Top psychic medium Matt Fraser has been receiving communication from spirit since early childhood. Some of his earliest memories are of seeing, hearing and sensing messages from the Other Side the way other youngsters recall learning to ride a bike. Confiding in his mother, he discovered “the family gift,” with psychic phenomena being passed down from his grandmother and his mother and down the line to him.
Growing up in a Catholic family, it took generations and a cultural turning of the tide for Matt to lean into his gift for communicating with spirit. It was during a reading with another medium when his late grandmother came through and encouraged Matt to do what she couldn’t in life; to embrace and share his gift with the world.
After a decade of bringing healing through private readings and events, in January of 2020, E! premiered a ten episode run of Meet The Frasers, a docuseries introducing Matt’s work and his family to a much wider audience and making his latest book, We Never Die: Secrets of the Afterlife an instant New York Times bestseller on the day of its release.
Matt Fraser now tours the U.S., appearing before sold out crowds eager to learn about the parts of our world that exist far beyond our five senses. I had a chance to sit down with Matt Fraser to ask him what comes after this life, what our departed loved ones look and sound like in spirit, and how to overcome what holds us back here on earth.
Allison Kugel: What is the most profound piece of wisdom you have received from spirit?
Matt Fraser: Here in this world we have limiting beliefs. We have anxieties, phobias and fears. We all have these things. So many times we say to ourselves, “I’m not going to be able to do that. I’m too old to do that. I’m not good enough.” We place fears and doubts in our own minds and it stops us from living our best life. It stops us from achieving milestones, and it stops us from achieving our dreams. What I’ve learned is, on the Other Side spirits do magnificent things. They realize their God-given gifts that maybe they didn’t see in this world, and they also realize how their life could have been different if they didn’t focus on the negative; if they didn’t focus on so much stressing, worry and placing those self-doubts on themselves, because in heaven it doesn’t exist.
Allison Kugel: What does spirit have to say about what causes human fears and phobias, and why do we all have different fears and phobias?
Matt Fraser: If you look at a baby or a little kid, they don’t have phobias or fears when they are younger. [My son] Royce is only nine months old and he’s not afraid of anything. But, the other day he was playing around and he took a little tumble off the bed. Luckily it wasn’t high up, but now he knows not to go to the edge. This is how we learn, but our phobias, fears and worries come from traumatic past experiences. It might not be a traumatic experience that you personally went through, but it might be a traumatic experience that you watched somebody else go through.
Allison Kugel: Are we supposed to allow that to inform future decisions, or should be dust ourselves off and dive right back in?
Matt Fraser: It’s about lessons and being more cautious. For example, I can tell you from my experience as a medium, I have seen people die in so many different ways. I have seen people go through terrible things in their life. In the beginning it used to sit with me. I used to be so fearful and all I thought, “Oh, I can’t do this because this happened to one of my clients,” or “I can’t trust this person, because this happened with this person I was reading for.” I talked to the spirit world and what the spirits told me is, “We all have our own destiny, and we all have our own life that we are meant to go through, and these are all life lessons that we learn.” We are put here on this earth to make mistakes. We are here to trip, fall and stumble, but it’s all how we pick ourselves up and it’s about becoming your own success story. That is what the spirits share with me.
Allison Kugel: Do you as a psychic medium have the ability to tap into your son’s spirit guide or his soul mission, or are you blocked from seeing that type of information?
Matt Fraser: I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know all there is to know about death and dying, because I never died. I will only know when I get to the Other Side. Through the readings I do, and through the souls that I communicate with, I am able to piece [some] things together. I’m able to get little glimpses into heaven. Being a medium is like learning a new language, but what I will tell you is this, we don’t know our life’s mission or what our gifts are until we transition on to the Other Side. That is when everything is placed in front of us. Our journey here in life is all about discovering ourselves; our true self, our potential, discovering our gifts… all of those things. I think I know what my life mission is. I think my life’s purpose is being a psychic medium, helping people connect with their loved ones and showing people there is more to life, but I won’t truly know until I die. When we pass on is when our whole life is shown in front of us and we than think, “Okay, this is why we were put here on this earth, and this is why this happened in our life.”
Allison Kugel: That is frustrating (laugh).
Matt Fraser: I don’t think it is frustrating. I think it’s amazing, because we are not meant to know everything. Life wouldn’t be fun if we did. When you’re driving on the highway at night you can only see where your headlights show you. You know where the destination is. You know where you are going, along the way you can only see so far ahead of you. It is the same thing with our lives. Even when I’m doing a reading, I don’t know everyone’s life from start to finish. When I’m giving a reading for someone, a lot of times when souls come through they will only give me little bits of information to help that person along their way. Spirits are not there to help us cheat life. I can’t just get the lottery numbers or know who’s going to win in the horse race. They want us to do the work here in this world. That’s why we are here.
Allison Kugel: Everything that I’ve studied about the spirit realm has led me to believe that our soul does reincarnate over and over again, and we bring certain gifts and knowledge from previous lives into this life. But in your book (We Never Die: Secrets of the Afterlife/Gallery Books), you say that has not been your experience in terms of what you’ve learned.
Matt Fraser: I’ve never researched any of this. I have never picked up a book. I’ve never read about the Other Side. I trust the information I get from the spirit world, and everything I write and teach is off of my own personal belief system from what I’ve learned during all these years giving readings. I can’t back something just because I read it in a book. I have to know and hear it firsthand from the spirit world. I’ve, personally, never met a soul that was reincarnated, that lived many years ago and came through to me. That’s never happened. So, until that happens, I can’t teach it because no one told it to me and I’d be lying to you. I’ve asked the Other Side many questions when they come through. “What is your experience with dying? How do you know this information? How do you know this or that?” I’ve started over these years to put the pieces together, and that’s how I’ve been writing my books, including the one I am writing now. With my last book, We Never Die: Secrets of The Afterlife becoming a New York Times bestseller on the same day of its release, I feel like it’s because so many people were searching for this information.
Allison Kugel: Yes.
Matt Fraser: Since that book came out about two years ago, and I wrote it during the pandemic, I’ve learned so much more since that book was even published. It’s a never-ending source of knowledge for me. I’m not going to knock anything or knock anyone’s belief system. I can only talk about my own experiences.
Allison Kugel: What has been shared with you…
Matt Fraser: Exactly.
Allison Kugel: When you tell someone that their grandmother or their grandfather, for example, is standing right beside them or in back of them, please explain to me what exactly you are seeing. Are you literally seeing them as clearly as you’re seeing me right now?
Matt Fraser: I don’t see them as clearly as I see you, but I do see shadows and figures, kind of like a silhouette. I see a figure and I’ll know right away that it’s the person’s father. Every medium is different and has a different way of connecting with the Other Side. My grandmother used to get omens and premonitions. My mom is a card reader and she’s a life reader. She can tell who you are going to marry and what’s going to happen five years from now. How it works for me is that I will see shadows or a figure, and right away when I connect with that soul I’ll hear, “Okay, I’m this person’s father, or I’m this person’s mother.” They’ll start to tell me quick bits of information. That’s how it works when I’m out at a live event, and what’s really cool is that for me it’s almost like the audience disappears and all I see are figures out there in the audience. I’ll see a figure and I’ll be like, “Okay, that’s this person’s father.” If I see the figure of a child, I’ll see that this person lost a son or a daughter, and it’s really like going and piecing it together and using all of your senses. I’ll see them, sense them, feel them and hear them. Depending on how that soul communicates, when they come through, the information is always different.
Allison Kugel: So, you are getting this silhouette, plus they are telling you telepathically who they are to that person?
Matt Fraser: I’m glad you said that, because what a lot of people don’t realize, and I try to teach people how it is, because people are like, “How the hell is this guy talking to the Other Side when he talks so damn fast? How can he be talking to the spirit world when he doesn’t shut the f*ck up?” If spirits talked to me the way you and I are talking right now it would take forever for them to describe what is happening. They come to me really quickly. When I see that shadow or silhouette, I will know the spirit is ready to communicate. The more I connect with them, I will ask questions in my head, like, “Who are you?” and they’ll let me know, “I’m the father.” “How did you die?” Then I will start to feel things. If I feel things in my head, I will know they had a stroke or aneurism. If I feel things in my stomach, I will know they had abdomen issues. If my heart starts to flutter, I will know they had a heart attack. If I see an image of an urn, I will know that person was cremated. This is all within a couple of seconds that they can tell me a lot about their life all at once.
Allison Kugel: A departed soul’s connection to their recent life, do they have human emotions connected to their life on earth, or is it more detached?
Matt Fraser: It’s not detached, because they are with you every day. They still love and care about you, but they know things. You have to understand that in heaven the universal knowledge goes far beyond doing a Google search. Universal knowledge means that your loved ones actually know what you are thinking. I know that sounds traumatizing and you’re thinking, “I don’t want my dad or my mom to know my thoughts.” Really, it’s that your loved ones feel closer to you and know why you made certain decisions. Here in this world, we have a disconnect. We have the detachment. The souls on the Other Side don’t. For example, you and your mom might get into an issue because your mom might say to you, “Why are you dating that guy? What do you see in him? Why would you keep going back to that relationship?” On the Other Side, your mother in spirit would say, “I know why you keep going back.”
Allison Kugel: They see the whole picture.
Matt Fraser: Exactly. That is why they don’t judge.
Allison Kugel: Why do some of us, like you, come in with this open channel to the spirit world?
Matt Fraser: Actually, the way the spirits describe it to me is that we are all born with an open channel. All children can sense, feel and hear the spirit world. It’s funny because people ask me about my son all the time. He is only nine months and people ask, “Does he have the gift?” I always tell people, “It’s too early to tell,” because all children have the gift. So, do I know he is talking to spirits? Absolutely. I know he sees these people. I know he has these little conversations in his head or however he connects to the Other Side, because all children do. All children before the age of three will have a spirit encounter, but some children will hold onto that connection and those encounters. They’ll remember it, hold onto it and keep that connection strong, and some children won’t. A lot of children outgrow it and they lose that connection, or they think they lose that connection. In my experience it is always there. We just have to learn how to tune back into it. With the majority of children, it won’t stay with them. The ones who do and it follows them, that is where we get psychic kids from.
Allison Kugel: In addition to small children, animals seem to be very tuned into the spirit world.
Matt Fraser: Yes, another tell-tale way to know if a spirit is with you are your pets. I can’t tell you how many times I will be doing a group reading, or even an online reading and everyone is always apologizing because the minute I start the reading somebody’s cat or dog starts going crazy. They will say, “I don’t know why the dog is doing this.” And I’ll say, “No, no, no. It’s okay. They are seeing spirit.” Animals have a different filter and a different lens. What’s really cool is that animals don’t fear death and dying, and the reason is because they know the Other Side exists. Animals can actually see spirits, which is so cool because we as humans, unless you are gifted or have some mediumship ability, can’t see them with the naked eye. Even those spirits that come to me, I know my pets can see them clearer than I can. Animals see spirits walking with us every day.
Allison Kugel: You have celebrity clients who are, obviously, very Google-able. There is a lot of information about them in the public domain. Is that more challenging for you?
Matt Fraser: I think it is more challenging for the general public to believe that it’s the celebrity’s loved one coming through. That is why I don’t publish a lot of the celebrity readings. Anyone who is high profile like Mariah Carey or Britney Spears, or someone like that, you can Google pretty much anything about them. The thing is, when I do a reading for a celebrity there are things that come through that are able to be Googled. There are things that are secret, that oftentimes come up in a reading. I find that with celebrities, they often have two personas. They have what they show in the public eye, and then what actually happens behind closed doors. When I do a celebrity reading, I don’t want to know anything about that celebrity. Luckily, I’m so busy every single day between the dead and the living, that I have no time to watch television. A lot of times I will get celebrity calls and everyone around me will freak out. I’ll be told, “So and so wants to talk to you.” And I’m asking, “Who the hell is that?,” because I don’t watch television. My wife gets more excited than I do with certain celebrities. I’ll ask her, “Do you know this person?” And she’ll say, “Of course I know that person!” She’s into pop culture and I’m just not, because of what I do.
Allison Kugel: Is there any skepticism on the part of the celebrity sitter you are reading?
Matt Fraser: Not at all. The skepticism is more from the general public, about those readings. The minute you start to do a reading for a celebrity you are automatically set up to fail by the skeptics, because no matter what you say, even if you can’t find it online they are going to say, “Well, he could have Googled that.” My response is, “Try to Google it and see if you can find it.” You can’t. Celebrities know what is out there and what is not. My own life is public. I’m on television and everything is out there, but if there are certain things my loved one’s told me, certain things that happened behind closed doors, I would be able to know if it was my mom, my dad or whoever it is that passed away.
Allison Kugel: Speaking of television, how did you wind up getting your own show, Meet the Frasers, on the E! Network?
Matt Fraser: I don’t know how this all began, and I don’t know how my book became a New York Times bestseller. I’m still trying to figure it out to this day. I’m so honored and so amazed about this journey that the spirits have led me on. I started my career as an EMT (emergency medical technician). I had an amazing job. I loved the staff, and I loved working there. I started doing readings on the side. I was coming back into my gifts and I decided I’m not going to keep this hidden anymore. When I sense something or I feel something, I’m going to talk about it. I started doing readings for my friends and getting referrals. All of a sudden people would call and say, “Hey, I heard you do readings. I heard you were a medium.” People started finding out about me and the next thing you know I’m being asked to be on television shows, on radio shows and then I got a call from E! and they said, “Matt, we want to do a show about you and your life.” Then Simon & Schuster contacted me and asked, “Did you ever think of writing a book?”
Allison Kugel: The story of how you found out you made the New York Times bestseller list is funny.
Matt Fraser: I remember I only had one week to make the New York Times bestseller list, and I thought there is no way we are going to make this list. You have to sell thousands and thousands of copies in just one day. I remember that day coming, and I was preoccupied. It was the week that our son Royce was born, and I didn’t really have time to focus on anything else. I told my fans, “I have this book coming out. If you really want to support me, go out and buy it.” All of a sudden my grandmother calls me up from Maine and says, “I went to two bookstores and I can’t buy your book. It came out today, right?” She asked and both bookstores said the copies that were there were already sold out. My sister calls me up and says, “Hey, I went to go buy your book today and the store told me they already sold out.” Everybody started calling me telling me that the book was sold out. I remember saying to myself, “Something is wrong. Something is off.” I called Simon & Schuster and asked them, “Did my book actually come out today?” They said, “Yes it did.” I said, “I don’t know if this is right, but everyone is telling me that it’s sold out.” Next thing you know I got an email saying, “Matt, congratulations! You made the New York Times bestseller list.” I remember I looked at [my wife] Alexa and started crying. To this day, it gives me goosebumps.
Allison Kugel: You were raised a Catholic. Are you still a practicing Catholic? The reason I ask is because I know that the Catholic Church does not believe in connecting with the Other Side. Have you experienced any religious discrimination because of your career?
Matt Fraser: I think it depends on the person, to be honest with you. I’ll be honest with you, I’ve had priests come to me, and I’ve had nuns come to me. I won’t tell you who they are, but I’ve had them come to me and get readings. I remember the first time two nuns came to my event. I was so nervous, because I thought they were going to judge me and the work I was doing, even though I do everything with God. I’m very strong in my religion. I believe in Jesus. I believe in the Archangels. I pray to them every single night. So, when I saw two nuns show up at my event I thought, “Oh my God, here we go. It’s going to be all over.” They came up to me and I said to them, “I’m surprised you’re here. Do you know what event you are coming to?” They said, “We love the work that you are doing and we had to come.” That was refreshing to me, because I realized that it wasn’t a whole group. It depends on the person. That was something I needed to hear in the beginning of my journey as a medium.
Allison Kugel: Why do you think over the last two decades, and definitely over the last decade, there is an avalanche of interest in connecting with the Other Side and learning about where we go from here? Why now?
Matt Fraser: A couple of different reasons. Back in the day we weren’t allowed to talk about it. Decades ago, I would never be talking to you right now. It just wouldn’t happen. We had amazing pioneers like John Edward and James Van Praagh who really paved the way for me to speak about my gifts. They also paved the way for other people to talk about their experiences. We now have social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube where you can go and be your own voice. You can tell your story. People don’t have to be quiet anymore. They can share their experiences. My grandmother couldn’t talk about this. My grandmother was a medium, but she kept it hidden for years and years. My own grandfather didn’t even know she was a medium, because she was afraid of being ostracized back then. People would call you crazy. Now, with the help of social media and the Internet people can talk about it. I also noticed that when the world changed during the pandemic everybody started talking about this. When you go through something like that and everyone is passing around you, immediately there is fear and uncertainty. We all know somebody that passed from [Covid]. It brought up questions of What if? Is there another life after this? Is my [deceased] loved one okay? During the pandemic, I cannot tell you the thousands of people who reached out to me for answers, and that is why I started writing my book, We Never Die. So many people write to me and say, “Your book has helped me in so many different ways, and I’m so thankful for that.”
Allison Kugel: Explain the book’s title, We Never Die.
Matt Fraser: When we lose a loved one, we see death as permanent. What I really want to show people is that it’s not. It’s just a transition. There are two versions of us. There is a physical version that you see every single day, and deep inside of us there is another version of us, and it is called our soul. It is the energy version of us, and that is really important because your soul is the second version of you. You might be missing a finger or missing a toe. You might have issues with your hair or your teeth or whatever, but your soul remains intact. When we pass on we leave our physical body here, but our soul transitions on and we don’t lose ourself. When we pass on, we still have an appearance. We look like we do, just without illness, without any of the challenges that we had throughout life. For example, if you lost a finger or a toe, you are put back together in heaven.
Allison Kugel: Have you, yourself, ever had an NDE (near death experience)?
Matt Fraser: No, I have not. Everyone always thinks that I have had one, being a medium, but no. I’ve talked to people that have had a near death experience, but I’ve never had one myself. I don’t think I want to. I’m so connected to the Other Side, I don’t need any more experiences (laugh).
Allison Kugel: Do you think time travel is possible on this earth? And do you think that every human passes at their divine time, or can a person pass prematurely?
Matt Fraser: I think people can definitely pass prematurely. I think in certain circumstances, like when someone takes their own life, it’s premature. I have had souls come through to me and say they regretted it. I have had those readings where souls will come through, who have taken their own life and they realized, “Oh my God, I shouldn’t have done this, because I could have done this, this, and this.” They saw that there was so much to their life that they could have had, but they ended it early. What spirit tries to show us is that when we are here in this world and going through a challenge like a divorce, a health struggle, a mental struggle or whatever, you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and that is what is so hard. Your loved ones in spirit don’t worry because they know that you will be okay. As humans, we need to do a better job of not stressing so much and knowing that this too shall pass.
Allison Kugel: Being that time is not linear outside of this 3D physical world here on earth, do you think time travel is possible?
Matt Fraser: I believe in everything and nothing. I think anything is possible. I’m sure there has to be a way. I can tell you this; souls can absolutely travel back in time to see things. I remember being a little kid and watching those futuristic movies on Disney where they would use the tablets to talk to one another. I used to say to myself, “That would be so cool. Imagine if you can do that.” I thought it was the shit when the first color flip phone came out, never did I ever think that video chatting would be possible. When that first came out it blew our minds, and now it is part of our everyday lives. So, do I think it could happen? Absolutely.
Allison Kugel: Is Meet the Frasers resuming?
Matt Fraser: Meet the Frasers ended during the pandemic, sadly, because we couldn’t film. We were all getting ready for Season 2 and then the pandemic hit. But what we did do is have a continuation of our story, because everyone was asking what happened since the pandemic? We were very lucky to partner with Studio 71 and do a Facebook special called The Frasers Plus One, which takes you through the pandemic up until the birth of our son Royce.
Allison Kugel: Any new television projects for you?
Matt Fraser: There are always TV projects in the works, luckily. Between touring and the book writing, and filming for different TV projects, it’s been a journey. I took some time away for a little while because I wanted to spend time with my family and with our son, Royce, and I think the pandemic was something I personally needed for a little bit just to go and relax and get back into the zone. I’m now ready to get back out there.
Watch the extended video interview with Matt Fraser on the Allison Interviews Podcast at YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Follow journalist Allison Kugel @theallisonkugel.
Matt Fraser’s New York Times bestselling book, We Never Die: Secrets of the Afterlife, is available wherever books are sold. For readings and tour/event dates visit meetmattfraser.com. Follow @meetmattfraser.
