Hello, you're listening to Culture Call, a transatlantic conversation from the Financial Times.

I'm Grizalda-Marie Brown in London. And I'm Lila Raptopoulos in New York. Coming up on today's

episode, Kathy, Bradessa Ackner, thank you for inviting us into your home.

I feel in my body that anytime someone tells me a story, I am rooting for them.

I'm seeing a lot of oat milk. I'm seeing a lot of almond milk. I'm seeing a lot of

hazelnut milk. Do you act dumber than you are? Wow. It's kind of brutal, I think. The thing I'm most interested in is what inspired us to love you. I'm wondering if it's a chicken or egg scenario. That is a great point. Although maybe we don't feel heard. Yeah. I mean, do you feel heard? I don't know if I've met anyone who feels truly understood.

Not hanging up my ambition at any cost is a defining feature of mine.

So Taffy Brodesser Ackner is a journalist.

She's a celebrity profiler, and now she's a novelist.

Yeah, she's done some of the most popular celebrity profiles on the internet from

Gwyneth Paltrow on building a multi-billion dollar business with Goop.

Also Bradley Cooper, Chris Jenner.

Yeah, she's done, you know, Jonathan Franzen, the writer, Tom Ford, the designer,

Tanya Harding, the figure skater.

And I think she's kind of changed the game when it

comes to celebrity profiling. So we thought it'd be interesting to hear more about specifically

what she's doing that's different. About a month ago, Taffy published her first novel, which

has generated a lot of buzz. It's called Fleischman is in trouble. And I'm about halfway through this book right now.

So Lila, without giving any spoilers, please. Can you say something about what it's about?

Yes. It's very easy to spoil this book. So I'm going to be very careful about how much I say.

So the book is narrated by someone who looks quite a lot like Taffy on paper.

She's a woman named Libby.

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