The silent battle of shame and secrecy behind high-functioning addiction is exposed as Emmy-award-winning journalist and podcast host of The Tangle, Kyle Ridley, sits down to share his truth. Joining host Marc Lehman, Kyle reveals how his bulimia—a struggle often compounded by the stigma against men being vulnerable—consumed his twenties and made him a prisoner in his own home. He walks listeners through the critical steps of his lifelong journey of recovery, from the terrifying moment of intervention to embracing therapy and finding the courage to talk about his anxiety and fear of rejection. This conversation offers powerful lessons on how building a solid foundation of self-acceptance and community can finally break the cycle, leading to the confidence and grounded happiness that only comes from deep, ongoing healing.
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High-Functioning Addiction: The Silent Shame Of Male Bulimia And Recovery With Kyle Ridley
I am so excited to be joined by Kyle Ridley. Kyle, how are you?
I’m doing well. Thank you for having me.
Thank you for being here, Kyle. This is fantastic. Kyle is an Emmy Award-winning Journalist, producer, writer and podcast host known for his thoughtful storytelling and authentic conversation. After building a career in broadcast television producing live and featured programming, Kyle transitioned into the podcast space. Where he’s created The Tangle with Kyle Ridley, a show centered on meaningful dialogue with creatives, entertainers and leaders about purpose, growth and the human experience. I can’t wait to hear all about that, Kyle.
Through his work, Kyle has developed a reputation for going beyond surface level interviews, creating space for honesty, vulnerability, and connection. In this episode, Kyle brings his perspective from both sides of the microphone as a media professional and as someone deeply interested in the stories that shape who we become. Helping move the conversation forward around mental health, resilience and real life behind the scenes experience is Kyle. Once again, welcome. Thank you for being here.
I appreciate it. Happy to be here.
From Emmy-Winning Producer To Finding Hope In The Human Experience
I suppose a good place to start is to tell us about your show. We’d love to hear more about it.
It’s called the Tangle with Kyle Ridley and I started it in June of 2025. It came on the heels of working in broadcast for about a decade. To have some background on my career. I started in print journalism as a teenager working as a freelance for the local paper. When I was in high school, I was also editor of my school newspaper and then did freelance journalism throughout my twenties. More arts, entertainment reporting while also working in like the government contracting space. It was a side gig.
When I was 30, I went into broadcasting because I always had a passion for that. I interviewed Hoda Kotb during my freelancing days. She wrote a book called Ten Years Later where people transitioned to new careers or just lives not based on trauma or something like major happening because they had a passion that was unfulfilled. I told her I felt like she was speaking to me with broadcasting. She gave me the push to go for it because I felt at 30 that I was too old to start over but you’re never too old.
I started networking and landed on local TV in the DC area. For the past few years, I was doing morning shows. It’s those 3:00 AM wake ups and reporting on all politics and crime in DC and the hard news stuff. My favorite part was the lifestyle stuff. I was always in charge of things like the 9:00 or 10:00 AM hour, which if you think about today’s show were GMA. It lightens up. You get the news you need and then we have fun, comedy, food, drink, and music. That type of stuff.
I started my show basically because after the election, I don’t want to go through it again. It was wearing on me, the grind of morning news and the hours. I started the Tangle with Kyle Ridley in 2025 and it’s a long form interview show mainly celebrities. It’s all people that I booked. I book, edit and produce it myself. When you’re a producer on TV, you’re prepping your anchors and doing all the research on these guests that you book. I booked over 15,000 segments in my years because we’d have 5-6 guests a day. They’re on the air for 3 to 4 minutes and you can never have enough time to get to all the questions.
I wanted to do these deep dives with these people that I was interested in but never got to speak with. Now, I’m able to do these 30-45 hour long conversations with these people that I am passionate about and get to the underbelly of their upbringing, career and their struggles. One thing I ask all my guests or two things is what they’re currently tangled in, they’re loving, immersing themselves in, embracing, and then something frustrating that they need to get untangled from and how we can work through that tangle.
I love it. I’m curious. You’ve worked with so many different people and so many different personalities. What are some things that you’ve learned about people along the way?
With everyone, we all just want to feel seen and we want to feel heard. When people are given a platform to share their stories, they are pretty open to it. That was my favorite part about TV. It was booking these guests. You get to meet fun celebrities along the way but the majority of the people are just community members and people that have a story to tell that are having a hard time getting noticed.
We all just want to feel seen and heard. When people are given a platform to share their stories, they are pretty open to it. Share on XI was always happy to bring in local moms. I created a show called the Mother’s Side at one point, where it was like a panel of moms coming in to discuss the highs and lows of parenting. A lot of nonprofits and DEI. We talked a lot about that during the election and tried to give them a voice as they were being silenced and local Black owned business owners. I think everyone has a story to tell. When you reach out and give them a platform, they’re pretty much an open book, most of them.
That was my favorite part. Also, being fascinated by the human condition. One thing that I always ask my guests as well is, how they are maintaining hope because we’re in such heavy times now. It seems like it just gets heavier and heavier. In asking them how they’re maintaining hope also gives me more hope. Even though I’m a hope-filled, half glass full person, I can always use a little dose because a little extra dose of hope. It’s a little dire out there lately.
We all. It is a little dire. That’s a good way of saying it. I love it and I love the concept of, what’s a person tangled in and what are they passionate about. I’m curious to ask you your own question. What are you currently tangled in? What are you passionate about?
I’m tangled in the show and trying to start over after being in the news for many years. I don’t have a full-time job, so I’m trying to make it on my own now. It’s increasingly turning more into a gig economy which has its highs and lows. You’re always searching for your next gig but I think working for yourself is a scary tangle and a hope filled tangle as well.
Putting myself out there also in 2026. I am starting to share my story for the first time because I’ve always been behind the camera, producing and researching. I never felt I was meant to be in front. Taking that leap and being on shows. I’ve done a couple TV shows and let people know my story because I do have a story to tell like everyone. It just sometimes takes a couple decades to feel comfortable and maybe confident enough to share your story. That’s where I’m tangled in. It’s putting myself out there and taking that leap.
I have to say it’s amazing what you’re doing and I love that. It takes a lot of guts to get in front of the camera. Behind the camera is a whole different story, but in front of the camera is an opportunity to create change. The whole reason I created Normalize It Forward for people is to get a sense of you’re not alone. Also, everybody can learn from each other and their own experiences. Maybe that’s a good segue into jumping into your story, Kyle. Tell us a little bit about your story.
We’ve covered my career. Do you want to know about some struggles that I’ve had?
The Lie Of Secrecy: How Shame Fuels A Life-Consuming Eating Disorder
Many of my readers are young people and I know a bit about your story already. I think that for so many of my young people, the struggles that they’re having, be it depression or anxiety or eating disorders or bipolar disorder or addiction or any of those things. Many of my young people that I work with haven’t been diagnosed. They don’t have labels, but they just don’t feel right. They’re just off their game and they know something’s going on. To me, you giving us a sense or even a little bit of a summary of where you’ve been and where you are will help them understand a little bit more about their own experiences.
That’s what I’m trying to work on in 20263 as well because only good can come from you sharing your story. Many people are scared to step out or scared to reveal anything. A lot of that comes from shame. When you release that shame and share your struggles, it’s only going to help others because someone is going to identify with it. One thing that I’ve learned is that there’s a difference between privacy and secrecy.
Privacy is oftentimes out of respect for keeping something to yourself for your own purpose or to help someone else for their respect. Secrecy is often shame written and covered in secrets and lies. Determining the difference between secrecy and privacy over the years, I realized that I was holding a lot of secrecy. I struggled with past addictions. More specifically eating disorders. The roots of it started in childhood and teen. In my twenties is where it became a full-fledged life-consuming addiction.
My specific struggle was bulimia. If you want to stem from childhood, I grew up in a family in the ‘90s, everyone was on a diet every week. I don’t think the world knows much about nutrition. Remember, we were all scared of fat and everything was SnackWell’s and those Olestra chips, Wow chips and Atkins, SlimFast, and Jenny Craig. Every week, you were trying something and I tried them all and the lemon, water, cayenne and pepper diet.
I got a first taste of people feeling uncomfortable with themselves indirectly through family. I have family members who struggled with eating disorders. Though, they try to hide it. Children are very in tune to something is different or maybe comments that they make about their body that they’re not aware of how it’s impacting a kid. I was also a chubby or husky kid. I don’t like those terms but that’s how I felt. In middle school, it’s pretty grueling as far as bullying goes, especially in the ‘90s. We’re a little more aware of it now but I know it’s still an issue.
I was also a gay kid. Add that on, chubby gay kid in school, the outcast. You just want to fit in. I remember experimenting with not diets but bulimia in my teens. It was maybe once every six months, I would make myself throw up. It didn’t seem like an issue because it was so rare. Something so simple and so sporadic can come to something so dangerous, overwhelming and consuming very fast. That happened to my twenties where I went on another one of those crash diets and added working out on top of it. Not eating a lot, working out and then by the end of the week, I would want to treat myself to an order of pizza or multiple pizzas and breadsticks and thought, “This is my cheat day. I’ll binge. I’ll purge.”
The combination of just being in your early twenties, being overwhelmed and not knowing where you’re heading career-wise or relationship-wise, I spiraled. Once a week became, “I’ll just do this quick fix again.” I’ll run to the store and buy everything I can see in sight and go home. Eat it and get rid of it. It became a daily habit for about seven years pretty much all throughout my twenties. It was a life of secrecy. No one knew. You get good at lying. You get good at hiding.
Breaking The Bonds Of High-Functioning Addiction
First of all, thank you so much for your honesty. I appreciate it. I want to jump over that. To be able to recap your experiences, it takes a lot of guts, confidence and willingness. I appreciate all of that and so much of what you said. The middle school role, I’m sure my readers can identify with. I also think that eating disorders for my readers are filled with secrecy. The behaviors themselves often start quietly. There’s a lot of shame connected to it.
The formula for a secret is embedded in it. Interestingly enough, you touched on this. It starts off as a coping skill and unhealthy coping skill but a way to reduce stress. There’s many unhealthy ways to reduce stress like pot smoking or drinking or any of those other things. It feels like, “I got through that moment and we’ll see what tomorrow brings.” One day leads to another and leads to another. If I’m hearing you right, it sounds like your twenties were a real struggle. I’m wanting to hear from you a little bit around the concept of how you break the bonds of that addiction. That sounds like a super strong addiction and probably required a lot of work.
It required a lot of work and I think the work is life-long. As you say you’re in recovery life-long. I don’t ever consider myself recovered or healed wherever it is healing. Unlike drugs or alcohol, I touch food every single day. It’s something that you can’t quit. I’m fully aware every single time I put something in my body, what I’m consuming. I don’t think you can never get rid of that because part of recovery is education and about nutrition.
People need to understand that recovery doesn’t mean, “I’m going to eat whatever I want whenever I want and feel fine.” I know there’s certain things that if I eat, I’ll feel sluggish. It’s a choice, though. It’s a conscious choice. I can make that choice to be like, “I want to indulge in this. I won’t eat too much because then I’ll feel this way. Maybe I’ll feel a little bad about myself but I’m not going to beat myself up. I’m not going to purge. I know I can get back on track.” It’s all about feelings. You’re more in touch with how you feel.
When you’re addicted, you are just like drugs or alcohol. You’re yearning for that next fix and it’s very similar feelings. You go through withdrawals. There’s a certain time of day, at least for me, I should be eating now. I need to go find an excuse so I can go binge and purge. There’s secrecy. There’s secrecy in hiding food and in making excuses. Why can’t you go out? I was not social. Something you’re clients and college kids, I’m sure can identify with because I was in college when it started very high functioning.
You need to open up to one person and be able to share your struggles because that’s the first step in admitting it to yourself. Share on XI had a good job. I went to college full-time and worked at the same time. I graduated with a 4.0. Very high functioning. You say it’s a coping mechanism. It was my coping mechanism. It was my excuse. It was my excuse for everything. It was my reward and my excuse. I had a bad day, I binge and purge. I got an A plus on a test, I binge and purge. That’s my reward. Someone is stressing me, I binge and purge. It’s all you live for and it’s that next fix.
It’s also expensive. I was married at one point when I was struggling. The person did not know for the first two years of our relationship. That meant binging in restaurants, consuming stuff when he was not home and then purging and all the scraps of food down the trash chute or rappers. Eating in my car. It’s shame ridden. It’s not private. It’s a secret. As far as recovery goes, it didn’t start until a mini-intervention in my late twenties right before I turned 30 with my mom and my ex-husband. My mom knew that I struggled, but I didn’t see her much. We only saw each other on holidays.
She is my closest person. Every holiday or every family event that she would see me, she would be increasingly worried because I could talk a good talk but I did not look healthy. She called my ex-husband and they had a mini-intervention. How I got better was Fear. I was scared of losing the relationship that I was in because it was the only stable thing around me. I was deeply in love and I was scared of being exposed. I knew I had to get it together because I was also scared for myself.
As the years went on, just like a diet, it would be, “Every Monday, I’m going to start. I’m no longer going to binge. I’m no longer going to purge.” It’s hard. It doesn’t work like that. You have to be ready. It got to the point where I thought, “Maybe I’m not going to get better because I keep trying and I can’t make it a day.” I didn’t go in-patient. It was recommended and fearful of doing that. You don’t have to. I don’t want to say there’s a right and wrong way to get better.
There’s many outlets. I don’t want to push it on anyone. I did go to therapy. I read books. I held myself accountable with others. That’s one thing I encourage. You need to open up to one person and be able to share that because that’s the first step and admitting it to yourself. I know for years I had a problem. Admitting it to someone else that is in your corner is a big step.
The Male Body Image Stigma: Why Men Don’t Seek Eating Disorder Help
Huge suggestion. There’s a lot to it. Again, for my readers, I want to put this on the level of all of the diagnoses that are out there. This has the highest mortality rate of all of the other psychiatric conditions combined. The stakes are high with an eating disorder. I’ve seen people recover and not recover. As you said, it is a lifelong condition that you have to battle harder than the condition. For so many people, that can become challenging.
I’m curious to ask you about something. Most of my male patients that I’ve worked with over the years, at some point, the concept of eating disorders only for females, comes up. Obviously, it’s not. I’m curious. How did that play a role for you in terms of other people around you having eating problems and the fact that you’re obviously male?
There’s just such a stigma around men being emotional or sensitive or sharing themselves in general. It comes from that toughen up mentality that a lot of people are raised with. In pop culture and media, we see it. I can tell you throughout all my years in TV, I would always get pitches for eating disorder segments. February is eating disorder awareness month and it was always women spokespeople. It was always female nurses. I never got one pitch for a male in recovery to talk.
I want to debunk that stigma and just open the dialogue because still, we don’t talk about it. I’ve read that statistics show men encompass 20% to 25% of people with eating disorders. It runs the spectrum. It’s not just binging, purging, and restricting. You look at bodybuilders. There’s some severe restriction and obsession going on there. They’re damaging their body. It’s obsessive and an addiction in itself. We’re told to brush it off or toughen up and not worry about it. We can get better.
The same as men don’t go to the doctors as much. I would love to open the community and dialogue so that more people can step forward. The silence is damaging a lot. I want to mention Heartstopper, the TV show that is on Netflix. That gave a voice to specifically a teenage character with anorexia. I had never seen that on screen and it spanned multiple seasons. That’s helping people. It’s very slow, though.
I appreciate it. To add to the 20% to 25%, those are reported. There’s a lot of underreporting with males. I can’t begin to tell you how many kids I see on wrestling teams in high school. They’ll say things to me like, “Everybody on the team does this.” I’m like, “That is concerning,” as far as restrictions go and over exercising goes. In many cases, that stigma does impact those numbers. Unfortunately, in a lot of situations it does lead to men or young men not getting help for feelings of, “This can’t be the case.”
Thirteen Years In Recovery: From Isolation To Career Confidence
It is and there’s a lot of people out there, male and female, that have eating issues, eating disorders, or eating difficulties. I love what you said, find one person to be completely honest with and open up to. That’s a huge step for so many people to be able to do that with. I’m curious. Tell us a little bit about Kyle these days and how you’re doing with regards to your eating disorder.
April 1st, 2026 will be the 13th year since the last time I purged.
Congratulations. That’s amazing.
Thank you. It’s a slow progress but every day and every year is better. I want to let people know that it does get better, but it’s not an immediate fix. If you quit cold turkey, you’re going to go through some stuff. To have people in your corner and open up, definitely therapy. I also had to retrain my brain because your brain is fixated on food and binging. I’m still thirteen years later incorporating new foods into my diet now.
We have so many fear foods when we’re struggling and bad foods. Part of recovery is learning that they aren’t bad foods. It’s moderation. I’m sure people can identify. I would be scared to have one chip and one crust of bread. If I did, that would be like, “I might as well eat the house. I might as well go to the store and buy everything I can because I’ve had a chip.” It takes a lot of recovery. A lot of people struggle with binge or binge eating, purging, or anorexia. After stopping, I became orthorexic. You become very focused on, “What are all the healthy things that I can eat? What does everything that I can film myself up with volume eating because I’m used to being full all day?”
I went through that but it’s beneficial because you’re learning about nutrition. I never learned. My point is, it takes time but also, it’s clearing your head with each day, each month and each year. You become more social. I was isolated. All throughout my twenties, I didn’t have friends because I avoided going out. When I wasn’t working or at school, I wanted to be home. I wanted to eat. I wanted to be in my routine and be in my comfort zone. I lived in that comfort zone, which isn’t comfort. It is a jail. It’s a prison that you live in.
When you are comfortable in your own skin, you’re comfortable eating more, socializing, and opening up with friends. Share on XIt obviously led to more confidence. I was so self-conscious even when I was at my fitness. I don’t think I took my shirt off at the beach until my mid late 30s. It’s true when you hear every time, “When you’re younger, the older you get.” You hit a point where you just don’t care anymore. It also comes with recovery and not caring about your body as much. You want to nurture your body but you don’t need to be emaciated. You don’t need to be a huge bodybuilder muscle guy. You become comfortable in your own skin.
Part of that is when you are comfortable in your own skin, you’re comfortable eating more, socializing, and sharing more with friends and opening up. That’s where I am now. I’m more confident than I’ve ever been. I like myself more than I’ve ever been. I don’t have the perfect body. I don’t have the perfect diet but I am where I am. I feel grounded, healthy and mentally stable. I’ve also accomplished a lot throughout my recovery.
In taking that career leap, I don’t know if I could have if I was still struggling with an eating disorder and shifting careers to go to TV and tackle something that I was scared to do. Through that, move up the ladder and tackle more things, create a podcast, create a media company, develop shows, and win Emmys along the way. You have to put yourself out there, but the first part is getting help to put yourself out there and then the other stuff comes along.
Confronting The Root Cause: Managing Anxiety With Medication
No doubt, Kyle. It’s obvious that you have accomplished a tremendous amount. I want to point out the basics of making you happier. You are clearly happy. I didn’t know you then but when you describe your twenties, you did not sound happy.
I was stuck.
Recovery with eating disorders, I always say, is two steps forward and one step back. It is not a smooth path, but that persistence of saying, “I want to be happy. This is my goal. I will get there.” You have gotten there. It’s not like it’s ever over. You continue to put work in. Life throws curveballs at us sometimes but the one thing that I’m hearing from you over and over again is that your confidence has risen. Your belief in yourself has risen. Your happiness has risen and it’s led to other things.
That stagnation of when you’re unhappy versus when you are happy is pretty different. That’s for sure. Again, for young people reading, it’s important for everybody to sit back and ask, “How happy am I?” If the answer is and truly not very happy, there are steps to take. The steps do require some work and effort.
I appreciate you sharing all of what you shared. Again, it takes a lot of guts to put your story out there, but I firmly believe what you said earlier. Which is to create a little bit of a ripple effect. Those individuals reading that are silently struggling, don’t have to silently struggle. They find a person or their person. Try to open up, be honest and try to take those steps because they’re good people out there.
I also want to say that I think a lot of unhappiness or depression. A big part of my issue was anxiety and comforting my anxiety through food, binging, and purging. When I stopped at 30, when you’re on your own, without any of those vices, I still had anxiety. It took me years in recovery to be like, “I need help,” and I got medicine. I do want to put that out there. I’m not going to say specifically, but it was anxiety that was ruling my life. It was COVID where I was like, “This is too much.” I’m not binging or purging but life is still hard.
I’m not just fixed all of a sudden. I’ve probably had anxiety all my life. A lot of it was health anxiety. I would ruminate. I’ve been on a low dose anxiety medication for a few years, and I will say that it does take the edge off. You have anxiety. I have stress, but I would ruminate for days or weeks on end about something and I couldn’t sleep.
Now, I’m able to have it hit me. I’m able to process the stress, the anxiety. It washes over me and I can wash over it much faster in minutes or a day or in a day or less than a day. I do want to encourage people that this isn’t a possible route. I also think that can also help with eating disorders as well. I think a lot of it is anxiety induced and you need to curb anxiety by filling up but there’s other ways to fill up.
The Counterintuitive Act Of Leaning In: Finding Community Support
That’s an excellent point. Many of my young adults I work with and meet, they’re dealing with the primary things you’re dealing with, anxiety and depression. Let’s face it. As you just said, the life of a college student can be very stressful and very anxiety-provoking. I’m here to tell you, it can also be anxiety provoking to be an adult after college. In some ways, we have to prep for that and find things that help us reduce stress and manage stress. I’m curious to ask. What are some things in your world that you might use to help reduce stress? You’ve mentioned medications help and therapy. Are there other ways that you manage stress?
I do want to mention that a big part of my resistance to take medication was weight gain. There are medications that you don’t have to gain weight on. I want to put that out there. I’ve gone to therapy. I’ve also gone to a couple’s therapy. I’ve done individual and couples. If anyone is in a relationship, I encourage that or maybe with your family if they’re younger. Being in a shared room oftentimes is almost easier than being one-on-one with someone because you haven’t a mediator there.
I like trying new things. That helped me conquer my fears. That comes with becoming more confident when you are healing. Pushing myself to do stuff that I was always scared to do and seeing if I can do it. Also, getting over fear of rejection and imposture syndrome comes with healing. I always felt like I didn’t deserve something or worthy or smart enough. As you become more in tune with your mind and body, you are naturally going to go after things that maybe you were more hesitant to do. That’s a big part of healing.
I also made a conscious effort in my late 30s after I did get divorced to open up my friend group. I don’t think I ever had a community. In my twenties, it was just family and my husband. Thirties were mainly about trying to recover and again, I became work obsessed and was with my husband. Being gay, I was not immersed in the gay community ever. I never found my tribe until my divorce. I was like, “I’m on my own now. I have my dogs and I have a good job. Now I need to find people that I can grow old with and not just my good straight girlfriends that are now having babies and I never see them anymore.”
A lot of times in recovery, you try to trade one addiction for the next. It all falls into place once you start getting better, though. You just have to nurture your mind and your body. Share on XFind a community that you can see on a regular basis. Filling your calendar with things that you love that are outside of eating and binging. You’re going to have the mindset and space to fill it. You’re not going to have anxiety about it. I go to trivia groups and karaoke. I love dancing. I also want to mention that part of my recovery. I never had an addiction but I enjoyed a cocktail every night to reduce the stress. I don’t do that anymore.
As it starts to get better, you also realize there’s vices that maybe you’re clinging to that you don’t need anymore. It comes naturally with filling your brain with substance again and getting older. I hope I’m making sense, but it gets better. A lot of times in recovery, you try to trade one addiction for the next. It all falls into place once you start getting better, though. You just have to nurture your mind and your body.
I can’t help but notice the irony around young people. When they’re feeling anxious, they pull back. The things that make them nervous instead of leaning into, they pull back. Whereas in many cases, the answer is to lean in and say, “I’m going to try karaoke. I’m going to step out of the box. I’m going to let myself be uncomfortable and see if I enjoy it.” I’ve had patients do that and then two years later, they’re still doing it. They love it. Trying new things is such a great way of putting it like letting a person think about, “What are those barriers that I’m putting in place to my own happiness?” That’s a great way of putting it. I like that a lot and it’s funny.
Take your shirt off. Go in a bathing suit. Realize people do not care. It’s you who cares way too much and I realize that pretty quickly in recovery. It’s all about how I’m just dissecting myself and beating myself up. Everyone else either doesn’t care or wants to embrace you.
It’s funny you say that. We live in such a world where there’s a lot of people that simply don’t care. We’ve got our close people that do and they’re not judging you. They love you. They want the best for you. It’s a great way of putting it out, Kyle. I’m curious. You and I haven’t chatted much about this piece, but part of the show is I asked my guests to nominate a friend, a co-worker, a relative, or someone that you know that may be a good guest for future shows. Part of the concept is I want the conversations to keep moving forward and for young people to truly understand the importance of putting your journey out there so that other people can learn from it. Does anyone come to mind when I throw that out to you?
One of my best friends comes to mind and I would give you his name in private. He’s dealt with some similar stuff with me in a different way. He grew up a bit more conservatively than me. He’s also in the gay community but has had a hard time because of maybe some of the political beliefs that he was raised with and fully embracing himself. I think he would be a good person to talk with because now, in such politically heightened times, it’s very divisive.
Realize people do not care. It’s you who cares way too much. Share on XSpecifically a gay person who may be leaning conservatively and also has a history with eating disorders and body image. He would be fascinating to speak with. I adore him and I think we all could use a little healing and camaraderie now, even though we’re in such devices at times. I always try to find common ground. You can find common ground with most people. I do try to see the good in everyone. We may not agree on everything but I appreciate, love and respect him. I would be happy to connect you with him.
I appreciate the recommendation. I agree with you. I think you can find common ground if you look hard enough in everybody. I want to thank you for your time, and your energy. I know you’re busy but making the time and space to talk about things you’ve been through. I’m hoping my readers are getting some information. Even if it’s a matter of being able to talk about uncomfortable things. That’s a great first step. I thank you from all of us. I appreciate you spending some time with us.
I appreciate it. If people want to follow my show, we don’t get as in depth but everyone that I talked to, I say we go deep and shallow. We get the light-hearted stuff, but everyone always has a story to tell. As I said, I try to ask everyone about hope and there’s some interesting answers from the people that I speak with. It’s worth a listen.
How do they find you, Kyle?
KyleRidley.com is my website, but I would say Instagram is the best place. That’s where I post the most. It’s just my name @KyleRidley_ and then the Tangle with Kyle Ridley, wherever you get your podcast. It’s mostly celebrities but sometimes I have some good friends on and we do deep dives into life and dating and culture. It’s a fun ride.
Look him up. It sounds like a great show. Kyle, once again thanks for your time, your energy and I appreciate you being here.
Thank you so much, Marc.
Important Links
- Kyle Ridley
- Kyle Ridley on LinkedIn
- Kyle Ridley on Instagram
- The Tangle with Kyle Ridley on YouTube
- The Tangle with Kyle Ridley on Apple Podcast
- The Tangle with Kyle Ridley on Spotify
- Ten Years Later: Six People Who Faced Adversity and Transformed Their Lives
About Kyle Ridley
Kyle Ridley is an Emmy Award–winning journalist, producer, writer, and podcast host known for his thoughtful storytelling and authentic conversations. After building a career in broadcast television producing live and feature programming, Kyle transitioned into the podcast space where he created The Tangle with Kyle Ridley — a show centered on meaningful dialogue with creatives, entertainers, and leaders about purpose, growth, and the human experience.
Through his work, Kyle has developed a reputation for going beyond surface-level interviews, creating space for honesty, vulnerability, and connection. On Normalize It Forward, Kyle brings his perspective from both sides of the microphone — as a media professional and as someone deeply interested in the stories that shape who we become — helping move the conversation forward around mental health, resilience, and real life behind the scenes.
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