Inside the Court with Loni Coombs - a podcast by Courtney Rich

Loni Coombs is a former Los Angeles County criminal prosecutor. For 18 years she prosecuted over 50 trials, ranging from murders and gang cases to sex crimes and DUIs. During that time, she also worked in the Crimes Against Police Officers Special Unit, was the Deputy in Charge of cases involving celebrities like Nick Nolte, Nicole Riche, Kim Delaney, Sean Stewart and Meg Ryan's stalker, and ran the Hate Crimes Division, managing the most complex hate crime cases in the county and providing hate crime training to law enforcement agencies.

In 2006, Loni transitioned into the broadcast world, working for local and national broadcast outlets as a legal commentator, as well as a field reporter, and host of both primetime and morning shows on networks such as CNN, Oxygen, E News, Dr. Oz, the Today Show, Access Hollywood, and HLN - to name a few. Loni is currently the host of several investigative true crime shows on Oxygen.

Loni is one of the smartest, hardest working women I know - and she happens to also be my stepmom. I've had a front row seat to some of Loni's career and I've always been in awe of not just her talent, but also her work ethic, her ability to manage work life and personal life, and her devotion to helping others.

Today on "Courtney: Beyond the Cake," we're not only talking about Loni's journey, we're also diving into the current Britney Spears hearings. I know that's a little bit of a different topic for the podcast, but as someone who grew up in the Britney Spears era, I have to say, I'm all-in on #FreeBritney. But more than just growing up with Britney as the celebrity of our generation, I think I'm feeling so invested in what's going on because I have a much greater and more personal understanding of what her mental health struggles were like.

When photos of Britney shaving her head and later taking an umbrella to a paparazzi's car popped up all over the world overnight, we weren't talking about mental health like we thankfully are today. Nor did we, as outsiders looking in, seem to recognize or acknowledge the potential abusive relationships she's been in that have likely had a huge affect on her mental health.

To me, Britney speaking out after 13 years of having no autonomy, having her narrative controlled by others (mostly men), and likely struggling with mental illness and trauma, is inspiring and something I hope, at the very least, sheds light onto mental illness and abusive and controlling relationships.

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Further episodes of Courtney: Beyond the Cake

Further podcasts by Courtney Rich

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