Kristin Newman: Sitcom writing, memoir, IVF & egg donation, and embracing "Full Catastrophe Living"
Our first guest on The Legacy Years podcast is the screenwriter and producer Kristin Newman [https://www.theotherkristinnewman.com/] (Only Murders In The Building, How I Met Your Mother, That 70s Show). Kristin is also the author of the popular travel memoir What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/228420/what-i-was-doing-while-you-were-breeding-by-kristin-newman/], which chronicles her adventures as a 30-something professional woman, traveling the world and enjoying vacation romances with hot foreign men while all her friends are getting married and having babies. Spoiler alert: Kristin did eventually settle down. After six failed rounds of IVF she and her husband went on to conceive their daughter using a donor egg – an experience she's generous enough to share in this episode.
We cover a lot of ground in this conversation, including:
- Why, as a memoir writer, Kristin thinks it’s better to publish your life story just before you die
- The tactics Kristin used as a young woman to survive working in a Hollywood writers’ room in the pre-Me Too era
- The scientific reason travel is good for the brain and can boost creativity
- Kristin’s compulsion to live a dramatic, story-worthy life
- Motherhood as a hero’s journey
- Why Kristen wants to buy her daughter egg-freezing as a graduation gift
- Kristen’s experience of using an egg donor to conceive her daughter
- The truth about “miracle babies” born to older Hollywood actresses
- Accepting “the full catastrophe” of life, regardless of which path you pick
S1 E1 Related links and references:
Kristin’s book “What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding [https://www.amazon.com/What-Doing-While-Were-Breeding/dp/0804137609]”
The Retrievals podcast [https://open.spotify.com/show/6EvG4iL7sOi8L4UrzLopmE] from Serial Productions and the New York Times
HBO Girls episode “One Man's Trash” [https://www.hbo.com/girls/season-2/5-one-mans-trash]
Jessie Klein’s book “I’ll Show Myself Out: Essays on Midlife & Motherhood” [https://www.amazon.com/Ill-Show-Myself-Out-Motherhood/dp/0062981595/ref=asc_df_0062981595/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=564630212541&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4270273462596561098&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9004347&hvtargid=pla-1665108995037&psc=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwzJmlBhBBEiwAEJyLu8zQw6cL2r-mztnO8TjW_De3PpNS-purN8erChWOi2u81ZFQdG8nDhoCKKcQAvD_BwE]
Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness [https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/full-catastrophe-living-using-the-wisdom-of-your-body-and-mind-to-face-stress-pain-and-illness-by-jon-kabat-zinn/250756/item/3684927/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=high_vol_backlist_standard_shopping_customer_aquistion&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=659174113139&gclid=Cj0KCQjwy4KqBhD0ARIsAEbCt6gvaY1NnoUMHYSKr5P9ufQ8_wMWJbQx0RbU0slQUn2Lk516bs32zxEaAo_QEALw_wcB#idiq=3684927&edition=2380470]
Deborah Copaken Kogan’s book Shutterbabe: Adventures in Love and War [https://www.amazon.com/Shutterbabe-Adventures-Deborah-Copaken-Kogan/dp/0375503641/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3VLZ3VIKEBIFH&keywords=shutterbabe&qid=1688918782&s=books&sprefix=shutterbabe%2Cstripbooks%2C129&sr=1-1]
Connect with Esme on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/esmebenjamin/] or LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/esmebenjamin/]. And for more conversations like these, subscribe to The Legacy Years newsletter [https://thelegacyyears.substack.com/].
The Legacy Years podcast was edited by audio producer Seren Hughes. You can find more of her work here [https://linktr.ee/Se7enity].
