Illuminated: The Psychology of a Second Life - BBC Radio 4
Sunday Sequence - BBC Radio Ulster
When Jaz Singh appeared on the hit reality TV series The Traitors, he earned the nickname Jazatha Christie, so good was he at sniffing out who the traitors were.
But perhaps there was a reason - his own father had a whole secret second family.
“I know what it’s like to be betrayed – I’ve had first hand experience with my father,” he said.
At the same time, it was not so simple, he said: “My father was the perfect father.”
Suddenly all the business trips to Ireland made sense.
When he shared his secret, hundreds of messages came from people who also had secrets just like his.
Emily found out after her father died that he had a whole other family.
“That’s why he always went out to the shops to buy fresh milk. That was a way to use the phone to speak or to see them,” she said.
It made her question her whole childhood. Her father had a lot of foreign travel – or did he?
Eve thought she had a loving romantic husband.
But he turned out to be a bigamist.
When Martina Purdy chose to walk away from her high-profile job as political correspondent at the BBC to become a nun, it came as a huge surprise to many – she was a bit shocked herself – but she had thought long about it
He worked in Oman and would say, “I have to go into the desert”, and then be out of contact. Looking back, there was a sense to it.
These were deeply sad stories of betrayal and loss but they were nuanced stories too.
The message was that we’re all fragmented as human beings – love is never simple.
Love for God isn’t simple either.
When Martina Purdy chose to walk away from her high-profile job as political correspondent at the BBC to become a nun, it came as a huge surprise to many – she was a bit shocked herself – but she had thought long about it.
Ten years on, she spoke to presenter Claire Graham on Sunday Sequence.
She had had a great life but had begun to feel “choked” by the weight of her possessions, she said.
There were signposts along the way – at 40, she went to Peru and was struck by the poverty. On holiday in a convent hotel in Italy, she felt drawn to the nuns’ lives.
There were unexpected twists in her journey – like having to leave her convent – but no regrets in her search for a meaningful life.
