Ashley C. Ford on Making Sense of Her Mom, “The Mother”, and a Dad in Prison

Content Warning: This episode discusses child abuse and rape. 

Author Ashley C. Ford did not have it easy growing up. Her mom could be a lot of fun but could also be physically and verbally abusive and just not interested in carrying out the role of parent. She took Ashley to the dentist exactly twice in her childhood, failed to get medical problems addressed that have been with Ashley ever since, and lashed out in fury for reasons Ashley was desperately trying to understand. Ashley’s father went to jail for two rapes when Ashley was a baby, the two not meeting in person until she was in her thirties. Ashley’s story, told in the best-selling memoir Somebody’s Daughter and in this in-depth conversation, is one of making sense of a challenging family picture and working hard to understand where it all shows up in her own life as an adult with a marriage and a career.