I promise, it is the last time I will write about Tyler Henry. This year. Probably.

Sometimes what is missing from a psychic reading is more interesting and more important than what was actually said.

Case in point: In the summer of 2016, as a promo for the third season of E! Network’s Hollywood Medium, psychic Tyler Henry sat down with American television host of The Today Show, Matt Lauer. They recorded for an hour, and The Today Show released a 6:35 segment on YouTube. This video has been watched 1,025,162 times, and has more than 4,000 likes, and 890 comments.

As I write this, Lauer has just been fired from his job as the host of The Today Show. The media is reporting that Lauer was accused of many cases of inappropriate sexual behavior with women. Lauer released a statement soon after, and apologized for his actions, admitting that some of the allegations were true. I remembered that Tyler Henry had done a psychic reading for Lauer and I wondered if there was any foreboding of this scandal. Most people would say that this has been the worst week of Lauer’s life, surely Tyler Henry must have seen it coming and warned him?

I’m going to give a brief overview of the reading, with my explications of what is on the video. Then I will describe what is missing. The video, if you want to follow along, can be watched below.


Let’s set the scene first. Tyler Henry is sitting with cameras and lights on a set, and Lauer walks in with ease and confidence. He shakes Henry’s hand and says he really doesn’t know how this works. There is voice-over from Lauer telling us that Henry has been on The Today Show doing readings before and that Henry did not want to know who he was going to read in advance. This is typical of all of Henry’s videos; there is strong stress on this point: Henry does not know who he is going to read. This is a reaction to skeptics claiming that Henry Googles people in advance. I’ve written about Henry many times, here, here, and here stating that, from my investigations, it appears that Henry does not need to do research. By using cold-reading techniques, he can produce the same effect as what we see happening during a reading.

In this case, Henry does know Lauer, and they greet each other with Lauer saying, “Good to see you again Tyler, how have you been?” Henry knew that he was shooting a promo for Hollywood Medium, so it seems probable that he knew he would be reading Lauer.

Henry uses psychometry (holding a personal object) in order for him to focus on who the sitter would like to “come through” during the reading. Lauer (this is explained by a voice-over) brought a pocketknife that was given to him by his maternal grandfather. Lauer gave it to Henry, who then said that many people want to come through. This is a statement that mediums use as a way to transition between “stories”; if they aren’t getting good hits with someone, they just move to the next person, saying things like, “so now an older woman is pushing her way forward and wants to acknowledge a dog. Does that connect to you?”

Henry then mentioned a “fatherly kind of essence” who did not want to die in a hospital surrounded by doctors. I’m not sure how many people would be happy to die in a hospital, but Henry goes on to acknowledge that this person was grateful that he did not die “in a traditional kind of facility.” At first, I wondered about this statement, as it does seem a bit of a risk to state it with certainty at the beginning of the sitting. So, I went back and watched this exchange a few more times, paying attention to the body language of Lauer. And sure enough, you can watch him agreeing with Henry, nodding his head, making eye contact and reassuring Henry he was on the right track. Henry is young, but he has done over a thousand readings and is no fool when it comes to body language feedback.

I also want to point out that as soon as Henry starts talking about this “fatherly kind of essence,” Lauer’s demeanor completely changes. His head drops and his voice softens. During a voice-over, Lauer says that Henry is talking about his father who died in 1997.

At this point, Lauer in his mind has claimed the “fatherly kind of essence” as his father. But for Henry, he still does not know if this is a father, grandfather, father-in-law, a mentor, uncle, brother, or a close male friend. Henry plays it safe and continues saying “he” or “this person” but nothing else to describe him.

Next Henry moves onto something that seems specific but really is a common general statement made by mediums doing readings. The “fatherly kind of essence” is showing Henry, “a coin, coins, or a coin collection.” Henry follows up with, “that is a really odd thing.” Henry does this all the time; he makes a very general statement and acts like it was specific. Lauer says that he has a couple of silver dollars from him but not a lot. Henry replies that there is a third coin somewhere.

Next Henry lightens the mood a bit and throws out another general “vision.” The “fatherly kind of essence” is showing him a bird that was in the house and someone had to trap the bird and it was really funny. Lauer said that this had actually happened.

How risky was that statement for Henry? Birds fly into homes, and businesses, and all kinds of places; it’s not that unusual. And they often will not leave on their own and need to be removed. I’m sure it is pretty comical when it happens. (One of the people who commented on the video said that while watching, a bird flew into her house.) The odds of Lauer connecting to this story are pretty high, a quick YouTube search and you will find endless videos of birds flying inside homes. If Lauer had not connected, then Henry had several options. He could have said, “this happened before you were born, ask someone else in the family” or maybe it was on a TV show they could have watched together, or it could have happened to someone else in the family. Henry does not say to whom this happened or when. That leaves the door wide open for Lauer to make the connection. Or the final out, if Lauer had not connected to the story, Henry could just move on to something else knowing that only the best parts of the reading will actually air. And Lauer (like most humans) will remember the hits and forget the misses.

And once again, Henry makes a statement claiming that what he just said was really specific, “It’s random details like that that proves someone is coming through.”

Next, Henry says that the “fatherly kind of essence” has just told him that Lauer has sleep apnea; something that Lauer confirms. Sounds like a specific hit. Well … what are the odds that a man would have it? A Google search tells me that about 4 percent of men have it, so that does look like a hit. Well done “fatherly kind of essence.” Oh wait … a Google search for “Matt Lauer” and “sleep apnea” returns a 2014 article, How early does Matt wake up? In this article, Lauer says that he “sometimes” has sleep apnea. Very possibly Lauer has discussed this on The Today Show; maybe when Henry was present. When Henry was getting his makeup and hair done before the taping, he could have innocently asked the stylists something like, “Matt must get up really early in the morning; he probably has sleeping problems?” With that little question mark at the end of the sentence and a pause, they easily could have told him all kinds of things. Not so difficult for a personable Tyler Henry to glean a bit of information. It’s not as if this was a test for the JREF million-dollar challenge. So the sleep apnea was not so much of a hit as I first thought.

The “fatherly kind of essence” now acknowledges a lone individual in a boat with a fishing pole. Lauer is nodding in agreement. The video cues the emotional music, so viewers know we need to start getting misty eyed. Lauer clearly emotional, tells Henry that this “fatherly kind of essence” is his father. Which leads Henry to smoothly say, “Your father is SO immensely proud of you, you didn’t have to get to where you are today for him to be proud of you … or successful in his eyes. He views you as successful regardless.” Very smooth Henry! He added that tidbit as if he had known all along they had been talking about Lauer’s father.

Next, Lauer asks if there is something his father wants to know. Which is a rather odd question, but Lauer is probably a bit emotional as he has been convinced that he is speaking to his father who died nineteen years ago. Henry says, “He just wants to know if you are happy.” “Yes,” Lauer says, “I am.”

Then the video cuts to Lauer on the beach wearing sunglasses and talking to the other hosts who are back in the newsroom. Lauer is telling them that after that reading, he cried and cried. He said his hands were shaking the whole time and Henry was “spot on.”

Remember that what we were shown was only five minutes of an hour long reading. So, a lot is missing; editing pulls together the best bits for the video promo. Anything that was a miss would not make the cut. Only the best parts would be shown. If there were a lot of great hits, they would have cut the part about the coins or the sleep apnea. They could have run a longer video; so I assume these were the best hits: A “fatherly kind of essence” who did not want to die in a hospital and who gave Lauer silver dollars and wants him to go find the third one. Then there was a bird was loose in someone’s house, and he also wanted to tell Lauer something that he already knew, that he has sleep apnea. Oh, and about the boat: it looks like another hit. Or does it? A Google search for “Matt Lauer” and “father” gives me this article, Today’s Anchor Chat: Matt Lauer’s Fish Tale from 2007 where he says, “One thing you have to understand about me is that outside of my family and my work, I have two passions, both instilled in me by my father: golf and fishing … We also used to do a lot of freshwater fishing, which we both loved … .”

I’m not saying that Henry did a Google search as I did; I’m saying that Lauer’s love for fishing came from his dad, and this was not a well-guarded secret. In that same article, Lauer mentions his favorite photo of his son is one he took on the boat with a striped bass that they had caught minutes before. Perhaps that photo is framed on Lauer’s desk. What is more likely? That a dead person communicated to Tyler Henry a vision of Matt Lauer sitting in a boat with a fishing pole? Or, Henry saw a photo, or heard a story from Lauer’s co-workers, about how much he likes to fish on his boat?

It’s possible, even likely, that Lauer really did think Henry was “spot on.” This was an hour sitting, and a very emotional hour. Lauer is not asking the questions, he is not in control as he is used to. The psychic was throwing a lot at him very quickly, and his brain tried to make sense of it all. That’s how human brains work; we look for connections. Even if something is a bit of a stretch, we will try to make sense of it all. Plus, we want the psychic to be accurate. Henry is very personable and charming, and Lauer likely wanted to make a really good promo. Henry claimed to be speaking to his father, and Lauer really wanted that to be true. And, as we tend to remember the hits and forget the misses, I can’t blame Lauer for thinking the reading was accurate. I’m at home, able to rewind, over and over, rewatch whatever I want, and think about what happened. Lauer wasn’t even taking notes during the reading. I have a notebook with many pages full of notes.

As I said at the beginning, sometimes what is missing is more important than what was said.

What happened to the maternal grandfather who gave the pocketknife to Lauer? We don’t hear from him at all. If it had been a hit, then it would have been included in the segment. In this review of the reading, you might have become annoyed with me continuality using the phrase, “fatherly kind of essence” instead of just saying “father” as we knew that Lauer thought his dad was coming through. We know this is supposed to be dad. But until Lauer said it, Henry didn’t know. And Henry carefully guarded his words with just “he” or “this person” until just seconds after Lauer admitted it was his dad.

Henry, never mentioned a name, not initials, not even one letter. No places, no dates, no mention of a wife, other children, siblings, his parents, grandchildren. Nothing. He mentioned he died, but nothing about the illness or the room. What about pets or family friends, anniversaries or … well … anything?

Lauer had the chance to talk to his father and never asked him any questions? He didn’t ask for advice or even about what the future has in store for him and his family. Dad just wanted him to find the third coin! Really?

Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. As I write this, Matt Lauer has just been fired from The Today Show. This is all over the news; it is a very big deal. It is possibly the most important thing that could have happened to him outside of him becoming a star journalist. The allegations against him, if true, are disgusting. Coworkers are coming forward saying that they all knew he was unfaithful to his wife, but they didn’t know that he was having non-consensual relations with other women. Lauer’s father said he is “immensely proud” of Matt. Really? If these claims of infidelity and or sexual harassment are true, you are immensely proud of your son?

And if they are not true, or only partly true, then why was dad spending his precious, limited time communicating through Henry about sleep apnea? Dad just wanted his son to “be happy.” How about a head’s up dad? This week has been earth-shatteringly difficult for Lauer and his family; for the next few years, Matt Lauer will be the butt of many jokes. He is likely to lose his wife and children; he has already lost his career, and dad just wants to talk about a bird that flew into the house?

Something is really missing here. And that is the point. Each of these recorded readings can be reviewed years later and analyzed. Just like when Tyler Henry didn’t mention to Alan Thicke that just two months after their reading, Thicke would be dead.

I’ve read through the comments on this video. Some are believers, hoping they will be able to get a reading from Tyler Henry. Others are slamming psychics as frauds. Almost no one is commenting on the actual statements from the reading or noticing what is missing. As I noted at the beginning of this article, sometimes what is missing from a psychic reading is more important than what was actually said.

I would like to thank Rob Palmer for suggesting I write this article and Stuart Jones and Rob Palmer for reviewing my writing.


By Susan Gerbic
Affectionately called the Wikipediatrician, Susan Gerbic is the cofounder of Monterey County Skeptics and a self-proclaimed skeptical junkie. Susan is also founder of the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) project. You can contact her at SusanGerbic@yahoo.com

Originally published on csicop.org and republished here with full permission.

The One Where “Psychic” Tyler Henry Reads Alan Thicke

“He’s so sweet.”

“What a nice guy.”

“Caring and with malice to no one.”

“How can you call him a grief vampire when he helps so many people?”

“He’s helping them get over their grief and move on.”

“He is a blessing and adorable!”

The positive adjectives keep coming; this is all I hear about Tyler Henry these days, the star of Hollywood Medium, on its third season on the E! Network. I am starting to hear from his supporters as I become known as his key detractor. Emails, Facebook messages, comments on YouTube: all want to know what my problem with him is. “Why do you say such mean things about him? He is a doll, a gift from heaven, everyone loves him.”

One woman wrote to me on Facebook that she is an atheist and skeptic but can’t understand why I can’t see that Henry is the real thing. Normally I answer by explaining that the burden of proof lies on the person making the extraordinary claim. If he can communicate with the dead, then he would be breaking the laws of physics, and it is up to him to prove he can do it. The default is that he can’t. But for some reason this statement never satisfies believers. They want me to disprove him, show that he is faking it. This is something that I really can’t do; I can only show that there are much simpler ways to do what he appears to be doing—communicating with the dead.  Cold-reading or hot-reading techniques and clever editing are all more reasonable possibilities, and they don’t require unproven explanations.

Finally, one day someone answered me when I asked for their best evidence of why they believed that Henry can communicate with the dead.  Something specific, and not just because he has a great smile. She told me that Henry told actor Alan Thicke that he had heart issues. She said, “No way could Tyler have predicted Thicke’s death from heart failure unless Henry can talk to the dead.” That is something I can look into; a specific claim is being made. Did Henry predict Alan Thicke’s death? Luckily, for just a few dollars and an Amazon Prime account, and the benefit of pause and rewind on my computer keyboard, I could look into the details of the reading.

At the end of 2016, Tyler Henry went to the home of actor Alan Thicke and his wife Tanya. In nearly every Hollywood Medium show, Henry mentions that he does not know who he will be reading for in advance. This time there was no mention that Henry did not know who he would be reading. Tanya was a complete fan; she was so excited that Henry was going to be reading her husband. When the cameras started rolling, Alan stated that he is a skeptic, scientific minded, “Show me proof; I don’t have any faith in the afterlife.”

There were two main parts of the reading; at least that is all we see on the show. Remember the editors want to show the best parts, only the hits. The parts that weren’t exciting would be cut out. If Henry had received hit after hit, then this would have been saved for a special release. Always remember that the editors can make magic happen.

The first half shows Henry reaching Isadora, who is Thicke’s grandmother. And the second half of the reading concerns Henry telling Thicke that there might be some heart issues he should check into.

So, let’s stop right here. I need to make sure you understand that two months or so after this reading, Alan Thicke died from heart trouble. The Internet lit up with the news that a psychic predicted a death, and the E! Network, with the type of compassion known only to profit making ventures everywhere, decided that they could best honor the memory of Alan Thicke by giving his family privacy while they grieve. NOPE. Instead they sent Tyler Henry back to the home, on the two-month anniversary of his death, to show his widow the video of the reading and talk about what Alan was doing in the afterlife. Yep, really classy. Well to Tyler Henry’s fans, this is a kindness: giving his widow peace and helping her to grieve.

How can someone like me fight against that? I come off looking like a person who robbed a cancer victim. How dare I take that away from the widow. How dare I dismiss her pain. Why do I get to determine how she gets to grieve? If she wants to believe that her husband is still around her, watching and sending his love, then what kind of villain am I to say otherwise? I get it; I’m no fun at parties either. If someone is really dealing with grief, then there are people who are trained and licensed to talk to about this. If they don’t want to participate in grief therapy, then at least they can talk to friends, people who aren’t going to put your grief on the E! Network, all over their promos, and use it for their own financial gain.


Let’s review what really happened. Did Tyler Henry predict Alan Thicke’s death from a heart condition? Did Tyler Henry contact Thicke’s grandmother? Well … other explanations are more likely.

Henry was sitting across from Thicke on facing couches, across from Alan Thicke who appears to be 65–75 years old. Henry knows that Thicke wants to hear from someone that he was close to and has sitting nearby a pair of glasses (Henry uses personal objects from the departed to focus on). What we and Henry can tell are that these are old glasses worn by a woman … maybe it was Thicke’s daughter’s second grade teacher who died last year? No, Henry is hearing from an older woman, and he is getting “grandma, grandma, grandma.” The camera all this time stayed on Henry’s face, so we do not know if Thicke was nodding his head in agreement and giving feedback. So, when Henry said, “She is on your mother’s side” and received a “Yes” from Thicke, are we surprised? The odds are 50/50, and with some feedback from Thicke it wouldn’t be hard to guess it.

Henry gives a bunch of general statements about her personality; the same kind of statements everyone wants to be true about themselves and about someone they really loved and miss. It tells us nothing about accuracy but made Alan feel good. Henry went on: She is creative, amazing, and “could have lived twenty more lifetimes,” intense, strong, high-energy. All along Thicke was nodding and giving back feedback, giving Henry clues that he was on the right track.

Next came a statement that seems really specific: “I’m seeing a piano bench, and I’m sitting on the bench and this woman is putting sentimental or significant value around this. Do you know of anyone on your mom’s side that played the piano who would fit that bill?” This would have been the 1930s or ‘40s. According to the LA Times, “The piano has been the center of many American homes for generations, not only a proclamation of a love of music but also often a statement about striving for success.” And in the 1930–1940s this would have been very common. http://www.latimes.com/home/la-hm-pianos16-2009may16-story.html So for Henry to claim he saw a piano in a house that Thicke grew up in, or had access to, was a safe bet. Note Henry did not say that he saw Thicke’s maternal grandmother Isadora playing the piano; he only said he saw an older woman and then asked, “Who might that be?” There is a big difference between those two statements.

Thicke went on to tell Henry all about his grandmother, Isadora. Thicke seemed to think that Henry had shown him the proof he needed, he says “You killed that one—wooo you crushed it!” And Thicke really can’t be blamed; it all happened very quickly. He was primed to think that Henry is the real deal and did not have the ability to pause and replay as I do sitting in the quiet of my office. Thicke had not been following and viewing these kinds of readings for years, as I have. I’m going to speculate further and state that Thicke does have a potential motive to participate in a positive way.  If Thicke did not get excited about the reading, then the show may not have aired. There would be no free publicity for Thicke. And his wife, Tanya, would be disappointed.

Speaking of playing to Tanya, this bit is so precious: Henry claimed that Isadora said that she saw a wedding and was giving her congratulations; it was a wedding she was unable to attend. I wonder whose wedding that might have been? Tanya, who is quite a bit younger than Alan, kept talking about how they plan on having a baby together, so she must be younger than forty. Thicke was born in 1947, which probably means his grandmother was born in the 1880s to 1900. What are the odds that she would not have been alive when Thicke married his third wife? Wikipedia says that he married Tanya in 2005, which would have meant that Isadora would have been 105–125 years old if she had been alive to attend the wedding. Not very likely. Henry made a safe bet, and Tanya was thrilled with the news that Isadora has blessed their marriage. Interesting that Isadora didn’t have any news for her great-grandchildren or a warning that her grandson was about to die two months later. Considering that the second show on the Thickes was promoted on E! that Henry did just that, I think Isadora could have been a lot clearer with her warning.

Now comes the part of the reading where all the believers are so sure that Henry predicted Thicke’s death. Let’s look at a transcript to make sure we aren’t missing anything.

Henry: For the men in your family it’s important to take into consideration something we really have to keep in mind. Heart issues are not uncommon in men, thing is (pause) I don’t know where to start?

(insert scary music cue— cut to commercial)

(back from commercial, more ominous music)

Henry: When it comes to a family gene perspective, it’s possible that within your family that there may be multiple men who at a later age have to deal with a blood pressure issue, but also with a heart murmur or heart arrhythmia, but I have to go to heart which correlates to blood pressure. So, keep that in mind, I have a couple people passing on a similar sense saying keep in mind your own heart. There is a man who is very stubborn who passed away, he acknowledges dying because of a heart problem. His message is don’t be stubborn like I was … it could have been treatable if we had known about it.

Thicke then told Henry that there are no known heart problems in his family other than his sister who had surgery but is doing well. Then Thicke said “Thank you Doctor Henry, I’m going to take that to heart.”  Henry then threw back his head, and laughed. I’m mentioning this because it seems so heartless (pun intended) that if Henry REALLY thought that Thicke’s heart would give out only a couple months later, he should have been less flippant about it and actually very stern.

And that was it, nothing much other than a warning to keep an eye on his blood pressure. Keep in mind that Henry was again playing the odds. The number one cause of death for American males? You guessed it: heart disease.  If the Thicke family had a history of deaths or illnesses from heart complications, then mentioning this in the reading would have been an even better fit.

As I said, the E! Network brought Henry back to the Thicke home two months after the death. He shows the reading to the widow Tanya who says that it is “So important for me to see Tyler because if there’s anybody in this world that can give me some guidance because it’s so difficult for me to even fathom what my life is going to be like without my husband, that’s how I feel right now, I’m still healing.”

She and Henry went for a walk around the ranch, and Henry said that he is seeing a “sun symbol,” and Tanya takes that to be a message from her husband. “I thought I would never see the sun shine again.” Which is a hit in Tanya’s mind and just something vague that would have hit no matter what in my mind.

Henry then asked her if there was a Florida trip planned. Tanya had a very strong reaction and told him that her husband had planned a surprise trip to Florida with their friends. Sounds like a hit. She seems to have forgotten that only four months ago Henry and Alan had a long conversation, and it was not unlikely that Thicke mentioned that he was planning this vacation.

So, then Henry talked Tanya into taking the trip to Florida. He says that she will fall in love again, and Alan will be happy if she does. “That’s how healing happens.” She is strong; she will be fine. Henry then explained that after a thousand readings, he still does not know what happens after you die, that he thinks they have to “work through things.”

The show ends with Tanya saying that she “feels lighter—hope in her heart. Step one, picking up the pieces. The sunshine came out today.”

(Cue happy music.)

I was curious about licensed grief therapy and reached out to someone at a nearby hospice center. Cindi Gray is a licensed Clinical Social Worker and has worked in the field of death and dying through hospice for twenty-six years with Santa Cruz County. She told me that she hasn’t directly had contact with anyone who has come to them after seeking out help from a psychic. She said that she does know that they have had clients in the past who have gone to psychics for support. Her clinic does not judge; she states that “there isn’t a right or wrong way to grieve and that we are here to accompany grievers on their journey. We offer grief education and a non-judgmental space for sharing feelings and receiving support. We provide 1:1 counseling and groups for a series of weeks. Typically, we hear that the community appreciates a listening ear when they are trying to make sense of things after a death.”

Cindi is the expert. There is no right way to grieve. Personally, I’m disgusted that grief vampires exist to prey on grief and exploit them as E! and Hollywood Medium do in this case. But if this really helps the widow of Alan Thicke then it is none of my business. I am only able to comment on the Thicke’s experience with Tyler Henry because they choose to be public with the story.

My intent with this investigation is to show that there is no evidence of any communication with the dead is happening, everything that was said was general, or edited. If this is such a great case of prediction of someone getting a call from the “other side” to get your heart checked out, then why was it so vague? Is Hollywood Medium blaming Alan Thicke for not taking Henry’s reading seriously? Obviously, this is a controversial issue; education is important, if someone wants to use psychics for grief counseling then that is their choice. What I believe is that there should be more articles like this one in case people are looking for a second opinion about such an important moment in their lives.

Thank you to Rob Palmer for his help with this article.

By Susan Gerbic
Originally published on www.csicop.org

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Susan Gerbic
Affectionately called the Wikipediatrician, Susan Gerbic is the cofounder of Monterey County Skeptics and a self-proclaimed skeptical junkie. Susan is also founder of the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia (GSoW) project. You can contact her at SusanGerbic@yahoo.com

Proof That Hollywood Medium Tyler Henry Is Totally Fake

It may not come as a surprise, but Hollywood Medium's Tyler Henry may not be the "clairvoyant, and medical intuitive" he says he is. On his reality show, Henry and his mom visit celebrities' homes to connect with their deceased loved ones. But it's hard to believe that this young man supposedly knows nothing about the celebrities he meets with. Doesn't he have a TV? Here are all the reasons why Hollywood Medium is a sham...

Obvious props | 0:23
Easy to Google | 1:22
Anyone can be a medium | 3:16
No big questions | 3:52
He messes up his own game | 4:40
'Grief vampire' | 5:23

Another Fake Psychic - Exposing the "Hollywood Medium Tyler Henry" (PART 2)

Another look at the latest medium getting some popularity in the US!

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Another Fake Psychic - "Hollywood Medium" Tyler Henry Takes Advantage of Tragedy (PART 1)

Tyler Henry, the Hollywood Medium is fake, like any medium. But what he does is disgusting.

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