# Laurel's Story | "Birth Mother" with Writer Kay Oyegun (506)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/that-was-us-6898879/laurel-s-story-birth-mother-with-writer-kay-oyegun-506
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/that-was-us-6898879/laurel-s-story-birth-mother-with-writer-kay-oyegun-506.md
Podcast: [That Was Us](https://stenobird.com/podcast/that-was-us-6898879)
Published: 2026-03-10T07:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/clrtpod.com/m/mgln.ai/e/1251/arttrk.com/p/OSSA4/arttrk.com/p/ARTS0/s.gum.fm/s-699f3200890cc9cbb23d5993/traffic.megaphone.fm/GBLL1582214045.mp3?updated=1773720949
Audio file: https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/prfx.byspotify.com/e/clrtpod.com/m/mgln.ai/e/1251/arttrk.com/p/OSSA4/arttrk.com/p/ARTS0/s.gum.fm/s-699f3200890cc9cbb23d5993/traffic.megaphone.fm/GBLL1582214045.mp3?updated=1773720949
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/that-was-us-6898879/episodes/laurel-s-story-birth-mother-with-writer-kay-oyegun-506
Duration seconds: 5066

## Resource

On today’s episode of That Was Us, we’re diving into Season 5, Episode 6: Birth Mother. This episode uncovers the long-buried story of Randall’s birth mother, Laurel. Randall and Beth’s journey to New Orleans reveals inherited grief, unfinished love, and through Hai’s retelling of his love story with Laurel, Randall releases the pain he’s carried his entire life. Plus, we're also joined by one of the writers of this episode, Kay Oyegun! Kay breaks down the writer's room experience on This Is Us, how they broke down important storylines, what it was like discovering Laurel's backstory, how she came to write for this show originally, and so much more! That Was Us is produced by Rabbit Grin Productions. Music by Taylor Goldsmith and Griffin Goldsmith. Executive Producers: Natalie Holysz and Rob Holysz Creative Producer: Sam Skelton Production Coordinator: Andrew Rowley Video Editor: Todd Hughlett Mix & Master: Jason Richards This is a ⁠Headgum⁠ podcast. Follow Headgum on ⁠Twitter⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠Tiktok⁠. Advertise on That Was Us via ⁠Gumball.fm⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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## Transcript

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