What happens when the people meant to protect you become the ones you have to run from?

In this raw and deeply personal episode of the Rollercoaster Podcast, I sit down with Willie Wolfgramm to uncover a story of survival that most people wouldn’t make it out of. Willie takes us inside the darkest corners of his past: being thrown down stairs by a drunken stepfather, being chased through a field by a truck, and the crushing weight of a culture that told him showing emotion was a fatal weakness.

We dive deep into the day he lost his mother to cancer at 17 and the decade-long spiral into addiction and homelessness that followed. This conversation is about childhood abuse, grief, the cycle of trauma, and the miracle of finding a path forward when you’ve hit absolute rock bottom.

If you’ve ever felt like you weren’t enough, Willie’s transformation is your wake-up call.

Watch now and share this with someone who needs to feel less alone.

Key Moments:

0:00 I Watched Him Beat My Mother

4:05 The Beliefs I Had to Unlearn

6:40 My Earliest Memory of Abuse

9:04 Running Away to Survive Another Day

11:08 Chased Down by a Truck in a Field

13:59 Contemplating the Road to End the Pain

18:51 Breaking the Cycle with My Own Kids

21:29 How Childhood Trauma Shows Up in Marriage

24:58 Meeting Wayne: What a Real Man Looks Like

28:45 Moving in While My Mom Fought Stage 4 Cancer

32:36 Your Mom Passed Away This Morning

34:54 Walking into a House That Felt Cold

38:09 Just Keep Moving. Don't Show Emotion.

42:49 The Spiral into Drugs and Alcohol

46:03 Finally Loving the Man in the Mirror

Guest Info:

IG: @willie.wolfgramm (https://www.instagram.com/willie.wolfgramm/)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willie-wolfgramm-a95127a4