Today’s guest is a female billionaire: the co-founder and CEO of the Good American inclusive fashion brand and a founding partner of SKIMS, the shapewear and loungewear company. Emma Grede’s close working partnerships with the Kardashian family have led her to become an advocate for empowering women through business.

Now, she’s publishing her first book, Start With Yourself, in which she explores everything from building personal resilience to developing self-forgiveness.

In this episode we discuss her East London mindset, her famously controversial (!) attitude towards work-life balance, being a mother of four (her twins were born via a surrogate) and her experience of miscarriage. Female ambition, fertility, the discomfort of hard work…I’m so grateful to Emma for opening up on subjects that are so often shrouded in silence.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

03:02 Ambition Loves Discomfort

05:57 Growing Up East London

07:31 ‘Too Ambitious’

08:34 East London Business Code

11:15 An Employee Mindset

19:13 Work-Life Balance Myth

26:34 Fearless Hustle Mindset

27:53 ITB Rise and Influencers

29:08 LA Office Ego Crash

31:40 Parenting as a Team

32:56 Fertility Reality Check

38:19 Good American Expansion Misstep

46:25 Mother’s Influence

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

I have always thought about ambition as something that I am entitled to as long as I work for it.

If you want to be extraordinarily successful… Then extraordinary work is required.

You become confident because you know you can get through things and you know what's on the other side of failure.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Emma’s debut book ‘Start With Yourself’ - is available to buy now

The Testaments, a new Hulu original series, streaming exclusively on Disney+

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Melinda French Gates - another extraordinarily successful female philanthropist, who co-chaired the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the world's largest private charitable organization, for 24 years: swap.fm/l/Zr3OTH30YZpvPRiXIkeX

Mo Gawdat - an incredible guest who has been on How to Fail FOUR times - most recently in December last year to talk about the most common mistakes we make in love: swap.fm/l/Daw9T2DZbicGt0aOZZVX

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Emma answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we are joined by podcasting royalty, Sophie Habboo!

Habboo found fame on Made In Chelsea, E4’s structured-reality show following the lives of affluent 20-something Londoners where she met fellow cast-mate Jamie Laing in 2017. The two began dating - and then launched a media empire. Their podcast, NearlyWeds was an instant hit and was rebranded as NewlyWeds when they got married in 2023.

Habboo now runs the hugely successful JamPot podcast production company with her husband and the two served as executive producers on Raising Chelsea, a new three-part Disney+ documentary following the couple as they face the messy, scary and comic reality of becoming parents for the first time.

In this episode Sophie talks openly about her feelings of overwhelm and anxiety in the run up to their wedding, her ADHD diagnosis, the challenges of being a new mum and the importance of setting boundaries.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

03:50 Family Roots And Motherhood

06:39 Ziggy Bay And Marathon Madness

08:35 Failure One: No Boundaries

10:23 One Day Office Job Disaster

16:01 Wedding Overwhelm And ADHD

20:52 Insecurities and Social Situations

21:53 Anxiety and Imposter Feelings

23:05 Therapy and Psychic Rituals

24:18 Sponsor Break The Testaments

26:12 Motherhood and Fear of Failing

29:36 Love Story With Jamie

33:54 A Surprise Voice Note

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

I do always have imposter syndrome and maybe even as a mother... I really struggle with ‘mum guilt’.

Had I been diagnosed with ADHD earlier, I would've been able to understand and have more compassion for myself.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Raising Chelsea is available to watch now on Disney+

The Testaments, a new Hulu original series, streaming April 8 exclusively on Disney+

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Jamie Laing - on anxiety, insecurity and the pressure of fame. Plus his ‘failure’ to have a long-term relationship [spoiler alert: it all worked out just fine!]: swap.fm/l/QXKrzzpg5hULgBpXWMBY

Dorinda Medley - on young widowhood, dealing with anger and what The Real Housewives of New York taught her: swap.fm/l/Q3MPl0zGn9MShaUdGEi4

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Sophie answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this debut preview episode of History’s Greatest Fails, Elizabeth Day and Dan Jones argue that the story of Richard’s rise and fall (and rise again) is much more modern that you’d first believe. Not least because of the reality-TV-style discovery of his remains under a Leicester council car park in 2022. 
To listen to the full mini-series, head to This is History: History’s Greatest Fails wherever you listen to podcasts and on YouTube. 
And more about this episode: In many ways, Richard’s alleged ‘failures’ — which include allegedly killing the Princes in the Tower and overseeing the demise of Plantagenet rule — overshadow Richard III as the reformer that also existed. He introduced trial by jury and translated many laws into English. But those facts are not often what’s associated with him. He’s more likely to be seen as the villainous caricature of Shakespeare’s Richard III. 
He died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. And we haven’t been able to stop talking about him since. 
Yes, it’s time to consider the story of England’s last Plantagenet king, Richard III — a centuries-old tangle involving alleged murder, Shakespeare, vanquish and one mighty rediscovery. 
–
A Sony Music Entertainment production. 
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts 
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] 
Learn more about your ad choices. 
Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 
––
Presented by Dan Jones and Elizabeth Day 
Producer - Alan Weedon 
Senior Producer - Dominic Tyerman

Researcher - Phoebe Joyce  Executive Producer - Simon Poole 

Executive Producer for Daylight Productions - Elizabeth Day  

Executive Producer - Dan Jones
Production Manager - Jen Mistri 
Production coordinator - Eric Ryan 
Head of content - Chris Skinner 
Special thanks to Alex Lawless, Hannah Talbot, and Selina Ream

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amy Jackson Westwick is a major Bollywood film star with some 14 million followers on social media. Yet she grew up in a working class family in Liverpool. So how did a teenager from Merseyside become one of the most recognisable British actors working in Bollywood?

Today on How To Fail, she tells us her story.

We discuss growing up too fast, how she broke free from a cycle of narcissistic relationships and how she now manages a blended family (Amy has two sons - one with her husband, the actor Ed Westwick, and one from a previous partner). Plus: what she learned from her years in Bollywood and why she’s ’a petty cow’.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Intro

03:13 Chasing Security Not Fame

04:08 Finding Yourself Again

06:35 Growing Up Too Fast

06:50 Liverpool Childhood Roots

11:27 Pageants to Bollywood Break

24:04 Perfect Family Fantasy

25:21 Romanticising Love

26:40 Back To Back Relationships

27:30 People Pleasing Patterns

29:06 Narcissists And Boundaries

31:53 Leaving And Healing

36:39 Blended Family Reality

39:52 Step Parenting Rules

47:05 Listening To Yourself

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

Security comes in so many different forms - and for me it's peace of mind.

If it doesn't feel right, then it's not right... you've got to actually know how you're feeling and not be afraid to voice it.

[On narcissistic relationships]: I confused controlling behavior for somebody who was loving and caring, and in actual fact it was the complete opposite.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Amy’s podcast ‘What’s the Tea Amy?’ is out now

The Testaments, a new Hulu original series, streaming April 8 exclusively on Disney+

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Lily Allen - on early fame, mistakes, relationships and motherhood: swap.fm/l/8Otj3tpmbH5SF4xjVHTJ

Gillian Anderson - on body image, rebellion and refusing to fit in with other people’s expectations: swap.fm/l/7NyZMzkfVOpGyDtlB6k0

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Amy answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a special episode, sponsored by Bumble, taking a look at all the different ways we can meet someone: whether you meet young, in your 50s, or post-divorce. The three women in this episode (and four if you count me!) - are here to show us that finding the love of your life isn’t always straight-forwards, or linear.

First up, you'll hear from the brilliant and hilarious Miranda Hart, who got married when she was 51, and talks through her first date with her now husband. Then Australian comedian Celeste Barber talks about meeting her ‘hot husband’ young, and quickly becoming a step-mum to two young children. Finally, American author Glennon Doyle talks about leaving her marriage for the love of her life, Abby – and co-parenting her three children with her ex-husband in a blended family.

I hope this episode brings you as much laughter, reassurance and warmth as each of those guests have brought me. And hopefully it inspires you to refresh your Bumble profile, or download Bumble now!

Listen to Miranda’s full episode here: swap.fm/l/oTScN30b80GflJtO4rgu

Listen to Celeste’s full episode here: swap.fm/l/qLmwfjyeSolWuFeaHGdt

Listen to Glennon’s full episode here: swap.fm/l/Nd3ZzVy73FXUMupJ4i1q

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Celebrity hair stylist Chris Appleton has a slew of devoted clients including Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner and Martha Stewart, as well as millions of Instagram followers and a regular slot offering advice on The Drew Barrymore Show. His memoir, Your Roots Don’t Define You, is a New York Times bestseller.

But growing up was hard on Appleton: he was the middle of five children and struggled with undiagnosed dyslexia at school. He was bullied by his classmates for being gay - something he didn’t yet understand about himself. At 16, he left school to work full-time and began a serious relationship with his colleague, Kate. By 19, he was a father.

In this episode we discuss imposter syndrome, the darkest moments of his life, shame and the work he’s done to overcome the hurdles he’s faced. And, of course, we talk about the Kardashians.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

02:33 Imposter Syndrome as Fuel

04:24 Red Carpets and Online Pressure

05:27 Hair as Celebrity Identity

07:15 Memoir and Health Wake Up

08:48 Dash the Dog and Comfort

11:02 Shame Coming Out and Healing

22:26 Kids First After Divorce

23:05 Holiday Triggers and Boundaries

24:31 Success Doesn't Heal

25:18 Inner Child Healing Work

27:22 Envy Into Mentorship

30:08 Kardashians on Failure

31:25 Hair Identity and Change

35:18 Comparison and Social Media

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

It’s okay to make mistakes, but I love learning from them and understanding why we make those decisions.

Hair is such a big part of people's identity. It tells who you are.

You can externally excite yourself... But if you're not aligned internally, you still have that sad and lonely feeling.

I think imposter syndrome to an extent is healthy... It keeps me turning up to jobs prepared. I treat every job like it's the first time I've done it.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Chris Appleton’s book Your Roots Don’t Define You, is out now

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Rylan Clark - on public breakdowns, surviving divorce and rebuilding his sense of self.

Dawn French - on comedy, adoption and finding confidence later in life.

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Chris answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I never thought I would have to write these words, but here we are. In the wake of my dear friend’s passing, I wanted to reflect on the life of one of the most radiant people I’ve ever met: Mel Schilling. I never quite understood the truth of the phrase ‘she lights up a room’ until I met Mel. It wasn’t just the sparkling smile or the sequins she loved wearing or the glittery eyeshadow; it was deeper than that: she wanted others to shine, to feel special and to be loved. To believe themselves worthy of love.

To be in Mel’s company was to feel anything was possible. 

I wanted to re-release this very special episode of How to Fail because it shows so much of the woman she was. It was also the first time I met Mel in person after admiring her for years from afar on our TV screens. I’m so lucky to have known her.

Please enjoy getting to know my friend Mel.

And if you want to hear more of her extraordinary insights and wisdom, you can listen to her on How To Date [link here: swap.fm/l/92EWhbCOZtcpVjwW1ZhD]. 

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

• Instagram: @elizabday
• TikTok: @howtofailpod
• Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod
• Website: www.elizabethday.org

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com 

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.  

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Starting over can feel heartbreaking and overwhelming, especially after losing a loved one, and the idea of rebuilding a life can seem impossible. In this episode, Stanley and Geri show us that sometimes moving forward isn’t about letting go of the past, but learning to carry it with you in a way that allows life to continue.

Stanley Tucci speaks with brave honesty about the death of his first wife, Kate – the guilt he felt as he tried to move on and the difficult choices he faced while creating a new life for his children.

Geri Halliwell Horner reflects on losing her father as a teenager, how that loss shaped her ambition and how writing her novel unexpectedly helped her make sense of long‑held grief.

This episode explores love, loss and the resilience that allows us to keep going after such events. I hope it brings you a sense of solidarity or confirmation that we don’t need to erase what came before; sometimes, it becomes the very force that helps us begin again.

Listen to Stanley’s full episode of How to Fail here: http://swap.fm/l/WCW054IGNZnSnTzEXPTN

Listen to Geri’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/a7i32bvmHld3JFuDmShl

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Bereavement support: https://www.cruse.org.uk/

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Natasha Hamilton was 16 when she signed a record deal with the girl band, Atomic Kitten. The group went on to sell over 10 million records and achieve three UK Number One singles including Whole Again and The Tide Is High. But the pressures of fame affected her mental health and made her feel isolated and judged. After five years and the birth of her first son, Hamilton quit the band.

Today, Hamilton tells that story - the one that existed behind the headlines. We talk about the toxicity of 90s and early Y2K media, surviving postnatal depression and financial catastrophe after divorce. Plus we talk about why she set up her own record label, Morpho, to focus on nurturing and empowering young talent rather than - as she puts it - ‘moulding them into a product’. An amazing woman whose resilience should be an inspiration to us all!

Natasha Hamilton’s new single Fantasy is out now.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Introduction

03:15 Forties And Clarity

04:47 Writing Numb

06:03 Morpho Records And Duty Of Care

08:11 Bullied But Born To Sing

14:13 Fame Tabloids And Numbness

21:40 Whole Again And Industry Bias

29:37 Making Peace With The Band

31:17 Rebuilding Sisterhood Again

31:37 Losing Pop Star Identity

32:43 Shock Pregnancy And Isolation

35:17 Postnatal Breakdown And Help

38:12 CBT And Taking Control

40:40 New Career In Beauty

46:00 Divorce Money Chaos And Recovery

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

From the age of 16 I was constantly told who to be: what to do, how to look, how to act - I’d never been given the reins of my own life before.

There is no wrong decision, if it works it works.

I thought: everyone’s judging me for not being thin enough.

Fame was so isolating.

If you’re struggling - talk to someone.

It’s incredible what can happen when you back yourself.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Natasha Hamilton’s new single, Numb, is out now

If you need someone to talk to, the Samaritans are available 24 hours a day: www.samaritans.org or call on 116 123

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Vicky Pattison - on Geordie Shore, self-worth, PMDD and family addiction: swap.fm/l/kUiBIHEkL1y3C9moLdsx

Louise Thompson - on how severe trauma after childbirth, chronic illness and the loss of her former identity forced her to rebuild her life with self-compassion: swap.fm/l/LouiseThompson

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Natasha answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

_________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Motherhood is often portrayed purely as a joyful, magical chapter of life – and while it certainly can be – we rarely speak openly about the hard, exhausting and deeply challenging truths.

In this episode, singer‑songwriter Jessie Ware reflects on becoming a parent while building a career in the public eye. She talks about the pressure she felt to prove she could do everything at once, the exhaustion that followed and the grounding process of learning to be present rather than perfect.

We also hear from novelist Francesca Segal, who shares the story of her twins’ premature birth and the unexpected reality of early motherhood inside a neonatal ward. She describes the chasm between the idealised story of birth and the lived experience many mothers face.

I hope this episode brings comfort to anyone navigating the complexities of motherhood. May it remind you that every journey is different, that there is no single right way to parent and that you are never alone in this experience.

Listen to Jessie’s full episode of How to Fail here: http://swap.fm/l/8cUuwGs4vc7tAXiPcDab

Listen to Francesca’s full episode of How to Fail here: swap.fm/l/MsPtRFvgP8z18GLPgpdL

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Maternal Support: https://maternalmentalhealthalliance.org/ https://mothersformothers.co.uk/

Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/

Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @howtofailpod @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod @elizabday

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rosamund Pike! What a woman. Famed for her portrayals of razor-sharp, morally complex and deliciously unpredictable characters, she brings that same intriguing duality to this conversation. Thoughtful and quietly rebellious, she reflects on a career that has defied neat narratives from the very beginning.

After taking a year out from studying English at University of Oxford to pursue acting, she graduated and stepped straight into the global spotlight as Bond girl Miranda Frost in Die Another Day. From there came a string of unforgettable movies: Pride & Prejudice, Jack Reacher, A Private War and Saltburn. Her chilling performance in Gone Girl earned her an Oscar nomination and she took home a Golden Globe for I Care a Lot. In 2025, she returned to the stage for the first time in 15 years in the National Theatre’s production of Inter Alia.

In this episode, she talks about her ‘failure’ to get married, the realities of raising two sons and her decision not to read a single review of her work for the past 25 years. Plus why she’s ‘constantly in battle’ with her own fear, her failure to be an action movie hero, her miserable attempt to cook a rabbit and whether or not she’s ‘cool’.

✨ IN THIS EPISODE:

00:00 Intro

03:18 No reviews rule

06:57 Early perfectionism and stage craft

07:58 Inter Alia and modern womanhood

10:09 Luminate meditation mask

12:42 Failure to learn Chinese

19:09 Onstage mishaps and acting roles

28:59 What Cool Really Means

29:26 Cool Girl vs Amy

32:21 Failing at Being An Action Star

36:52 Failure to Get Married

45:17 Mothering Two Boys

47:28 Smells and Teen Hygiene

48:44 Rabbit Dinner and Being Enough

💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER:

Failure is usually pretending to be someone you’re not.

I don’t think you ever regret having a big love affair - even if goes to shit.

I’m quite a coward. I like to play brave people because I’m not. I’m constantly in battle with my own fear.

Cool means that you can go your own way. You don't give too many, f***s... you can think originally.

I didn’t want to be the sex symbol.

🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS:

Inter Alia is on at the Wyndham’s Theatre: 19 March - 20 June 2026

Rosamund’s Meditation App is: www.lumenate.co

Join the How To Fail community: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Elizabeth’s Substack: www.theelizabethday.substack.com

📚 WANT MORE?

Glennon Doyle - on wildness, the end of people-pleasing and why we can all do hard things swap.fm/l/Nd3ZzVy73FXUMupJ4i1q

Phoebe Waller Bridge - on creative control, perfectionism and the fear of being misunderstood swap.fm/l/gTCOCJUmXX9t22mTABSa

💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE?

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories

👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth:

Instagram: @elizabday

TikTok: @howtofailpod

Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod

Website: www.elizabethday.org

Elizabeth and Rosamund answer listener questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: www.howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content

Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Engineer: Matias Torres

Assistant Producer: Shania Manderson

Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Alex Lawless

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

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