Emily to Gremily

He Said I Look Like His Mom and the Wine Left My Body

• Emily Hogan

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A glass of white wine and a slightly raspy voice set the stage for a fast, funny, and surprisingly tender ride through modern dating’s strangest corners, and the boundaries that keep us sane. We field a respectful foot-fetish curveball, revisit a risky MySpace-era meetup, and pull apart the difference between sweet attention and full-blown love bombing.

I share candid takes on how to respond when intimacy swerves into unfamiliar lanes and navigate a hard left turn of being told you look like someone’s mother on a first date.

Then the stories widen. A false paternity scare underscores the value of verification before you promise your future. A moving family reveal shows how truth can heal even decades-old wounds. Between the laughs, cringe, and the TLC-level mama’s boy detour, the core message stays steady: set real boundaries, stay curious, and choose yourself with kindness.

Hit play to laugh, gasp, and grab a few tools for your next date. If you smiled or felt seen, subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a quick five-star review, it helps more gremlins find us! Have your own Gremlin Story? Need Gremlin Guidance? Or have a juicy piece of gossip to share? Email the pod at EMILYTOGREMILYPOD@GMAIL.COM or follow us on Instagram and TikTok @emilytogremliypod.

SPEAKER_00:

Alright, cheers everyone. Welcome Emily to Gremily again with another solo episode. And for this week, I am drinking white wine for a couple reasons. Number one is last week I did not put out an episode which is really starting to bum me out, but I was so sick. Like it would have been a disgusting episode to listen to. I was so nasally, and when I wasn't nasally, I was like my nose was just so drippy, and it was just like not the ASMR that you would want to listen to. It was just sickness galore. Even right now, I feel like you can hear my voice is like kind of nasled more than normal, I guess. But um yeah, I just couldn't put it out last week. It sounded gross. I sounded gross, and I had to just scrap it. So unfortunately, we did not put out an episode last week, but we are back this week with an episode. The white wine I figured was a nice ease back into having an alcoholic beverage. And I figured, you know, wine is just like grape juice and it has antioxidants. So, you know, hashtag health. Um, so yeah, that is what we're drinking today. And I have for you guys, let's see, one, two, three, three gremlin stories and three gremlin gossips. And actually, one of the gossips is kind of a guidance as well. So let's get started. Let's see here. Okay, our first gremlin story is anonymous. Anonymous says, I've wanted to write in for a long time now, but haven't had that crazy of a story until this past weekend. I just recently went through a breakup. Actually, not recently, like eight months ago, but it still feels fresh. But I decided enough is enough and I wanted to get back out there and have some fun. So I made a Tinder account and found a cute boy. After going back and forth a bunch over text, we decided to meet up. I went to his house and a wave of butterflies came over me. I had never been the hookup with a random guy, girl, but I wanted to try something new. Anyway, I get over there and he's cute. His apartment is clean. I know that's very important to you. LOL, it is very important. And we have some homemade margaritas. I'm feeling myself and we start to get frisky. We end up in his bedroom and he starts complimenting my feet. I was kind of startled because my feet are kind of an insecurity of mine. I wear a women's size 11. Then he starts massaging my feet and kissing them. I'm stuck and don't know what to do, so I kind of just lay there and he asks me if he can fuck my feet. I have no idea what that means. So I say, okay, with a question mark. He then grabs a bottle of lube, rubs it all over my feet, and proceeds to push them together while his dick is rubbing between my arches. Oh my god. I laid there, puzzled and questioning my life choices. After a minute or two, we get back to the normal stuff, and I have to say the sex was pretty decent. I'm debating on whether or not to keep seeing him, so I am open to thoughts. Anonymous. I mean, I I the I I haven't had this experience. Should I be offended? I haven't had that experience. Now I feel like I'm being left out. Is that like a normal experience? I don't know. I don't know. I'll get back to you on that. But um, no, I've never done this or had like yeah, no one's even asked. Now I feel kind of offended. So uh yeah, hmm. Okay, interesting. Um, but why not keep seeing him? I mean, he seemed comfortable enough with you to let his freak flag fly. Um, so why not? I mean, it seems like you didn't hate it, but you did lay there puzzled questioning your life choices. Um, yeah, I would have too, actually. But I mean, why not keep seeing him? It doesn't seem like he's, you know, scary and he makes decent homemade margaritas. Win-win. So yeah, keep seeing him. Um email me back and let me know how that goes and what else happens. And um am I missing out on something? I have, I mean, I have little feet, so I've had people interested in my feet, but no one's ever propositioned me with that before. I feel somewhat offended. All right, let's keep moving. Okay, this next one is from Jen. Jen says, Back in the MySpace days, I was young and thought I was invincible. I had the page hidden from my parents and would spend my time talking to God knows who all day and night. One night during the summer, this guy I had been talking to said he wanted to meet up. I was 17 but didn't have a car, and I knew my parents would never let me use theirs. So I put off meeting him until I knew my parents would be away for the weekend for their anniversary. They left me their car keys in case of an emergency, so I took advantage and was able to meet up with him. Our meeting spot was this meadow that overlooks our small town. That sounds peaceful. I didn't tell anyone where I was going or who I was going to be with, and looking back on it, it definitely could have ended badly. But luckily, he wasn't a murderer and was who he said he actually was, and we had a young, fun makeout time while we drank beer he swiped from his dad. I look back on those gremlin days fondly, but pray my five-year-old daughter doesn't grow up to be the rebellious teen like her mom, Jen. Jen, you have the survival skills of a gnat. You told no one where you were going or who you were gonna be with. That's like the beginning of every dateline episode. Thank God you were safe. But I mean, I feel like this is like a teenage experience. Like, there's been plenty of times people didn't know where I was going, and it's um amazing I'm alive now. Seems like I'm meant to be here for some odd reason. Okay, the next one is also Anonymous. And I'm gonna drink wine because I feel sickly. Okay, Anonymous says this can be both a gremlin story and a cautionary tale. I had matched with a guy on Bumble, and after talking for a couple of weeks, we decided to go get drinks. We meet, he seems great, and have great chemistry. After several shots and many drinks, we finally end up hooking up at my place. The next morning, he makes me breakfast and is extremely attentive. I had never had someone shower me with this much attention, so I was digging it. That week I had an extremely important and busy work week, and I told him I was going to be busy and working late nights. But that didn't stop him from constantly blowing up my phone, asking me how my day was, asking me to meet him for dinner, or if he could come over and make me food. It was just too much. I was trying to be nice and tell him I would see him next week, but he wouldn't let up. Finally, I told him I need some space. Then he started sending me flowers to my job as an apology. I felt smothered. I have never met such a needy guy. I broke I broke things off with him and told him exactly why I was ending things. I thought that would be the end of it, but no. A couple of weeks later, I see I have a letter in my mailbox containing a 10-page written letter about how he is sorry. He thinks I am the one and he cannot live without me. So from now on, I don't plan on letting a guy know where I live or work until I vetted them more carefully. Side note, I don't think he's dangerous, he's just an extremely emotional Pisces Sun, Moon, and Rising. Anonymous. Girl, you in danger. Oh, okay. Number one, Pisces Sun, Moon, and Rising. I would have never slept with him. That's a train wreck waiting to happen. Um, also, you slept with him once and he's already like this. I'm scared. Um, yeah. Um, I would still like, yeah, he might not seem dangerous, but um this also sounds like a dateline episode, and I would just be extremely careful and maybe make note of it and tell somebody about it, other than me and my listeners. I would tell a trusted friend about what's happening because uh sounds like a creepazoid, and that would make me nervous. Also, I'm assuming he mailed you the letter and didn't just put the letter in your mail mailbox, right? I'm assuming. But yeah, that's that's too much. Like it's nice to be nice and to be appreciative and to feel appreciated, but this is stalker behavior. Um, so yeah, I would just keep a watchful eye out because you never know what's going on inside someone's head. People are cray cray. Okay, the next one is a gremlin gossip slash a gremlin guidance. So I was kind of excited to get it because it was a story with a question. So I feel a little more at ease answering these, I guess. This is also Anonymous. Anonymous says, I'm not sure if this is a gossip or a guidance, but I need to share with someone. I recently just moved across the country for work and have been having a hard time going out and meeting people. I finally have been becoming friendly with a couple co-workers, and one invited me to her birthday party. I went, hit it off with a guy at the party who I later learned is her boyfriend's best friend. He came up to me and we spent the whole night talking and had a really great time. We planned to meet up for dinner and drinks the following weekend, and I was really excited to go. And my coworker was excited for me. After the date, we go for a walk, and that's when he says the most disturbing thing I have ever heard. He says, quote, when I saw you at the party, I thought you looked exactly like my mom, and I knew I had to come talk to you. I didn't know what to say. He then shows me a picture of his mom, and we do look similar. And then he starts going on and on about how beautiful of a person she is inside and out, and how much I remind him of her. What? Any attraction I had for him immediately dissipated. But now I have no idea what to do about my coworker because she's the only friend I kind of have. Any ideas? Um Okay. Number one. I don't even know. I don't know if this is a one, two, three, four thing. Okay, first off, um okay. I'm trying to dance delicately because I don't want to offend. Um, mama's boys are an interesting folk because you don't want to um, let's see, what's the right word I'm looking for? You don't want to offend their relationship because it's always great for um anyone uh to have a great relationship with their mother. How lucky are those people? Um, but it there becomes a point, and this is weird, and I feel like if this is so that it's your coworker's boyfriend's best friend, her and her boyfriend have to know that he has a very close relationship with his mom because how if he's talking about this on the first date, there's no way that they don't know about it. And but yeah, you don't want to say something that's gonna piss him off, and you don't want to push away the one friend that you do have, but at the same time, I wouldn't want to get any more involved with this guy because um like what like he he thinks you look just like his mom, so he's like attracted to you and he wants to like date you and eventually like have sex with you. Um, I don't know. I just I feel Freud calling. That's that's um beyond my pay grade. There is this show that I keep I saw it on TikTok, of course, and I started watching it. It was on TLC, it's called I Love a Mama's Boy. Um that was a great show, it was wild. It's about so TLC is always famously known for taking these wild concepts and running away with them. And boy, did they find some keepers on that show. It's about, you know, I don't know who signs who up for it, but it's a reality TV show, and it's always about these couples who the man, the boyfriend, is extremely close and attached with his mom. Um, it ranges from, you know, whether it be like a cultural thing, there is one where she the mom did not like the girlfriend because she wasn't of their culture. And that was a whole separate subject. And then there's been others where the mom really likes the girl that he's dating, that her son is dating, but it's just extremely overbearing and too much. And I'm sure some of it's played up for TV. There was another one where there was it was a husband and wife, and they had been married, they had two kids, and her mother-in-law, his mom, believed that one of the kids was not her sons, so she said horrible things and treated the kid who she thought wasn't his differently, and it was really terrible. And finally, I think the son ended up cutting off his mom. It's just it's a whole mess of a show. And I love watching those shows because it makes me feel better about my own life and the fact that sometimes when I feel like I'm a mess, other people are messier, and that just, I don't know, soothes my sad soul. Um, so I would say watch that show and decide if that's something you're interested in. Um, but yeah, maybe just say to your coworker slash new friend, like, hey, he said this to me and I found it kind of odd. Like, what do you know about it? Because there's no way, if that's her husband's best or boyfriend's best friend, there's no way she doesn't know that he's close with his mom. But it's that if someone came to me and said, Hey, the guy you hooked me up with said I look just like his mom and he wants, you know, to be with me. Like, uh, that's just weird. Okay. I so I say talk to your coworker slash friend, tell her what was said and be like, it honestly kind of freaked me out, and um just gauge what she has to say. You know, you don't have to be mean about it, but I do think that's a slippery slope, and I wish you well. And um, yeah, I that I that would have dried me up so quick. That that's a no-brainer for me. So um goodbye, nice man. But yeah, no. I I I wouldn't do it, but let me know what happens and let me know what the friend says, and let me know if you go on a second date with him. And if you end up meeting the mom, let me know how that goes. Actually, I kind of want you to meet the mom just for the plot. But um I'm I guess I woke up and chose violence today. I don't know. Okay. So the next piece of gossip is also Anonymous. Anonymous says, not my story, but this happened to my little brother a few months ago. He had been hooking up with this girl for about a month, and she told him she was pregnant. He was panicking, but stepped up and was ready to be there for her. When they go to the doctor's appointment, it turns out she was almost four months along, long before she had ever met him, so he could not have possibly been the father. She was swearing up and down she had no idea and really thought he was the father. Pretty wild. Anonymous. It sounds like a lifetime movie, to be quite honest. Um, yeah, it's crazy when you hear things that or like if something happens like that in your real life and it sounds like it's like the plot to like a movie. Cause I can't imagine be actually, I guess I can. I lie. Um, but yeah, that that's just wild to to see something like this happen and to have it happen to a family member, and this guy is probably, you know, maybe he's relieved, but um, that's crazy. I do wonder if she was lying and hoping that he wouldn't ask questions. Also, I mean, she mustn't have been showing or having many symptoms if you know he had no idea. But yeah, hopefully she was taking her prenatals. Um, and yeah. Okay, that's it. Um, okay, next gossip. This is actually the last piece of gossip, a short episode today, I know, but I don't want to, you know, upset you guys more with my terrible voice and my nasally nose. So the last piece of gossip we have is from Taylor. Taylor says, I was listening to the episode of Gremlin Gossip wherein the half-sisters found out they were full siblings. I have some gossip involving something similar. My grandmother was born in 1958 in the UK before moving to America when she was five years old with her parents. She had an older sister, 15 years her senior, who stayed back and became a nun, and she would see her every now and then when they would go on holiday. When my grandmother was in her 30s and already a mother herself, she found out that her older sister was really her biological mom, and her grandparents raised her as their own to cover the scandal of their teenage unwed daughter having a child. They were able to have a close bond later in life until she passed in 2010. I've been showing my grandma little clips of your show, and she says you are, quote, a delight. Keep on keeping on. Signed Taylor, granddaughter, and Margaret, grandmother. Okay, this one warmed my heart. I have to say, when I did read it, I got a little teary. I'm kind of getting a little teary now, but I'm gonna try to hold back the tears. Um, this reminded uh the the gossip didn't remind me about it, but the relationship you have with your grandmother reminds me of the relationship I had with my Nana, who I was extremely close with. Um, I think if she was still alive, she'd be extremely excited about this podcast. Um, it is raunchy, which she was a little raunchy too. So that could be a topic for another day, but um, I have some great stories about her. And um, you know, I really thought of her as my mom, and her and I were extremely close. And, you know, the older I got, the more open I was with her about some things, and the more she was open with me about some things. So um we had like a really fun back and forth relationship. I told her things that you wouldn't normally tell a grandmother. Um yeah, that'll have to be another episode. I do have someone I want to bring on who can talk about who I can banter back and forth with about her, but that'll be a fun episode. But I am so excited that Taylor, you have that relationship with your grandmother, Margaret, and thank you for showing her my clips. And Margaret, thank you for saying I am a delight. You're a delight. Thank you so much. Um, so that is the end of the episode. Again, another short one, but thank you guys for coming back after my week hiatus. I'm really not trying to have any more hiatuses. I want to be consistent, I want to keep growing this thing. Um, I notice I'll get like a spike of downloads like on the days I don't post or don't do anything. And then I have serious FOMO about like, oh my god, I should have just put out an episode, but I just sounded so gross. I didn't, I I couldn't do it to you guys. I just couldn't. So, yes, this episode, hopefully, even though it's short, you still liked it. If you want to send in your own gremlin story, you need gremlin guidance, or you have a piece of gremlin gossip, you can email the podcast, EmilyTogremelaypod at gmail.com. You can follow myself and the podcast on Instagram and TikTok, EmilyTogremily Pod. And you can watch this episode, Emily to Gremlin Pod on YouTube. Just consistent all around. I say it every time. Make sure to like, follow, share, subscribe, rate five stars, tell all your friends, do all the things. And yes, I'm gonna drink my wine and hopefully it'll make me feel better. I don't know. Grape juice. Why not? Um, very excited for you guys to listen to the next episode. That will be the Halloween episode. I am very excited for it. I am already prepping for it. My guest is already prepping for it. We are going to be in costume. It is going to be a fun time. I'm very excited for it. Very excited for you guys to hear it, see it, watch it. Super excited. All right, let's hope this wine makes me feel better. Cheers to you guys. Cheers to me. Cheers to Taylor and Margaret, and cheers to health. Hopefully, next week I don't sound so ugh debilitated. All right, cheersies. Bye guys.

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Emily Hogan

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