Katherine Schwarzenegger Pratt is ready for the world to hear the real and raw stories from celebrities and experts about the power and meaning of forgiveness.
The mom-to-be officially launched “The Gift of Forgiveness” podcast, from Cadence13 and Headspace Studios, on July 15, with the first guest being her close friend and “Will & Grace” star, Sean Hayes.
With 15 more interviews to come from stars like Jessica Simpson and Chelsea Handler, Schwarzenegger Pratt tells ET Canada what truly inspired her to start this new project.
“Well, really just coming off of such an amazing book tour that was mostly done virtually because we were all on quarantine, but I have always loved Headspace and I use the Headspace app and so I just loved that they wanted to do things to help better the world and help people in their lives find more calm and sanity,” she shares.
Adds the 30-year-old: “I was really moved by all the conversations I was able to have for my book. So, I wanted to be able to continue the conversation around forgiveness and be able to have these conversations for people to listen to and hear people’s emotions and hear people’s struggles.”
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With so many famous faces agreeing to chat about their struggles, trauma, and journey with forgiveness, you would think that some may be resistant to being open and vulnerable. But, Schwarzenegger Pratt says that was not the case.
“I mean, it’s always interesting and I think its just the risks that you run when interviewing somebody. You never know how somebody’s gonna respond to questions and conversation, especially when it’s around a topic like forgiveness because it’s not like you’re asking somebody to sit down and talk about something that’s super fun and glamorous all the time,” she admits.
Continues Schwarzenegger Pratt: “I have to say that all 16 of these interviews that I was able to do, everyone was so open and honest that it’s one of the things that as a person who’s asking the questions and talking to people, it moves you to tears.”
“Every single time I hear… I’m listening to the trailer that I had posted today…that I hear little snippets of my conversations with people, it gives me the chills because I just feel so lucky that people are able to feel comfortable enough to be that open and vulnerable about incredibly painful experiences and journeys,” she says.
With such a diverse group of people and interviews, Schwarzenegger Pratt hopes that her podcast will inspire listeners to “welcome forgiveness into their lives.”
“I think that’s the really big take away from writing my book and also from doing this podcast is knowing that forgiveness is not a weakness, forgiveness is not a betrayal of your own hurt even though it might feel that way sometimes. It’s really about you giving yourself that gift fo freedom to no longer carry around that baggage or pain from your past,” the author says.
“My goal with all of the work that I do, and also especially this podcast, is always to help other people,” she adds. “I really hope and I believe that these interviews and people’s ability to be so open and vulnerable will really do that for listeners.”
New episodes of “The Gift of Forgiveness” podcast will be released every Wednesday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and RADIO.com.
