When you think of a psychopath, you probably imagine someone like serial killer Ivan Milat. But according to David Gillespie, it's more likely to be your boss or your grandma. Five to 10 per cent of the population qualify as psychopathic, and the rate can be as high as 20 percent among corporate leaders and politicians. So how do you spot them? What do you do if you have to work for or with them, or better yet, date them? Grab a cup of tea and get ready to go ‘OH MY GOD’... Show Notes Your host ...
Aug 20, 2017•54 min
Last year, George McEncroe had an epiphany. The single mum of four teenagers applied, twice, to be an Uber driver, but something didn't feel right about it. At the same time, her eldest daughter and her friends were walking home from parties because they didn't feel safe in either taxis or ride-share cars. "I wish there was a female-only ridesharing service," she thought. So she decided to make one. As you do. And after a few all- night planning sessions, untold amounts of hard work, throwing in...
Aug 13, 2017•36 min
On the 7th of July, 2012, Kathy Kelly's family changed forever. The mother of three was at home with her husband Ralph when they received a phone call to tell them their 18-year-old son Thomas had been assaulted in Sydney’s Kings Cross just after 10pm. He was the victim of what came to be known as a 'cowards' punch', a random king-hit. Thomas never regained consciousness and two days later, he was dead. The Kelly family tried to make the best out of the horrific hand they had been dealt. But the...
Aug 06, 2017•49 min
You’re 24, you’re on holidays with your mates in Bali, and you catch a cold. It’s nothing to write home about. Probably just a bug that was going around. But then you get home. And you’ve still got this cold. You can’t shake it. So you go to the doctors, and they tell you you’ve actually got pneumonia. So you take the drugs, and you hope you get better. Four months later, you collapse. You go to the hospital. And you are told that at 24, you have heart failure and that you will need a heart tran...
Jul 30, 2017•41 min
25 years ago Cameron Daddo was the bloke every teenage girl in the 80's wanted to marry. He was the host of dating show Perfect Match, a multiple Logie winner, and he even released an album. Then, he married Dolly cover girl Alison Brahe and moved to America. Which is where things got interesting. Their marriage fell apart. But because this was the early 90s and pre-Internet, Alison and Cameron got to shrug off the mantle of being Australia's golden couple and work out their crap far from the ey...
Jul 23, 2017•56 min
Obsessive compulsive disorder is one of those things that people often joke about. Like, “You should see her desk at work; she's totally OCD". Or "I eat the same breakfast every day because I'm OCD." Actual OCD is very different. It can derail and even destroy your life. That's very nearly what happened to 23-year-old old model Lily Bailey. Hers manifested as a voice in her head when she was a child. She became convinced that she did horrible things that people noticed; convinced she had killed ...
Jul 17, 2017•29 min
Debbie Malone says she 'saw dead people' as a child but found a way to shut them out. Then, after experiencing six near-death experiences in 1992, she began to reconnect to the spirit world and decided to put her visions to use. Now she works with the police as a psychic medium who can be used to pick up information that may provide new lines of inquiry in an unsolved crime... Whether you're a believer or a sceptic, Mia's conversation with Debbie is fascinating and strange. Show Notes Your host ...
Jul 09, 2017•46 min
If you’re a woman of a certain age, the name Alison Brahe will make you squeal. Or at least step back in time to the 80's and 90's when she was on the cover of Dolly. And Cleo. And Cosmo. And then she married Australia’s most eligible bachelor, Cameron Daddo, who was the host of the dating show, Perfect Match. They were the Brad and Jen of Australia; the golden couple of their time. Now, after 25 years out of the country, and the spotlight - Alison is back home with her family. She sat down with...
Jul 02, 2017•52 min
Tina Arena was the child star who could. From her days as a 9-year-old on Young Talent Time , she matured into one of Australia's most successful singer/songwriters. Now, 40 years after she first appeared on TV, 'Tiny Tina' reflects on the sacrifices she made. From working 6 days a week, 52 weeks of the year during her Young Talent Time tenure, to making it big in Europe after realising Chains , the 49-year-old is philosophical about the journey that made her. With an attitude to life that will ...
Jun 26, 2017•56 min
Pregnancy has never been easy for Sally Obermeder. In 2011, with the help of IVF, she fell pregnant. Nine months later she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She gave birth to baby Annabelle and then underwent 16 rounds of chemotherapy and two mastectomies, all while raising a newborn. After getting the all clear, Sally knew she wanted another child. The only problem was she couldn't have one. So with just four embryos she turned to surrogacy. In this interview, Sally is extremely open about the ...
Jun 18, 2017•52 min
Best-selling author, college professor and writer Roxane Gay's new book Hunger is not one of those happy tales that has a beaming photo of her on the cover, standing in one giant leg of her old pants. As she explains to Mia in this interview, it's also not just a story about obesity. It’s an extraordinary look at the trauma that triggered her to very deliberately gain weight. ‘Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body' by Roxane Gay is published by Hachette Australia on 13 June’ Available via Booktopia Show...
Jun 11, 2017•52 min
Maggie Alderson is a lot of things. She’s a former fashion magazine editor, mother-of-one, cancer survivor, and columnist. She’s stood behind Anna Wintour in the queue for the toilets at Fashion week in Milan. Written ten novels. And given some of the best fashion advice, Australia has ever seen. But Maggie Alderson is so much more than fashion and fiction. She opens up about being invisible when you hit 40, her worries about having an only child, and why she will never get botox. Show Notes You...
Jun 05, 2017•29 min
This episode is a bit different. Instead of asking the inappropriate questions, Mia Freedman is answering them. Yep, she's in the hot seat. Sitting across from one of the world’s most formidable interviewers and journalists, Leigh Sales, talking about her new book Work Strife Balance. And, it's pretty epic. This was recorded in front of 300 people, and unlike most of her interviews, you’ll see a very different side of Leigh - she’s hilarious, warm, loves a laugh, sometimes gets teary and is a tr...
May 29, 2017•59 min
There are many assumptions made about Muslim women. That they are oppressed. Repressed. Distressed. Depressed. Victims of a religion that persecutes them. That there is no way you can be a Muslim and a feminist. Susan Carland disagrees. A devout Muslim woman, she converted from Christianity when she was a teenager. Now an academic, she has been fighting assumptions ever since. In her book Fighting Hislam - Women, Faith and Sexism , she argues that there are Muslim women who are fighting for gend...
May 22, 2017•1 hr
Vanessa Cranfield learned her baby girl had down syndrome on the day she was born. While the doctors and nurses ushered her husband out of the room to tell him, the young mum was faced with a dawning reality; and a lifetime of unknowns. Gretel is now in her early twenties, with two other siblings. This is a beautiful, candid interview about parenting a child with a disability. About what no one tells you; the raw and the beautiful parts. About how sometimes, people come into your life to teach y...
May 13, 2017•54 min
Samuel Johnson has two sisters, one Gold Logie and some frozen sperm sitting in a freezer at a clinic somewhere in Melbourne. Across his career, he's been in all the iconic shows of the 90s; Home and Away, Blue Heelers, Halifax FP and The Secret Life Of Us. But despite his success on screen, he's had a lot of personal tragedy and hardship in his life. Drugs. Booze. Mothers and girlfriends that have both died. And now his big sister, fighting her hardest not to. He was just 10 years old when Conn...
May 08, 2017•1 hr
When Chloe Shorten separated from her husband of 10 years, she was paranoid it would somehow affect her two young children. Then, when she remarried Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and blended her family, she got even more paranoid. So, she went hunting for help. For books, for studies, for information about the best way to do everything from “the talk” when you sit your kids down to tell them their Mum and Dad aren’t going to live together anymore to introducing new partners, navigating custody ...
Apr 30, 2017•41 min
When was the last time you bought a packet of tampons or pads? Do you remember how much they cost? Did you shop around looking for the cheapest possible option? Did you have to weigh up your priorities between say…..feeding your kids or bleeding all over your clothes? When Rochelle Courtenay read that homeless women would often have to choose between food and sanitary items, she decided to do something. Little did she know that her pad and tampon collections would change the path she took in the...
Apr 26, 2017•24 min
Who would you choose to play you in a Hollywood movie? It's a question you might have pondered. Little did Sue Brierley know that one day, she would be sitting in a Hollywood theatre, watching Nicole Kidman portray her story on the big screen. When she was just a teen, the Tasmanian girl had a vision that she would adopt a child from India, instead of giving birth to her own. Saroo, the little boy Sue and her husband John adopted in the 80s', arrived. And was the inspiration behind the Oscar-nom...
Apr 24, 2017•47 min
How do you prepare for a one-way mission to Mars? It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie, doesn’t it? But for Melbourne-based consultant Dianne McGrath, it just might become a reality. In 2013, Dianne signed up for Mars One. A mission that aims to establish life on Mars. She is now in the final 100 remaining candidates IN THE WORLD. And at the end of this year, she will find out whether or not she has been chosen as one of the final 24 who will eventually make the journey. Show Notes You...
Apr 16, 2017•50 min
Aaron Elias always knew he wanted to have children with his fashion designer partner Jayson Brunsdon. He just wasn’t sure how they would do it. As a gay couple living in Sydney, there aren’t many options out there if you want to have children. But one night, after watching a 60 minutes story on surrogacy, Aaron & Jayson knew they were on to something. Two years later (through a cancer diagnosis, finding an egg donor and many trips to Thailand) their son Roman was born. This interview will ha...
Apr 09, 2017•56 min
Have you ever had to apologise for taking up space? Have you ever been in a relationship with someone who was ashamed to go out with you in public? Have you ever felt like a failure because of how you look? American writer, feminist and fat activist Lindy West has. Plenty of times. But as soon as she started writing about her experiences, all that changed. She joins Mia Freedman live in the Mamamia office to talk about why she chose to be a 'fat bride', her thoughts on Trump and how she wrote he...
Apr 02, 2017•53 min
In October 2015 best selling author Nikki Gemmell’s world was turned upside down. Police knocked at her door, and informed her that her mother Elayn had been found dead. She had euthanized herself, without telling anyone. There was no note, and no reasoning. So Nikki did what she does best, and wrote about it. After Nikki’s latest book, is a raw account of that October day and what came next. She joins Mia for a very raw chat about what happens when you’re left to pick up the pieces. Show Notes ...
Mar 26, 2017•49 min
Syl Freedman had no idea what the hell was wrong with her. At 21, she wasn't in a good way. Decrepid immune system; in and out of hospital; and period pain so crippling she sometimes blacked out. After thinking herself to simpy be 'unlucky' her entire life, she hit a turning point: she was diagnosed with endometriosis, a silent disease affecting 1 in 10 women. Never heard of it? Neither had Syl. So she went searching for information... and discovered there wasn't a whole a lot. Now 26, Syl, Mia'...
Mar 18, 2017•51 min
This is not your average interview with Prime Minister. Of course it isn’t. It’s No Filter. Mia Freedman found out on Friday she would be interviewing Malcolm Turnbull on Monday. She would have 20 minutes. And that would be that. But boy did she get a lot out of him in that time. From vaccinations to marriage equality, to women in Parliament there was a lot covered. Especially when he started talking about his wife of 37 years, Lucy. Show Notes Your host is Mia Freedman. With thanks to special g...
Mar 14, 2017•33 min
Put everything you have EVER heard about Roxy Jacenko to one side of your mind and prepare to have all your preconceptions blown out of the water. Because we promise, you have never heard Roxy Jacenko like this before. From cancer, to how she’s coping as a single mum. Visiting Ollie in jail, to why she no longer posts on her 5-year-old daughters instagram account. This is a conversation that will change the way you look at Roxy’s instagram pictures. Show Notes Your host is Mia Freedman. With tha...
Mar 12, 2017•1 hr 12 min
He’s the award-winning stand-up comedian and host of the hit ABC show, Gruen. But as Mia Freedman finds out, for everything that we know about Wil Anderson (including those people who think he’s Adam Hills) there’s a lot we don’t know. From what it’s been like living with Osteoarthritis, to a very prickly conversation about his personal life, Mia asks the very funny man some very serious questions. Show Notes Your host is Mia Freedman. With thanks to special guest Wil Anderson. Find out more abo...
Mar 05, 2017•55 min
How do you live when you know don’t have much time? Emma Betts is 25. She has stage four melanoma. And according to doctors, has around six months to live. In this extremely intimate No Filter, this wife, daughter, sister, crazy dog-lady, lover of pavlova, former international aid and development worker, and current writer/blogger/advocate talks to Mia about being diagnosed with cancer at 22, planning her own funeral and her hopes for her husband when she is gone. You may need tissues. TO SUPPOR...
Feb 25, 2017•1 hr 6 min
A housing commission background. A single mum of two children. A son addicted to ice, and a time - a dark time - that she wanted to end it all. Senator Jacqui Lambie knows a lot about the underdog. But behind the bolshy exterior is a woman who is surprisingly reasonable. The fierce Tasmanian independent has seen and been through a lot over the years, and she’s not afraid to talk about it. From that heated TV argument with Yassmin Abdel-Magied, to examining her love life and everything in between...
Feb 20, 2017•53 min
Lisa Oldfield has no filter. The term was practically invented for her, according to Mia Freedman. The business woman turned soon-to-be Real Housewife of Sydney has a no bullsh*t attitude when it comes to life. She doesn’t care what people think of her parenting style, her marriage to One Nation founder David Oldfield or her conservative views. Which makes for some pretty interesting conversations. So grab a glass of red (like Lisa did while recording this episode) and get ready to have your min...
Feb 13, 2017•47 min
