In this pilot episode, host Karen Brown explores a personal family secret: a sister she didn’t know was her father’s daughter until they were all in their 20s.

By talking to her family members — including her mother, her three sisters (including her half sister), and her late father (before he died in 2017), she tries to understand the shame and stigma involved in keeping a family scandal under wraps, and how that can affect your world view and relationships. She also comes clean about her own long-held feelings about the secret and its implications.

We meet Michael Slepian, a professor at Columbia University, who studies the psychology of secret keeping.

And, Karen explains her original interest in the potential harms of secrecy, and why, as a journalist, she has always been a fan of radical openness.

But, what's the difference between privacy and secrecy?

The Secrets We Keep is written/produced/hosted by Karen Brown, edited by Sam Hudzik, with music by Katie Semro. Find out more at nepm.org/secrets.