WEBVTT - Bloomberg and Wondery Present: The Shrink Next Door 0:00:00.640 --> 0:00:04.240 Psychiatrists see us in our most vulnerable moments, all of 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:07.920 our problems and dysfunctions laid bare to a stranger. We 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:10.080 hope that they keep our secrets and help us solve 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:13.680 our problems. We place our inherent trust in them, But 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.040 what if they used that knowledge against us for their 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:20.320 own benefit. In a brand new podcast from Wondery and Bloomberg, 0:00:20.480 --> 0:00:24.120 The Shrink next Door, host Joanna Sarah takes you deep 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.000 into what it looks like when a psychiatrist becomes something 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:31.520 much more. You'll hear of extravagant parties attended by movie stars, 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.120 a lavish home in the Hamptons, and the man at 0:00:34.159 --> 0:00:37.360 the center of it all. You're about to hear a 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:40.400 preview of The Shrink next Door, in which you'll meet 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:43.920 host Joanna Sarah and hear about a relationship that would 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.560 go on to affect two people's lives for twenty nine years. 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.479 While you're listening, go subscribe to The Shrink next Door 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.200 on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening now. There's also 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.120 a link in the episode notes that will take you 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:07.039 there by any measure. Marty Markowitz was a success. He 0:01:07.120 --> 0:01:11.440 had an Ivy League diploma, a law degree, his own business, 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:15.160 and plenty of money, but when he hit thirty eight, 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:20.800 he found himself feeling seriously overwhelmed. His Rabbi recommended a 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:25.240 therapist he knew who had an office on Manhattan's e Side. Well, 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:27.880 I go into his office, which was, you know, a 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:32.039 modestly furnished office with a desk and a chair and 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:36.600 a couch. The therapist name was Dr Isaac Hirshkoff, but 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.839 he told Marty to call him Ike. He was a young, 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:43.600 handsome man with a round face, a close crop beard, 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:47.720 and curly black hair. He was dressed casually in an 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.880 open collar shirt and shorts. I sat down right across 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.480 from him, and we looked at each other, and he said, okay, 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.160 why are you here. Marty had seen a therapist before, 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:00.520 the kind you would listen while you lay down on 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:05.080 the couch and talk about your dreams. This therapist was different. 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:10.240 His modus operandi was basically, I'm your pal, tell me 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:13.200 what's bothering it, and let's take it from there. Marty 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:16.680 spent the whole session laying out his problems. He told 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:20.079 Ike how his father and mother had recently died, how 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.040 he had inherited the family business, how he was having 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:27.880 a hard time dealing with his new responsibilities. When he finished, 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:32.440 Marty says, Ike looked at him and said, I'm gonna 0:02:32.480 --> 0:02:36.519 take you on as a patient, and I said, okay. Nice. 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.640 Not only was I taking him on as a patient, 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.160 but he made Marty a promise. He said, don't worry, 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:47.280 I'll take care of everything. I was overwhelmed and to 0:02:47.360 --> 0:02:51.959 have someone say to me, don't worry, calm down, this 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.800 is nothing to get upset about. We're gonna straighten everything out, 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.919 and we're gonna do it fast very comforting to me. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.040 Marty wrote him a check. I think it was for 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.919 a hundred and sixty dollars something like that. Back back 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:08.280 in the day. It was June. Marty had come to 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.200 Ike because he needed help, But if he had known 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:15.480 what his new therapist had in store for him, he 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:19.320 probably would have walked out the door and never come back. 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:35.960 From Wonderree and Bloomberg, I'm Joan No Sarah, a columnist 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.720 with Bloomberg Opinion, and this is the shrink. Next to 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:56.840 this is episode one, Welcome to the neighborhood. Every neighborhood 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.640 has its share of mysteries. We can live our and 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.520 tie our lives and barely know the people just one 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:06.880 door down. I have a summer house in Southampton, a 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.440 couple of hours outside of New York. This part of 0:04:10.440 --> 0:04:14.960 the Hamptons is called the Bay Side. It's quiet, peaceful, 0:04:15.640 --> 0:04:18.000 a place to escape from the city in the hot 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:22.479 summer months. Sampson and Jackie Gillatt have a house on 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.480 the same street as me. My name is Jacqueline Guillott 0:04:26.839 --> 0:04:32.799 and we're married thirty five years. We're married fifty two years. 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:36.640 They've been coming here since the eighties. Most of the 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:41.159 houses on our street are single story with wooden clapperd fronts. 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.520 Sampson and Jackie's house is no different, so lovely home. 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:48.200 But there's one house on the street that stands out 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.640 for starters. It's just bigger than most of the other houses. 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:55.080 It's two stories instead of one, and it's the only 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.760 one on the street with a separate guesthouse out back. 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:02.919 And then there's the way it looks. The house is spectacular, 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:07.400 with windows and windows and windows. Everything about it is 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:12.480 over the top. There's a pond with goldfish, lots of fish, 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:17.039 and a waterfall to the pond too. It's bigger, bolder, 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:21.839 brasher than anything else on the street. In two thousand 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.200 and ten, my wife Dawn and I bought the house 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:28.719 next door. It wasn't long before a man popped over 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:31.720 to our house to introduce himself. He was dressed like 0:05:31.760 --> 0:05:35.839 a maintenance man, green khaki pants, a long sleeve workshire 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.000 and a faded baseball cap. He welcomed us to the neighborhood, 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:42.760 and then he handed us a folder of press clippings. 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:45.680 I literally just took them and said thank you. And 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.320 but he wanted us to have them, you know, he 0:05:48.360 --> 0:05:51.080 really wanted Joe to have him. There were articles that 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:55.560 a psychiatrist, Dr Isaac Hirshkoff had written, and articles that 0:05:55.600 --> 0:05:59.640 had been written about him. In mid August, an invitation 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:03.080 around five to a summer barbecue next door hosted by 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.640 Dr Hirshkoff Ike. This would be the last of three 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.159 big summer parties he threw every year. I went alone. 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.200 To reach the front door, I had to cross a 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:16.800 bridge over a fish pond. There were maybe forty or 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.440 so guests hanging out in the backyard. I roamed about, 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.159 stopping here and there to chat. I spotted the actor 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.800 Richard Kind, just in time to see him do a 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:30.760 belly flop into the pool. There were a handful of 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.640 other people too, people I recognized as prominent New Yorkers, 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:38.480 like Dr Ruth, the TV personality and sex expert. It 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.839 was a warm afternoon. I chatted with a few people, 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:45.480 sipped on my glass of wine, and began to wander around. 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:50.200 At some point I found myself in the living room. 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:54.839 There was a fake draft bust, Phoenician masks, plastic parrots 0:06:54.960 --> 0:06:59.120 hanging from the ceiling, even a giant gong. But what 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:04.119 struck me most were the photographs. Lots and lots of photographs, 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.760 and in nearly every one of them there was Ike 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:11.080 Hirshkoff with a different celebrity, Ike with Henry Kissinger, Ike 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.520 with Ellie Wizzell, Ike with Brookshields, Ike with Gwyneth Paltrow, 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:18.760 even ike with O. J. Simpson. It was like one 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:21.760 of those diners where the walls are covered with pictures 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:26.640 of celebrity patrons. At that moment, the man himself appeared. 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.120 He greeted me like a long lost friend and said 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.320 that my wife and I should come over soon for 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:37.760 a drink, and then he was gone. Sure enough, a 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.640 few days after the summer party, the same maintenance man 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.040 we've met before showed up at our door again. This 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:48.880 time he brought an invitation for drinks. It was very formal, 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.600 as if he was reading from a script. I mean, 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:54.920 like Dr Hirshkoff would wants you to come over at 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:56.880 such a such a time, on such and such a day. 0:07:57.200 --> 0:08:00.960 The formality of it blew me away, and he was very, 0:08:01.120 --> 0:08:05.240 very exacting about how it had to go. So we 0:08:05.280 --> 0:08:08.360 went one of the strangest evenings I've ever had in 0:08:08.400 --> 0:08:11.960 the Hampton's, or anywhere else for that matter, but definitely 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:19.120 the Hampton's. It was pouring rain. We headed over umbrellas 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.960 in hand to get to the front door. We crossed 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.440 the bridge, we could see COI circling in the water below. 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.560 Ike and his wife, Becky, welcomed us in and ushered 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:32.839 us to a round kitchen table. There were snacks laid out, 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:37.640 carrots and celery. I served white wine. So what I 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:43.000 remember is him talking incessantly about being a sex therapist 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:46.319 and a celebrity therapist. And I can't remember the details, 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:48.560 but that that it just really sticks in my mind 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:51.760 that he kept going on and on about that. It 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.120 was more like a monologue than a dialogue. That's what 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.880 I remember. What do you remember? I just remember thinking 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:04.679 these people are m I felt suffocated. I talked about 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:06.680 his work. I've never say thing like it, but I 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:11.040 remember thinking it was very brazen about the details of 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.880 his life, considering we were strangers, and also considering what 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:18.079 he does. He did talk about an NBA sports guys 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.960 and somebody a Yankees player. I just thought he lacked 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.880 a lot of discretion given his field. We listened politely 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.560 as he went on and on. I just remember looking 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:34.520 towards the door. Finally, after about an hour, I said 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:38.000 we needed to get home, and we got up to leave, 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:44.200 and it was very clear that I wanted a photograph, 0:09:44.760 --> 0:09:49.120 a photograph of me. I think he came out and said, well, 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:51.440 we'd like to get a picture of you, and it 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:55.400 was just Joe. It wasn't Joe and I. So I 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.800 let I take my picture, hint it to his wall, 0:09:58.960 --> 0:10:03.760 and then we left as fast as we could. I 0:10:03.800 --> 0:10:07.840 remember getting to her home, collapsing I'm a couch or something. 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.520 Dawn told me she never wanted to go back. There 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.000 was no sign of the maintenance man the night Dawn 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.920 and I went over, but I knew he was still around. 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:20.400 Sometimes we'd be on our deck and we'd see him 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:23.560 outside working in the yard. When I returned to the 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.200 Hamptons the following summer, I noticed something strange at the 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:30.560 house next door. I would see the maintenance man out 0:10:30.600 --> 0:10:33.520 on the property doing his usual work in the backyard, 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:38.840 but Ike kursh Cough was gone. I would never see him, 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:42.160 or his wife, Becky, and the Hamptons again. There were 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:45.400 no more summer parties. It was as if they had 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:50.800 simply disappeared. And that's when I learned that everything I 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:54.720 had thought i'd known about my neighbor was wrong. It's 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:59.360 it's a wild story. That's the maintenance man, the guy 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:01.920 who came to our door with the press clippings, the 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:06.880 guy we saw working around the yard. That was Marty Marcuitz, 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:10.760 the same guy who had first gone to see Dr 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:21.440 Isaac Hirstkoff as a patient nearly thirty years earlier. That 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.400 was just a preview of the Shrink next Door. To 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.480 listen to the rest, subscribe to The Shrink next Door 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.800 on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening right now.