Ready To Be Real by Síle Seoige24 Okt 2025

Denise Gough: Part 2 — Speaking from the scar

Topics covered : Grooming, childhood sexual abuse, shame, addiction, survival, recovery, therapy, healing, acting, Palestine, censorship, collective care, Andor.

This is the second part of my conversation with multi award-winning Irish actor — and all-round gorgeous human — Denise Gough.

In this episode, Denise speaks openly about the painful experiences of grooming and abuse in her childhood — experiences that led to her being homeless in London as a teenager, addicted to drugs and alcohol.

Since getting sober at 27, she’s gone on to thrive — both in her acting career and in life.

She's an incredibly strong, open-hearted woman, and her story is one of survival, strength, and deep healing.

If you haven’t yet listened to Part 1, I really encourage you to go back and do so.

You might also want to hear my conversations with Gabor and Daniel Maté, Róisín El Cherif, Farah Nabulsi, and Hala Sourani, as well as the episode I released in May with Jack Fitzgerald, where he speaks so bravely about surviving childhood sexual abuse.

These stories aren’t easy to hear, but they are necessary and they remind us of the strength of the human spirit.

Book mentions:

'Perfect Victims' (and the Politics of Appeal) by Mohammed El-Kurd

'The Message' and 'Between the World and Me' by Ta-Nehisi Coates

If you need support, please reach out — you are not alone, and help is available:

One In Four

Support – Mental Health Ireland

And if you’re a fan of what I do, please follow, rate, and review Ready to Be Real wherever you listen.

Míle buíochas, as always, for your support.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(304)

Eoin Warner : We Are Nature

Topics covered: Nature, belonging, grief, childhood loss, the Whiddy Island disaster, family, fatherhood, night fishing, love, mortality, the healing power of nature, wildlife encounters, biodiversity...

4 Nov 50min

An Chailleach agus Samhain

In this special Oíche Shamhna Real Take, I'm revisiting a conversation I had this time last year with musician, broadcaster and academic Doireann Ní Ghlacáin.We spoke the day after I'd seen her perfor...

31 Okt 11min

Dr. Shefali : Parenting in a digital world

Topics covered: Conscious parenting, raising daughters and sons, childhood conditioning, patriarchy, people-pleasing, strong-willed girls, self-worth, body image, modelling, boundaries, boys' emotiona...

28 Okt 49min

Overwhelmed? : Sanity Versus Standards

How often do we push ourselves to the point of exhaustion, trying to do everything and keep everyone happy?For this week's Real Take, I'm dipping into the Ready to Be Real archive to revisit a convers...

24 Okt 8min

Declan O'Rourke : Masculinity, Empathy & the Simple Life

Topics covered: Family, childhood, emigration, love, fatherhood, masculinity, patriarchy, Palestine, empathy, apathy, humanity, community, collective action, LSD, anxiety, panic attacks, creativity an...

20 Okt 1h 7min

Adolescence : Boundaries and Connection

Topics covered: Adolescence, preteens, parenting, boundaries, connection, communication, friendships, resilience, smartphones, internet access, childhood development and growing independence.For this ...

16 Okt 19min

Mick Moran : Protecting Our Children Online

Topics covered: Online safety, childhood, parenting, smartphones, social media, gaming, Roblox, algorithms, manipulation, digital autonomy, grooming, sextortion, exploitation, CSAM, pornography, harmf...

13 Okt 1h 20min

Majella O'Donnell: My Ten Weeks in a Psychiatric Hospital

In this week's Real Take, Majella O'Donnell shares her personal experience of the ten weeks she spent as an inpatient in St John of God Hospital in 2024, when she became seriously unwell with depressi...

9 Okt 18min