient nearly thirty years earlier.

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<v Speaker 1>You've just heard a preview of The Shrink next Door.

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<v Speaker 1>To hear this unreal story in its entirety, plus new

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<v Speaker 1>bonus episodes where Joe Nocera interviews the cast and creators

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<v Speaker 1>of the TV adaptation, including Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd.

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<v Speaker 1>Follow The Shrink next Door in Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music,

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you're listening now