Wuthering Heights: Literature's most destructive relationship?

About this episode

The episode explores the destructive relationship in Wuthering Heights and its implications on mental health and emotional processing.

Wuthering Heights is often remembered as a great romance, but it’s really a story about emotional extremes — love that becomes obsession, grief that turns into anger, and pain that is passed from one generation to the next. The 2026 film starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi is based on the classic novel by Emily Brontë and directed by Emerald Fennell. Like the book, it tells the story of the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw. In this episode, Alice and Maria ask what happens when trauma, abandonment, and jealousy are never processed? Ever. And how do those feelings shape the way people treat the people they love? Second Helpings is an eating disorder and recovery podcast that uses our favorite art and culture to discuss mental health themes. It's hosted by Alice, a writer and recovering anorexic, and Maria, an actor and clinical psychologist. If you’re struggling with an eating disorder or supporting someone who is, the following organisations offer resources and help: UK — Beat Eating Disorders USA — National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders) Follow Alice…

People in this episode

Hosts: Alice Florence Orr, Maria Wiik

Topics covered

• emotional extremes
• trauma
• abandonment
• jealousy
• mental health
• eating disorders
• literature

Keywords

• Wuthering Heights
• emotional extremes
• mental health
• eating disorders
• trauma
• jealousy
• literature

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Beat Eating Disorders, National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), ANAD (National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders)

Books & works: Wuthering Heights