Shatterproof How I Overcame the Shame of Losing My Parents to Opioid Addiction (and Found My Sideline Shimmy)

She lost her parents to secret opioid addictions. She lost her voice when the shame shattered her heart. But when she fell in love with her story, she became shatterproof.

College football fans have welcomed Emmy Award-winning ESPN sideline reporter Lauren Sisler into their homes weekly since 2016. But the popular journalist known for asking insightful questions and for the viral videos dancing her signature "sideline shimmy" shielded a tragic secret behind her smile for nearly two decades: her mother and father died within hours of each other, victims of their hidden battle with prescription drug addiction.

In Shatterproof, Sisler enters the dark and mysterious pasts her parents hid from everyone but each other. She applies her skills as a reporter to uncover details of the double lives they led even as they loved and supported her athletic career as a gymnast. She also lays bare her shock and grief after their deaths, confessing the lengths to which she went to avoid facing the unimaginable truth.

Only by summoning the courage to honestly confront the tragic story has Sisler been able to redeem it. She's been freed to grieve her parents while appreciating the loving legacy they left her. And she's embraced her calling as an inspirational speaker and addiction awareness advocate, helping audiences to fall in love with their own stories-and to recognize that they, too, are shatterproof.