Anna Maria Tremonti has been keeping her past a secret for over 40 years. As one of Canadas most respected journalists, she has a reputation for being fearless. Shes reported from some of the worlds most dangerous conflict zones. But theres one story shes never made public: when she was 23 years old, she married a man who became physically abusive.

Their marriage only lasted one year but the consequences of that abuse lasted a lifetime. New CBC Podcasts series WELCOME TO PARADISE is the first time Anna Maria has told anyoneincluding family or close friendsthe details of what she endured. Working with her therapist in the podcast, she reveals a part of her past shes kept to herself for most of her life. The result is a profoundly intimate portrait of a powerful woman confronting the source of tremendous pain and trauma of intimate partner abuse and, remarkably, freeing herself from a life-long sense of shame.