MISTY: I'm afraid she's
going to burn the house down. ROBERT JOHNSON: They
thought they possibly had a deceased person
in the residence. MISTY: You don't imagine that
someone's house is like this. JAN: It's better than having
to put up with lip service from a man. A lot of flat cats. JAN: Well, who did that? Not me. JAN: One of y'all did that. MARTHA NELL: Whatever Bebe
wanted, Bebe always got. ROBIN ZASIO: Your
husband died here. He was murdered. He was murdered? Yes. PEGGYE: There are dead
things in the house. I smell them. You buried your grief
about Daddy with his hoard. Why his pictures aren't-- It hurt to do it. That's why. [theme music] [music playing] JAN: I'm Jan, and I'm
from a small Texas town. My house is a disaster. It's got stuff stacked up in it. Every time you move
you run into something. Then you spend about an
hour picking everything up. I was always going
to do something. And then, you know, you'd go
to climb on a ladder one day and you can't climb on it. You done got too old. When I want to eat, I-- I have a microwave oven
or I have a toaster oven. The refrig-- well, I
was too embarrassed to have anybody in
my house, you know, so I just parked it out there. I just come out and get
it out of the freezer and thaw it out
and then cook it. I'm Misty, and Jan is my mom. I haven't been to my
mom's house in 17 years. You could walk through it
but she had boxes everywhere. JAN (VOICEOVER): I just got to
watching too much TV and, you know, it-- it just made you feel good
to buy something and hear the old UPS truck come and,
you know, what did I get today? You know? And, heck, lot of times you'd
forget what you ordered. [music playing] I have several dogs and
they keep me company. They follow me. If I can make it,
they can make it. MISTY: She told me
she had 10 dogs. That's too many, especially
in a house like that. This is my bedroom. This is where I
sleep with my dogs. So I don't mind
having them up here. It's better than having to put
up with lip service from a man. [music playing] This is my kitchen. This is where I do my dishes. I heat the water on
the stove because I don't have a hot water heater. MISTY: She doesn't
have hot water and she's talking
about boiling it. And that scares me. I'm afraid she's going
to burn the house down. I'm Chief Robert Johnson. Janet is a citizen
of my community. We had received a
call from a neighbor and he was concerned for
her welfare and safety. It was a really super hot
day, and so he called the fire people to come and check on her. JAN: I was talking on the
phone and I had the TV on. I didn't hear him knocking. ROBERT JOHNSON: They
thought they possibly had a deceased person
in the residence. JAN: I came out of
the bedroom and I seen two men in the hallway. I said, "What are y'all doing?" They said, "Fire chief! We're here to check on you. I'll meet you outside." I thought, dad gum. I go out there, there's
like, three cop cars. ROBERT JOHNSON: We did generate
a report, which was forwarded to Adult Protective Services. If she does not claim
this residence up, then our Code Enforcement
Division could get involved and she could be
displaced from her home. JAN: If I don't clean up
good, they're probably going to make me move out. You know? And they'll come in and
clean it up their selves, and then send me the bill. ROBERT JOHNSON: It's probably
one of the worst cases that I have ever
seen in my career. MISTY: My parents
separated when I was six. It was not, in any way, nice. Marriage was difficult.
He was abusive sometimes. MISTY: He would get
drunk, call her names. Hit me or something like that. MISTY (VOICEOVER):
I remember him turning over a refrigerator. It wasn't fair to
me and it certainly wasn't fair to the children. After he left, my mother
came and lived with me for three years
and helped us out. I was 24 years old, and I was
supporting myself and three other people. It was pretty rough. [music playing] My relationship with
my mom was difficult. My mom used to drink and she
would just say things that were socially unacceptable. Let's stop here. You're going to tear me up here. She can have a
vile, venomous tongue. I don't think I have
a viper tongue now. At one time, I probably did. MISTY: My mom thought
it was funny to call us names like bitch and slut. Yo, bitch. You sluts! Yeah. I think when I was drinking
I was mean and obnoxious and said things I didn't mean. MISTY: One thing she would
always say to me is why don't you grow up and be somebody. JAN: Oh, I probably said
I don't care what you do or something like that. You know, something curt. MISTY: She has a viper tongue,
like it's meant to poison you, meant to hurt you. That's why I haven't
been around much. JAN: When my girls left,
yeah, I got lonely. You know, I was used to
having them all around. My-- they all left
the same year, 1994. My daughters had their own
lives to go live, you know? And I understood that. But, you know, it
doesn't mean that when they left it wasn't painful. Maybe it all has to do
with loneliness or something. JAN: And I Became isolated,
so I start buying stuff that would take the place of people. MISTY: Loneliness and
abandonment and fear of it, and so push
people away so they don't get to do it to you first. I felt deserted, you know? She left me. [dogs barking] [music playing] I'm Bebe, and I'm an artist. I like to collect all things. Name it. I got into teapots and China,
photographs and pictures, a certain kind of postcard,
fabric, almost everything in the world. My name is Peggye,
and Bebe is my mama. We always had a maid. My mom always made sure that
the maid was there for her. BEBE: I was very fortunate in
that we always had servants. And they did the dishes
and cook help help-- they did all the cleaning. PEGGYE: Dad adored
my mom, absolutely. He gave her everything
she ever wanted. I was treated
more like a queen. My name is Kamie and
I'm Bebe's daughter. My father worked very hard
and made very good money, but we still couldn't keep up. My mother is a very
talented woman. She used her skills to have
other people do for her. Mama! Yes? Come on in. [inaudible]. If she didn't get
something she wanted, she was screaming and
yelling and having a fit. [music playing] BEBE: Well, I could
argue all day. I just hollar and scream. You touched my things! You moved my things! [laughs] KAMIE: There were always
two or three rooms that were untouchable,
un-- they were her rooms. PEGGYE: Mom wanted to
be treated as royalty. And I do know some relatives
who would call her Queen Bebe. I'm Martha Nell,
and Bebe is my cousin. We call her Queen Bebe
because, like Scarlett O'Hara, she just always got her way. Whatever Bebe wanted,
Bebe always got it. [music playing] He was murdered with a
12-gauge shotgun, right in-- I couldn't walk in that
room at nighttime, at all. But I kept seeing, even in
my mind's eye, on the floor. KAMIE: When daddy died, all
of her personality disorders went out of control. PEGGYE: She took out
her grief in collecting more and more and more items. It became an obsession with her. This is deplorable. There are dead
things in the house. I smell them. It's a fire hazard. It's a safety hazard. There are rats
living in the home. She saw a snake in the home. I said, the snakes come
in because the rats are living in the home. KAMIE: I expect her
to go into a rage. She can be calm one minute and
the next minute just absolutely terrify you. She could really
fling some hissy fits. Throwing things at you, scream
at you, throw scissors, knives. If my mom does not cooperate,
we will have no other option but to put her in a state home. PEGGYE: If she's not willing to
do what we're asking her to do, then we will have to
take a very drastic step. She has to be removed. ying] I'm afraid my mom
may fall and die. And nobody would know. My name is Matt Paxton. I'm an extreme
cleaning specialist. JAN: Come in. MATT PAXTON: Hey, I'm Matt. JAN: Hi. Well, I better trade hands. MATT PAXTON: Ooh, that's very--
watch out for those wires. JAN: I got a mess here, sir. I'm fixing to cook supper. MATT PAXTON: You
going to make supper? Yes. MATT PAXTON: I want to get
into the hoarders mind. And the most basic things
is eating and sleeping. So I'm going to go
look in your freezer. And then we'll just cook it
together here in this kitchen. Is that cool? You'll have to pay
me for it, though. That's fine.
Yes, ma'am. But where is your
freezer, first? I don't know.
Where is the fridge? Well, it's outside. Outside, OK. Her fridge is on the back
porch because she can't get it into the house. Whoa. All right. I'm going to turn on this night
vision so I can-- there we go. JAN: T-bone. MATT PAXTON: T-bone. JAN: Gee, you're eating
high on the hog, aren't you? MATT PAXTON: All right. So, here, I got my steak. JAN: All right. MATT PAXTON: So I
got it on this thing. JAN: And you can't have
the microwave and the oven on at the same time. MATT PAXTON: So you're
unplugging the microwave. JAN: Mm-hmm. MATT PAXTON: She's got this
massive contraption of wires. And she's got them all
clothes pinned up to things. JAN: Well, I caught
on fire one time, so-- MATT PAXTON: You
caught it on fire? JAN: Yeah.
MATT PAXTON: With what? JAN: Well, it just flamed up. I guess there was too much
grease or something in it and it caught on fire.
And I-- MATT PAXTON: Does
that not scare you? JAN: Well, I put salt
on it and it went out. MATT PAXTON: All right. So you put that steak in there. JAN: I'm taking this
so it won't get there-- MATT PAXTON: Clothes pinning--
JAN: --and be a fire hazard. MATT PAXTON: OK. So now it's not a fire hazard. JAN: Well-- MATT PAXTON: You turn
on this toaster oven, it's got notepads and melted
old plastic forks and spoons. Now are you sure
we're OK over here, just having paper and
stuff on top of this? You're not worried about that? JAN: Oh, I don't know. I wasn't paying attention. Sorry. Better get those
matches off, too. Yeah. Matches on an oven,
probably not the best. This house would just go up
in flames in five seconds. And, honestly, I don't
know how it hasn't. I just don't want to cause
another fire, that's all. JAN: Well, I'll save
you if anything happens. MATT PAXTON: OK, good. JAN: We should have a
little time to tooly on back to some of the other rooms. All right. It's got dog poop, dog pee,
newspaper, baking soda. And this stuff is
basically like concrete. Look at all these guys. JAN: Yeah. I'm going to try this. I'm going to lay down. Ugh! Hey, guys. Boy, you're not kidding. This bed is not the most
comfortable thing in the world. It looks like a bed, but
it's not really a bed. It's just a bunch of rugs that
have been rolled up and stacked on each other. JAN: Wow.
- Yeah, it really-- JAN: Look how far you sunk down. Man, you ain't kidding. It is not the most comfortable
thing in the world. She's got between
nine and 10 dogs. You can hear them running around
and breathing and snoring. [snoring] Oh, I'm sorry. And they just live in the hoard. [ominous music] Jan's getting tired,
so she sent me out here to try to flip the steak myself. Here come the pugs. They're ready to-- to
get a piece of my steak. Look at them. It's really hot. Oh, [bleep]. All right. Cheers. OK. MATT PAXTON: Not the best
steak that I've ever had. It was cooked, I'll say that. I spent a long
time in this house, so I had to go to the bathroom. She offers me to
use her bathroom. I was not interested in that. So, finally, I just made
my way to the backyard. Lights out? MATT PAXTON: Yup. If I didn't have a nose,
it'd be a lot easier to spend the night
in a hoarder's house. It's hard. I think the biggest issue for
me was the poop and the air quality and comfort. And when I sleep in the house,
I'm reminded every time. She's been doing
it for 20 years. [music playing] PEGGYE: The house
is a fire hazard. It's a safety hazard. There's no bargaining. End of discussion. We will have to put her in
an assisted living home, and she will not having
any of her things. [knock on door] - Hi, Bebe.
- Well, hi. Come in.
- Hi. I'm Dr. Zasio. I'm Dr. Robin Zasio. I'm a licensed
clinical psychologist, and I specialize in OCD
and compulsive hoarding. Well, thank you for having me. To my hoarding mess-- OK. --please come in. ROBIN ZASIO: Historically,
she's been very reactive. She's having no reaction now,
so we'll see what happens. Who's this stunning
couple up here? BEBE: That's me. ROBIN ZASIO: Wow. 50 some odd years ago. ROBIN ZASIO: So we have
this beautiful picture in the midst of hoard. My hoard. My impression with Bebe is
that her hoarding accelerated after the death of her husband. Your husband died here. He was murdered. He was murdered? Yes. I don't believe that she's
fully grieved the trauma that she's had in her life. Bebe, I'm so sorry. That must've been quite a shock,
and certainly a trauma for you. It was. How did you handle that? I think I handled
it very well. [music playing] I can't really talk
about it much, so-- ROBIN ZASIO: Immediately,
Bebe starts to get emotional and tells me I don't
want to talk about this. And I get that. She's just met me
minutes earlier, and I'm getting into some
really deep, personal stuff. As you can see, it's
piled high and deep. And according to this,
this is a work in progress. BEBE: Yes. Well, that was when I
had this as a craft room. Uh-huh. It's grief and loss that
happened in her life, and she is you stuff
to feel comforted. There's a difference
between a mess and having more stuff
that a house can handle. And it's my professional opinion
that you've got too much stuff for this house. I have a lot of work to do
because Bebe is justifying why she's holding on to her stuff. I think I'm a
packrat because I'm sentimental about everything. ROBIN ZASIO: At this
point her children are threatening that if she
doesn't get her home in order, that they're going to
take action to get her out of her house and into
a safe environment. [music playing] Good morning. - You made it another day.
- I did. [laughs] Good to see you. My name is Mark Pfeffer. I'm a licensed
psychotherapist and specialist in the treatment of anxiety
and compulsive hoarding. Tell me about your
accommodations. When I saw Matt walk
out of the house today, he looked kind of rough. It's gross. But he was able to give me
a heads up before my tour. But what really bothers me
is she's totally fine with it. [music playing] Oh, my goodness. MARK PFEFFER: What's
your first thought? It's worse than I imagined. It's devastating to know
that's how she lives. MARK PFEFFER: Do you
remember the last time you were able to sit in this room? Yeah, but that
ain't happening now. Is it? It's almost as if
Jan is in a castle, and she's the dragon
that's protecting it all. The hoard is her moat
that's preventing people from coming in. (CRYING) I didn't
know it was this bad. Like I said, she
wouldn't let me in. She would tell me
it's bad, but you don't imagine that someone's
house is like this. [music playing] ROBERT JOHNSON: What
we would like to see is the house is cleaned
up so that if there is any type of emergency, that
emergency medical teams can get in there. MATT PAXTON: We also have
cats on the property. How many do you think there are?
Do you know? JAN: I don't know. They broke in the garage. The garage door had a hole
in it, and they got in there and had kittens. She has more animals than
what you can have by our code. So that number would
have to be down to three. MATT PAXTON: That's tough. That's like, which kid
do you want to keep. ROBERT JOHNSON: Right.
MATT PAXTON: Yeah. That's a tough one. MARK PFEFFER: What are
you thinking, Jan-- Nothing.
MARK PFEFFER: --about yesterday? Let's change the subject.
OK? OK. So we're back
to cleaning house. OK. OK. [music playing] [dog barking] So what are you
doing with these dogs? Are you going to bring
them back or what? Um, we're going to-- JAN: Because you don't know
which three I'm keeping, so you can't possibly
be doing this. I need to know, are you taking
them back and keeping them or are you going to
let me run-- run an ad? You need to call the chief
of police to find out. - Yes, ma'am.
- Please. Yes, ma'am. MARK PFEFFER: The
dogs represented, to Jan, her family. Over the last 20 years,
really, that's all she's had. They told me when they picked
them up that I could run an ad and sell them. You turn them over to them,
and then you can run the ads. And they'll have the adoptions. But they had to take
possession of them because you could only
permitted three by state law. Jan is also a
very tough cookie. So for her to show
any emotion tells us how powerful that the feelings
must have been for her to let go. They'll go to the Pug Rescue
or they'll be adopted out, but they'll all be OK. (CRYING) Thanks a lot. Some parts to this
stuff is sad, you know? So could we please continue? [music playing] Oh, this is my globes.
- Oh, yes. I know.
- This has got jewels in them. I know.
JAN: Isn't that beautiful? I've never even seen it. She's ordered all these things
and hasn't even opened them. If you want to go around the
world, I've got it right here. MISTY: Those globes
were $100 apiece. I assume you knew that
you bought two of these. - Yes.
- And what was the thinking? JAN: That I would have one in my
living room so when they said, "And in the Congo tonight,
there's-- there's war." Then I'm going to put one
in my bedroom, I'd have it. Well, that was the thinking
you had when you bought this. But now that you're
enlightened, what's your-- I still think the same thing. Jan's been hoarding
for over 20 years. So as the hoard progressed
she lost track of those items. So she kept buying the
items over and over. I can't imagine the family
is cool with all this money and stuff being boxed. Well, it's none
of their business. It is my business because
she's not living safely. It's the past. We're moving forward. All right. Mom. Yeah? Why did you say it
was none of my business? Because you don't live up
here and you haven't lived the kind of life I've lived. And I wish people would kind
of give me a little break. MARK PFEFFER: Jan
was shutting down everybody who got in her way. So we're at five. I want to see how much
room I have in there-- Well, you'll have-- --when we get everything out. I got to have that, boy. I might have to use it
before the day's over. MATT PAXTON: That's
what I'm afraid of. MISTY: I am
intimidated by my mom. She's my mom. She's always told
you what to do. And she's really in
charge here, too. MATT PAXTON: We got a
broken trunk over here on one of the elephants. Well, who did that? Not me. One of y'all did that! [music playing] PEGGYE: I do believe getting
into excessive hoarding overtook her sensibilities. Something has to happen. This is it. [music playing] I'm Dorothy Breininger,
professional organizing expert. And I specialize in hoarding. Well, here we are in
the heart of it all. Right? Kitchen. I'm worried about Bebe's temper. I've been told that she's
gotten angry just recently and started throwing
things at her daughters. We're going to make decisions
as a team on what we should be keeping, what we
should be letting go. This is a family problem. OK. Dryer things for the dryer. Well then why is
it in the coffee tin? Because I wanted it in there. PEGGYE: OK. Dryer things for the dryer. I know where it is. These are open sprinkles. They've all been opened. So? They've got lids on, don't they? And there's bugs in it. Everything I've
been told is all about how she screams, screams,
screams and has Bebe fits. Well, what the heck? Who's not telling the truth? How are the girls doing? Oh, they're doing
fine, I guess. DOROTHY BREININGER: OK. I'm seeing you
rolling your eyes. Close your eyes. Is it because you're tired? ROBIN ZASIO: Kamie
pulled me aside, expressing concern that
Bebe has been taking pills to calm herself down. What is this? ROBIN ZASIO: Lo and behold,
she opens up this trunk filled with medications. PEGGYE: This is
really bad, Kamie. This is not--
KAMIE: All pain medication. PEGGYE: This is not labeled. That's bad. ROBIN ZASIO: We
need to deal with it and talk with Bebe
about what's going on. KAMIE: You will not heal. If you medicate
yourself through this. You had some Valium,
opiates, some Percocet and some Percodan, quaaludes. BEBE: I don't want to be here. Yeah. Well, why don't you
want to be here? Tell me about that right now. Because it hurts. PEGGYE: It's very difficult
for my mom to give away her precious possessions. It's like, it
doesn't mean anything to anybody else but me. I don't think she gets it. DOROTHY BREININGER: Your kids
aren't able to come here. And you're-- you're not
able to have events here. Not for their whole life. Look at these. You've got all these big
tears welling up in you. I love my mama so much. And my children don't know her. And Charlotte said, I want
to come for Thanksgiving. I said, you can't, Charlotte. There's nowhere for you to stay. There's no safe place for you. I'm not sending
my daughter there. I can't even stay there. ROBIN ZASIO: I
thought there might be more of an emotional reaction. She has made this
hoard her family. ROBIN ZASIO: But her
defenses are to shut down. I think, in many ways, Bebe is
terrified to let the floodgates open. MARTHA NELL: Mama,
it broke my heart when I couldn't tell Charlotte
that she could come see you. [music playing] JAN: Give me those shoes, too. That paint is still good. That's Jell-O. That's food. I'm eating on that. Why don't they put it up
here, where I can see it? You know what? Let's do that. MARK PFEFFER: I
wanted your daughter to start practicing
speaking up for herself. Maybe you can give
your mom a signal. MATT PAXTON: I was
thinking about the signal. I want you to scream, hey! [laughs]
MATT PAXTON: Stop! MARK PFEFFER: Get that voice up.
- I want you to-- Hey!
MARK PFEFFER: There you go. Did you hear that, Mom? You made your point. [music playing] MATT PAXTON: The family Bible. [inaudible] Heinz 57 is still good. I want that radio. This stuff has an
expiration date on it. I don't care what
it's got on it. Mother, it's 2002. It's not going to help--
- I don't care! - It's not going to help you.
- It's still got gel in it. I can feel it. I know. It's expired, 2002. I don't care. Look at it. It's-- it's-- There.
Thank you. It's 10 years old. Now why are you throwing
things at me now? If I was throwing something
at you, you would know it. OK, so-- Because I would
probably hit you. MARK PFEFFER: What I witnessed
today was Misty's voice getting louder and louder. You stood up to her. JAN: Now let's keep it. You didn't win that one,
but you're registering. You're finding your voice. [music playing] These are cats
she's unaware of. They'd sneak in, they'd breed. We're going to have a lot of
this today, a lot of flat cats. This is where
they've been living. So we're just going
to start our bag and have them
creamated properly. I don't know how much this
is going to throw off Jan. We've had really good success
in cleaning the house today. And I'm afraid this is just
going to totally shut us down. Garage is empty. We had a total count of 15
dead cats that we found. Wow.
MATT PAXTON: Yeah. I know you didn't know
they were in there. Mm-hmm. I don't want to
see any-- take it. I can't stand it. [music playing] MARK PFEFFER: Jan has one of
the most sophisticated denial systems I've ever seen. I didn't have anybody
to help me for 34 years, so that's why it's like that. I know. Well, what I'm asking,
Mom, is are you going to quit feeding the cats. I said I was. PEGGYE: OK. Because I know you just
had Pam purchase some food. Well, that was just
for that one out there. So-- Well, look how mad
you're getting at me. JAN: No. I'm-- I just want to
quit talking about it. MARK PFEFFER: If the anger
doesn't work, exit stage left. She's out of here. I'm leaving. If you keep it up, I'm leaving. MARK PFEFFER: OK. JAN: Pam! This is why she
hides in the house. This is why she
built stuff around. And now she's mad
because I told on her, and that was a betrayal. [music playing] KAMIE: All these scrapbooks
that you took months to make up, and you have photographs
of your family in them. I find photographs of-- of your grandchildren
on the floor. Well, that's too bad. It hurts. What is this? BEBE: It's for scrapbooking
for your father. KAMIE: I see my mother's anxiety
rising as she's facing reality. And where's are-- where
are pictures of Daddy? BEBE: I have them in
the house somewhere. KAMIE: Where are they?
- I don't know. PEGGYE: This was my daddy's hat. We thought she just whipped
him away out of our lives and out of her life. And when we would
come visit her we could never find anything
of Daddy's, not anything. She hid everything about him. She tried to erase him out of
her life and out of our lives. Mama, look what I found. I cleaned it off but there
were bite marks all over it. It was shocking,
the condition of it, and just her attitude about it. Somebody ate it, and there
were spiders living in it. So every once in a while a
critter comes in the house. KAMIE: It represents the
character, the dedication, the patriotism of my father. This is really, really
disrespectful, Mama, to the man who did nothing
but love you and forgive you. To find it as trash was
insulting and painful. Beyond disrespectful. [music playing] I hear you saying you're
not taking responsibility for your behavior. I don't have a
temper like I used to. You don't have to because
if I have to do threaten it. All you have to do is
threaten to throw a fit, and everybody lines up just
the way you want them to. I thought I was being a good
mother because everyone bragged about how well behaved you were. Mama, we were
terrified of you. We-- we were little girls. KAMIE: Mama, we wet our pants
when you came towards us. And then you'd beat us
for wetting our pants. PEGGYE: You switched me
where I had welts on my legs, and I had to wear
knee-highs to school. I was so humiliated. I asked Daddy one time, I said,
why do you let Mama do this? He goes, because I love her. And if I cause problems in the
marriage, she will leave me. That's not true. He didn't protect us
because he loved you so much. And when you would come and yell
and scream at me because I made a B instead of an A,
that broke my heart. ROBIN ZASIO: If she doesn't
validate her daughters, then Bebe is not
going to change. She's going to
ignore her behavior and probably continue to
repeat the same patterns. PEGGYE: You never got
through the grieving process. You buried it and buried it. And that's why we
have this hoard. Because you buried your grief
about Daddy with this hoard. KAMIE: You could go shopping. You could socialize. You could do everything
you wanted to do. But you couldn't show
respect for Daddy. For the first time
in my life, I was able to express
how I truly felt. I don't find any
evidence of Daddy. Get off of Daddy. KAMIE: No. Mama-- I'm not getting
off Daddy until you-- until I know why his
pictures aren't-- Because it hurt to do it! That's why! It hurt! It's too final! [music playing] I want to finish the
conversation because you don't-- can't--
- No. I told you I'm not
talking about it. OK.
You don't have to talk. You can just listen to me, then. I want to translate for you
what your daughter was saying. Mom, I don't want you to go
back to the way you were. I love you the way
you are right now. And I'll love you-- JAN: No, she don't She's trying
to critique me on everything I do today.
MARK PFEFFER: Wait a second. Wait a second.
Let me finish. Let me just finish, and
then I'll let you talk. No sense of humor. You can't laugh about him. No. I'm not saying you can't
have a sense of humor. I'm just saying I don't want you
to go back to what this is now. Well, I appreciate that. I'm sure you'll be coming up
here to check on me, regularly. MARK PFEFFER: And
translation, I'm the mom. I don't why when you say that. I want you to agree with me. She should have the right to
disagree with you sometimes. JAN: That's fine. MARK PFEFFER: OK,
but I'm saying-- JAN: She's entitled
to her opinion. MARK PFEFFER: That's right. But she-- it's what you saying
to you is she loves you. She wants you to have a life. That's what she's saying. I know how she loves me. OK. JAN: Can we continue? MARK PFEFFER: That's
the best we're going to do for right now. And I think she heard you. [music playing] MATT PAXTON: Floors in this
house have this [inaudible].. We tried to pick it up piece
by piece and it just crumbles. Only way to get it out-- Sawzall. [music playing] MARK PFEFFER: She hadn't been to
the beauty parlor in 20 years. It's so important to give
someone not only a home back, but some self-esteem. Oh, gosh. That looks good. You guys look awesome. Thank you. What have you been
doing so far today? We've been getting beautified. MATT PAXTON: You did the
hard work to reconnect. You did the hard work
to let go of things. We took 26 tons of
trash out of this house, almost 50,000 pounds. Oh, look! Oh, my gosh. [music playing] Oh, I got furniture. She just dropped all the walls
it showed her true emotion. Oh, wow. Oh, my globes. Oh, this is out of sight. MATT PAXTON: You said to me
there was a lot of nosy people in this neighborhood.
And it turns out you're right. [laughter] Everything you're
looking at is donated by people from your town. It's amazing. And I'm most grateful. Oh. MATT PAXTON: That was
unbelievably shocking to her. She truly didn't think anyone
in the world cared about her. I got a stove! Oh, my gosh. MISTY: Wow.
- Oh, and a cookbook. - And a new--
- A dishwasher! A washer! Oh, my gosh. MARK PFEFFER: The
outpouring of generosity was almost a prescription
for whole mental health. JAN: I've never had
anybody been kind to me. MATT PAXTON: Jan really
did everything she could to make this crisis go away. Oh. Oh, there's a
picture of the pugs. Oh, my gosh. MATT PAXTON: And thank
God, , the county agreed. She can stay in this home. She can live here happily. She can keep three dogs. I'd say this is a success. JAN: I just don't
feel as alone now. I feel closer to my daughter. MISTY: We've learned to
actually listen to each other. I am optimistic
about the future. [music playing] KAMIE: I don't find
any evidence of Daddy. Get off of Daddy. KAMIE: No-- PEGGYE: Mama-- KAMIE: --until I know
why his pictures aren't-- Because it hurt to do it! That's why! KAMIE: We got to a point where
my sister and I just broke down. There are just too many memories
of my father that got buried. PEGGYE: If you don't get over
this and get rid of your grief, you're going to start all over
again trying to fill that void in your life with possessions. You just wouldn't face
that you lost Daddy. We lost him, too. He didn't walk me
down the aisle. That was my dream,
that my military dad in his military regalia
would walk me down the aisle. (CRYING) I'm so sorry. You're doing great, Mama. You're doing great. You're doing great. (CRYING) I think that she was
able to face her grief-- That hurt so
bad, when he died. --and face what she
had done to our family. I just ask you to
please forgive me. We have. We already have
forgiven you, Mama. PEGGYE: That's why we're here. And she took responsibility
for her actions. And she's never
done that before. She made a huge breakthrough. I mean, not just a breakthrough,
I mean, a complete change. [music playing] And in the Navy we say,
I Christen you trash! [cheering] Go, Mama! [cheering] ROBIN ZASIO: At this point,
she gave her daughters Carte Blanche to throw
away whatever they wanted. [music playing] Thank you, God. Thank you, Mama. [music playing] DOROTHY BREININGER: Because
you had a discussion with your daughters that was-- BEBE: Big deal. --a paramount shift,
that allowed me to do what? Zoom right in and
get to the clutter-- [laughter] --clear it out and make a house. [gasps] Oh, my gosh. BEBE: Oh, how beautiful. PEGGYE: It's clean. KAMIE: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my goodness. PEGGYE: When I first
walked in the hallway, I was overwhelmed with memories. This is where you lost your dad?
- Right where I'm standing. Right about
where I'm standing. DOROTHY BREININGER: In this
space there was that death. And with water running, with
plants blooming, is that life? BEBE: Yes. It's beautiful. Thank you so much. I just felt it
was healing to me. [gasps] Oh! [music playing] PEGGYE: I really believe that
with the ongoing therapy, that will be a road to
recovery for my mother. And she won't go backwards into
her old lifestyle of hiding and hoarding. Oh! [laughter] Oh! Look what happened! Oh, my goodness! Look. BEBE: I've gotten an insight
into my daughters' pain how about their father's going. And I've gotten an
insight into the reason that I hoarded things. [music playing]
