10 episodes
Welcome to Paradise CBC STORIES
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- Society & Culture
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4.8 • 204 Ratings
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Love, marriage… and a secret history of trauma. Anna Maria Tremonti has been keeping her past a secret for over 40 years. As one of Canada’s most respected journalists, she has a reputation for being fearless and hard-hitting. She’s reported from some of the world’s most dangerous conflict zones. But none were as immediately threatening as life at home.
In her early 20s, she fell in love with a man who seemed worldly and charming. Behind closed doors he was incredibly violent. They were only married for a year but the consequences of the abuse have lasted a lifetime.
This is the first time Anna Maria has told anyone—including family or close friends—the details of what she endured. Working with her therapist, she reveals the intimate details of a past she’s kept to herself for most of her life.
The result is a profoundly intimate portrait of a powerful woman confronting the source of tremendous pain and trauma and, remarkably, freeing herself from a life-long sense of shame. Written and hosted by Anna Maria Tremonti (The Current), produced by Daemon Fairless (Hunting Warhead, Boys Like Me) and mixed by Mira Burt-Wintonick (Wiretap, Love Me, Sorry About The Kid).
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Welcome to Paradise Introduces: Come by Chance
If you’ve ever been to Newfoundland, you know it’s a place where fog can envelop you so deeply, you don’t know where you’re going or where you came from. When two men, born in the same rural Newfoundland hospital on the same day, discover an unbelievable 52-year-old secret, it changes the way they see themselves forever. But this isn’t the end of the story. Because it turns out these men are not alone. A series of other close calls and near misses have begun to emerge, and not only at Come by Chance hospital. Come By Chance is a story about what it means to belong in a family — and how a twist of fate can upend the life you thought you knew.
More episodes are available at: https://link.chtbl.com/guyX_5kI -
The story Anna Maria never thought she’d tell: On stage at Hot Docs
For Anna Maria Tremonti, the decision to speak publicly about being abused by a former partner was complex; she wanted to tell it, but didn’t know how. Live on stage at the Hot Docs festival, Anna Maria unpacks what led her to creating Welcome to Paradise, and how the release of the podcast reconnected her with someone she never thought she’d hear from again.
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Ep. 6: "The Visitation"
Anna Maria makes a trip to find out more about Pat's past and confirms something she’d suspected.
If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/resource-list-welcome-to-paradise-1.6328619.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/welcome-to-paradise-transcripts-listen-1.6803405 -
Ep. 5: "The Message"
As Anna Maria prepares to contact Pat, she makes a startling discovery.
If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/resource-list-welcome-to-paradise-1.6328619.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/welcome-to-paradise-transcripts-listen-1.6803405 -
Ep. 4: “The Long Tail”
Getting out is only half the battle. After separating from her abusive husband, Anna Maria faces the most dangerous period of the relationship… and long-term emotional fallout that follows her for years.
If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/resource-list-welcome-to-paradise-1.6328619.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/welcome-to-paradise-transcripts-listen-1.6803405 -
Ep. 3: “L is for Love”
Anna Maria is living a double life. In public she and Pat seem like the perfect couple. At home, he’s becoming increasingly violent.
If you or someone you know is affected by intimate partner violence, you can find a list of resources at https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/resource-list-welcome-to-paradise-1.6328619.
For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/welcome-to-paradise-transcripts-listen-1.6803405
Customer Reviews
Well Done
Brave and vulnerable telling of an intimate, personal time. I thought you covered it with a lot of dignity, honesty, and integrity, and really honored your experience and that piece of your story. At the end of the bonus episode you said, if this is all that someone knows about you, you’re good with that, and I thought that sounded like a really peaceful and lovely place for you to be.
Unsettling and Settling
A well thought and supremely presented personal story. Grateful to have had the opportunity to hear this experience.
Very important story, but the reporting is tooooo sloooow
Much credit to Tramonti for telling her story, but she and the woman who seems to be interviewing her sound like they’re on quaaludes more than half the time, and they keep repeating the same phrases. Listening to them, my brain feels like it’s moving in slow motion. I’m not sure what the interviewer’s purpose is— is she a psychologist? - but she doesn’t seem to add much substance; she says obvious things and expresses a sort of comatose sympathy. It sounds very amateurish and not insightful.
I think this podcast is probably valuable to anyone who is or has been going through a domestic abuse situation in explaining how it really can happen to anyone, but the super slow pace got on my nerves and I had to stop listening.
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