WEBVTT - Bloomberg and Wondery Present: The Shrink Next Door 0:00:02.200 --> 0:00:06.640 Hello, Odd LODs listeners, It's Joe Wisenthal. Psychiatrists see us 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:09.639 in our most vulnerable moments, all of our problems and 0:00:09.720 --> 0:00:12.680 dysfunctions laid bare to a stranger. We hope that they 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.319 keep our secrets and help us solve our problems. We 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:17.680 place our inherent trust in them, But what if they 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:20.560 use that knowledge against us for their own benefits. In 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:24.360 a brand new podcast from Wanderian Bloomberg, The Shrink next Door, 0:00:24.520 --> 0:00:26.760 host Joe No Sarah takes you deep into what it 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:30.440 looks like when a psychiatrist becomes something much more. You'll 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.879 hear of extravagant parties attended by movie stars, a lavish 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:36.160 home in the Hamptons, and the man at the center 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:38.640 of it all. You're about to hear a preview of 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.840 The Shrink next Door in which you'll meet host Joe 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.400 No Sarah and hear about a relationship that would go 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.320 on to affect two people's lives for twenty nine years. 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:49.720 While you're listening, go subscribe to The Shrink next Door 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:53.200 on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening now. There's also 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:55.520 a link in the episode notes that will take you there. 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:04.840 Wondering by any measure. Marty Markowitz was a success. He 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:09.240 had an IVY lead diploma, a law degree, his own business, 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:13.000 and plenty of money. But when he hit thirty eight, 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:18.600 he found himself feeling seriously overwhelmed. His Rabbi recommended a 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:23.080 therapist he knew who had an office on Manhattan's eas Side. Well, 0:01:23.080 --> 0:01:25.679 I go into his office, which was, you know, a 0:01:25.800 --> 0:01:29.880 modestly furnished office with a desk and a chair and 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:34.440 a couch. The therapist name was Dr Isaac Hirshkoff, but 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.640 he told Marty to call him Ike. He was a young, 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.440 handsome man with a round face, a close crop beard, 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.560 and curly black hair. He was dressed casually in an 0:01:45.560 --> 0:01:49.720 open collar shirt and shorts. I sat down right across 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.320 from him, and we looked at each other, and he said, okay, 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:56.000 why are you here. Marty had seen a therapist before, 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:58.320 the kind you would listen while you lay down on 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:02.880 the couch and talk about your dreams. This therapist was different. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:08.079 His modus operandi was basically, I'm your pal, tell me 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:11.040 what's bothering it, and let's take it from there. Marty 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.480 spent the whole session laying out his problems. He told 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:17.919 Ike how his father and mother had recently died, how 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.000 he'd inherited the family business, how he was having a 0:02:21.040 --> 0:02:25.680 hard time dealing with his new responsibilities. When he finished, 0:02:26.240 --> 0:02:30.120 Marty says, Ike looked at him and said, I'm going 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:34.359 to take him on as a patient, and I said, okay. Nice. 0:02:35.280 --> 0:02:37.480 Not only was I taking him on as a patient, 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.000 but he made Marty a promise. He said, don't worry, 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:45.080 I'll take care of everything. I was overwhelmed and to 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:49.799 have someone say to me, don't worry, calm down, this 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.600 is nothing to get upset about. We're gonna straighten everything out, 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:56.760 and we're gonna do it fast, very comforting to me. 0:02:57.040 --> 0:02:58.919 Marty wrote him a check. I think it was for 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.440 a hundred and sixty dollar or something like that. Back 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:06.000 back in the day. It was June. Marty had come 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.680 to I because he needed help, But if he had 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:13.200 known what his new therapist had in store for him, 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:16.360 he probably would have walked out the door and never 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:32.920 come back. From Wonderie and Bloomberg, I'm Joan No Sarah, 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:37.080 a columnist with Bloomberg Opinion, and this is the Shrink 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:51.920 next Door. This is episode one. Welcome to the Neighborhood. 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:57.280 Every neighborhood has its share of mysteries. We can live 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.360 our entire lives and barely know the people just one 0:04:00.400 --> 0:04:04.680 door down. I have a summer house in Southampton, a 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.240 couple of hours outside of New York. This part of 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:12.760 the Hamptons is called the Bay Side. It's quiet, peaceful, 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:15.840 a place to escape from the city in the hot 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:20.320 summer months. Sampson and Jackie Guillott have a house on 0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:23.320 the same street as me. My name is Jacqueline Guillott 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:30.640 and we're married thirty five years. We're married fifty two years. 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.479 They've been coming here since the eighties. Most of the 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:39.000 houses on our street are single story with wooden clapperd fronts. 0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:42.279 Sampson and Jackie's house is no different, so lovely home. 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.040 But there's one house on the street that stands out 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:49.480 for starters. It's just bigger than most of the other houses. 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:52.920 It's two stories instead of one, and it's the only 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:55.559 one on the street with a separate guesthouse out back. 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.800 And then there's the way it looks. The houses spectacular 0:05:00.839 --> 0:05:05.240 with windows and windows and windows. Everything about it is 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:10.279 over the top. There's a pond with goldfish, lots of fish, 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.840 and a waterfall to the pond too. It's bigger, bolder, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:19.680 brasher than anything else on the street. In two thousand 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.040 and ten, my wife Dawn and I bought the house 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:26.560 next door. It wasn't long before a man popped over 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.560 to our house to introduce himself. He was dressed like 0:05:29.600 --> 0:05:33.640 a maintenance man, green khaki pants, a long sleeve workshire 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.240 and a faded baseball cap. He welcomed us to the 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.039 neighborhood and then he handed us a folder of press 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:43.360 clippings and I literally just took them and said thank you. 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:46.000 And but he wanted us to have them, you know, 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.800 he really wanted Joe to have him. There were articles 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:53.279 that a psychiatrist, Dr Isaac Hirshkoff, had written and articles 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:56.880 that had been written about him. In mid August, an 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:00.920 invitation arrived to a summer barbecue next door, hosted by 0:06:01.000 --> 0:06:04.720 Dr Hirshkoff. This would be the last of three big 0:06:04.760 --> 0:06:09.000 summer parties he threw every year. I went alone. To 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.560 reach the front door, I had to cross a bridge 0:06:11.680 --> 0:06:14.760 over a fish pond. There were maybe forty or so 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:19.120 guests hanging out in the backyard. I roamed about, stopping 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:23.040 here and there to chat. I spotted the actor Richard Kind, 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:25.320 just in time to see him do a belly flop 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:29.400 into the pool. There were a handful of other people too, 0:06:29.720 --> 0:06:33.320 people I recognized as prominent New Yorkers, like Dr Ruth, 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:37.479 the TV personality and sex expert. It was a warm afternoon. 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.040 I chatted with a few people, sipped on my glass 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:45.040 of wine, and began to wander around. At some point 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:48.440 I found myself in the living room. There was a 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:53.839 fake draft bust, Phoenician masks, plastic parrots hanging from the ceiling, 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.080 even a giant gong. But what struck me most with 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:02.240 the photographs. A lot send lots of photographs, and in 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.479 nearly every one of them there was Ike Hirshkoff with 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.760 a different celebrity, Ike with Henry Kissinger, Ike with Ellie Wizzell, 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:14.080 Ike with Brooks Shields, Ike with Gwyneth Paltrow, even ike 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.960 with O. J. Simpson. It was like one of those 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:20.840 diners where the walls are covered with pictures of celebrity patrons. 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.880 At that moment, the man himself appeared. He greeted me 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.720 like a long lost friend and said that my wife 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.800 and I should come over soon for a drink, and 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:36.320 then he was gone. Sure enough. A few days after 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:39.360 the summer party, the same maintenance man we've met before 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.840 showed up at our door again. This time he brought 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:47.440 an invitation for drinks. It was very formal, as if 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:49.920 he was reading from a script. I mean, like Dr 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:53.120 Hirshkoff would wants you to come over at such at 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:54.880 such a time, on such and such a day. And 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:58.520 the formality of it blew me away. And he was very, 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:03.080 very exacting about how it had to go. So we 0:08:03.120 --> 0:08:06.200 went one of the strangest evenings I've ever had in 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.760 the Hampton's or anywhere else for that matter, but definitely 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:16.960 the Hamptons. It was pouring rain. We headed over, umbrellas 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.800 in hand to get to the front door. We crossed 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:23.240 a bridge we could see COI circling in the water below. 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:27.360 Ike and his wife, Becky welcomed us in and ushered 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.720 us to a round kitchen table. There were snacks laid out, 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:35.440 carrots and salary. I served white wine. So what I 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:40.800 remember is him talking incessantly about being a sex therapist 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:44.160 and a celebrity therapist. And I can't remember the details, 0:08:44.200 --> 0:08:46.400 but that that it just really sticks in my mind 0:08:46.440 --> 0:08:49.600 that he kept going on and on about that. It 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:51.960 was more like a monologue than a dialogue. That's what 0:08:52.000 --> 0:08:55.720 I remember. What do you remember? I just remember thinking 0:08:56.480 --> 0:09:02.480 these people are I felt suffocated. Did I talked about 0:09:02.520 --> 0:09:04.400 his work. I've never seen a thing like it, But 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:08.680 I remember thinking it was very brazen about the details 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.600 of his life, considering we were strangers, and also considering 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:15.200 what he does. He did talk about an NBA sports 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:20.439 guys and somebody a Yankees player. I just thought he 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:24.160 lacked a lot of discretion given his field. We listened 0:09:24.200 --> 0:09:27.520 politely as he went on and on. I just remember 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:32.040 looking towards the door. Finally, after about an hour, I 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.960 said we needed to get home, and we got up 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:40.120 to leave, and it was very clear that I wanted 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:45.480 a photograph, a photograph of me. I think he came 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.959 out and said, what would like to get a picture 0:09:47.960 --> 0:09:52.200 of you? And it was just Joe. It wasn't Joe 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.960 and I. So I let I take my picture, hint 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.040 it to his wall, and then we left as fast 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:03.520 as we could. I remember getting to her home, collapsing 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:07.280 on a couch or something. Dawn told me she never 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:10.400 wanted to go back. There was no sign of the 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.280 maintenance man the night dawn and I went over, but 0:10:13.360 --> 0:10:16.840 I knew he was still around. Sometimes we'd be on 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:19.720 our deck and we'd see him outside working in the yard. 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.440 When I returned to the Hamptons the following summer, I 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:26.960 noticed something strange at the house next door. I would 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:29.520 see the maintenance man out on the property doing his 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:34.280 usual work in the backyard, but Ike kursh Cough was gone. 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:37.760 I would never see him, or his wife, Becky, and 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:42.200 the Hamptons again. There were no more summer parties. It 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:47.080 was as if they had simply disappeared. And that's when 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:49.880 I learned that everything I had thought i'd known about 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:54.760 my neighbor was wrong. It's it's a wild story. That's 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:58.280 the maintenance man, the guy who came to our door 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.280 with the press clippings, the guy we saw working around 0:11:01.320 --> 0:11:06.920 the yard. That was Marty Markuitz, the same guy who 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.080 had first gone to see Dr Isaac Hirstkoff as a 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:20.480 patient nearly thirty years earlier. That was just a preview 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:23.160 of the Shrink next Door. To listen to the rest, 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.040 subscribe to The Shrink next Door on Apple Podcasts or 0:11:27.040 --> 0:11:28.640 wherever you're listening right now.