What did it take to make a tabloid mag in the It Girl era? You know, the days when Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie or Lindsay Lohan were falling out of cars, in and out of rehab and a ruthless paparazzi pack was documenting all of it? It’s the era that, through a 2021 lens, might be the most problematic of them all, but back then, what was it like to work in the magazines that knew the more outrageous the antics, the higher the sale?

On this episode of Extraordinary Stories: Magazine Queens, Emma Gillespie speaks to Australia’s weekly magazine Queen Louisa Hatfield and Mamamia’s own, former OK! Deputy Editor Holly Wainwright, about the Britney years.

THE END BITS:

This episode was originally released to MPlus subscribers. Subscribers get unlimited access to all Mamamia content. To subscribe head to mamamia.com.au/mplus

With thanks to:

Louisa Hatfield.

And Holly Wainwright.

Find out more about Extraordinary Stories here.

Find out more about MPlus here.

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected]

Need more lols, info and inspo in your ears? Find more Mamamia podcasts here... https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/

CREDITS:

Host: Emma Gillespie

Writers: Melanie Sauer, Emma Gillespie and Holly Wainwright

Producers: Melanie Sauer and Emma Gillespie

Audio Production: Elissa Ratliff and Madeline Joannou

Executive Producer: Holly Wainwright and Elissa Ratliff

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 1990s were the era of the supermodels, the waifs, and a trend so deadly it came with a health warning: heroin chic. Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Marie Claire brought luxury to the local newsagent and gave Australian women a taste of the runways of Paris and Milan. A handful of women known by their first names only were on every cover: Naomi, Cindy, Linda, Elle… until the waifs came along and knocked them off. 

On this episode of Extraordinary Stories: Magazine Queens, Emma Gillespie speaks to former Vogue Editor Kirstie Clements about what it was like working in a world that would fly you to Paris for a manicure and also refuse to make clothes that could fit grown-up women. And Paula Joye tells us about what it was like working with the supermodels of the 90s... And yes, she saw them all naked.

THE END BITS:

This episode was originally released to MPlus subscribers. Subscribers get unlimited access to all Mamamia content. To subscribe head to mamamia.com.au/mplus

With thanks to Kirstie Clements here.

And Paula Joye here.

Find out more about Extraordinary Stories here.

Find out more about MPlus here.

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Wmail us at [email protected]

Need more lols, info and inspo in your ears? Find more Mamamia podcasts here... https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/

CREDITS:

Host: Emma Gillespie

Writers: Melanie Sauer, Emma Gillespie and Holly Wainwright

Producers: Melanie Sauer and Emma Gillespie

Audio Production: Elissa Ratliff and Madeline Joannou

Executive Producer: Holly Wainwright and Elissa Ratliff

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The most infamous battle in Australian magazine history happened against the backdrop of an imploding royal marriage and an obsession with a tortured princess. And the most infamous editor in weekly magazines, Nene King, had exactly the killer instinct to capitalise on it. Welcome to the Diana Wars, when two esteemed editors went head to head in a circulation battle for the eyes and attention of millions of Australian women - whatever the cost. 

In episode two of Extraordinary Stories: Magazine Queens, Nene King, Angela Mollard and Louisa Hatfield talk to Emma Gillespie about an era of tabloid excess, and how it all came crashing down after a midnight high-speed chase through a Parisian tunnel.

THE END BITS:

This episode was originally released to MPlus subscribers. Subscribers get unlimited access to all Mamamia content. To subscribe head to mamamia.com.au/mplus

With thanks to Nene King, Angela Mollard (https://www.instagram.com/angelamollard/  ) and Louisa Hatfield (https://www.instagram.com/louisahatfield1/ )

Find out more about MPlus at www.mamamia.com.au/mplus 

RESOURCES WE USED:

Nene King by Peter Fitzsimons 

Paper Giants: Magazine Wars https://www.abc.net.au/tv/papergiants/ 

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected]

Need more lols, info and inspo in your ears? Find more Mamamia podcasts here... https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/

CREDITS:

Host: Emma Gillespie

Writers: Melanie Sauer, Emma Gillespie and Holly Wainwright

Producers: Melanie Sauer and Emma Gillespie

Audio Production: Elissa Ratliff and Madeline Joannou

Executive Producer: Holly Wainwright and Elissa Ratliff

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a chaotic Sydney share-house in the Spring of 1972, a dishevelled actor was lying naked on the fraying couch of an inner-city living room. The woman who had paid Jack Thompson $400 was wondering if the actor’s left hand was really big enough to cover his modesty and get her history-making magazine past the conservative censors who’d decide if it would make it to newsagent shelves. The Editor? Ita Buttrose. The magazine? Cleo. 

On the first ever episode of Extraordinary Stories: Magazine Queens, Australian icon Ita Buttrose, historian Bridgette Griffin-Foley and others who lived through it take us back to the birth of a sensation: Australia’s Cleo Magazine. 

THE END BITS:

This episode was originally released to MPlus subscribers. Subscribers get unlimited access to all Mamamia content. To subscribe head to mamamia.com.au/mplus

With thanks to Ita Buttrose and Bridget Griffen-Foley

Find out more about MPlus at www.mamamia.com.au/mplus 

RESOURCES WE USED:

Australian Story on Kerry Packer https://www.abc.net.au/austory/a-complicated-life-part-1/12858254 

Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo https://www.abc.net.au/tv/papergiants/ 

A Passionate Life by Ita Buttrose 

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected]

Need more lols, info and inspo in your ears? Find more Mamamia podcasts here... https://www.mamamia.com.au/podcasts/

CREDITS:

Host: Emma Gillespie

Writers: Melanie Sauer, Emma Gillespie and Holly Wainwright

Producers: Melanie Sauer and Emma Gillespie

Audio Production: Elissa Ratliff and Madeline Joannou

Executive Producer: Holly Wainwright and Elissa Ratliff

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MIDs, I couldn't sign off for the year without one more little moment with you, the women who have made my year by joining me here on this podcast for Gen X women who are anything but...so please enjoy this end-of-year wrap-up and contemplation on what seems to have been a year when MID women have taken centre stage. Here's to more of us in 2025 - meet you there. xo Holly

THE END BITS: 

Share your feedback! Send us a voice message or email us at [email protected] 

Follow us on Instagram @MidbyMamamia or sign up to the MID newsletter, dropping weekly here. 

CREDITS:

Host: Holly Wainwright

Executive Producer: Naima Brown

Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

8 instant ways to stop your outfit ageing you, according to The Style Insider

Sometimes an item of clothing can make you feel a little "ugh". But maybe that's because you are pairing it with the wrong item or styling it in a dated way. 

In this episode, Leigh Campbell is joined by Leonie Barlow to unpack the wardrobe tweaks we can all make to feel more timeless, classic and confident in every outfit we put on. 

Listen to find out why wrap dresses should become your new best friend and the colours everyone should avoid (at all costs). 

THE END BITS

Want to shop the pod? Sign up to the Nothing To Wear Newsletter to see all the products mentioned plus more, delivered straight to your inbox after every episode.

Listen to Trinny Woodall on the Biggest Fashion Mistake Women Make

Check out Leonie on Youtube: The Style Insider 

Subscribe to Mamamia

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]

CREDITS:

Host: Leigh Campbell

Guest: Leonie Barlow

Producer: Emeline Gazilas

Audio Producer: Tegan Sadler

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trinny Woodall is in a new era. She’s not quite sure what it’s called but it’s definitely a new life stage. Her beauty company is wildly successful. She’s newly single after a decade-long live-in relationship. Her daughter has left home. And she’s living with two men in their 30s. As flatmates.

At age 59, she also posed naked on a horse. Not everyone liked that.
As always, Trinny is candid, funny, vulnerable and an utter delight.

Trinny has a new book called Fearless. It's a manual about how to dress, defining your style, finding your colours and understanding the right beauty routine for your skin. 

THE END BITS:

Subscribe to Mamamia

To hear Trinny Woodall talk about style and fashion and how so many women give up - listen to Mamamia podcast: Nothing To Wear here. 

Trinny Woodall spoke to Mia on another No Filter about her incredibly successful business and why her 50's were her favourite, you can listen here.

Feedback? We’re listening! Email us at [email protected]

Need more lols, info, and inspo in your ears? Find more Mamamia podcasts here.

CREDITS:

Host: Mia Freedman. You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here.

Executive Producer: Kimberley Braddish 

Audio Producer: Madeline Joannou

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if it took you until MID life to say out loud something that you’ve been trying to find the words for your whole life.

Something like: “Yes, I know I am a mother, married to a man, but I am also bisexual…and I’m ready to date women.”That’s the story of today’s guest, the novelist Julie Cohen.

Julie was in her 40s when she came out as bisexual. She tells Holly Wainwright that some people asked her why she bothered. As if age, itself, rendered her sexuality irrelevant. Others suggested that just as an adolescent’s sexuality can be dismissed as a “phase” -  perhaps hers was simply a mid-life crisis.

Dating after divorce, navigating the apps and the first post-long-term relationship sexual encounters are interesting and nerve-wracking for anyone, and Julie says that was no different for her. You’re going to hear how it all went, the pleasures of post-penis sex, what she found the differences in dating men and women to be, and just how it felt to be living the version of herself that, as Julie says, she didn’t even have a word for when she was growing up.

You can follow Julie Cohen on Instagram here.

You can find Julie’s books here.

THE END BITS: 

Share your feedback! Send us a voice message or email us at [email protected] 

Follow us on Instagram @MidbyMamamia or sign up to the MID newsletter, dropping weekly here. 

CREDITS:

Host: Holly Wainwright

Executive Producer: Naima Brown

Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hugo and Spencer live with their loving parents, Michelle and Jono, and are surrounded by extended family, including their grandmother Jasmina and their Auntie Sophie.

But how Hugo and Spencer came to be in the world is a very unique and unusual story: their grandmother Jasmina and their aunt Sophie were actually - also - their surrogate mothers.

Why did Jasmina decide to be a surrogate for her daughter…at 52 years old? And how did her pregnancy go? How did she feel about the baby? How does it work now? What will they tell the boys when they're older? And - how did this decision come about to begin with?

This is a story about the great love that can emerge from great loss, and of great sacrifice and generosity, of motherhood and grandmotherhood - really, this is a love story like no other we’ve heard before.

You can find Michelle on Instagram here & Jasmina on Instagram here. 

THE END BITS:

Listen to more No Filter interviews here and follow us on Instagram here.

Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.

Feedback: [email protected]

Share your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will get back to you ASAP.

Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.  

CREDITS:

Host: Mia Freedman

You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here.

Executive Producer: Naima Brown

Audio Producer: Thom Lion

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Does ambition die in midlife, or are we just getting started? And what happens when your drive is as strong as ever, but your body is screaming 'stop'?

Holly Wainwright is interviewing Bruna Papandrea, one of the most successful women in Hollywood. One of the most successful people in Hollywood, full stop.

The Australian super-producer came from a working-class background in Adelaide to be in the rooms where things happen - namely bringing massive movies and TV shows to the screen, from Gone Girl and Wild to Big Little Lies and Strife and The Dry.

But Bruna’s “ambition” story isn’t a simple one. Her success exists alongside her management of Lupus, a chronic auto-immune disease. Like other forms of insidious, invisible conditions, it makes everything harder, and the hormonal flares of midlife don't help.

Listen to more from Bruna on this episode of No Filter with Mia Freedman from 2016 here.

Find out more about Bruna’s projects, here. 

THE END BITS: 

Share your feedback! Send us a voice message or email us at [email protected] 

Follow us on Instagram @MidbyMamamia or sign up to the MID newsletter, dropping weekly here. 

CREDITS:

Host: Holly Wainwright

Executive Producer: Naima Brown

Producer: Tahli Blackman

Audio Producer: Jacob Round

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Empire Silhouette Dresses That Suit Everyone

Facing perimenopause and menopause is a stage we all reach eventually. For a full exploration, Holly Wainwright’s podcast Mid offers an insightful deep dive into the topic. 

This week, however, we’re zeroing in on how these changes affect our bodies—and how our wardrobe choices can help us adapt. Leigh Campbell is joined by stylist and colour expert Kim Crowley to discuss how our body shapes naturally evolve during this time and how to dress in a way that complements these shifts, embracing the changes rather than resisting them.

Want to shop the pod? Sign up to the Nothing To Wear Newsletter to see all the products mentioned plus more, delivered straight to your inbox after every episode.

THE END BITS

Join the Month of MOVE

Get $30 off a Mamamia subscription and get unlimited access to our feel-good exercise app. 

Head here to get a yearly subscription for just $39. and use the code MONTHOFNTW

Tell us what you really think so we can give you more of what you really want. Fill out this survey and you’ll go in the running to win one of five $100 gift vouchers.

GET IN TOUCH:

Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at [email protected]

CREDITS:

Host: Leigh Campbell

Guest: Kim Crowley

Producer: Grace Rouvray

Audio Producer: Tegan Sadler

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.