Restored: Helping Children of Divorce
Aug 12, 2026 · 1 hr 7 min · 11 segments
When dysfunction is all you know, it can feel normal. For Michaela, growing up with a narcissistic father meant fear, control, walking on eggshells, protecting her younger siblings, and even…
Joey PontarelliHost
And no, I know there's a lot to your story, even more than we're touching on.
This idea you brought up of it was kind of all you knew, you thought it was normal.
So when I was 12, 13-ish, I started going to this youth group.
And I'm just like, why? He actually turned into being my sister's foster dad.
And I was at a retreat with that youth group once, and I see him, hands up, crying, like a grown man bawling his eyes out in worship.
And I'm like, this is not normal.
What's going on, you know? And I became really close with one of the girls at that youth group, and she started wanting to, like, invite me.
Like, oh, you want to go for a play date, go for a trip, go for that.
And I saw her going out, like, with friends, for sleepovers, for, you know, fairs and stuff.
And for me, it was always like, no, you're not allowed.
And I was like, why?
that's when I started realizing something's off with this.
And every time I kept pushing, there would be like a, almost a guilt trip.
So like, well, you disobeyed or...
it's like there would always be a payback so every time i would go out there would be like a punishment like you weren't here and dad was mad so dad's not talking to you so there was always a consequence and my friends made me realize like that's not normal and i'm like what do you mean your dad doesn't do that like your dad doesn't ignore you for two weeks if you like don't show him i don't know enough attention or if you don't obey like no And I think now I understand that with my dad's mental health, it was out of fear.
And no, I know there's a lot to your story, even more than we're touching on.
This idea you brought up of it was kind of all you knew, you thought it was normal.
So when I was 12, 13-ish, I started going to this youth group.
And I'm just like, why? He actually turned into being my sister's foster dad.
And I was at a retreat with that youth group once, and I see him, hands up, crying, like a grown man bawling his eyes out in worship.
And I'm like, this is not normal.
What's going on, you know? And I became really close with one of the girls at that youth group, and she started wanting to, like, invite me.
Like, oh, you want to go for a play date, go for a trip, go for that.
And I saw her going out, like, with friends, for sleepovers, for, you know, fairs and stuff.
And for me, it was always like, no, you're not allowed.
And I was like, why?
that's when I started realizing something's off with this.
And every time I kept pushing, there would be like a, almost a guilt trip.
So like, well, you disobeyed or...
it's like there would always be a payback so every time i would go out there would be like a punishment like you weren't here and dad was mad so dad's not talking to you so there was always a consequence and my friends made me realize like that's not normal and i'm like what do you mean your dad doesn't do that like your dad doesn't ignore you for two weeks if you like don't show him i don't know enough attention or if you don't obey like no And I think now I understand that with my dad's mental health, it was out of fear.
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