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Episode 187: I Belong to Me with Tia Levings — The Rose Woman Podcast

Episode #187: I Belong to Me with Tia Levings

Tia Levings was an original trad wife — decades before the hashtag. Recruited as a child into the world of Bill Gothard's IBLP through a Jacksonville megachurch, she spent thirteen years inside Christian patriarchy: nine pregnancies in ten years, submission framed as love, abuse framed as discipline — until a harrowing 2007 escape with her four children and a year in hiding. Her memoir, A Well-Trained Wife, became a New York Times bestseller; her new book, I Belong to Me: A Survivor's Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma (May 2026), maps the road back to selfhood.

In this conversation, Christine and Tia go inside the machinery of high-control religion — the real hungers it feeds, the intelligence of the women who stay, the erasure of women past fertility — and out the other side: reclamation, estrangement and repair, boundaries that flex instead of armor, receiving people who leave, and building a spirituality spacious enough to stay private. Timely, tender, and unflinching — including why “family voting” isn't a fringe fantasy, and what it takes to answer the question at the heart of Tia's work: do you remember who you were before they told you who to be?

Resources & Links

“Do you remember who you were before they told you who to be?”
— Tia Levings
▶  Listen to the full conversation

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The 9 Lives of Woman: Sensual, Sexual and Reproductive Stages from Birth to 100The 9 Lives of Woman: Sensual, Sexual and Reproductive Stages from Birth to 100$29.99Shop → Reverence: Creating Ritual in Modern LifeReverence: Creating Ritual in Modern Life$32.00Shop →

Frequently asked

Who is Tia Levings?
Tia Levings is the New York Times–bestselling author of A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy. Recruited as a child into Bill Gothard's IBLP movement through a Jacksonville megachurch, she spent thirteen years inside Christian patriarchy — nine pregnancies in ten years — before escaping in 2007 with her four children.
What is Tia Levings' book I Belong to Me about?
I Belong to Me: A Survivor's Guide to Recovery and Hope after Religious Trauma (St. Martin's Essentials, May 2026) maps the road back to selfhood after high-control religion — reclamation, estrangement and repair, boundaries that flex instead of armor, and building a spirituality spacious enough to stay private.
What do Christine Mason and Tia Levings discuss in episode 187?
In episode 187 of The Rose Woman podcast, Christine and Tia go inside the machinery of high-control religion — the real hungers it feeds, the intelligence of the women who stay, the erasure of women past fertility — and the road out: recovery after religious trauma, receiving people who leave, and the question at the heart of Tia's work: do you remember who you were before they told you who to be?

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Christine Mason

Christine Mason

Founder & Author, Rosebud Woman
Christine Marie Mason is the founder and CEO of Rosebud Woman, a leading brand in women’s intimate wellness and self-care. She is the author of six books on embodiment, intimacy, and awakening, and the host of The Rose Woman podcast—ranked in the top 5% worldwide. A longtime yoga and consciousness teacher, Christine writes and speaks on women’s health, sexuality, and midlife vitality, helping people cultivate love, reverence, and radiant wellbeing in every stage of life.
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