Coming Back Whole
About this Podcast:
On this episode of the Natasha Helfer Podcast, Ingrid Chapman joins to discuss her book, "Coming Back Whole: A Memoir of Secrets, Survival, and Self-Reclamation."
At fifty, after thirty-two years of marriage, Ingrid Chapman served her husband divorce papers at the airport—directly in front of the woman he was having an affair with. It was the moment she stopped disappearing.
COMING BACK WHOLE is the story of how she got there. Married at eighteen, she raised three children, helped build a family nonprofit, and spent decades inside a church that taught her endurance was holiness and silence was safety. Beneath the capable surface lay hidden betrayals, a hunger she could not name, and the early absence of a mother who left when she was five.
This is not a dramatic escape but a quieter, more common reckoning: what happens when a woman finally trusts her own knowing after a lifetime of being taught to doubt it. With raw honesty and hard-won grace, Ingrid reclaims the self she buried to survive—and builds the life that finally feels like her own.
In her sixties, she now lives on a small homestead with her second husband, surrounded by chickens, bees, and gardens, with their seven children, and eighteen grandchildren close by. For any woman who has felt trapped in roles that no longer fit, Coming Back Whole offers a tender, powerful reminder: you are allowed to come back to yourself.
About the Guest:
Ingrid Chapman is a writer, photographer, and gardener who lives on a small homestead in Alpine, Utah, with her husband Mark.
Born in Ohio and raised across the American West, she has traveled widely, organized humanitarian work in Kenya, raised a family, and lived inside and outside the Mormon Church. She and Mark share seven children and eighteen grandchildren.
Coming Back Whole, her first book, is the story of how she came back to herself.
This podcast addresses many topics around mental health and sexuality and may not be suitable for minors. Some topics may elicit a trigger or emotional response so care for yourself accordingly.
The views, thoughts and opinions expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or feelings of the Natasha Helfer or the Natasha Helfer Podcast. We provide a platform for open and diverse discussions, and it is important to recognize that different perspectives may be shared. We encourage our listeners to engage in critical thinking and form their own opinions. Thank you for listening.
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Intro ("Fisher's Hornpipe") and outro music by Otter Creek.
Podcast edited by: Ashley Pacini
