‘The Interview’: Ocean Vuong was Ready to Kill. Then a Moment of Grace Changed His Life.

Modern Love

The New York Times

Nytimes, Redemption, Society & Culture, New York Times, Love, Essay, Storytelling, Loss, Nyt

4.4 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on Modern Love, we’re bringing you a conversation we liked so much that we’re envious we didn’t get to have ourselves. In a raw but deeply heartfelt and compassionate conversation with “The Interview" host David Marchese, author and poet Ocean Vuong talks about the real reason he became a writer.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Love now and...
0:03.2	Love, but stronger than anything.
0:07.0	And I love you more than anything.
0:10.5	There's to love. Love.
0:11.3	There's to love. Love.
0:15.1	Hey, everyone, it's Anna.
0:17.0	Listen, you know how our show works.
0:19.4	Every week, we bring you a story or conversation inspired by the modern love column.
0:24.0	We explore all the complicated, messy ways human beings relate to one another, and we try to learn something from it.
0:30.9	This week, I want to play you a conversation that I definitely learned a lot from.
0:36.0	And honestly, I am so envious I didn't get to have it myself.
0:40.7	It's from another Times podcast called The Interview,
0:43.7	and it's a conversation between host David Markezi
0:46.6	and the author and poet Ocean Vuong.
0:49.8	There is so much I could say about this interview,
0:52.7	but I don't want to spoil it, so I'll just say this.
0:55.8	This conversation is a masterclass in compassion on both Ocean and David's part.
1:02.2	It feels deeply authentic and human, and we over here at Modern Love thought it would feel right at home in our feed.
1:09.4	I'll leave it at that and just drop you right into it.
1:12.2	Here's David.
1:26.1	In a lot of ways, Ocean Vuong's life makes for a classic American. This is the interview. I'm David Marquesi.
1:32.5	In a lot of ways, Ocean Vuong's life makes for a classic American success story.
	...

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