1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,880 Speaker 1: Our psychiatrists sees us in our most vulnerable moments, all 2 00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:06,640 Speaker 1: of our problems and dysfunctions laid bare to a stranger. 3 00:00:07,400 --> 00:00:09,559 Speaker 1: We hope that they keep our secrets and help us 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: solve our problems. We place our own here and trust 5 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:15,480 Speaker 1: in them. But what if they use that knowledge against 6 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:19,119 Speaker 1: us for their own benefit. In a brand new podcast 7 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,280 Speaker 1: from Wondering Bloomberg, The Shrink next Door, host Jonah Sarah 8 00:00:23,320 --> 00:00:25,319 Speaker 1: takes you deep into what it looks like when a 9 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,440 Speaker 1: psychiatrist becomes something much more. If you'll hear of extravagant 10 00:00:29,480 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: parties attended by movie stars, a lavish home in the Hampton's, 11 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: and the man at the center of it all, You're 12 00:00:35,400 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: about to hear a preview of The Shrink next Door 13 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 1: in which you'll meet host Jonah Sarah and here about 14 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: a relationship that would go on to affect two people's 15 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,919 Speaker 1: lives for twenty nine years. While you're listening, go subscribe 16 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: to The Shrink next Door on Apple Podcasts or wherever 17 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:53,560 Speaker 1: you're listening now. There's also a link in the episode 18 00:00:53,600 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: notes that will take you there any measure. Marty Markowitz 19 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 1: was a success. He had an IVY lead diploma, a 20 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: law degree, his own business, and plenty of money, but 21 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: when he hit thirty eight, he found himself feeling seriously overwhelmed. 22 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: His Rabbi recommended a therapist he knew who had an 23 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:23,839 Speaker 1: office on Manhattan's eas Side. Well, I go into his office, 24 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:27,679 Speaker 1: which was, you know, a modestly furnished office with a 25 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: desk and a chair and a couch. The therapist name 26 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: was Dr Isaac Hirshkoff, but he told Marty to call 27 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,640 Speaker 1: him Ike. He was a young, handsome man with a 28 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,399 Speaker 1: round face, a close crop beard, and curly black hair. 29 00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,000 Speaker 1: He was dressed casually in an open collar shirt and shorts. 30 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 1: I sat down right across from him, and we looked 31 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: at each other, and he said, okay, why are you here. 32 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: Marty had seen a therapist before, the kind you would 33 00:01:56,680 --> 00:01:58,720 Speaker 1: listen while you lay down on the couch and talk 34 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:04,200 Speaker 1: about your dreams. This therapist was different. His modus operandi 35 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:08,359 Speaker 1: was basically, I'm your pal, tell me what's bothering it, 36 00:02:08,680 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: and let's take it from there. Marty spent the whole 37 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: session laying out his problems. He told Ike how his 38 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 1: father and mother had recently died, how he had inherited 39 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: the family business. How he was having a hard time 40 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:26,320 Speaker 1: dealing with his new responsibilities. When he finished, Marty says, 41 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:29,919 Speaker 1: Ike looked at him and said, I'm going to take 42 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: him on as a patient, and I said, okay. Nice. 43 00:02:34,720 --> 00:02:36,920 Speaker 1: Not only was I taking him on as a patient, 44 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:40,440 Speaker 1: but he made Marty a promise. He said, don't worry, 45 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: I'll take care of everything. I was overwhelmed and to 46 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:49,239 Speaker 1: have someone say to me, don't worry, calm down, this 47 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: is nothing to get upset about. We're gonna straighten everything out, 48 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: and we're gonna do it fast very comforting to me. 49 00:02:56,480 --> 00:02:58,399 Speaker 1: Marty wrote him a check. I think it was for 50 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: a hundred and sixty dollars. Thing like that. Back back 51 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: in the day. It was June. Marty had come to 52 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: Ike because he needed help, But if he had known 53 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,760 Speaker 1: what his new therapist had in store for him, he 54 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 1: probably would have walked out the door and never come back. 55 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: From Wonderree and Bloomberg, I'm Joe No Sarah, a columnist 56 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: with Bloomberg Opinion, and this is the shrink next door. 57 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: This is episode one. Welcome to the neighborhood. Every neighborhood 58 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: has its share of mysteries. We can live our entire 59 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 1: lives and barely know the people just one door are down. 60 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: I have a summer house in Southampton, a couple of 61 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: hours outside of New York. This part of the Hamptons 62 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 1: is called the Bay Side. It's quiet, peaceful, a place 63 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: to escape from the city in the hot summer months. 64 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: Sampson and Jackie Gillatt have a house on the same 65 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,600 Speaker 1: street as me. My name is Jacqueline Guillott and we're 66 00:04:24,640 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 1: married thirty five years. We're married fifty two years. They've 67 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:34,359 Speaker 1: been coming here since the eighties. Most of the houses 68 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:38,440 Speaker 1: on our street are single story with wooden clapperd fronts. 69 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,719 Speaker 1: Sampson and Jackie's house is no different. It's a lovely home. 70 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,400 Speaker 1: But there's one house on the street that stands out 71 00:04:45,880 --> 00:04:48,920 Speaker 1: for starters. It's just bigger than most of the other houses. 72 00:04:49,560 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 1: It's two stories instead of one, and it's the only 73 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:55,039 Speaker 1: one on the street with a separate guesthouse out back. 74 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: And then there's the way it looks. The house is 75 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: spectacle killer, with windows and windows and windows. Everything about 76 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,479 Speaker 1: it is over the top. This pond with goldfish, lots 77 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:14,280 Speaker 1: of fish, and a waterfall to the pond too. It's bigger, bolder, 78 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: brasher than anything else on the street. In two thousand 79 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: and ten, my wife Dawn and I bought the house 80 00:05:21,560 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 1: next door. It wasn't long before a man popped over 81 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 1: to our house to introduce himself. He was dressed like 82 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 1: a maintenance man, green khaki pants, a long sleeve workshire 83 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 1: and a faded baseball cap. He welcomed us to the neighborhood, 84 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,039 Speaker 1: and then he handed us a folder of press clippings 85 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: and I literally just took them and said thank you. 86 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: And but he wanted us to have them, you know, 87 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:48,240 Speaker 1: he really wanted Joe to have him. There were articles 88 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:52,719 Speaker 1: that a psychiatrist, Dr Isaac Hirshkoff had written and articles 89 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,360 Speaker 1: that had been written about him. In mid August, an 90 00:05:56,360 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: invitation arrived to a summer barbecue next door, stood by 91 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,159 Speaker 1: Dr Hirshkoff. This would be the last of three big 92 00:06:04,200 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: summer parties he threw every year. I went alone. To 93 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: reach the front door, I had to cross a bridge 94 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,240 Speaker 1: over a fish pond. There were maybe forty or so 95 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:18,600 Speaker 1: guests hanging out in the backyard. I roamed about, stopping 96 00:06:18,600 --> 00:06:22,520 Speaker 1: here and there to chat. I spotted the actor Richard Kind, 97 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:24,760 Speaker 1: just in time to see him do a belly flop 98 00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: into the pool. There were a handful of other people too, 99 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,760 Speaker 1: people I recognized as prominent New Yorkers, like Dr Ruth, 100 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:36,919 Speaker 1: the TV personality and sex expert. It was a warm afternoon. 101 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,440 Speaker 1: I chatted with a few people, sipped on my glass 102 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,480 Speaker 1: of wine, and began to wander around. At some point 103 00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:47,919 Speaker 1: I found myself in the living room. There was a 104 00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:53,279 Speaker 1: fake draft bust, Phoenician masks, plastic parrots hanging from the ceiling, 105 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,560 Speaker 1: even a giant gong. But what struck me most with 106 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:02,200 Speaker 1: the photographs. Lots and lots to photographs, and in nearly 107 00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:05,039 Speaker 1: every one of them there was Ike Hirshkoff with a 108 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,200 Speaker 1: different celebrity, Ike with Henry Kissinger, Ike with Ellie Wizzell, 109 00:07:09,840 --> 00:07:13,520 Speaker 1: Ike with Brooke Shields, Ike with Gwyneth Paltrow, even ike 110 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: with O. J. Simpson. It was like one of those 111 00:07:16,440 --> 00:07:20,280 Speaker 1: diners where the walls are covered with pictures of celebrity patrons. 112 00:07:21,520 --> 00:07:25,320 Speaker 1: At that moment, the man himself appeared. He greeted me 113 00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,160 Speaker 1: like a long lost friend and said that my wife 114 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:31,280 Speaker 1: and I should come over soon for a drink, and 115 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 1: then he was gone. Sure enough, a few days after 116 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: the summer party, the same maintenance man we've met before 117 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: showed up at our door again. This time he brought 118 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: an invitation for drinks. It was very formal, as if 119 00:07:46,880 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: he was reading from a script. I mean, like Dr 120 00:07:49,440 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: Hirstkoff would wants you to come over at such a 121 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: such a time, on such and such a day. And 122 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:58,240 Speaker 1: the formality of it blew me away. And he was very, 123 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: very exact, dean about how it had to go. So 124 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: we went one of the strangest evenings I've ever had 125 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: in the Hampton's, or anywhere else for that matter, but 126 00:08:08,880 --> 00:08:15,680 Speaker 1: definitely the Hampton's. It was pouring rain. We headed over 127 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:18,800 Speaker 1: umbrellas in hand to get to the front door. We 128 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:22,000 Speaker 1: crossed a bridge. We could see COI circling in the 129 00:08:22,040 --> 00:08:25,760 Speaker 1: water below. I and his wife, Becky, welcomed us in 130 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: and ushered us to a round kitchen table. There were 131 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: snacks laid out, carrots and celery. I served white wine. 132 00:08:34,480 --> 00:08:39,160 Speaker 1: So what I remember is him talking incessantly about being 133 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: a sex therapist and a celebrity therapist. And I can't 134 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,320 Speaker 1: remember the details, but that that it just really sticks 135 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: in my mind that he kept going on and on 136 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:51,120 Speaker 1: about that. It was more like a monologue than a dialogue. 137 00:08:51,160 --> 00:08:54,040 Speaker 1: That's what I remember. What do you remember? I just 138 00:08:54,080 --> 00:09:01,640 Speaker 1: remember thinking, these people are I felt suffocated. I talked 139 00:09:01,640 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: about his work. I've never say thing like it, but 140 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:08,199 Speaker 1: I remember thinking it was very brazen about the details 141 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:11,040 Speaker 1: of his life, considering we were strangers, and also considering 142 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: what he does. He did talk about an NBA sports 143 00:09:14,679 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: guys and somebody a Yankees player. I just thought he 144 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,640 Speaker 1: lacked a lot of discretion given his field. We listened 145 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:26,959 Speaker 1: politely as he went on and on. I just remember 146 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: looking towards the door. Finally, after about an hour, I 147 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,439 Speaker 1: said we needed to get home, and we got up 148 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:39,600 Speaker 1: to leave, and it was very clear that I wanted 149 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: a photograph, a photograph of me. I think he came 150 00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: out and said, well, we'd like to get a picture 151 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,680 Speaker 1: of you, and it was just Joe. It wasn't Joe 152 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 1: and I. So I let I take my picture, hint 153 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: it to his wall, and then we left as fast 154 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:02,920 Speaker 1: as we could. I remember getting to her home, collapsing 155 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: I'm a couch or something. Dawn told me she never 156 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:09,880 Speaker 1: wanted to go back. There was no sign of the 157 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:12,720 Speaker 1: maintenance man the night Dawn and I went over, but 158 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:16,320 Speaker 1: I knew he was still around. Sometimes we'd be on 159 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:19,160 Speaker 1: our deck and we'd see him outside working in the yard. 160 00:10:19,920 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 1: When I returned to the Hamptons the following summer, I 161 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: noticed something strange at the house next door. I would 162 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:29,000 Speaker 1: see the maintenance man out on the property doing his 163 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:33,720 Speaker 1: usual work in the backyard, but Ike hursh Coough was gone. 164 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,199 Speaker 1: I would never see him, or his wife, Becky, and 165 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,640 Speaker 1: the Hamptons again. There were no more summer parties. It 166 00:10:41,800 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: was as if they had simply disappeared. And that's when 167 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,319 Speaker 1: I learned that everything I had thought i'd known about 168 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:54,240 Speaker 1: my neighbor was wrong. It's it's a wild story. That's 169 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,760 Speaker 1: the maintenance man, the guy who came to our door 170 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:00,760 Speaker 1: with the press clippings, the guy we saw working around 171 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: the yard. That was Marty Markuitz, the same guy who 172 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:09,560 Speaker 1: had first gone to see Dr Isaac Hirstkoff as a 173 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: patient nearly thirty years earlier. That was just a preview 174 00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:22,640 Speaker 1: of the Shrink next Door. To listen to the rest, 175 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,480 Speaker 1: subscribe to The Shrink next Door on Apple Podcasts or 176 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:28,080 Speaker 1: wherever you're listening right now.