Theresa Caputo (born June 10, 1967) is an American

psychic medium Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between familiar spirits or spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spir ...

, best known for her TLC

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...

television series ''

Long Island Medium ''Long Island Medium'' is an American reality television series starring Theresa Caputo, a self-professed medium who claims she can communicate with the dead. Much of the program, which premiered on September 25, 2011, takes place in Hicksville ...

''.

Early life

Caputo, the daughter of Nicholas and Veronica Brigandi, was born and raised in

Hicksville, New York Hicksville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York. The population of the CDP was 41,547 at the 2010 census. History Valentine Hicks, son-in-law of abolitionist an ...

, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

. She has a brother, Michael. Their father was a volunteer firefighter and worked for the Nassau County Department of Public Works until 1980 when he was elected county water commissioner.

Career

Caputo was on the TLC

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series ''

'' from 2011 to 2019. She is also the author of two books and tours under "Theresa Caputo Live! The Experience".

Criticism

Several people have raised doubts about her powers, including ''

Inside Edition ''Inside Edition'' is an American news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is no ...

'' and ''

Jezebel Jezebel (;"Jezebel"
(US) and ) was the daughte ...

''.

D. J. Grothe Douglas James Grothe (born June 25, 1973) is an American writer and public speaker who talks about issues at the nexus of science, critical thinking, secularism, religion and the paranormal. As an active skeptic, he has served in leadership ro ...

called on Caputo to prove her abilities, and

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010 ...

said her claims were not true. In April 2012, the

James Randi Educational Foundation James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) is an American grant-making institution founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. As a nonprofit organization, the mission of JREF includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of ...

awarded Caputo its

Pigasus Award The Pigasus Award is the name of an annual tongue-in-cheek award that was presented by noted skeptic James Randi. The award seeks to expose parapsychological, paranormal or psychic frauds that Randi had noted over the previous year. Randi ...

, a tongue-in-cheek award that seeks to expose

parapsychological Parapsychology is the study of alleged psychic phenomena (extrasensory perception, telepathy, precognition, clairvoyance, psychokinesis (also called telekinesis), and psychometry) and other paranormal claims, for example, those related to near- ...

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

frauds. The James Randi Education Foundation has been critical of Caputo's work. A newspaper review of Caputo's performances at the

NYCB Theatre at Westbury The NYCB Theatre at Westbury (originally known as the Westbury Music Fair) is an entertainment venue located in the hamlet of Jericho, outside of Westbury, New York. Constructed as a theatre in the round style with seating for 2,870 that was orig ...

in late 2017 concluded, "For me, this unbelievable experience was simply that: not to be believed. In my humble opinion, Caputo is a damn good performer, and she's got undeniably likable sass and charisma. I just don't think she speaks with the dead. Or she didn't the night that I saw her. But my father probably could have told you that." Paranormal investigator

Massimo Polidoro Massimo Polidoro (born 10 March 1969) is an Italian psychologist, writer, journalist, television personality, and co-founder and executive director of the Italian Committee for the Investigation of Claims of the Pseudosciences (CICAP). Early lif ...

calls Caputo a "performer" and reports on an investigation done by ''

'' and mentalist

Mark Edward Mark Edward (born Mark Edward Wilson, May 19, 1951) is an American mentalist and author. He has written books on mentalism, séance theory and production, including '' Psychic Blues'' published in 2009, where he discusses working for the Ps ...

who attended one of her live shows in 2012. In 2013, illusionist

Criss Angel Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos ( el, Χριστόφορος Νικόλαος Σαραντάκος; born December 19, 1967), known professionally as Criss Angel, is an American magician, illusionist and musician. Angel began his career in Ne ...

offered Caputo $1 million to prove her claims.

Personal life

On December 3, 2017, Theresa and her husband Larry Caputo jointly announced they were separating after 28 years of marriage. They have two children, who have both appeared on the show: Larry Caputo Jr. and Victoria Caputo. On June 27, 2018, Larry Caputo, who moved to Los Angeles following the separation from Theresa, announced he and Theresa were moving from separation to divorce. In December 2018, Theresa Caputo announced the divorce had been finalized.

Works and publications

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References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caputo, Theresa Living people American psychics Participants in American reality television series People from Hicksville, New York American spiritual mediums 1967 births