In this episode of Girl Power, Sarah sat down with Michaela for a conversation that was deeply personal, honest, and at times heartbreaking. Instead of focusing on business or everyday life, this episode centered on mental health, family trauma, survival, motherhood, and the long road toward stability.
Click Video Below to Watch Full Interview
Michaela shared that from the outside, her childhood looked normal. She grew up on a farm in northwest Missouri in what appeared to be a loving, hardworking family. But behind closed doors, things were much more complicated. Her parents struggled with alcohol, their marriage was unhealthy, and as a child she found herself stepping into a role no kid should have to carry. She became the one making sure her siblings were cared for, fed, ready for school, and protected from the chaos around them.
As she got older, those early experiences shaped the way she saw relationships, responsibility, and herself. After her parents divorced, Michaela moved between homes, schools, and family dynamics that were often unstable. She talked about feeling like she had to grow up too fast, about trying to find belonging, and about how easily pain can carry into the next stage of life when it has never truly been dealt with.
She was open about the choices she made as a teenager and young adult, including heavy drinking, unsafe situations, abusive relationships, and the way trauma can distort what a person believes love is supposed to look like. Some of those experiences left lasting wounds. Others led to the people who now matter most in her life, including her children.
One of the most powerful parts of the conversation came as Michaela described what it was like living for years without fully understanding what was happening in her own mind. She spoke about periods of recklessness, impulsive behavior, overspending, constant activity, risky choices, and feeling like she was doing everything at once while still falling apart internally. From the outside, she looked successful. Inside, she was struggling in ways few people could see.
Eventually, someone close to her recognized that what she was experiencing was more than stress or burnout. Michaela shared how difficult it was to hear that she may have bipolar disorder, and how hard it was at first to accept. She also spoke honestly about the reality that medication is not a magic fix. Stabilization takes work. Healing takes work. Relationships take work. And for her, the process included painful lows, a suicide attempt, and the kind of emotional darkness that many people are afraid to admit out loud.
But this story is not only about pain. It is also about survival.
Michaela talked about the people who helped save her life along the way, especially her grandparents, who repeatedly stepped in when she needed safety, support, and truth. She spoke with deep gratitude about her husband Riley, describing him as someone who offered grace, patience, and unconditional love during some of the hardest seasons of her life. She also spoke with honesty and maturity about her ex-husband, acknowledging the pain of their early years while also recognizing the good that came from that chapter, especially the son they share and the healthy co-parenting relationship they have now.
Motherhood was another major part of the conversation. Michaela spoke candidly about postpartum depression, postpartum rage, and the guilt that can come from feeling disconnected from the role you thought you were supposed to naturally thrive in. She said something many women likely need to hear: that loving your children and struggling deeply at the same time can both be true. That does not make someone broken. It makes them human.
Today, Michaela says she feels stable, grounded, and able to use what she has been through to help others. She now works in the mental health and suicide prevention field, and while she made it clear she was speaking in a personal capacity during this interview, it is obvious that her lived experience gives her a level of empathy that cannot be taught. She understands what it means to feel isolated, misunderstood, and exhausted by an illness people cannot always see.
What made this Girl Power conversation stand out was not just the pain Michaela described, but the honesty she brought to it. She did not try to clean up her story or make it sound prettier than it was. She told the truth about the mess, the damage, the consequences, the shame, and the grace that met her in the middle of it.
By the end of the interview, one thing was clear: Michaela is not defined only by what happened to her. She is defined by the fact that she kept going.
This episode of Girl Power is a reminder that mental health struggles do not always look obvious from the outside. Sometimes the woman who seems strong, busy, capable, and put together is carrying more than anyone knows. And sometimes the most powerful thing a person can do is speak openly enough to help someone else feel less alone.
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