Dying for Sex (podcast)

Molly Kochan was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in 2015 and responded by having cybersex with people on the internet; she left her husband the following year and began having large numbers of sexual liaisons with strangers.^[1] In 2018, having already been on two dates that day, Kochan met with Boyer for lunch, where they developed the idea for a podcast depicting her experiences,^[2] with the intent that subsequent series would deal with her cancer and childhood trauma and Boyer's IVF.^[3] The pair pitched it to television executives, who did not understand it or how to promote it;^[1] the pair then made ten episodes themselves across three recording sessions,^[4] which addressed nearly 200 of her encounters^[5] but did not give Molly's last name.^[6]

Production was affected several times by Kochan's failing health;^[1] some recording sessions had to be canceled because Kochan could not get up from her bathroom floor,^[7] part of episode four was recorded in a hospital as Kochan was receiving treatment for thrombi, and her voice became weaker and raspier towards the end of the series.^[1] The original plan had been for Boyer to upload the ten episodes to YouTube;^[8] however, after Kochan was hospitalized and it became apparent that she would not leave the hospital, Kochan and Boyer decided to keep recording from Kochan's hospital bed,^[9] and the final recordings were made while she was in hospice care^[10] on Boyer's phone. After she emailed Hernan Lopez, the then-CEO of Wondery, and then emailed him again, his firm agreed to publish the series themselves. Lopez himself visited Kochan to sign contracts for the series on Valentine's Day 2019; Kochan died shortly afterwards on March 8.^[1]

Wondery boiled the podcast down to six episodes,^[4] which were published between February^[11] and March 2020.^[6] Dying for Sex comprised the original ten episodes, Boyer's hospital recordings, Kochan's memoir Screw Cancer: Becoming Whole, and ruminations and journalism conducted by Boyer after Kochan's death.^[1] The podcast was listed as one of Apple's Favorite Podcasts of 2020,^[12] won Podcast of the Year at the 2021 Ambies,^[13] and appeared on multiple "best sex/relationship" podcast listicles.^[14] In November 2023, it was announced that the podcast would be serialized for a television series;^[15] the show was released on April 4, 2025,^[16] and was loosely based on Kochan's experiences.^[17]