True Stories

First, You Speak Out: Betty Rollin Started the Breast Cancer Dialogue

Bill Thompson

In the mid-1970s Betty Rollin was a rising star at NBC News, racking up prestigious awards for her work.

She didn’t realize that the most important story she would ever cover would be her own.

Rollin was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1975. And even though the disease claimed tens of thousands of lives every year, it got little public attention.

That is, until Rollin wrote a book about her experience, a landmark book that has helped millions of women get through their own diagnoses. Rollin called her book First, You Cry.

Get your copy of Betty Rollin’s book

That book is now widely credited with opening the door and helping the nation start a dialogue about breast cancer.

First, You Cry was republished in 1993, some 16 years after its initial publication.That’s when I met the dynamic and witty Betty Rollin.

So here now, from 1993, Betty Rollin.

Betty Rollin.lived for another 30 years after our interview. She died in 2023 by assisted suicide at the age of 87.

The 92 Personalities of Truddi Chase

Bill Thompson

The medical term is “dissociative identity disorder.” It’s more popularly known as multiple personalities.

A woman named Truddi Chase became the public face of the disorder in the late 1980s when she wrote an autobiography in which she described the 92 distinct personalities she carried.

She said it was the product of sustained childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather. She eventually came to refer to her personalities as “The Troops.”

Get your copy of Troops for Truddi Chase’s book

Her book, which became a bestseller, was called When Rabbit Howls. Chase’s co-author was her hypnotherapist, Dr. Robert Phillips.

He was with her the day I first met The Troops.

So here now, from 1987, Dr. Robert Phillips and the Troops for Truddi Chase.

Truddi Chase died in 2010. She was 74.

White House Memories From FDR Grandson Curtis Roosevelt

Bill Thompson
Photo by John Stephen Dwyer

In 1933, a three-yearold boy, his older sister and their mother moved in with the boy’s grandparents – who had a very large house in an important city.

Curtis Roosevelt was that young boy. His grandparents were Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, who had just recently moved into the White House themselves.

And for much of the next twelve years Curtis – nicknamed Buzzie – was a White House resident.

Get your copy of Curtis Roosevelt’s book

But as he later wrote, it was a double-edged sword living with two such compelling figures as Franklin and Eleanor. Life as a normal child was not an option.

Curtis Roosevelt recalled his early life in the White House in a 2008 book called Too Close to The Sun. I interviewed him twice for this book, once in 2008, again in 2010

So here now, from 2008 and 2010, Curtis Roosevelt.

Curtis Roosevelt died in 2016 at age 86.

A World War II Double Life: OSS Spy Aline, Countess of Romanones

Bill Thompson

It’s 1943, and the war in Europe is raging. The United States and the Allies are looking for every way to gain an advantage over the Axis powers.

And that, of course, includes espionage.

This is where a 20-year-old model from New York comes in. Aline Griffith was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services, or OSS – which, of course, later became the CIA.

Get your copy of Aline, Countess of Romanones’s book

At “spy school” Aline learned the essentials of being a spy, including how to kill when necessary,

She was then posted to Madrid, Spain, where she became active as a socialite, scooping up intelligence from the gossip she overheard.

After the war, Aline married a Spanish aristocrat, eventually acquiring the title Aline, Countess of Romanones.

And in 1987 she wrote a bestselling book about her World War II spying, called The Spy Wore Red. I first met her the following year.

So here now, from 1988, Aline, Countess of Romanones.

Aline Countess of Romanones, died in 2017. She was 94.

How Elvis Presley’s Death Haunted His Confidante Larry Geller

Bill Thompson

It’s been 47 years since the king died.

Elvis Presley died at his Graceland mansion in Memphis on August 16,1977 at the age of 42 .

Almost instantly rumors and speculation swirled about, as fans and critics alike struggled for an explanation

Get your copy of Larry Geller’s book

Among the utterly devastated were those closest to Elvis, including his family, and his longtime hairdresser and confidante Larry Geller.

Twelve years after Presley’s passing, Geller wrote a book, which he said represented who the real Elvis was. It was titled If I Can Dream. I met Larry that spring to talk about it.

So here now, from 1989, Larry Geller.

Larry Geller turned 85 last week. He and his wife live in Arizona.

If he had lived, Elvis Presley would now be 89.

G. Gordon Liddy

Bill Thompson

A third-rate burglary” at Washington’s Watergate hotel and office complex in the summer of 1972 launched a scandal that ultimately brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon.

At the very center of that burglary, and ensuing Scandal, was G. Gordon Liddy, a former FBI agent who headed the the infamous White House “Plumbers” unit.

After serving prison time for his role in Watergate, Liddy wrote a book called “Will,” which became a bestseller for years to come.

In 1991 Liddy updated his book, adding new information that had been revealed in a book by two journalists,Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin, called “Silent Coup.”

As you are about to hear, Libby discovered that the Scandal that he was at the center of was not what he thought it was.

So here now, from 1991, G. Gordon Liddy.

G. Gordon Liddy died last year at age 90.

Buy Books / Media from Amazon

Mary Beth Whitehead

Bill Thompson

Surrogate parenting has become commonplace in America and other countries. It has helped countless numbers of couples become parents.

But it took until the late 1980s for an American Court to rule on the legal validity of surrogate motherhood.

It came in the case of an infant girl dubbed Baby M.

A woman named Mary Beth Whitehead gave birth to baby M, after her eggs were fertilized by a man named Bill Stern. He and his wife Elizabeth for unable to have a child of their own.

The trouble arose when Whitehead, after giving birth, decided she wanted to keep the baby.

A protracted court battle ensued, and ultimately the Sterns won custody of the baby.

Whitehead wrote a book in 1989, telling her side of the story. And that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 1989, Mary Beth Whitehead;

In 2004, Baby M, Melissa Stern, turned 18 and legally terminated Marybeth whiteheads parental rights.

---------------------------------------------------------------

You may also like these episodes:

Jan & Robby DeBoer

Buy Books / Media from Amazon