Eilene Zimmerman noticed that the man who’d loomed large in her life for nearly 30 years - her ex-husband and father of her two children – PETER – seemed increasingly out of sorts.  

He’d been looking progressively thin, seemingly preoccupied, couldn’t shake flu like symptoms and was becoming a more and more unreliable parent to their kids.

Eilene assumed Peter’s appearance and erratic behaviour was due to stress and overwork.  As a senior partner at a prominent law firm, he’d been working more than 60 hours a week for more than 20 years. 

But putting that aside, Peter seemed to have it all: a high-flying legal career; an exquisite waterfront property; luxurious cars, and other largesse that came with his affluent uber-successful life. 

But when their son Ethan returned from a few days at Peter’s beach home, he shared with his mum, Eilene, that his dad was very sick, but despite desperate pleas, Peter refused point blank to go to hospital.

After two days of trying to reach Peter, Eilene drove to his house and made a shocking discovery.

The man she knew and loved for almost three decades had been living a secret life; one that started with pills and ended with opioids, cocaine and methamphetamine.  You see, Peter was prosperous and powerful in the eyes of everyone else – but at the end of the day he was a man with demons and a lethal addiction that ultimately cost him his life. 

And Eilene, Peter’s ex-wife, was left to pick up the pieces; all the pieces.

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CREDITS:

Creator, Host & Executive Producer: Tammi Faraday

With thanks to my special guest: Eilene Zimmerman 

Audio Editor: Zoltan Fecso

With very special thanks to George Weinberg. 

BRAVE JOURNEYS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we record this podcast on, the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan of the Boon Wurrung who are part of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respect to their Elders, both past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.