Dr. Susan Block in Audible Original “SPLBERG”

July 15, 2026, LOS ANGELES — Award-winning sexologist Dr. Susan Block, aka “Dr. Suzy,”  is a featured expert in “SPLBERG,” the “stranger-than-fiction” hit new Audible Original true crime and investigative podcast series chronicling the remarkable real-life story of Jonathan Taylor Spielberg.

“Huge thank you for Dr. Suzy’s brilliant interview,” shares TellTale Audio producer Maddie Drury via email. “Your thoughtful answers about fantasy and fame, as well as discussion about being comfortable with who you are, was really refreshing… It was a genuine pleasure to be in your company.”

Drawing upon her professional background in sex therapy and her firsthand experiences with its main character, Dr. Suzy brings a perspective to “SPLBERG” that no one else can. Her enthralling stories and commentary on Jonathan’s personae, Hollywood and the Spielberg mystique expose the complex relationship between desire, deception, celebrity, identity, masks, crossdressing, consent, fantasy, reality and the universal longing to belong.

A Hollyweird Story

Over 25 years before Jonathan Taylor Spielberg became the subject of a “major hit” Audible Series, he was the focus of widespread controversy at Paul VI, an exclusive Catholic high school in Fairfax, Virginia, where he fooled the whole school into believing that the famous “Jurassic Park” director was his “Uncle Steven.”

It was even earlier, in 1996, just before Dr. Suzy’s “Radio Sex TV” show aired on HBO, that Jonathan Taylor Spielberg, aka “JT,” slid into her studio audience in the Century Wilshire Hotel in West Los Angeles. He struck her as a colorful Hollywood character – a charming, well-dressed young man staying in the hotel with his mother – who presented an extravagant personal mythology to accompany his famous last name.

“We couldn’t Google him back then, but we suspected something,” Dr. Suzy recalls. “Though many Hollywood people used made-up names, and it was part of his persona.

Dr. Suzy interviewed JT on her television show in an episode with other entertainment industry characters called “Hollyweird” broadcast live on KMAX radio and Century Cable TV. Then, they collaborated on an independent film project, a take-off on “Story of O” called “Story of V,” produced by Dr. Suzy’s late husband Max Lobkowicz Filangieri and starring Jonathan Taylor Spielberg.

Take Off the Mask

In the title role of V, Jonathan wears a black miniskirt, pantyhose, his mother’s Gucci high-heeled loafers and Dr. Suzy’s tiger print top. “It was about pretending to be someone you’re not,” she explains. “Then you are unmasked, and it turns out that the character you’re pretending to be is more you than the ‘real’ you.”

In “Story of V,” the impostor is exposed, stripped, thrown into the shower and baptized… a rebirth. Real life was another, more problematic story.

JT had told Dr. Suzy and her crew that he was 18, but when they checked his ID, they saw he was about 25, and for them, it was better that he was really older. But at John VI, a strict Catholic high school where JT was 27 pretending to be 15, it was a much bigger age gap in a far more at-risk setting.

“I kind of think he was waiting for someone to take off the mask, wash off the makeup and say, ‘who are you?’” Dr. Suzy opines in Episode 5 of “SPLBERG.”

However, thanks to the Spielberg mystique, Jonathan’s style and his dupes’ apparent desire to believe him, it took a while – over a year – before anyone did.

Celebrity Nepotism & Constructed Identities

Even now, no one is sure who Jonathan Taylor Spielberg – aka Anoushirvan Fakhran, aka “V” – really is. Though “SPLBERG,” hosted by Emmy-nominated British broadcaster Charlie Webster of “Scamanda” fame, extensively investigates the whole “bizarre” story.

At the center of “SPLBERG” and throughout the series, Dr. Suzy’s voice is there, helping Charlie and her listeners to understand this intriguing true tale of desire and deceit – from Iran to LA to Fairfax, Virginia, by way of Hollywood. “It was an absolute pleasure,” Charlie Webster said via email after their interview, “a powerful conversation.”

Interestingly, JT is not the only Spielberg that Dr. Suzy has interviewed. Steven Spielberg’s adopted daughter Mika Spielberg appeared on The Dr. Susan Block Show in 2020.  Of course, Mika’s Spielberg connection is real, and Jonathan’s is part of an elaborate fantasy.

“Americans love a good con artist,” points out Dr. Suzy. “Or even a bad one. Look at the President.”

As a longtime champion of sexual freedom and education for consenting adults and bonobo-inspired “peace through pleasure” at the Dr. Susan Block Institute, Dr. Suzy brings great insight to Jonathan’s audacious trickery, why it captivated so many – and ultimately unraveled – linking his improbable journey to broader cultural themes, from the allure of celebrity nepotism to the immigrant’s drive to assimilate, the modern proliferation of constructed identities on social media and the powerful urge to display versions of ourselves that we hope the world will embrace – or at least, notice.

Listen to SPLBERG on Audible

“Am I morally in the wrong?” Charlie Webster wonders on her Instagram. “Wrong” or just right for the current moment, Audible Originals is going all out for “SPLBERG” with Times Square digital billboards, personal appearances, promotions and reviews in major and social media.

“Completely riveting, sensitive… and ultimately thought-provoking,” writes Nick Levine in the Guardian.

Listeners can hear “SPLBERG,” including Dr. Susan Block’s full interview and continuing commentary throughout the series, exclusively on Audible. Listen to SPLBERG on Audible now.

For more about Dr. Suzy and her work, visit the Dr. Susan Block Institute, read The Bonobo Way and tune into her ongoing shows at drsusanblock.com.

SPLBERG UPDATE: We’re #1! SPLBERG is topping the charts of Amazon Audible’s “True Crime: Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions.”  In honor of its success, we just posted some photo galleries spanning over 30 years (1996-2026) of Dr. Susan Block with Jonathan Taylor Spielberg, Charlie Webster, Maddie Drury, the Bonoboville crew, the Telltale Audio team and, of course, Dr. Suzy’s beloved late husband, Captain Max.  See below for a photographic trip through time.

Dr. Suzy’s SPLBERG PHOTO GALLERY

“Hollyweird” on The Dr. Susan Block Show & “Story of V” 1996

2024-2026

SPLBERG Pre-Interview

Jonathan Taylor Spielberg, Charlie Webster, Mika Spielberg, Paul VI & SPLBERG PR

SPLBERG Interview
Pics: Harry Sapien, Christina Caamano

For media inquiries or interview requests, please contact Christina Caamano.
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