Cyndi Lauper: She's So Unusual | 284

Even the Rich

Wondery

Society & Culture

4.3 • 11.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Closing out another fabulous Pride Month, we’re taking a look at someone who’s always been a friend and ally to the LGBTQ+ community - Cyndi Lauper. Born in New York, in the early 50s, Cyndi feels out-of-step with her surroundings. Raised in a home with an abusive stepfather, she escapes and sets out on her own. But to do what? After failing in a series of unfulfilling odd jobs, Cyndi decides to follow her first love - music. After a shaky start with a couple of failed bands, Cyndi goes solo. Thanks to that one-of-a-kind voice of hers, and unique technicolor appearance (just in time for advent of MTV), Cyndi Lauper’s singing career reaches the stratosphere. But life at the top of the record biz just isn’t enough for her. She realizes there are way more important things to fight for - her integrity as an artist, and disenfranchised people everywhere. Turns out, these were the “true colors” of the girl who just wanted to have fun. In turn - she cemented her legacy forever.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Wonderry Plus subscribers can binge the newest season of Even the Rich before anyone else.
0:04.4	Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
0:08.1	A quick heads up, Richies.
0:09.2	On today's episode, we discuss sexual assault, domestic violence, and homophobia.
0:14.5	Please be advised.
0:32.5	All right, Brookie, when you were a kid, and I'm sure I know the answer to this, were you all about fitting in with the crowd, or did you just march to the beat of your own psycho drum?
0:39.9	Wow. Well, that's a crazy spin. So I'm going to shock you and say, fit in with the crowd.
0:41.3	Yeah, that's what I thought you were going to say.
0:42.2	You did not.
0:45.5	It's hard to say I was one or the other, to be honest.
0:46.9	I feel like there were times I was both.
0:47.5	Yeah.
0:49.2	I think as any kid is, you know?
0:49.9	Exactly.
0:50.6	Yeah.
0:55.0	But today's subject, she's not like us.
1:04.4	She's always wanted to stand out, whether it's with attention-grabbing hair color, eccentric wardrobe choices, or unexpected career moves.
1:07.5	She's been doing exactly that since childhood.
1:12.8	After surviving an abusive stepdad, homelessness, and countless firings from dead-end jobs, she joins a band and discovers that she has a powerful voice. Over the course of years
1:18.7	of career ups and downs, the one thing that remains constant is her desire to reinvent herself
1:24.6	and grow artistically. She's a groundbreaking Grammy, Emmy, and Tony award-winning artist, a get, if you will,
1:32.7	who also happens to be a persistent advocate for both LGBTQ and women's reproductive rights.
	...

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