Hot Mics with Billy Bush

The Lindsay Clancy murder trial is nearing its conclusion, and defense attorney Kevin Reddington is turning up the heat on the prosecution’s final expert witnesses.
On today’s Hot Mics with Billy Bush, Billy breaks down Reddington’s explosive cross-examination of forensic psychologist Dr. Kirk Heilbrun, who testified about Lindsay’s alleged command hallucination, intrusive thoughts and the prosecution’s theory that she decided to take her children with her when she attempted suicide.
Then the testimony veered into dangerous territory.
After discussion of Lindsay’s Catholic faith, suicide as a “mortal sin” and whether she believed she and her children would be reunited in heaven, Reddington accused prosecutors of misconduct and moved for a mistrial. The judge denied the motion, but Billy examines whether the Commonwealth has created yet another serious problem for its case as closing arguments approach.
Billy also speaks with Renee Kimball, organizer of “Lindsay’s Army of Love,” after hundreds of women dressed in pink gathered outside the Plymouth County Courthouse. Kimball explains why the movement says its mission isn’t to excuse the deaths of Lindsay’s three children, but to raise awareness about postpartum psychosis, maternal mental health and what supporters believe were systemic failures in Lindsay’s treatment.
Then, a major update in our reporting on Hayden Panettiere.
Following our exclusive interview with Hayden’s longtime neighbor Mia Terrazas, Hot Mics producer Harry Jacobs contacted the LAPD about unusual activity Mia reported at Hayden’s Los Angeles residence following her death — including an unfamiliar vehicle repeatedly appearing in Hayden’s parking space, someone apparently inside the apartment and Hayden’s Ring camera appearing damaged and covered with black electrical tape.
Harry explains his conversation with LAPD, the information and photographs provided to police, and new questions surrounding packages addressed to Brian Hickerson continuing to arrive at Hayden’s residence. Mia has also contacted the building’s HOA president seeking information about who currently has authorized access to Hayden’s unit.
There is no evidence at this point establishing who was inside Hayden’s apartment, who interfered with the Ring camera or whether any of the activity is connected to her death.
Billy also reacts to new comments from Hayden’s mother, Lesley Vogel, about watching her daughter return to her relationship with Hickerson and the painful boundaries she ultimately felt forced to establish.
Plus: the bizarre prostitution-sting arrest involving San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York — an undercover ad, a $140 proposed encounter and an arrest that produced one extremely expensive mugshot.
Hot Mics with Billy Bush — breaking down the trials, crime, entertainment and culture stories everyone is talking about.
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The Lindsay Clancy murder trial is nearing its conclusion — and the battle over her state of mind has never been more intense.
On today’s Hot Mics with Billy Bush, Billy breaks down the explosive cross-examination of prosecution forensic psychiatrist Dr. Avram Mack by Lindsay’s defense attorney, Kevin Reddington.
Reddington challenges Mack over his experience treating women with postpartum mental illness, his evaluation of Lindsay years after the deaths of her children, and his conclusion that Lindsay suffered from major depressive disorder — not psychosis — and understood that what she was doing was wrong.
Billy plays the highlights from an increasingly contentious confrontation between Reddington and Mack and explains why he believes the testimony may have done more damage than good to the Commonwealth’s case.
But the larger question goes far beyond one expert witness:
What happens when a mother repeatedly asks for help — and the mental-health system fails to recognize what is happening to her?
Before the deaths of her three children, Lindsay experienced debilitating insomnia and intrusive thoughts. She visited emergency rooms, attended a day program, called a suicide hotline, entered a residential treatment program and repeatedly sought psychiatric help. Over the course of her treatment, she received numerous prescriptions involving 13 different medications.
Yet no one diagnosed her with postpartum psychosis.
As closing arguments approach, Billy examines the difficult question at the center of the trial: Should Lindsay Clancy be treated as an ordinary murderer, or was she suffering from a catastrophic mental illness that left her incapable of criminal responsibility?
Billy also revisits his memorable 2005 interview with Tom Cruise over psychiatry and psychotropic medication, including Cruise’s controversial criticism of Brooke Shields after she publicly discussed using Paxil to treat postpartum depression.
Finally, Billy delivers his own closing argument in the Lindsay Clancy case — and explains why he believes this tragedy represents not only the deaths of three children, but a profound failure of America’s mental-health system.

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One week after Hayden Panettiere was found unresponsive in a Greenville, South Carolina Airbnb, a woman who lived just feet away from her for years is speaking out.
Mia Terrazas, Hayden’s longtime Hollywood neighbor, joins Billy Bush exclusively to describe what she says she witnessed during Hayden’s turbulent relationship with Brian Hickerson.
Mia remembers two very different versions of Hayden. Without Hickerson around, she says Hayden was happy, funny and “alive.” With him, she appeared subdued and noticeably different.
Mia describes frequently hearing yelling, screaming and loud noises coming from Hayden’s apartment. She says she witnessed Hayden being removed from the building on a gurney twice and became so fearful of Hickerson herself that she took additional precautions whenever she encountered him around the property.
Billy also traces Hickerson’s history of arrests and domestic violence cases involving Hayden, including incidents in Los Angeles and Wyoming, the eight-count criminal case filed against him in 2020 and the plea agreement that ultimately resulted in jail, probation, domestic violence classes and a protective order.
Just three days before Hayden’s death, Hickerson was also attempting to have his criminal record expunged — a request prosecutors opposed.
Then Mia describes something she discovered at Hayden’s Hollywood residence after her death: an unfamiliar vehicle in Hayden’s parking space, someone apparently inside the apartment, and damage to Hayden’s Ring camera, which Mia says someone had attempted to pull from the wall before covering its camera and speaker with black tape.
Mia does not know who was inside the apartment or who interfered with the camera, and Hayden’s exact cause of death has not yet been publicly established. Her suspicions about the circumstances surrounding Hayden’s death remain her own.
But what Mia says she personally witnessed during the years she lived next door offers a disturbing new look inside Hayden Panettiere’s life with Brian Hickerson — and the relationship that those around her desperately hoped she would finally escape.
An exclusive Hot Mics with Billy Bush interview.
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The Karen Read trials may be over, but the central question remains: What really happened to Boston Police Officer John O’Keefe?
Billy Bush sits down with veteran investigative journalist and bestselling author Dave Wedge, whose new book Blizzard of Lies takes a deep look inside the death of John O’Keefe, the prosecution of Karen Read, and an investigation plagued by mistakes, conflicts, questionable evidence and allegations of corruption.
Wedge, a former Boston Herald investigative reporter who lives near Canton, Massachusetts, explains why he believes this became one of the most deeply flawed law-enforcement investigations he has ever covered — while stopping short of claiming he knows who killed O’Keefe.
They examine the evidence that continues to fuel questions about the case: the failure to search the home at 34 Fairview Road, blood collected in red Solo cups, the handling of the crime scene during a blizzard, Michael Proctor's explosive text messages, the disputed injuries to O’Keefe's arm, the medical evidence surrounding the alleged vehicle strike, and the relationships connecting people involved in the investigation.
Wedge also takes Billy inside the O’Keefe family and the complicated relationship between John O’Keefe and Karen Read — including details he uncovered while researching the book.
And then there is the phenomenon that changed everything: social media.
Wedge discusses the enormous influence of Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney and the Free Karen Read movement, and asks whether the case has created a new playbook in which social media campaigns can influence public opinion — and potentially the environment surrounding a criminal trial.
Karen Read was acquitted, but John O’Keefe is still dead. His family still wants answers. And more than four years later, the question at the center of Blizzard of Lies remains unresolved.
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A remarkable scene unfolded outside the Lindsay Clancy trial today as hundreds of supporters gathered in Plymouth, Massachusetts, many dressed in pink and cheering as Clancy arrived at court.
In this special, episode, Billy speaks with Dina, a longtime Massachusetts court watcher and organizer who previously supported Karen Read and is now part of the growing public movement surrounding Lindsay Clancy.
The conversation focuses on why so many women say the case has become about more than guilt or innocence. They discuss postpartum depression, postpartum psychosis, psychiatric medications, the failures of the mental-health system and the repeated attempts Lindsay reportedly made to seek help before the deaths of her three children.
Billy and Dina also discuss defense attorney Kevin Reddington, the public reaction to his handling of the case, criticism of the prosecution and the intense debate surrounding the medical care Lindsay received.
Billy then recaps key testimony from Day 17, including hospital chaplain Sheila Kavanaugh, who described her extensive contact with Lindsay after the deaths and testified about Lindsay’s grief, mental state and references to hearing a male voice.
A different kind of Hot Mics episode — less about courtroom play-by-play and more about the movement forming outside the courthouse and the larger national conversation this case has ignited about women, motherhood and mental health.
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