(BEST OF) The Andrea Gibson Talk that Sparked Our Oscar-Nominated Film

We Can Do Hard Things

Treat Media and Glennon Doyle

Relationships, Education, Self-improvement, Society & Culture

4.8 • 42.7K Ratings

🗓️ 3 March 2026

⏱️ 93 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This is one of the bravest, most life-changing conversations we’ve ever had on this podcast. In this unforgettable episode, beloved poet and activist Andrea Gibson joins us to share news they had just received: that their cancer was incurable. What you will hear is not despair — you will hear the sound of a human being choosing, moment by moment, to stay awake to love, to beauty, and to what is still astonishing right now. This conversation changed us forever. It transformed how we understand fear, mortality, and what it means to truly be alive. There is also a powerful full-circle moment: director and producers Ryan White and Jess Hargrave listened to this very episode on a flight — and by the time they landed, they knew they had to make the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light, which is now nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the Academy Awards. This episode includes honest discussion of illness, death, and suicidal ideation. Please take care as you listen. What Andrea offers us here is a profound reminder: we cannot control how long we live — but we can decide how deeply we love while we’re here. You can stream Come See Me in the Good Light now on Apple TV. For more episodes with our friends, Andrea and Meg, check out: The Bravest Conversation We’ve Had: Andrea Gibson Megan Falley Knows What Love Is An Unforgettable Double Date with Andrea Gibson & Megan Falley Let Our Sundance-Winning Film Remind You What Love Is with Megan Falley Watch OUR 1ST FILM – Come See Me in the Good Light: Meg Falley (& Andrea Gibson) Follow We Can Do Hard Things on: Instagram — ⁠https://www.instagram.com/wecandohardthings⁠ TikTok — ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@wecandohardthingsshow⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to We Can Do Hard Things. Here are three things you need to know about today's episode. Number one, it's my favorite episode of We Can Do Hard Things that we've ever done. Oh, wow. It might be my favorite conversation I've ever had, not even just podcasting, but like ever. You're about to hear the conversation that we had with Andrea Gibson.
0:21.6	The origin of this conversation is that my therapist told me to find Andrew's work, and I started reading it, and it saved me.
0:31.8	Abby sent Andrea a DM saying, thank you for what you've done for my wife.
0:37.0	Andrea wrote back, and that was the very day that they had received the news from their
0:41.5	doctor that they were not going to recover, that their cancer was incurable that day.
0:49.2	I believe that day, maybe a couple days later, no, that day, Andrea said to us that what they were most
0:59.2	worried about. On the day they learned that their cancer was incurable was how to tell the news
1:06.6	to their community, because their community of people who followed their work is still such an open-hearted,
1:15.6	tender, loving group of people who live very close to the marrow of life.
1:22.4	And Andrea knew how hard this news was going to be for them.
1:26.3	That's who Andrea was. That's what they were
1:28.5	thinking about the day they got that news. And so they asked us, Abby and I, if they could come on this
1:35.1	podcast and share the news with their community from here. Yeah. So that all happened in one day.
1:42.9	A few days later, we sat down in front of our little
1:47.7	situation here and Andrea came on the screen. We had this conversation that you're about to hear
1:54.6	and we've never been the same. The second thing you need to know is that when TIG contacted Ryan White and Jessica Hargrave,
2:05.9	who are the directors and producers of Come See Me in the Good Light, which is the film about Andrew and Meg.
2:11.8	They had been looking for some funny material.
2:14.7	They wanted to do a documentary that was funny.
2:17.1	And TIG called them and said,
2:18.3	okay, I've got a pitch. It's about a queer, non-binary poet who is dying of cancer. Understandably,
2:27.3	Ryan and Jessica's reaction was, well, that should be a home run. That's really an easy pitch for a streamer.
	...

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