Season Four · Episode Six · Mia Hanks
I Feel Free
Starting Over After Emotional Abuse
When being believed becomes a doorway back to yourself
Writing under the pen name Mia Hanks, one woman describes nearly three decades in a marriage she experienced as emotionally and verbally abusive. Over time, adapting to someone else’s reactions made it difficult to trust what she saw, felt and needed.
Outside validation helped Mia give herself permission to leave. Her story is not a diagnosis of another person or a promise that freedom arrives all at once. It is about reclaiming identity, agency and peace—one ordinary, self-directed choice at a time.
Before · The change · What came next
Before
Mia describes a happy, sheltered Midwestern childhood. She was trusting, eager to see the good in people and entered adulthood without imagining how gradually troubling behavior could become normalized. Those qualities did not cause the harm she later experienced.
The change
Mia says she spent years protecting the appearance of a normal family and hoping the relationship would improve. During marriage counseling, an outside professional’s response helped her feel validated. She began to trust her own experience and gave herself permission to leave safely.
What came next
Healing remained unfinished after the separation. Mia moved across the country, built a quieter life and began rediscovering her preferences and voice. Through memoir, she put her experience into words so others might recognize their own—and learned that freedom can look as simple as choosing how to spend the day.
“Healing isn’t linear.”
Mia Hanks
Listen to Mia Hanks’s story
I Feel Free: Starting Over After Emotional Abuse premieres November 10, 2026. Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube links will be added here when the episode is released.
If leaving a relationship could put you at risk, seek confidential, individualized support and safety planning.