WEBVTT - BONUS: Introducing The Shrink Next Door 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.880 Our psychiatrists sees us in our most vulnerable moments, all 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:06.640 of our problems and dysfunctions laid bare to a stranger. 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:09.559 We hope that they keep our secrets and help us 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.360 solve our problems. We place our own here and trust 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:15.480 in them. But what if they use that knowledge against 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:19.119 us for their own benefit. In a brand new podcast 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:23.280 from Wondering Bloomberg, The Shrink next Door, host Jonah Sarah 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.319 takes you deep into what it looks like when a 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.440 psychiatrist becomes something much more. If you'll hear of extravagant 0:00:29.480 --> 0:00:32.400 parties attended by movie stars, a lavish home in the Hampton's, 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.360 and the man at the center of it all, You're 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.600 about to hear a preview of The Shrink next Door 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:40.320 in which you'll meet host Jonah Sarah and here about 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.120 a relationship that would go on to affect two people's 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:47.919 lives for twenty nine years. While you're listening, go subscribe 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:50.800 to The Shrink next Door on Apple Podcasts or wherever 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.560 you're listening now. There's also a link in the episode 0:00:53.600 --> 0:01:02.320 notes that will take you there any measure. Marty Markowitz 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:06.280 was a success. He had an IVY lead diploma, a 0:01:06.400 --> 0:01:11.160 law degree, his own business, and plenty of money, but 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:15.720 when he hit thirty eight, he found himself feeling seriously overwhelmed. 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:20.280 His Rabbi recommended a therapist he knew who had an 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.839 office on Manhattan's eas Side. Well, I go into his office, 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:27.679 which was, you know, a modestly furnished office with a 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.360 desk and a chair and a couch. The therapist name 0:01:31.480 --> 0:01:35.160 was Dr Isaac Hirshkoff, but he told Marty to call 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.640 him Ike. He was a young, handsome man with a 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.399 round face, a close crop beard, and curly black hair. 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.000 He was dressed casually in an open collar shirt and shorts. 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.480 I sat down right across from him, and we looked 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:53.440 at each other, and he said, okay, why are you here. 0:01:53.760 --> 0:01:56.680 Marty had seen a therapist before, the kind you would 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:58.720 listen while you lay down on the couch and talk 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:04.200 about your dreams. This therapist was different. His modus operandi 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:08.359 was basically, I'm your pal, tell me what's bothering it, 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.280 and let's take it from there. Marty spent the whole 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.520 session laying out his problems. He told Ike how his 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:18.120 father and mother had recently died, how he had inherited 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:21.200 the family business. How he was having a hard time 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:26.320 dealing with his new responsibilities. When he finished, Marty says, 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.919 Ike looked at him and said, I'm going to take 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.760 him on as a patient, and I said, okay. Nice. 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:36.920 Not only was I taking him on as a patient, 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:40.440 but he made Marty a promise. He said, don't worry, 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.560 I'll take care of everything. I was overwhelmed and to 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:49.239 have someone say to me, don't worry, calm down, this 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.040 is nothing to get upset about. We're gonna straighten everything out, 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:56.200 and we're gonna do it fast very comforting to me. 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.399 Marty wrote him a check. I think it was for 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:01.200 a hundred and sixty dollars. Thing like that. Back back 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:05.560 in the day. It was June. Marty had come to 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.480 Ike because he needed help, But if he had known 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.760 what his new therapist had in store for him, he 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:16.600 probably would have walked out the door and never come back. 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.160 From Wonderree and Bloomberg, I'm Joe No Sarah, a columnist 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:37.160 with Bloomberg Opinion, and this is the shrink next door. 0:03:48.120 --> 0:03:54.120 This is episode one. Welcome to the neighborhood. Every neighborhood 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.400 has its share of mysteries. We can live our entire 0:03:57.480 --> 0:04:00.440 lives and barely know the people just one door are down. 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.600 I have a summer house in Southampton, a couple of 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:08.320 hours outside of New York. This part of the Hamptons 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:13.360 is called the Bay Side. It's quiet, peaceful, a place 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:17.400 to escape from the city in the hot summer months. 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.159 Sampson and Jackie Gillatt have a house on the same 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:24.600 street as me. My name is Jacqueline Guillott and we're 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:30.920 married thirty five years. We're married fifty two years. They've 0:04:30.960 --> 0:04:34.359 been coming here since the eighties. Most of the houses 0:04:34.400 --> 0:04:38.440 on our street are single story with wooden clapperd fronts. 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.719 Sampson and Jackie's house is no different. It's a lovely home. 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.400 But there's one house on the street that stands out 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.920 for starters. It's just bigger than most of the other houses. 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.360 It's two stories instead of one, and it's the only 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.039 one on the street with a separate guesthouse out back. 0:04:56.160 --> 0:04:59.240 And then there's the way it looks. The house is 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:03.960 spectacle killer, with windows and windows and windows. Everything about 0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:08.479 it is over the top. This pond with goldfish, lots 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:14.280 of fish, and a waterfall to the pond too. It's bigger, bolder, 0:05:14.800 --> 0:05:19.120 brasher than anything else on the street. In two thousand 0:05:19.160 --> 0:05:21.480 and ten, my wife Dawn and I bought the house 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:26.000 next door. It wasn't long before a man popped over 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.000 to our house to introduce himself. He was dressed like 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:33.080 a maintenance man, green khaki pants, a long sleeve workshire 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:37.280 and a faded baseball cap. He welcomed us to the neighborhood, 0:05:37.520 --> 0:05:40.039 and then he handed us a folder of press clippings 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:42.800 and I literally just took them and said thank you. 0:05:42.880 --> 0:05:45.479 And but he wanted us to have them, you know, 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.240 he really wanted Joe to have him. There were articles 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:52.719 that a psychiatrist, Dr Isaac Hirshkoff had written and articles 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:56.360 that had been written about him. In mid August, an 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:00.440 invitation arrived to a summer barbecue next door, stood by 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:04.159 Dr Hirshkoff. This would be the last of three big 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:08.440 summer parties he threw every year. I went alone. To 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:11.000 reach the front door, I had to cross a bridge 0:06:11.120 --> 0:06:14.240 over a fish pond. There were maybe forty or so 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.600 guests hanging out in the backyard. I roamed about, stopping 0:06:18.600 --> 0:06:22.520 here and there to chat. I spotted the actor Richard Kind, 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:24.760 just in time to see him do a belly flop 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:29.000 into the pool. There were a handful of other people too, 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:32.760 people I recognized as prominent New Yorkers, like Dr Ruth, 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:36.919 the TV personality and sex expert. It was a warm afternoon. 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:40.440 I chatted with a few people, sipped on my glass 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:44.480 of wine, and began to wander around. At some point 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.919 I found myself in the living room. There was a 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:53.279 fake draft bust, Phoenician masks, plastic parrots hanging from the ceiling, 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:57.560 even a giant gong. But what struck me most with 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:02.200 the photographs. Lots and lots to photographs, and in nearly 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.039 every one of them there was Ike Hirshkoff with a 0:07:05.120 --> 0:07:09.200 different celebrity, Ike with Henry Kissinger, Ike with Ellie Wizzell, 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.520 Ike with Brooke Shields, Ike with Gwyneth Paltrow, even ike 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.400 with O. J. Simpson. It was like one of those 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:20.280 diners where the walls are covered with pictures of celebrity patrons. 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:25.320 At that moment, the man himself appeared. He greeted me 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.160 like a long lost friend and said that my wife 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:31.280 and I should come over soon for a drink, and 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:35.800 then he was gone. Sure enough, a few days after 0:07:35.800 --> 0:07:38.800 the summer party, the same maintenance man we've met before 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.320 showed up at our door again. This time he brought 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:46.880 an invitation for drinks. It was very formal, as if 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.360 he was reading from a script. I mean, like Dr 0:07:49.440 --> 0:07:52.480 Hirstkoff would wants you to come over at such a 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:54.320 such a time, on such and such a day. And 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:58.240 the formality of it blew me away. And he was very, 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:02.320 very exact, dean about how it had to go. So 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.560 we went one of the strangest evenings I've ever had 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.760 in the Hampton's, or anywhere else for that matter, but 0:08:08.880 --> 0:08:15.680 definitely the Hampton's. It was pouring rain. We headed over 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.800 umbrellas in hand to get to the front door. We 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:22.000 crossed a bridge. We could see COI circling in the 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:25.760 water below. I and his wife, Becky, welcomed us in 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.160 and ushered us to a round kitchen table. There were 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:33.600 snacks laid out, carrots and celery. I served white wine. 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:39.160 So what I remember is him talking incessantly about being 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:42.800 a sex therapist and a celebrity therapist. And I can't 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:45.320 remember the details, but that that it just really sticks 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:47.280 in my mind that he kept going on and on 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:51.120 about that. It was more like a monologue than a dialogue. 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:54.040 That's what I remember. What do you remember? I just 0:08:54.080 --> 0:09:01.640 remember thinking, these people are I felt suffocated. I talked 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:03.840 about his work. I've never say thing like it, but 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:08.199 I remember thinking it was very brazen about the details 0:09:08.200 --> 0:09:11.040 of his life, considering we were strangers, and also considering 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:14.640 what he does. He did talk about an NBA sports 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:19.920 guys and somebody a Yankees player. I just thought he 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:23.640 lacked a lot of discretion given his field. We listened 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.959 politely as he went on and on. I just remember 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:31.520 looking towards the door. Finally, after about an hour, I 0:09:31.520 --> 0:09:34.439 said we needed to get home, and we got up 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:39.600 to leave, and it was very clear that I wanted 0:09:39.600 --> 0:09:44.920 a photograph, a photograph of me. I think he came 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.400 out and said, well, we'd like to get a picture 0:09:47.440 --> 0:09:51.680 of you, and it was just Joe. It wasn't Joe 0:09:51.679 --> 0:09:55.360 and I. So I let I take my picture, hint 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:58.520 it to his wall, and then we left as fast 0:09:58.720 --> 0:10:02.920 as we could. I remember getting to her home, collapsing 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.720 I'm a couch or something. Dawn told me she never 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:09.880 wanted to go back. There was no sign of the 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.720 maintenance man the night Dawn and I went over, but 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:16.320 I knew he was still around. Sometimes we'd be on 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:19.160 our deck and we'd see him outside working in the yard. 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.920 When I returned to the Hamptons the following summer, I 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:26.440 noticed something strange at the house next door. I would 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:29.000 see the maintenance man out on the property doing his 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:33.720 usual work in the backyard, but Ike hursh Coough was gone. 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:37.199 I would never see him, or his wife, Becky, and 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:41.640 the Hamptons again. There were no more summer parties. It 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:46.559 was as if they had simply disappeared. And that's when 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.319 I learned that everything I had thought i'd known about 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:54.240 my neighbor was wrong. It's it's a wild story. That's 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:57.760 the maintenance man, the guy who came to our door 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:00.760 with the press clippings, the guy we saw working around 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:06.360 the yard. That was Marty Markuitz, the same guy who 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.560 had first gone to see Dr Isaac Hirstkoff as a 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:19.920 patient nearly thirty years earlier. That was just a preview 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.640 of the Shrink next Door. To listen to the rest, 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.480 subscribe to The Shrink next Door on Apple Podcasts or 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.080 wherever you're listening right now.