Ex Appeal: I’m interviewing every ex I’ve ever slept with—from a fifth-grade pizza date to a strip-club hookup—and finding the truth, closure, and heat in honesty
Miriam Katz, a Los Angeles–based actor and writer, has launched Ex Appeal to chase curiosity, closure, and titillation in equal measure. The show opens with a line that will feel familiar to anyone who has loved and lost: “It’s over, but I still have questions.” Her mission is audacious: interview every person she’s ever had a romantic entanglement, from a fifth‑grade pizza date to a strip‑club hookup, and uncover what really happened, what was felt, and what healing looks like. Katz plans to interview 10 exes a year for the next 10 years, turning memory into a long-form project that seeks truth, not just a good story.
In This Article:
A decade-long mission: 10 exes a year for 10 years
Katz frames Ex Appeal as a way to reconnect with past loves and understand their versions of events. She describes truth-telling as a “really fun drug” that comes with tension, uncertainty, and healing. Interviews take place in her Los Angeles home, and guests can choose anonymity if they wish. Some have agreed to be recorded, turning private histories into shared listening. The project is not merely about sex; it’s about every relationship—romantic or not—and what those connections reveal about desire, accountability, and growth.
The hard truths and the long shadows
The conversations aren’t easy. The hardest parts have been hearing guests’ struggles: a sex addict who longs for real closeness, and a man in an open marriage who feared losing his wife. Katz says she feels those struggles deeply, and the conversations carry a charged tension that remains human and intimate. Some revelations surprised her. The sex addict didn’t want to date Katz because she was a decade older and an actor, and that wasn’t something she had anticipated. She was also struck by the stripper’s Christian upbringing and her work’s mission to help older, plus‑sized, and trans women feel sexy. These moments remind Katz that people aren’t one thing, and every story has many facets. Crucially, she emphasizes that Ex Appeal is about revisiting, not restarting, relationships: “I’m not trying to hook up with anyone.”
Two sides of a relationship: closure, not a restart
Not every ex remains an option for a reunion. Katz clarifies that the goal isn’t to rekindle romance but to heal through honest conversation. One especially pivotal chapter came with Rob, a man diagnosed with stage IV cancer. The reality of mortality sharpened the sense of purpose and desire in their time together. Katz recorded two interviews with Rob, who died at 48 in 2023; those conversations anchor Season 1 and keep the project rooted in honesty, memory, and spoken love. His presence shapes Katz’s belief that life is finite and that candid dialogue is a way to honor it. The overarching aim remains: honesty and intimacy can be hot, and they can heal. The show invites listeners to feel the nuance of human relationships and to seek their own paths toward release.
Season one: memory, vulnerability, and hopeful love
The season’s guests span the arc of Katz’s life. She reconnects with musician and comedian Reggie Watts, a full-circle choice since she first interviewed him for a magazine profile years earlier. Watts describes the experience as empowering—an opportunity to speak plainly about intimate things in a safe space. Other moments illuminate the breadth of the project: a lap dance in a Montreal strip club with Noel, who explains that the encounter woke Katz up as she wrestled with seasonal depression and a disconnection from her body; a COVID-era fling with Chad, a former evangelical tech bro who helped Katz explore psychedelics and ultimately revealed they were better as friends. Chad later introduced Katz to her current boyfriend, and Katz even gave the closing speech at Chad’s wedding this year. Through it all, Katz hopes listeners find nuance, feel hopeful about love again, and sense a release from their own sticky feelings.
