Real Housewife and Bad Mormon: Heather Gay on Surviving Mormonism (Part 2)

A Little Bit Culty

Sarah Edmondson & Anthony “Nippy” Ames

True Crime, Society & Culture, Education

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’re back with the second half of our conversation with the unstoppable Heather Gay: housewife, truth-teller, and newly minted slayer of Mormon silence. Heather gets real (and really funny) about what she’s gained since stepping away from the church: self-discovery, creative freedom, and the kind of joy 10-year-old her would’ve fainted over. We dig into her docuseries Surviving Mormonism, the tidal wave of stories she’s helping bring to light, and the church’s (let’s call it) “creative” approach to handling abuse reports.

Heather opens up about the personal cost of speaking out, the shocking stories that rocked her the most, and how she’s rebuilding her relationship with spirituality from the ground up. And because this is our show, we of course veer into bras, garments, guilty pleasures, and whether Heather might be the Leah Remini of Mormonism (spoiler: yes). We laughed, almost cried, plotted a three-way meetup with Leah, and even talked laser hair removal. Settle in—this one’s heartfelt, hilarious, and peak Heather Gay.

Follow Heather on Instagram and Facebook, pick up her memoir, Bad Mormon, and catch Surviving Mormonism on Peacock or Bravo.

Trigger warning: This episode contains frank discussion of child and sexual abuse.

Also…let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Citizens of Sound

Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Audio production: Will Retherford

Production Coordinator: Lesli Dinsmore

Writer: Sandra Nomoto

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Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Join me and follow the podcast conspiracy theories, where we explore what's really going on behind the official narrative.
0:09.1	Like, what if the Loch Ness monster isn't a monster at all, but an elephant?
0:13.7	What do the richest 1% know that we don't?
0:16.7	Why are they building all those bunkers?
0:18.9	And really, what the heck is going on with the Denver airport?
0:22.7	Join me every week to see just how high up this goes on the Spotify podcast, conspiracy theories.
0:29.8	Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:34.2	This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal, medical, or mental health advice.
0:40.2	The views and opinions express do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast
0:45.1	and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business, individual, anyone, or anything.
1:01.4	No. individual, anyone, or anything. I'm Sarah Edmondson.
1:02.8	And I'm Anthony Nippy Ames, and this is a little bit culty.
1:05.8	We woke up from a cult, and that journey was captured in The Vow on HBO and in my memoir, Scard.
1:11.1	Now, in this podcast, we break down the shame and secrets that make these experiences so destructive
1:15.7	with honest conversations on how seemingly benign groups can cross into the cultiverse
1:19.9	and how to spot and recover from trouble if it happens to you.
1:23.4	Each week, we bring an expert, survivors, and whistleblowers to explore red flags, resilience,
1:27.4	and even share a few laughs because sometimes you've got to laugh.
1:30.7	Subscribe to our Patreon for early and ad-free listening, some live Q&A and exclusive content at patreon.com slash A Little Bit Culty.
1:37.7	Welcome to Season 8 of A Little Bit Culty.
1:40.9	Seeking down to the death of the ocean,
1:45.0	Hanging on to win my love, and the unapologetic force behind the new limited TV series
	...

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