Modern Love

The New York Times
  • 4.3 (8.3K)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE
  • UPDATED WEEKLY
Modern Love

For 20 years, the Modern Love column has given New York Times readers a glimpse into the complicated love lives of real people. Since its start, the column has evolved into a TV show, three books and a podcast. Each week, host Anna Martin brings you stories and conversations about love in all its glorious permutations, dumb pitfalls and life-changing moments. New episodes every Wednesday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp

  1. Subscriber Exclusive: This Week’s Modern Love Essay

    1D AGO · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Subscriber Exclusive: This Week’s Modern Love Essay

    Every Friday, subscribers to the New York Times can access the latest Modern Love column read aloud. The Modern Love Podcast publishes full-length episodes every Wednesday. This week’s essay is “Carrying My New Husband Across the Threshold” written by Michael T. Luongo. The audio is narrated by James Patrick Cronin. Production support by Emma Kehlbeck. Engineered by Sophia Lanman.

    10 min
  2. First Love Mixtape: Side B (Encore)

    3D AGO • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    First Love Mixtape: Side B (Encore)

    In last week’s episode, the Modern Love team shared the songs that taught us about love when we were young. But in this week’s episode, we hear from you, our listeners, about the songs that helped shape your ideas about love. We heard from present-day teens streaming their anthems on repeat, and we heard from listeners who have been with their partners for over 50 years. There were stories of jazz and rap; adrenaline rushes and loneliness; and many hard-won lessons in matters of the heart. (“Don’t let your friends choose your boyfriends,” Amy from St. Louis said.) We share a compilation of some of your songs and stories in the first half of our episode. And we finish our episode with an essay about the end of love. After more than 50 years of marriage, Tina Welling decided that she wanted a divorce — a decision that turned out to be liberating. Thank you to all of the listeners who sent us their teenage anthems. We’ve compiled them into one glorious Spotify playlist. [You can listen to this episode above, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts.] Here’s how to submit a Modern Love essay to The New York Times. Here’s how to submit a Tiny Love Story. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

    25 min
  3. Subscriber Exclusive: This Week’s Modern Love Essay

    MAY 30 · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Subscriber Exclusive: This Week’s Modern Love Essay

    Every Friday, subscribers to the New York Times can access the latest Modern Love column read aloud. The Modern Love Podcast publishes full-length episodes every Wednesday. This week’s essay is “We Had to Break Up. He Refused.” written by Beth Apone Salamon. The audio is narrated by Janina Edwards. Production support by Emma Kehlbeck. Engineered by Daniel Ramirez.

    10 min
  4. First Love Mixtape: Side A (Encore)

    MAY 28 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    First Love Mixtape: Side A (Encore)

    This episode of “Modern Love” features Lisa Selin Davis’s essay “What Lou Reed Taught Me About Love.” She writes about how the song “I’ll Be Your Mirror” became the soundtrack to her summer romance with a floppy-haired “rocker kid” who inadvertently helped her find healing. Then, we hear from some members of the “Modern Love” team about the songs that influenced them as teenagers and about the memories — funny, empowering, nostalgic — that they carry with them. Stay tuned for next week’s episode, where we’ll hear from our listeners about the songs that taught them about love. Here’s how to submit a Modern Love essay to The New York Times. Here’s how to submit a Tiny Love Story. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

    24 min
  5. Subscriber Exclusive: This Week’s Modern Love Essay

    MAY 23 · BONUS • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Subscriber Exclusive: This Week’s Modern Love Essay

    Every Friday, subscribers to the New York Times can access the latest Modern Love column read aloud. The Modern Love Podcast publishes full-length episodes every Wednesday. This week’s essay is “Fired Federal Worker Flirts on Finch” written by Nina Cahill. The audio is narrated by Janina Edwards. Production support by Emma Kehlbeck. Engineered by Catherine Anderson.

    10 min
  6. Friends for 16 Years. Lovers for One Night.

    MAY 21

    Friends for 16 Years. Lovers for One Night.

    Elizabeth and Jeff were best friends. They did everything together, from early-morning runs to late-night karaoke sessions. They came up with secret code names for each other and went on undercover missions in their neighborhood. They fought, and made up, and fought some more. Beneath their playful dynamic, an attraction was growing between them, but Elizabeth never wanted to risk the friendship by exploring it. Then Jeff got sick, and things changed. In this episode, the story of a once-in-a-lifetime friendship, from the very beginning to the very end. This episode is adapted from Elizabeth Laura Nelson’s 2025 essay Friends for 16 Years. Lovers for One Night. Here’s how to submit a Modern Love essay to The New York Times. Here’s how to submit a Tiny Love Story. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

    40 min
  7. Subscriber Exclusive: This Week’s Modern Love Essay

    MAY 16 · BONUS

    Subscriber Exclusive: This Week’s Modern Love Essay

    Every Friday, subscribers to the New York Times can access the latest Modern Love column read aloud. The Modern Love Podcast publishes full-length episodes every Wednesday. This week’s essay is “Divorce Is a Gift” written by Souvankham Thammavongsa. The audio is narrated by Janina Edwards. Production support by Emma Kehlbeck. Engineered by Sophia Lanman.

    10 min
  8. Why Boys and Men Are Floundering, According to Relationship Therapist Terry Real

    MAY 14 • SUBSCRIBERS ONLY

    Why Boys and Men Are Floundering, According to Relationship Therapist Terry Real

    A session with Terry Real, a marriage and family therapist, can get uncomfortable. He’s known to mirror and amplify the emotions of his clients, sometimes cursing and nearly yelling, often in an attempt to get men in touch with the emotions they’re not used to honoring. Real says men are often pushed to shut off their expression of vulnerability when they’re young as part of the process of becoming a man. That process, he says, can lead to myriad problems in their relationships. He sees it as his job to pull them back into vulnerability and intimacy, reconfiguring their understanding of masculinity in order to build more wholesome and connected families. In this episode, Real explains why vulnerability is so essential to healthy masculinity and why his work with men feels more urgent than ever. He explains why he thinks our current models of masculinity are broken and what it will take to build new ones. This episode was inspired by a New York Times Magazine piece, “How I Learned That the Problem in My Marriage Was Me” by Daniel Oppenheimer. The “Modern Love” podcast team is planning a second episode with Real, focused on fatherhood. He has agreed to give our listeners advice on fatherhood, whether you’re an experienced dad, an expecting dad or otherwise dad-adjacent. For example, maybe you want advice on how to parent in a world filled with so many mixed messages about how men should be or on how to repair a mistake you made as a dad. Maybe there are elements of fatherhood you’re still figuring out or are unsure of. Record your questions as a voice memo and email them to modernlovepodcast@nytimes.com. Tips for recording: Please avoid recording where there is a lot of background noise. If you are using your smartphone to record your voice memo, please speak into your phone’s built-in microphone from a few inches away. Your recording may not be usable if you use Bluetooth earbuds or if you are too close or too far from the phone. It works best when you tell us your story as if you are speaking to a friend rather than reading it from a written statement. Be as concise as you can, and please listen back to it to make sure the recording is complete. You can find further tips for recording here, and find our submission terms here. Here’s how to submit a Modern Love essay to The New York Times. Here’s how to submit a Tiny Love Story. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

    39 min
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Hosts & Guests

4.3
out of 5
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About

For 20 years, the Modern Love column has given New York Times readers a glimpse into the complicated love lives of real people. Since its start, the column has evolved into a TV show, three books and a podcast. Each week, host Anna Martin brings you stories and conversations about love in all its glorious permutations, dumb pitfalls and life-changing moments. New episodes every Wednesday. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Listen to this podcast in New York Times Audio, our new iOS app for news subscribers. Download now at nytimes.com/audioapp

Information

  • Channel
    The New York Times
  • Creator
    The New York Times
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2025
  • Episodes
    404
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2020-2024 THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY; The New York Times encourages the use of RSS feeds for personal use in a news reader or as part of a non-commercial blog, subject to your agreement to our Terms of Service.
  • Show Website
    Modern Love
  • Provider
    The New York Times Company

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