Beautiful Boy: A Father's Heartache - An Addict Son

The Oprah Winfrey Show: The Podcast

Oprah

Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Original Air Date: 4-10-2008 In this episode, we hear from David Sheff, author of Beautiful Boy, as he shares the harrowing journey of watching his son descend into drug addiction; methamphetamines, heroin, cocaine, and more. His son, Nic Sheff, author of Tweak, offers his own raw account from the other side of addiction, giving voice to the pain, chaos, and complexity of substance dependency. Together, their stories offer a rare and honest look at how addiction impacts not just the individual, but the entire family. Other families also open up, revealing the devastation and heartbreak that drug dependency can bring and the hope that healing is possible.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Through 25 seasons, 4,561 episodes.
0:05.0	I believe the Oprah Winfrey show
0:08.0	was one of the greatest classrooms in the world.
0:10.0	I really never thought of it that way.
0:12.0	The aha moments, the breakthroughs, the LOLs,
0:16.0	the connections, the occasional ugly cry.
0:20.0	I'm missing so terribly.
0:21.6	I'm missing every single minute.
0:23.6	The moments that mattered.
0:25.6	The eye-opening life lessons.
0:27.6	Never allow them to take you somewhere else.
0:30.6	I'm bringing them back.
0:32.6	It's time to open the vault.
0:34.6	I've personally chosen these classic episodes to share with you again.
0:40.2	Every single person you ever will meet shares that common desire.
0:44.8	They want to know, do you see me?
0:47.8	Do you hear me?
0:49.0	Does what I say mean anything to you?
0:52.6	You are listening to the Oprah Winfrey Show, the podcast.
0:59.0	It is a painful secret.
1:01.3	Millions of families are too ashamed to talk about,
1:03.7	but one father has come forward to share the heartbreak
	...

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