Irene McGee Talks About Seeking Therapy in 1998 After Getting Slapped by Her ‘Real World’ Roommate

In honor of the 25th Anniversary of the MTV show The Real World, the resilient Irene McGee, former The Real World: Seattle resident and good friend of Laughing Squid, shared a hilarious story from her one-woman show about seeking therapy after enduring the “slap heard ’round the world”.

Here’s an excerpt from my one-person show. People ask me if this is a true story. Yes. In the 90’s pre-google, pre-yelp, humans used the Yellow Pages to find doctors. This shrink’s last name started with the letter A and he took my insurance, perfect. And so the story begins…

Here’s the classic footage of Stephen Williams opening Irene’s car door and giving her the infamous slap.

In 2013, we wrote about what Irene has been up to since that unfortunate incident.

Since The Real World, Irene started No One’s Listening, a podcast about the American media. She has also been an advocate for education about Lyme Disease, having appeared in the documentary, Under Our Skin, The Untold Story of Lyme Disease..

Last but not least, she became a mom to a beautiful, fat-cheeked little girl also named Irene.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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