Ep. 28 – Mallary Tenore Tarpley: Fighting Family Upheaval One Bite at a Time

In this week’s episode of the Step Stories podcast, Host Robin Breuner interviews UT Austin writing professor and journalist Mallary Tenore Tarpley about her memoir, Slip: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery, and how losing her mother to metastatic breast cancer at 11 shaped her grief, identity, and anorexia. They discuss the “middle place” between acute illness and full recovery, why eating disorders can be driven by control, trauma, and genetic/environmental factors, and how stereotypes like “skinny white affluent girl” limit recognition and care. Mallary shares how her father dating and later remarrying intensified her disordered behaviors, her treatment experience and relapses, and how openness, storytelling, and ongoing check-ins support healing for grieving children and stepparents. They also touch on GLP-1 drugs and the need for broader resources. Mallary Tenore Tarpley Email: mallary.tenore@utexas.edu Website (personal): mallarytenoretarpley Facebook: fb/Mallary Tenore Instagram: ig/mallarytenoretarpley LinkedIn: in/mallary tenore tarpley Substack: mallary.substack Books: SLIP (hardcover), SLIP (paperback), SLIP(spanish) Robin Breuner Email: robinbreuner@gmail.com Website: www.robinbreuner.com Instagram: stepstoriespodcastIG Facebook: stepstoriespodcastFB Linkedin: RobinBreunerLinkIN Podcast: StepStories Podcast Threads: @robinbreuner YouTube: StepStories Podcast YouTube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.