Long Island Medium's Theresa Caputo Has Something To Say To Skeptics - Exclusive

Theresa Caputo is back with a brand new iteration of Long Island Medium. This time around, the reality TV star is navigating the socially distant waters of virtual readings with Long Island Medium: There In Spirit, which premiered on discovery+ on February 5. Shockingly, the novel coronavirus pandemic hasn't stopped spirits from breaking through. They're not exactly bound by the confines of spotty internet service — though over the years, people have questioned Caputo's gift. Can she actually communicate with the dead?

It's no secret that television mediums have long faced a healthy dose of skepticism, with naysayers chalking up their talents to reading body language or asking broad questions that could easily apply to most people who have experienced loss. More insidiously, skeptics have accused mediums of preying on the most vulnerable, gullible people in society. In 2019, The New York Times published a profile on a secret sting operation aimed specifically at exposing fake celebrity psychics. Caputo was among those targeted by the so-called "online vigilantes," who dubbed her a "grief vampire."

When Caputo sat down with The List for a late afternoon Zoom call, she didn't seem all that bothered by the skeptics. It was clear that the reality TV star has a take it or leave it attitude. Here's what she really thinks.

Caputo isn't bothered by skeptics because, in some ways, she was once one of them. The star's abilities have always been inherent — like her left arm or Long Island accent — but she hasn't always understood her gift. Becoming a medium was a long process of self-discovery rooted in unraveling the source of her intense anxiety. Once she figured it out, everything clicked.

"I always grew up feeling like something was missing. I didn't feel right. I felt different than everyone else," she tells The List. "And my mom was always very encouraging to me. And no one ever made a big deal about the things that I would say or do. And I think the moment that I embraced and accepted my gift, is when my soul felt complete. I know this is what I was meant to do here in the physical world." 

Since Theresa Caputo understands the skeptics, proving her gift is all about finding specific validation from the spirit: details and events that aren't just something a medium could guess. "Listen, I'm the first one to say that what I do is absolutely crazy," she says. "There's no way that someone can communicate with someone that has died, but there are certain things that spirit has me talk about that there's no way that I would know about. Because there are common things and ways people pass, right? But there are little things that nobody else would know about. And that's what I need spirit to validate."

At the end of the day, Theresa Caputo's gift is there for those who want to use it. She's in the business of helping people find closure, and someone else's disbelief doesn't make what she does any less valid. Still, she does acknowledge that skeptics are missing out.

"Listen, I'm not asking anyone to believe in me. And I don't mean to be rude when I say I don't care if people... What they say about me or if they don't believe in me," she tells The List. "I want them to believe in themselves, and to know that the things that they sense and feel, hear, sense, or smell, to know that that is their departed loved ones. That they're not crazy. That the only thing that we lose when we lose a loved one, is that physical connection. That soul bond can never, and will never be broken."

Long Island Medium: There In Spirit is currently streaming on discovery+.