Chris CollinsHelping Struggling Dealerships Build Profitable, High-Performing Service Departments | Automotive Coaching Expert | CEO

Gina Gershon on Healing, Her Mother, and Becoming Whole

6 May 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:20

In this candid monologue, Gina Gershon reflects on the unexpected emotional journey that unfolded while writing her book. Over the last three years, her mother’s prolonged illness and eventual passing prompted Gershon to delve deeply into their relationship. Through therapy she discovered a startling fact: her mother had been six months pregnant with her and was unaware of it. This revelation sparked a personal exploration of intergenerational trauma and healing. Gershon describes how confronting and healing her mother’s unresolved issues led to a release for herself, allowing her to integrate both masculine (strength, heroism) and feminine (vulnerability, receptivity) energies. She argues that true wholeness for any person—woman or man—requires embracing both sides, and that her work with her mother served as an unconscious practice of this integration.

Chapters

And when I was writing the book, I didn't plan on this. This is the only part I didn't plan on, but my mom was not well for the last 3 years and she was slowly dying and she was older, but she was also ill. And so much of my journey and a lot of the valley stories, I remembered them because I really did a deep dive into my mom and like trying, I wasn't intentionally trying to heal stuff with us, but I was trying to remember like, how come, You know, I found out I was— she was 6 months pregnant with me and she didn't even know it. I found out through therapy. She's like, you know, something's going on when you were in the womb. What happened? I'm like, really? How am I supposed to know that? She's like, ask your mom. And when I found out that one thing leads to the other, so it became my own personal exploration. And at the very end, it was almost like healing her helped heal me and there was a release. You know, hopefully then it helps you integrate and embrace your femininity. 'Cause you know, as a woman, you have to be tough in the world, and that's embracing the masculine, the heroes. You have to be that. But I think the next step is to, whether you're a man or a woman, is to then embrace the feminine side again, to be whole. And so I think with my mom, unconsciously, like, that's what I was doing.