EPISODE · May 4, 2026 · 45 MIN
Chloe Caldwell on Fertility, Queerness & Blowing Up Her Life
from What If People Find Out? with James Barr & Kalvin Ryder · host James Barr & Kalvin Ryder/W!ZARD Studios
She's a writer, essayist and author of a cult classic whose work has appeared everywhere from the New York Times to Vogue. This week on What If People Find Out, James Barr and Kalvin Ryder close out the first series of the podcast with Chloe Caldwell. Best known for her seminal book Women — a raw, intimate account of her first queer relationship — Chloe has spent her career writing her life in real time, on the page, before she fully understands it herself. Her new book Trying began as an honest account of navigating infertility and the fertility industrial complex. But midway through writing it, her life blew up entirely... She discovered her husband had been lying to her for years, walked away from her marriage, her apartment, her stepchild and the dog — and kept writing anyway. In this candid and beautifully wide-ranging conversation, Chloe opens up about the years she spent performing heteronormativity - and how a decade of repressing her queerness and chasing a pregnancy she thought she was supposed to want led her to the same place so many women find themselves: believing she was the problem. James, Kalvin and Chloe explore the pressure society places on women to make motherhood their identity, the shame spiral of unexplained infertility, and the liberating chaos of having your life explode in exactly the right direction. Chloe also reflects on PMDD, the low bar set for men in relationships, and why — for her — not getting pregnant turned out to be the greatest protection of all. This is also a series finale, and James and Kalvin take a moment to reflect on everything this first has taught them... Don't forget to subscribe and catch new episodes of What If People Find Out! Follow What If People Find Out Instagram: @whatifpeoplefindout TikTok: @whatifpeoplefindout X: @wipfopodcast YouTube: @whatifpeoplefindout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
What this episode covers
She's a writer, essayist and author of a cult classic whose work has appeared everywhere from the New York Times to Vogue. This week on What If People Find Out, James Barr and Kalvin Ryder close out the first series of the podcast with Chloe Caldwell. Best known for her seminal book Women — a raw, intimate account of her first queer relationship — Chloe has spent her career writing her life in real time, on the page, before she fully understands it herself. Her new book Trying began as an honest account of navigating infertility and the fertility industrial complex. But midway through writing it, her life blew up entirely... She discovered her husband had been lying to her for years, walked away from her marriage, her apartment, her stepchild and the dog — and kept writing anyway. In this candid and beautifully wide-ranging conversation, Chloe opens up about the years she spent performing heteronormativity - and how a decade of repressing her queerness and chasing a pregnancy she thought she was supposed to want led her to the same place so many women find themselves: believing she was the problem. James, Kalvin and Chloe explore the pressure society places on women to make motherhood their identity, the shame spiral of unexplained infertility, and the liberating chaos of having your life explode in exactly the right direction. Chloe also reflects on PMDD, the low bar set for men in relationships, and why — for her — not getting pregnant turned out to be the greatest protection of all. This is also a series finale, and James and Kalvin take a moment to reflect on everything this first has taught them... Don't forget to subscribe and catch new episodes of What If People Find Out! Follow What If People Find Out Instagram: @whatifpeoplefindout TikTok: @whatifpeoplefindout X: @wipfopodcast YouTube: @whatifpeoplefindout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Chloe Caldwell on Fertility, Queerness & Blowing Up Her Life
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