Lauren Southern was an alt-right influencer. Now she's finding her 'way back to reality'
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A former right-wing influencer and tradwife tells all in her new memoir, "This is Not Real Life." From meeting with terrorists, neo-Nazis, political crime rings, to arrests, psychotic breaks and addiction, Lauren Southern shares how the life she thought she wanted ended up almost killing her.
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Transcript
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| 0:27.5 | A recent episode asks, |
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| 0:37.8 | WBUR Podcasts, Boston. |
| 0:46.3 | This is On Point. I'm Megna Chakrabardi. |
| 0:49.1 | If you're listening right now and you happen to be by a computer or you have your phone in your hand, try googling |
| 0:55.5 | this name, Lauren Southern. What you're likely to see are things like alt-right YouTuber, |
| 1:04.6 | influencer, political activist, conspiracy theorist, tradwife. Well, in her new memoir, This is Not Real Life, |
| 1:14.3 | Lauren tells the story of how she became a right-wing media darling, |
| 1:19.0 | and how that propelled her from one astonishing moment to another, |
| 1:24.3 | such as cocaine and MDMA binges, and visiting a neo-Nazi bar in Finland, |
| 1:30.9 | to getting arrested by the Turkish military, getting banned from stepping foot in the UK. |
| 1:37.5 | Her memoir, though, is also about her attempts to claw her way back to real life. |
| 1:43.9 | And all of it is true. As one reader has noted, quote, the to claw her way back to real life. |
| 1:45.5 | And all of it is true. |
| 1:47.8 | As one reader has noted, quote, the reason I know this book is truthful is because nobody would write something this embarrassing and lie about it. |
| 1:57.0 | Well, Lauren Southern joins us now from Vancouver, BC, and Canada. |
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