In this season of MID, we are answering the dilemmas and questions that you, our listeners, have sent us. This episode is all about families - the messy, the heartbreaking and the scary. To answer your questions, Holly has enlisted the woman known as the Friendly Psychologist, Jacqui Manning, who has over 25 years of clinical experience. The dilemmas Jacqui and Holly tackle in this episode are: I want to be friends with my daughter-in-law, but she won’t even join the group chat. My mother is dyi...
Jul 21, 2025•45 min
In this season of MID, we are answering the dilemmas and questions that you, our listeners, have sent us. This episode is all about our MID relationship with our bodies, and Holly has enlisted one of Australia's foremost nutritionists and dietitians, Susie Burrell. The dilemmas Susie and Holly tackle in this episode are: My friends are telling me to get weight loss jabs...but I don't want to remove the pleasure of eating from my life. My daughter is obsessed with "clean eating" - should I be wor...
Jul 14, 2025•42 min
A brand new season of MID is on its way to you on the 15th of July and we are bringing you the answers to the dilemmas that YOU, our listeners, have sent us.Dilemmas include: I'm Afraid Of The Weight Loss Jabs, My Daughter-In-Law Won't Even Join My Group Chat I'm Trying To Resist The Temptation Of My Facebook Ex And so much more. Tune in, every Tuesday, wherever you get your podcasts. THE END BITS: Share your feedback! Send us a voice message or email us at podcast@mamamia.com.au Follow us on In...
Jul 07, 2025•50 sec
What do Zumba and Greek dancing have to do with bone density? Why should you shave first and soak later? And who gets to decide whether you can have a hysterectomy for health reasons if you haven’t had kids yet? In this episode, Endocrinologist Dr Sonia Davison from Jean Hailes for Women’s Health talks about whether diet and exercise can prevent dementia and what waist circumference has to do with healthy ageing. She also discusses how stomping, sleeping and strength training should all be part ...
Jul 04, 2025•30 min
What if you’ve always wanted to live somewhere else? What if you did it, once, and you remember the freedom and the energy released by fresh places, by a different culture, a true restart. What if you’re looking at your post-work act and you’re thinking, would the pressure be less? Would the joy be multiplied? Would my dollar go further? Would my wanderlust be sated. If I… lived somewhere else. What would it be like? Would you be lonely? Would you be safe? Would you feel like a new version of yo...
Jun 11, 2025•23 min
Protein, weights, sleep, oh my. Does it feel like you hit a certain birthday with a zero and everyone started yelling at you about chicken breast and dumbbells? For this last episode of MID for Season 5, we wanted to ask someone smart to tell us exactly why that is. And so we found a woman called Louisa Nicola, an Australian neurophysiologist and human performance coach based in the US - and got her to tell us - what's important in the space of midlife health, and what's just noise. And what she...
Jun 09, 2025•39 min
Chances are, you’ve read at least one Marian Keyes book, and that if you've read one, you’ve read many. Since her first novel, Watermelon , was published in 1995, Keyes has written 24 books - all with guts and heart, wicked humour and her her trademark Irish wit. Not only is Marian one of the most successful novelists of her generation, she’s also shared the ups and downs of her own life, writing about challenges she’s personally faced from depression to alcoholism and loss. All of this has also...
Jun 02, 2025•53 min
Do you need a fashion overhaul? Some grown-up clothes. Grown-up attitude. Grown-up advice? Holly Wainwright did, and she knew exactly who to call for a gentle roasting and some no-bullshit advice: Grace Lam. You might remember Grace because she’s our first-ever repeat guest on MID. The fashion stylist, former Senior Fashion Editor of VOGUE China for a decade, was on MID Season Two talking about hormones, because as well as being a style guru, she’s an incredible advocate for women going through ...
May 26, 2025•46 min
In the 80s & 90s - they didn’t come any cooler than Ione Skye. You remember her from Say Anything, the iconic 80s teen movie, or from River’s Edge or Gas Food Lodging or The Rachel Papers…But while Ione was busy making some of the most era-defining films, she was also living the most aspirational 90’s life imaginable - Teenage friends with River Phoenix, teenage girlfriend to The Red Hot Chilli Peppers Anthony Keidis. Young wife of Beastie Boy Adam 'Ad Rock' Horowitz. Welcomed into Madonna’s...
May 19, 2025•56 min
From Foundation to Filler, Leigh Campbell on beauty "hell yesses" and "f*ck no's". Whether you have a 12-step skincare routine and a "derm" on speed-dial, or whether you still use the same one pot of moisturiser you’ve used since you were 20, chances are, your face has changed. And however you feel about that, the beauty world, and its messages around ageing are confusing. Enter, our no-BS beauty guru, Leigh Campbell, to tell us what works and what's nonsense when it comes to our faces. A Beauty...
May 12, 2025•55 min
Melinda French Gates knows everyone wants to talk about her divorce. She gets it, and she's covered it her new book, Next Day, about handling life's transitions. But also, what she wants to talk about is change. How we pick ourselves up after those big moments that knock us off course, whether it's the end of a relationship, losing a job, becoming a parent, kids leaving home, losing someone or a a big career shift. Transitions, she knows, are moments of both struggle and opportunity. French-Gate...
May 05, 2025•53 min
Rachel Ward always sensed she would need to find her purpose outside of acting - for reasons she will explain in this conversation. But she never would have guessed that she’d find that purpose on a working cattle farm in rural Australia… At MID, we like to call this time in our life the “third age” - it’s that post-work era where we’re redefining the shape of our days, our contributions, our passions and our purpose. And Rachel Ward has a LOT to say about this. Rachel Ward is an iconic Australi...
May 01, 2025•41 min
Gabby Bernstein is the kind of person you mention in a group chat and instantly get five voice notes back saying, “Oh my God, she changed my life.” She’s Oprah-approved, a New York Times best-selling author many times over, a spiritual teacher and the voice behind the wellness movement that’s got us all manifesting, journaling and choosing our battles. In this episode of MID, Holly sat down with Gabby to talk about feeling stuck, dealing with change, and the relentless voice in your head, you kn...
Apr 28, 2025•41 min
Welcome back to MID Season Five...We have a very special guest. Mia Freedman has been in countless conversations with Holly Wainwright—on mics, off mics, in meetings, in texts. But she’s never been on MID. Until now. In this episode, Holly kicks off Season Five with someone who knows her well, and who’s read something very personal—her brand new book, He Would Never. It’s a story about the limits and power of female friendships, narcissistic love, and the tricky transitions from girlhood to teen...
Apr 21, 2025•50 min
If you’ve been glued to The White Lotus this season, you’re not alone. In this exclusive episode, our Head of Entertainment Laura Brodnik sits down with two of the stars from Season 3: Natasha Rothwell and Leslie Bibb. Natasha reflects on returning to White Lotus—what’s changed since Season 1, her character’s solo journey, and going after the career she truly wants. Leslie unpacks the internet’s wild reaction to the “three women” storyline, why it resonates with both men and women, and the power...
Apr 07, 2025•16 min
When Laraine’s husband died, her kids told her to stay put. Instead, she bought an RV, named her Matilda and drove away. Now, she’s a full-time “grey nomad,” looping Australia instead of ‘mowing lawns’. In this episode, Laraine shares what it takes to downsize a life into a van, what her kids really think, the most breathtaking places she’s been, and when she’s felt truly afraid.Retirement doesn’t have to look like it used to—some keep working, others chase freedom. Laraine’s is a story that pro...
Mar 27, 2025•27 min
Antonia Murphy knows more about sex than pretty much anyone I’ve ever spoken to. Antonia was raising three kids, including one with a serious disability, in a small town in New Zealand when her marriage unravelled. A lot of women make big changes after divorce, and Antonia took that to a whole new level - she opened a legal, ethical brothel.In this shame-free conversation, Antonia shares the set of events that led her there, what she learned about what the women who worked at the brothel wanted ...
Mar 24, 2025•45 min
It's the dream every MID woman has discussed with her best friends. You know the one. The one where you fantasise about living in a big house together, or maybe a bunch of tiny-houses on land, but the gist is the same: When we're older, we will live together and pool our resources and care for each other. But for most of us, this dream remains a dream. For Eve Grzybowski and Heather Bolstler, two of the six people, all over the age of 70, who are living together on a beautiful property on New So...
Mar 20, 2025•28 min
Nicole O' Neil is a Real Housewife of Sydney. Yes, we mean the reality show. And she's also a woman dealing with a lot of what everyone else is - kids getting older, a long marriage shifting gears, friendship changing with time, a career crossroads. She just looks much more glamorous doing it.In this conversation we talk to Nicole about how MID’s going for someone who’s in the public eye in a very specific way. Whether the glamour is real, what it takes and what it hides. How to handle the press...
Mar 17, 2025•54 min
Welcome to the MID view of The White Lotus. The three 'midlife' friends in the latest season of the prestige TV show are a perfect thin-slice of the new forty-somethings. These are not your mother's foreheads. And this is not your mother's resortwear. But when Jaclyn, Kate and Laurie ventured away from the beautiful people inside their five-star bubble, they ran perfect-face-first into an uncomfortable truth that's deeply relatable, even if we don't want to admit it to ourselves. This special dr...
Mar 13, 2025•9 min
Faith Agugu always imagined she would be a mother. But at 45, after many, many detours, she decided it was time to recognise the reality that wasn't going to happen, and almost immediately everything changed for her. Faith wants us to make peace with the lives we're living and the ones we didn't quite get to live. In fact, she wants us live in a pro-ageing world. She knows it exists, because it's where she was born, into a culture where everyone wanted to be the oldest person in the room. They w...
Mar 10, 2025•44 min
When Caroline Baum and her mother Judith walked into family therapy, Caroline’s first thought was: 'We are going to eat you for breakfast… we are so fucked up…' After all, they had a lot to discuss. At 90 years old, Judith had recently invited herself to come and live with Caroline and her husband and... it wasn't going well. Caroline is a writer, speaker and broadcaster. She has written about the complexities of caring for her mother and trying to navigate the aged care system. And that essay, ...
Mar 03, 2025•1 hr
Midlife style doesn’t have to be complicated. Today, Leigh chats with Holly Wainwright , Mamamia Out Loud co-host and bestselling author, about how she hit her fashion stride after 50. Holly shares her top tips for building a wardrobe that feels authentic and comfortable—without the stress of chasing trends. If you're feeling stuck in a rut or need a wardrobe refresh, Holly and Leigh are sharing their best tips to help you feel confident without the rules. Check out Leigh's article 'Every piece ...
Feb 27, 2025•32 min
Eleanor Mills had a very fabulous job, one that she had built her life and identity around for decades. But her "midlife collision" was calling when the boss called her up to their office for a "chat". Years on, Eleanor is living a very different life, and one that has its start, as some good stories do, in a midlife mushroom trip. In this conversation, Eleanor talks about the question women are too afraid to ask themselves, empty nests, cold swimming, why her "Noon" women are the world's greate...
Feb 24, 2025•56 min
Rachel Griffiths says she just got through her "peak mid-hell years" and she's here to tell us how. The actor, producer, and director has had many eras - from the "fast start" of Muriel's Wedding to being a Hollywood awards darling, a big-deal US TV star, the director of the Australian classic movie Ride Like A Girl, the co-creator of Total Control and now, the star of the TV show Madam. Through all that, she was also wrestling with the relatable MID dramas - parenting teens and young adults, a ...
Feb 17, 2025•54 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Today’s episode is about love. Specifically, it’s about finding it in your MID years. Maybe for the second, fourth, first time. This is a story about Dr Amantha Imber, an organisational psychologist who got divorced a few years ago. When Amantha knew she wanted to re-partner, she went about it with a typical approach to efficiency - going on more than 50 first dates in her first stint of online dating. Those dates had strict rules and boundaries, time limits and schedules and… they didn’t work. ...
Feb 10, 2025•51 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Mia Freedman, longtime friend of Holly and co-host of Mamamia Out Loud , has stepped down from hosting No Filter after an incredible decade. She’s passing the torch to the incredibly talented Kate Langbroek, who is the perfect fit to take over a show with such a rich legacy. Over the past 10 years, Mia has interviewed everyone from celebrities and prime ministers to people with the most jaw-dropping stories—stories you’d want to share in your group chat. In this episode, Mia and Kate sit down to...
Feb 08, 2025•54 min
Welcome back, MIDs, and please send this episode to your best friend immediately. Because it's about the power of the most important relationships in many of our lives - the one we have with our great mates. You know Amanda Keller from her many decades as an Australian television and radio presenter, comedian, writer, actress and journalist. You might be meeting her best friend forensic psychologist Anita McGregor for the first time, but once you have, you'll know exactly why these two have been...
Feb 03, 2025•58 min•Season 4Ep. 1
MID is coming back to your ears on Tuesday 4th Feb. While you're waiting... Holly has some thoughts on Nicole Kidman's "controversial" new film, Babygirl, and the fact that Gen X's most iconic actresses are dominating Hollywood ATM. Is it because "old" no longer looks "old"? Or is it because... they're incredible? THE END BITS: Share your feedback! Send us a voice message or email us at podcast@mamamia.com.au Follow us on Instagram @MidbyMamamia or sign up to the MID newsletter, dropping weekly ...
Jan 27, 2025•11 min
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 podcast@mamamia.com.au Follow us on Instagram @Midb...
Dec 20, 2024•7 min
