Not From a Nice Family with Diana Keough

In 1988, a young journalist slipped a tape recorder into her mother's purse before she walked into a hospital room to confront her father. Diana Keough kept recording for six years, then waited three decades to find the ending. Subscribe to FINE is a 4-Letter Word so you never miss an episode:    / @zenrabbitvideo   Show / Lori's ecosystem: https://zenrabbit.com Episode Summary In 1988, Diana Keough came home for Christmas for the first time in three years. She was married, she had a six-month-old baby, and she was determined to finally build the kind of relationship with her mother she had watched her friends enjoy. Within weeks, her family learned that her father, a trial attorney and pillar of a fundamentalist Baptist community, had AIDS and had been living a double life for 27 years. Three weeks later, her mother tested positive for HIV. Diana was trained as a journalist, so she did what journalists do. With her mother's permission, she dropped a tape recorder into her purse before her mother confronted her father in the hospital, and she kept recording. Over the next six years she gathered more than 100 hours of interviews with both parents, their caregivers, and her mother's psychiatrist, trying to understand the people who had raised her inside so many secrets. In this conversation, Diana tells Lori what it took to forgive a mother who had been cruel, to keep loving a father who had been her North Star and had also lied, and to reconcile with five siblings who split into Team Mom and Team Dad and went years without speaking. It is a conversation about truth-telling, the grace families rarely offer each other in a crisis, and why she ultimately decided her story had no victims and no villains. Chapters & Key Timestamps 00:00 Opening and episode premise 01:29 Growing up fundamentalist Baptist in Elm Grove, Wisconsin 02:32 Leaving Bob Jones University, and the mother who stopped speaking to her 03:47 Coming home in 1988 hoping to finally connect with her mom 04:54 The diagnosis that exposed her father's 27-year double life 05:50 Why a journalist put a tape recorder in her mother's purse 07:48 Seeing her parents as broken people, and the abuse she had to forgive 11:00 Team Mom vs. Team Dad: how six siblings split apart 13:13 Why both parents agreed to be recorded 17:54 The interviewer's best tool: staying silent 19:22 A marriage her mother never wanted, and her father's side of the story 23:41 National media, and her father becoming a leader in Cincinnati 25:55 "The six of us is the only club I ever wanted to be a member of" 27:07 Thirty years of boxes, 33 cassettes, and full transparency with her siblings 30:15 No victims, no villains, and the Sunday calls that became the ending 33:05 Her hype song: "Brave" by Sara Bareilles 33:45 Where to listen to Not From a Nice Family and connect with Diana Guest Resources: Diana Keough LinkedIn:   / diana-keough-a354646   Instagram: @dianakeyo (  / dianakeyo  ) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... Twitter/X: @dikeough (https://x.com/dikeough) Podcast: Not From a Nice Family (Audible Original; search the title on Audible) Continue With Lori Website: https://zenrabbit.com LinkedIn:   / lorisaitz   Email: Lori@ZenRabbit.com Related Conversation Episode 239: One Drop of Water and a Dying Plant with Cyndy Etler Another conversation about telling the truth of a difficult upbringing in a strict, controlling environment, and turning that story into a memoir. Invitation From Lori Zen Rabbit This episode is sponsored by Zen Rabbit. Trust is the foundation of all great workplaces, and in today's hybrid, fast-moving work culture, it's built through consistent, clear, human communication. Quarterly town halls, Slack messages, or team-building events are rarely enough to create the connection employees need. That's why forward-thinking companies are hiring Lori to create internal and private podcasts that bring leaders and employees together through authentic stories and real conversations. Think of it as the old-school company newsletter reinvented for the modern workplace. If your company wants to strengthen communication, connection, community, and culture, connect with Lori at Lori@ZenRabbit.com or on LinkedIn:   / lorisaitz   About FINE is a 4-Letter Word FINE is a 4-Letter Word is the show for leaders who are tired of pretending everything is fine. We explore what it takes to lead with empathy, vulnerability, gratitude, and courage, especially during the seasons when life and leadership feel anything but fine. Listen for honest conversations about how human connection influences innovation, retention, leadership, and real impact. New episodes every week.