Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About, the Stella Podcast.
I'm Sarah La Marquin, your.
Host, and every week I sit down with some of.
The biggest names in the country because when.
Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to Something to talk about. Last year, Aaron Molan lost every job she had. She'd always believe that without those roles she was nuhy, But once her greatest fear was realized, she discovered something unexpected.
So I should probably be more.
Of a shell of my former self, but I'm a complete opposite. I've never felt more confident, I've never felt more excited, and I've never felt less scared.
Two years ago, Aaron lost her beloved father, Senator Jim Moland, to cancer. Regular listeners of this podcast will remember my emotional conversation with her later that year, speaking about grief, love and legacy. Then in twenty twenty four came another reckoning, this time with her career.
So this year, Aaron has made.
A decision that she's never working for anyone else again, and today she's here to announce a new move, a role with US based Salem Network, a media platform back by members of the Trump family. On today's episode, Aaron opens up about why she believes getting on Donald Trump's bad side would be the ultimate compliment, the real story behind those high profile job losses, why she's not planning on manifesting a man anytime soon, and the heartbreaking reason
she doesn't see a wedding in her future. Aeron Moland, welcome back to the Stellar Podcast.
Thank you very much. It's so lovely to see you and lovely to be here, so thank you for having me. The last time you.
And I sat down, it was in a different studio. I feel like every time we talk it's a different studio.
Similar to my life and anfl for life.
A lot has changed. It was the beginning of last year, so early twenty twenty four, and a lot of order under that breach for you and I to unpack. But I want to start off with some news that you're here to announce you're starting a new role I believe with Salor Media.
What can you tell?
So I've just signed with Salor Media, which is a big media company in the US, and it's been two or three months in the works, which is it's been a little bit of a process, but a really exciting one. And I'm essentially doing three shows a week for them. They have a podcast network, radio network, and a television network, so I'll be appearing on all three of those over there. And it's the same company that hosts Charlie Kirk Scott Jennings, who came to prominence on CNN Lara Trump Show is
on there as well. Donald Trump Junior's just invested very heavily in it. So it's really exciting and it really fits into the kind of content that I'm producing at the moment, which is a lot of overseas stuff, a lot of US politics, a lot of war in the Middle East, war in Europe, stuff that I'm very passionate about and really enjoy covering. So yeah, it's amazing. It's it sounds like a dream job. But I'm old enough and ugly enough now to understand that that doesn't mean
it always works out. So look, I'm excited, I'm realistic about it, and I'm just really eager to get started.
Where do you.
Base yourself for something like that. You're obviously you're a mom, a single mom. You are living in Sydney. Will you be moving to the US for this or do you have to back and forth.
I mean, then that's quite a commute from Australia to the States.
I think I've done twelve overseas trips this year, so I'm getting very, very used to going to places. I was in South Africa last week two and a half nights on the ground. I'll go to la for a night, I'll go to Israel for a night. So look, I definitely won't be moving there, and I think initially there was a few opportunities for me to move over at the start of this year, but if I was still with my daughter's father it will be much easier prospect.
But definitely not moving anyway. It would be way too difficult and I would not ever want to take her away from her dad. And I love Australia and the beauty of the current media landscape is that you can essentially.
Do most things from anywhere.
So I built a studio in my spare bedroom at home, so it's amazing I can do everything from there. I can do interviews remotely, and then for the kind of bigger ones I'll travel.
I'll get in a.
Plane and go somewhere for a night and then come home, which is more mother guilt than necessity if I'm being completely honest. But I feel like if I spent longer on the ground and people say, oh, I'll stay for a few days, I just sit there feeling guilty that I wasn't back at home. So I'll base myself definitely in Australia. For bigger interviews and bigger projects, I'll travel. Otherwise, I'll essentially work out of my closet slash spare bedroom, which I've been doing a lot of over the last
six months or so, which is perfect for me. I feel very blessed. It's honestly, it just I feel like it's all worked out as it should have.
Let me ask you a little bit about your audience, because obviously the beginnings of your career was very much really as a sports reporter on broadcast television, and then of course started doing radio. And we'll talk a little bit about some of these things that you're talking about, the pivots that have happened, but I just generally interested in how many of your current audience do you think
live overseas as opposed to Australia. You have obviously huge following in Australia and particularly on your social media, but with your profile growing in the States, and obviously that's what Salem Media have seen something there that how many people working for Salem Media are international? Are you one of the few people from overseas well?
Definitely the only person in Australia and I think potentially overseas as well. I actually went to go on to other website to just have a look at a few of the different shows and I wasn't able to access it from Australia, which I hap to email them and say, hey, we might need to fix this up as as quickly as possible. So what I'm doing is very unique for them as well. But they look at my audience and they see what I'm doing, and it's in terms of
percentage of audience. I would say when I'm doing something now like I didn't even cover the Australian election essentially, and I'm doing multiple videos a week, and that's for no other reason other than I'm now almost entirely targeting that US audience. And even just the style that I do and the way that I put things together, the rhetoric, my language. I mean, I'm quite ausy in my humor.
Sometimes they don't understand my sarcasm. We'll have people comment on videos and say oh no, no, no, they actually didn't, and I'm like, no, I know that I'm being psarcastic. It's Australian humor, but I suspect at the moment. And look, we've got a lot of metrics. And I work with a guy in New York who's incredible, who's been doing this with me the entire time. He's coming with me to Salem to work with me there, which will be amazing.
But we are vast majority now US audience, So I think over sixty percent of my current audience is all US based.
I know Meghan Kelly is a name that Salem have brought up in recruiting you and signing you. Do you have role models? If so, would she be one of them? How to feel about that comparison?
A look, I think.
Again, I say, old enough and ugly enough to not get over excited by anything anymore. Maybe jaded, maybe damaged. No, look, it's incredibly flattering in that she's a phenomenal broadcaster. She's incredible. I think I'm very different to her in a lot of ways. I was I caught up with Linda Yakarino, who was the head of x over in New York last month, and she's become quite a good friend of mine and she knows Meghan quite well, and we were both talking about the kind of differences in our style.
I think, you know, similar in some ways, but I think I'm a much more emotional person she's you know, I can be scathing as well in my assessments on things, but I also have a side where I deeply feel things, whereas she's I think, much more clinical in what she does. But she's amazing. You know, she covers things like what Lauren Sanchez wore to the inauguration, and she'll also cover you know, the war in Ukraine. In that She's got a lot of breadth to her, a lot of depth, and I'm excited.
I think it's such a new world out there.
And for me, I remember when Piers Morgan went just to YouTube and we had him on radio, and I mean in a way Hughesy and I kind of, you know, we were chatting afterwards and going, you know, it still feels like if you're going to that space, then you can't hack it in real media. You know, you can't
make it in real media. And now clearly am I attitude towards it has changed entirely in that I look back at what I was doing in more legacy media and mainstream media, and the biggest audience that I got was cutups of that that were then shared on socials
by other people. And I look at the way I consume news now, in the way I consume content, and it's almost I mean, I'll watch Fox News at home, it's basically the only thing I watch, but I'll consume ninety nine percent of content on my handset, on social media, on YouTube, on x So the world is changing significantly, and a lot of organizations same is here a pivoting
and they're keeping up with it. But it's a world that if you're willing to take a risk and you're willing to put yourself out there, which regardless of what's happened to me in my career, I've never shied away from taking an opportunity and putting myself out there. And I'll always do that, and I'll do it more robustly now than ever before, which is probably quite strange given what happened last year, which was I lost every job that I had, so I should probably be more more
of a shell of my former self. But I'm the complete opposite. I've never felt more confident, I've never felt more excited, and I've never felt less scared, which is quite strange to me.
What do you put that down to?
I think for twenty years in the media, and I started out in television at twenty one, now forty one, I didn't quite realize until I lost. And I say I lost everything last year. I didn't at all. I did not at all, but professionally I lost every role that I had from the start of the year till the end, lost every role. And once that happened, it dawned upon me how miserable I had been, and not because I hadn't had amazing jobs or i'd loved moments of them. I had entirely, But I had lived crippled
by fear that entire time. And it was only once I lost everything, every job, that I realized that I was actually okay, and I realized that what I'd been terrified of, which was if this doesn't work out, if this doesn't rate, if I get sacked, then I'm nothing and I have no worth and value and people won't like me. I won't be able to get another job, I will have failed. My fear of failure was so massive.
And then when it all happened, and then the last one, when Sky happened, I you know, I had an hour. I was like, holy shit, oh my god, because you know, it was funny when radio ended. It was kind of thought, well, you know, maybe I'm not that suited to talking about Taylor Swift in the morning. You know, maybe that's not my thing. And that's okay. But I remember saying to
my daughter. I went to pick her up, and when I taught her about radio ending, and she looked at me, she goes, what happens if Sky end your show too? And I was like, don't be silly, honey, mummy's amazing on the sky. And then about two months later I went to pick her up.
I'm like, guess what happened.
You know, it's I can laugh about it now, but at the time it was it was, yeah, it was. It was really difficult, absolutely, but again I had an hour. I went, oh my gosh, what am I going to do? And then I suddenly went, wait a minute, I have an audience, and if it's not here, then it's definitely over there. And I have value, and even if other people don't see it, or if a certain section of people don't see it, that's fine.
No one has value to everyone. You know.
Donald Trump's a president and a shitload of people can't stand him. You know, people who are immensely talented have a shitload of people who can't stand them. People who have, you know, insane ability in a certain field have failed in twenty other fields. And for some reason, I kind of thought, Okay, well, I write everything I do. My monologues go viral every week online. I'm getting people overseas who are big time broadcasters who are sharing them. Maybe
I don't need that legacy media. I don't need that platform. And it dawned to me that actually, I'm going to be okay, and I need to back myself. And for some reason, and I should have been in the fetal position in the corner for some reason. You know, I had my moment of panic and my moment of fear and my moment of oh my gosh, what are people
going to think? And then I went, okay, But I'm actually okay, and I'm alive, and I've got a healthy, beautiful daughter, and I've got a family who love me, and I still believe in myself and I still believe in what I can do. And from then on I had this just weight off my shoulders and I felt my chest just it had been tight for twenty years.
And every every time I I, you know, ratings, radio ratings, when we you know, we doubled our ratings, and it was the greatest feeling in the world, and You're on top of the world. And that would last about twenty two seconds for me before I would then go into this space of but what if they dropped next time? Same as Sky, I'd look at the ratings. My show was number one for four weeks in a row, and I was on top of the world, But after each single one, did I enjoy it?
And of course I didn't.
I suddenly then went into this space of but that might change, and what if it does, and what happens then? And then yeah, when everything went, I kind of went I'm not afraid anymore of losing things or of people thinking that I've failed, because it's all part of life, you know, you should be I failed. Daily, I'll do a video that doesn't resonate, doesn't matter. The next day, I'll do one that goes viral the next two days, I might do one that doesn't resonate again, and it
just it doesn't matter. I put myself there. I will try harder than anyone else. And I'm not going to be ashamed of that either. You know, I've been shamed in the past for trying too hard, or for working too hard, or for trying to do big things, and it's well, no, sorry, but I will try to do big things for the rest of my life. And if one in a hundred of them come off, then amazing.
And when the other night in nine Jane, I can look at my little girl and say, mummy tried a mummy back to herself, and Mummy's really proud, and I am. I'm proud of everything that I've done.
That realization that none.
Of us can be all things to all people. Everyone fails every single day, every single one of us. As you say, it doesn't matter who you are, the most globally renowned person through to an obscure person. Everyone's got people that love them and are chamboning them, and everyone's got people that, oh I'm winching about that person as soon as they turn their head, whether it's on a macro scale on social or just within the corridors of an offic that realization that I'm okay, I'm not going
to be measured by that. I'm also thinking about some of the work that you have done throughout your career in in trolling. You were one of the people that were very much at the forefront of that conversation that's now become very mainstream about social media and the way that we conduct ourselves and the tone there and the way that we.
Really go after people.
Is that extended eron to that belief in yourself and that little bit of immunity.
I thought rug was bad. I had no idea, and.
The long time politics, you'll have a challenge, don't you a rugby league and then get into politics.
Just got my mother.
I remember her saying back to me in the day, you know, the public service would just be so lovely for you, and I'm sure it would be, but I've just, for whatever reason, easy has never appealed to me. I'm my father's daughter in so many ways, and he was exactly the same. And when I say easy, by the way, I know that being the public service is not easy in any way. But she was kind of saying as opposed to this kind of very public life that I find myself in and the highs and lows of it.
It's so interesting when I think back to the Online Safety Act and Aaron's Law, as former Prime Minister Scott Morrison called it at the time, and I think back to interviews that I did where I was very emotional about the abuse that I was receiving and the death threats and not even and I remember back then I would always focus more on that because I didn't want to appear to be weak and vulnerable and.
Be hurt by just mean comments. You know.
I was very very particular about that. It's so interesting now because a kid, you not, apart from the things that are legitimate in terms of the safety of myself and my daughter, there is not one thing, apart from again the safety of myself and my daughter that can hurt me anymore online. It's I often think back, I wonder would I have been so passionate about what I was advocating for in the legislation if I'd been this person back then, Because back then I was so deeply
affected by all of it. It lived rent free in my head, every mean comment, every awful thing that was said to me. I felt awful about myself so much of the time, and I was distressed by it constantly,
and it was very difficult for me to handle. And now, I mean I almost feel embarrassed a little bit by how deeply it affected me, and not zero regrets because I hope that the work I did made it safer online and the focus on children was always paramount for me in the safety of children online, but for me individually again, there is nothing anymore that you could say to me in a personal way, a physical way, an
integrity way that hurts me anymore. And it is such a peaceful, lovely existence and it's I guess it all boils down. I feel like last year, at the end of last year was such a kind of such a pivotal moment in my life where I suddenly realized that the opinions of others and this desperate need that I had to be liked and accepted and for people to think that I was a success just it kind of
died when I lost every job. And I also was so worried always about letting other people down and letting bosses down, and letting colleagues down, and co hosts and.
Partners as well.
I would be you know, I don't want my partner to see someone writing this awful thing about me, because that's and I just feel like I've come to this space now where my opinion of myself is the only thing that matters to me anymore.
And I know.
Whether I've put everything into something. I know whether I've done something really well. I know whether I've done something not as well. That's the gauge now that I go on, and it's just such a lovely place to be after twenty years of essentially hell in my own head.
I love that.
I'm so happy to hear that.
Since we actually started talking a little bit about social media, one of the things I really did want to talk to about was X and the show that you've been working on, their sixty nine X minutes. This started actually fittingly enough with Elon Musk on X formerly known as Twitter, where he said, let's do this show obviously not sixty minutes in a satirical fashion. Hopefully some of the US
base got that, Aaron. There's been talk about what's happened to that show, and especially of course with the announcement today of your role with saleor Media some people, I'm sure would be asking, well, will you still be working on that show?
I will be, which is wonderful.
And look, I guess the beauty of that show and the way that it operates, so even when we don't do full shows, we'll be doing interviews and clips and they'll be posting kind of you know, sixty nine x minutes and I hate the name the way, and my mother hates the name, and it's it's not reflective of the content of the show. But look now, I think you know, it will do once a fortnight or once a month and then do clips. So look, that to me will become a kind of secondary project that I'll
host whenever the show is on. And Salem are very happy for me to keep doing that, and for me, it's just it's great exposure. It's you know, the caliber of guests that we get on that show is phenomenal in the world. Leaders, you know, some of the most incredible people. We had both Trump sons last week, Tony Abbott, Pete Haigseth, Secretary of Defense, so you know, it gets
a very big audience as well. I think the first few episodes we've done, maybe twelve episodes it's had fifteen million views per episode, so it's a really big reach. So look, I would love to stay involved in it. I've Initially it was a little bit hard because they wanted me to sign exclusively, but I made a promise to myself at the start of this year. Someone said to me very early on when it all happened, when I,
you know, lost all my jobs. They say, now your ego is going to want to sign up to something straight away.
Don't give yourself time.
And even now, even with Salem, I'm not signing exclusively. I'm signing with them, but I wanted to give myself a year and just build up profile in America, do my own content, work for myself, and I'll never work for anyone else again ever. I'll never put myself in a position where someone else controls my content or my future.
That's something that I won't budge on. So everything I do now is me working for me, and they can contract me out if they like, but I control everything which is I think I've earned the right to do that now, and I want.
To do that and it.
Yeah, it's a much more peaceful existence for me in that space. So the sixty nine next show. It started as once a week, it's now kind of whenever. We're doing one next week. We did one last week, but it will I'll still do it, but it will be less intense now that I'm doing the Salem Show as well.
Well.
Let's stay on the topic of politics a little bit and Donald Trump. As you say, with Salem Media, you also interviewed Lara and Eric Trump last year, so I assume that sort of a relationship that's become quite close. Is that something that extends to the rest of the family. I mean you included at the Donald Trump Christmas party at.
I wish, No, not as yet.
I'm still working on meeting Donald and look, I will at some stage because I'm very persistent. But no, I'm certainly not considered. I wouldn't consider myself how many kids does he have a fifth child?
That would?
I mean, look, that would be a little excessive. But Lara I love and Eric as well. They're just they're incredibly good people. Lara has been incredibly supportive of me, and she you know, she feels that I was incredibly supportive of her early on as well. I used to get her on my show very regularly before she became rnc CoA chair before. She's now hosting her own primetime show on Fox News, which is going incredibly well.
So she's wonderful.
She's someone I respect immensely, and yeah, we'll see how that relationship develops. And I guess now having a show specifically in that market, I'm sure I'll.
Do more and more with guests over there.
As we're sitting here halfway through the year, coming up to the six month mark of the Trump administration part two, and of course he is an absolute lightning rod globally, still huge interest in him from all corners of the world, of course, including here in Australia. As we know of course for our listeners. He introduced sweeping tariffs that raised quite a lot of eyebrows. He's embarking on mass deportation efforts.
There's the controversial travel ban. He's ramped up battles with some corners of the media, and of course he's copping flak and even alienated some of his baits with the Epstein files still not being released. And there has of course been his falling out with Elon Musk. He's no longer part of the administration as a commentator. What's your view your scorecard if you like of the Trump administration so far.
It's a great question, and you know, I'm the Do I think Donald Trump is perfect? Absolutely not. Have I been critical of things he's done, absolutely? You know, I think accepting the jet was not a particularly smart move in terms of falling out with other people. Obviously Tucker Carlson and he have had a fairly significant falling out there used to be incredibly close. I think Megan Kelly copped a little bit from him a couple of weeks
ago off the back of her comments regarding the Epsign files. Look, I don't know why they're not released. I think just release whatever you've got. I think that would just be the smart move given I think I think that transparency
was a big part of what they campaigned on. But to be honest, I think Douglas Murray wrote a great piece on this this week in terms of what everyday Americans care about, really, and the Epstein files is not even top ten in terms of what I would consider most people with cost of living pressures, who actually have real problems would care about and in those ways, And that's where I look at and what I judge. You know, I think the economy is going very well.
I understand the tariffs.
Were not popular, but I thought, particularly when it came to China, I feel like Donald Trump coming down incredibly hard. And yes, people will say, oh, will he kind of soften towards the end, But that's Donald Trump.
He does that.
That's his kind of strategy when he's looking at negotiating a deal. But I look at and I say, the rising threat of China. It's not a rising threat. It is a significant, very present threat. And the US has essentially and particularly under Biden, has funded so much of their now strength and light and power that they have not hidden the fact that they want to use to become the number one country in the world. And I think America had to stop and say, why are we
funding our biggest threat. It's not Iran, it's China. So I feel like that was to me, it was nothing about the economy. It was about national security. And I thought it was a really strong move, and I don't think it mattered so much for me. What happened after that it was standing up and saying we're not going to continue this. So I think when it comes to foreign policy, yes, he said it in the Russia Ukraine war and that hasn't occurred yet.
War in the Middle East.
I think the US's involvement in the strikes in Iran was superb. I think an Iranian official has come out, I think just over the past couple of weeks or so, and said the damage done to Fordeau and to the big nuclear facilities was significant because there was a lot of conjecture as to whether or not the US strikes were successful. But I think that had to happen, and he was brave enough and bold enough to make a call. And you had people like Tucker Carlson saying, oh, I
didn't vote for war. Well, it wasn't war. It was an act of war that prevented an all out nuclear war around say constantly, death to America, death to Israel, and they follow through on all of those things at every opportunity. So for them to have had nuclear capability was not on for anyone. So if you care about peace and prosperity, and you care about the kind of world we live in here in Australia because we rely on America for our protection, then you should be very
impressed with that part of his presidency thus far. But I think in terms of the things I care about as an Australian here when it comes to national security and peace and prosperity, I think he's done better than anyone else would have.
He will take any opportunity, not the only politician in the world certainly to say yes, here is all the great things that I'm doing.
Absolutely, no one does it more.
Absolutely, he's not so receptive to any criticism, as he said Megan Kelly, anyone that he would have considered to be an ally perhaps turns on people. He's not really somebody that's very open to bipartisan observation, shall we say from the media, are you prepared for that if you become the recipient of a Donald Trump bar So I thought Aaron mollan was on my side.
That's sort of Trump is.
Look, I think absolutely, I think everything I've done in my career would prepare me for that kind of thing. And look it would be again, I look at the world so differently now, and I would consider it an absolute privilege if he was familiar enough with my work to annihilate me publicly. But it's funny, isn't it, Because you look at press conferences and you know I often think he has no qualms in calling you out and annihilating you in the most public way. You know it must be we're not used.
We don't know. We're alive here in Australia without you know.
Sometimes you know, Albanezi might get a little shirty or schom I might have gotten a little bit tense with someone, but it's a very very different situation, you know. I often have to when I'm scrolling, I'll see a post from the White House and I have to go back and check if it's actually because you know, he calls people losers and like it's it's insane.
But I guess what would you rather?
You know, someone who is going to say exactly what they think when they think it, so you're never left guessing, Or you'd rather someone like Joe Biden, who you know had no idea what was going on, did not control a thing. The autopen was used for anything significant, said oh Araan we've worn them and sorry they then pulled off,
you know, killed multiple US troops. I know what i'd rather in power, and you know it's not perfect, but I feel like at least you're never guessing in terms of what he thinks about anything and everything and the access that the media gets to him. You might hate his responses, you might hate his rhetoric, you might think that it was uncalled for, but there's no other president in history that has given media more access, and not just media that he likes, you know, other media too.
Aaron I asked you about if you're the only Australian, one of the few international anchors on Salem Media, what about political leanings. It's obviously very much overtly doesn't shy away from it. It's mainly targeted to a conservative audience. Absolutely for you that can be of I would say unpredictable political views. And I mean that as an absolute compliment because I think that's a really rare and vital quality I think in all of our political discourse. But
people are looking for comfort. That's why echo chambers exist. They want to know what they're getting.
If there's a.
Moment where, you know, the Democrats in the path to the primaries, they start unearthing their new you know, Barack Obama, or someone comes through and it's you know, not a bide and it's someone that comes out says some really sensible things.
Do you feel that you would.
Have the platform, the support from your audience as well to come out and support that, or do you think there's.
Very much an expectation from your audience.
I think it.
Look even I think the audience absolutely is conservative. But I think the audience anywhere is what you make it and who you draw into it. And I've never been someone that has thought, oh, well, I feel this way, but I'm going to hide it, you know, because it might not be popular. Breakfast Radio was different in that it was a comedy show, so I wasn't going to go in there and talk about US politics or talk about anything that was fairly intense. And that wasn't about
hiding it. It was just about it wasn't the right platform in this instance. I've already done so, you know, and the vast majority of my audience would be conservative, and you know, I've done things that they have disliked immensely.
Even this year, even recently. Over in the US, there's a trend gender woman in parliament over there, and I think it was a Foreign Affairs committee and a Republican senator was calling her mister, and I did a video and I went online and it went very much against you'd say the bass, and I said, I don't want men in women's locker rooms, and I don't want biological men playing against women in sport. But my gosh, that is so unnecessary. It's just unkind.
You know.
I want everyone to feel good about who they are and to be happy. And I'm socially quite progressive, which which is a little bit unique, I guess in that field. And I got a lot of blowback from people and a lot of you know, thousands of comments from people saying, oh I thought you were better than that, you know, blah blah blah. It's you know where you know, a
lot of criticism and a lot of blowback. And I was saying to my editor slash producer, you know, oh gosh, should we put up another video and hopefully they'll forget. I was like, no, we sit with this and we you know, this is part of it. And in the end, I didn't lose any followers or they only went up. And people at least know that when I say something, I mean it. Even if I know, and I knew it was going to be very unpopular, I'm not afraid of doing that.
And coming up Erin on a recent trip to Israel that ended in a bomb shelter and the question about marriage that brought her to tears.
A couple of years.
Ago, when you were still working on a FM that was the hughesy Ed and Eron Show. One of the jobs that you lost at the end of last year.
The tattoo, which I thought would secure my future, really didn't.
Well, I'm guessing you'll never do that again.
He said, you'll never work for one person again. I'm assuming that will extend to tattooy An employers.
So I feel like I could change it. I've just got to meet a man that his initials are age.
Okay, all right, that's good.
Yeah, I could.
I can imagine I put that out in the universe people.
That believe in manifesting.
I certainly would not be manifesting a man. I have a million things i'd rather before that. But yes, I hear you.
But I know I was talking to a little bit. It was not long after your dad, Jim Molland, who you're extremely close to. His presence is still with you when you talk about him. But I was talking a little bit about whether losing him might have set you on a path to maybe pursue a career in politics, and at that time it was Sky News political columns and then the FM radio Sean I was like, do you see sort of a world where the paths might diverge.
And you sort of go down one path and then of course.
Fate, as it often does, made the decision for you. I wondered if that had also shifted your politics a little bit, because now it seems like it's quite focused. This is what you are. You're a political commentator, You're a political anchor.
I think very much so.
And I look back to that period and we were on Ready for four years and it was a very difficult balance at times, and it was very hard to try. And I guess you're trying to be in this space where I mean, the radio audience was very different to obviously the Sky News audience. And whilst I didn't do Sky News content on radio, you know, my content I would do on Sky would often get a lot of publicity,
and it was look, I definitely am much more. I wouldn't say my political views have changed at all, not even a little bit. I've always I mean, you know, in fact, most people would get more conservative as they get older. I think who was at Hollyva Lance. What did she say in some podcasts that I can't believe I'm quoting Holly of Lance, God bless her. I was quoting Taylor Swift the other day as well. But something, you know, you just grow up and you know, realize
how the world works essentially. But I've kind of because of Dad and you know, kind of I think always had a fairly good grasp of that. But yeah, it's now the things that used to occupy my mind and that would part of my day to day aren't there anymore. So I'm no longer in that pop culture world. I'm no longer talking about single mum Isshue, you know all that we did a lot of that kind of stuff, which I loved and that that's a big part of me.
And I guess I now would talk to my girlfriends about the stuff that I used to talk about on radio. But it is, It is funny. There are things that happened now and I think, God, that would have been a good story for radio, but I do not have a platform to share that now. So yeah, I think I love like that experience was amazing and we had you know.
Our listeners, and yes, we did have listeners, and they were.
You know, we did double our audience and they were amazing, and it was it was a lovely, fun, incredible time that was enjoyable as opposed to apart from the you know, the angst about ratings and whether or not it would work, but the actual day to day with Husey and ed was was. Yeah, a real highlight of my life. And again no regrets at all. You know, I think back what I've accepted it. Had I known it was going to end at some stage, well, everything ends at some stage.
We lasted four years and what one of ten or eleven or twelve teams that they've kind of churned through since then, It's like, you know what, I refuse to believe that every single individual that's been on that network is a failure. I vehemently refuse to believe that. In fact, I know that for a fact, So nor do I put myself in that category either or anyone else.
I think it's the same way that we increasingly, I would argue, I've come to think a bit about relationships ending in marriage is ending. There was a time where that was all, well, that failed, but now we're like, well, that was actually a part of my life and that shape to that person.
Is that shape? Two I am if there's.
Children involved, and we see it less as a failure as something that ran its natural course hundred.
The more I think about it these days, particularly, I think, you know, how does anyone meet someone at seventeen eighteen? I mean, I'm when I was thirty, I was such a different person in terms of what I value and my confidence and myself were. You know, there's so many different things that change. And I again, you're so right, it's not it's not a failure. And I used to hate when people would say a broken home, and I
think that is utterly ridiculous. My daughter has two of the most beautiful, wholesome, loving homes that she could ever wish for, and a mum and dad who are in a wonderful place separately. But also we're a family as well, you know, we do a lot of things together. And it's, yeah, there's no element, you're right, a failure. But at the
time I deeply felt like I had failed. I looked at my parents, who had been together for fifty five years or you know, they met when they was seventeen and eighteen, And some people are really blessed in that that is their story. That will not be my story. And would I have thought as a forty one year old sitting here now that I've never been married, I never would have thought that was my existence. You know, I joked to my siblings, I'm like, they're all I'm like,
I'm the hot one. How did I not get married? That's a joke, that will be I'll be annihilated for that, but bring it on.
I don't care.
It's a you know, we joke around a lot, but that just hasn't been my journey. But my journey's been insane. What a life I've lived. I've lived the most incredible life. And I'm in the greatest place I've ever been in. And I've thought I've been in great places before, but I wasn't. But I can hand on heart say that this stage of my life has been the most peaceful. And I'm driven by excitement now, not by fear, which is the most significant shift I've ever had in my life, which is really lovely.
To be driven by excitement, that's that's a fantastic thing. I was going to ask you what you missed about radio and what you didn't miss I mean breakfast radio the shift is brutal. But then I imagine broadcasting into the States, you're also navigating all sorts of time zones.
Apart from my.
Daughter that is sleeping in your bedroom, so probably the alarm clock still going off for crazy hours.
Look, she's pretty amazing, Actually she kind of. She's She does not disturb me at all, which is which is wonderful. I disturb myself much more often. She's she's great. Yes, sometimes I have to get up in like an interview I'm trying to do at the moment desperately, which hopefully you know, I'll have an next twenty four hours or so, but I will have to get up at some ridiculous hour, which is so fine. What don't I miss? Look, I definitely I didn't. I don't think I realized what I
was missing at home. So my little girl was how old was she?
Like two? When I started breakfast radio.
She was a baby and I did it for four years and so her entire life, basically she was waking up to a babysitter. And that to me, I think back, and I go, even with school and starting school last year, and you know, I say, babysitter, Vicky, who's you know started with us, says, not a nanny. We've never had a full time nanny, but just would babysit when we work. When she was six weeks old. So she's part of our family, and so we're very blessed, you know, to have had her.
But now I look at the way.
Her mornings start with her mum and I walk her to school, and I'm so present.
And I've heard.
People talk about when they lose jobs in this kind of thing before, and I've always thought, oh, yeah.
Good cover a loser. But it's actually it's.
So true in that I feel like I miss such a big part of and I was always there, and you know, i'd pick her up from school, and I'm you know, I don't have much of a life apart from work in her so I'm always with her. But I just I now look at how she wakes up and I'm the first thing she sees, and we cuddle and she tells me a story because she's not a you know, I'll pick he up from school and she's got no interest in talking to me, but that morning time is so special. So I certainly I don't miss
missing that part of her life. And I feel very blessed to have it now and to be able to walk her to school. Miss I miss the people absolutely.
I miss you know.
I couldn't show you our current group chat with Hughesy and Ed because ratings came out recently and we like to look and you know, we're bitter and twisted at times.
But you know, that's life. That's everyone in the media. You're lying if you tell me you're not.
But we had a great relationship and there's still you know Huesy in particular. I mean when I go on dates, he's usually the first person, you know, I text or call afterwards. We speak a lot, and he's someone that I'm forever grateful to have met and spent so much time with him.
Yes, we came to.
Blows a few times and we would disagree and really our cup which I loved as well, but he's, you know, become one of my closest friends. So I missed the people very much, so, but not much else. I gotta say.
I also think it's totally believable when you talk about the benefits of getting some of that time back as a mother, because you weren't somebody that came out and said for family reasons I've decided to leave these jobs. You've been really honest and candid about that, so I think it's but it is true even if we do lose the job or circumstances change.
By the way, that's that's wrong their experience.
I only had my experience with you know, Hughsi and Ed's experience and their situations of I'm sure I know her are entirely different, but absolutely, you know, I kind of feel like I always ask people for brutal honesty, and I've always been very vulnerable in terms of, you know, how I feel about my body or how I felt about my body, not so much now, which is also a lovely space to be in, but how I've felt about different things, you know, past relationships that were not healthy.
I've always been so vulnerable, yet with work I almost haven't been. For some reason, that was my achilles heel. Oh, I'm happy to say that I suck at this or I'm awful at this, or that this failed. But if it's professional God, no, no, no, can't, no way.
God.
The thought of people thinking I failed professionally, h anything else would be completely fine, But for some reason, that was the thing that terrified me more than anything else. But again, I got to the end of last year and thought, what more is there left to be afraid of? Like what in terms of that field? And I've got perspective, I've got a healthy child. I'm so lucky when I say I'm talking just in that professional capacity, I'm not afraid anymore of it.
And so I don't need to hide anything.
I don't need to make up stories or pretend like you know, oh well, you know, I've just decided to pivot or it is like you know, it happened. I lost all my jobs last year, and at the time it wasn't overly pleasant. But now I can say it's the greatest gift I've ever been given, the greatest gift.
And I'm not saying I'm thanking the people who gave it to me, but I am incredibly grateful as to how it's all worked out, because in every way, personally as a mother and professionally already, I've had more success in the last six months in the ways that matter to me than I've had in twenty years.
Aerin, when you left Sky Used Australia, there was a bit of a narrative out there that part of the reason or the reason that you'd lost your job there was because of your outspoken views and your pro Israel stance. Now, just for some context again for our audience. Obviously, Sky News Australia has a lot of anchors that are very passionately in favor of Israel, including Shari Marx and Caroline Marcus.
Former Treasurer Josh Fredenberg presented a documentary that was investigating anti Semitism in Australia, and in February of this year, Sky News Australia actually held a very big anti Semitism summit. So it seems like a completely bizarre conspiracy theory to have gotten out there. Can I ask you about that, how it got out there and what you would say to people that believe it or heard it.
I've said from day one.
Have you watched Sky News Australia, Almost every anchor on there is very pro Israel. I've said it in every single interview that I've done. I was told budgetary reasons, it had nothing to do with my stance on Israel, and I said.
That on X I put posts up.
Look, I guess because I was so outspoken in favor of Israel and people in other parts of the world working for networks who are not like Sky News Australia, I guess, but debunked it at every single every turn, every corner, every opportunity, and you know, without being silly, it's utterly ridiculous. As I've said publicly multiple times, I've done a million interviews since in international media, and every time I've been asked about it, I've said the exact same thing.
What did you learn at your time on Sky that has shaped the person that you are today and the news presenter that you are.
Look, it was, I guess the first time that I was doing me essentially and not in terms of.
When I hosted football that was amazing and in a lot of ways, but my job was not to talk about me. My job was to host a panel and
facilitate radio. Absolutely a lot of personal content, but I was part of a team that was amazing in that, you know, I chasing in views, chasing guests that I wanted talking about things that I cared about deeply, and even you know, I talked about same sex marriage issues and things that maybe didn't align so much with what other people on Sky News believed, which you know is neither here nor there. But to do an hour live show a week for was I there three years?
Three years?
Was amazing And to be honest, it's what I'm doing now is essentially that what I used to do back then, but just doing it for myself. So I think it broadened my horizon in so many ways, and it enabled me to talk about things I truly cared about rather than things that I was just paid to talk about. So it look, again, was I pleased with how it happened? No,
not at all, of course not, of course not. Do I regret leaving Channel nine and going there, not for a second, And do I regret my time, They're not for a second. It gave me the most incredible platform to show the world essentially who I am and what I can do. And yeah, it's certainly contributed to I mean, you may not think I'm a good broadcaster. For those who do think I'm a good broadcaster, it's certainly contributed to that.
I think we're all the some of our parts.
I think you're a great broadcaster, and I think all of the things that you've worked on from being a reporter, from being somebody that was at the forefront of female reporters and female presenters in footy and taking in the NRL world still very male dominated, a lot more female presenters in sports fortunately these days. And then being a columnist and working on FM radio and sharing that part of your life and working on Sky News.
I think it's all the sum of.
I feel parts and you are.
I love thinking about it like that, because if you look at anything individually that any of us do, it will always come to an end in some way, shape or form. And whether that's your choice or someone else's, or whether it just dies a natural death, it doesn't matter.
It's all an experience. And I look at you know.
I remember Larry Amda telling me ages ago when the Footay Show ended, I'm the most sacked host in Australian television. And I think he may have also told me he's the highest paid, but he may not own up to that, or I don't know if he still is. I mean, I'm sure he's very valuable. But I remembered that for a long time and I didn't really need to think
about that much until last year. And he's absolutely right in that this is part of our industry and for me, what a privileged, amazing life I have led and I've been given some of the most incredible opportunities, and I hand on heart can say that I have taken every single one to the point where they're well, not even probably, I know that, you know, I give so much and I want to do so much that it often annoys people and bosses who are like just but I just I love it so much and I feel so grateful
for every opportunity I've had, And You're right, I feel like where I'm at now is a sum of all those parts. And the broadcaster I am now. You know, on my show I'm I'll won't just cover politics. There'll be other things, social issues. There'll be lots of different things that I'll feel more comfortable talking about because of all the experiences I've had. And again, you know, I look at other people who are, you know, married with lots of kids and have had very solid, safe, comfortable,
peaceful existences, and God bless them, and that's amazing. That was never going to be my journey. That was never going to be my journey, and I just I pinch my I think gratitude. It sounds so wanky, but since doing that year of therapy, when Dad died, and I did that one year with beautiful Sandy Ray, who was just amazing change my life about you know, gratitude and about just being grateful for everything that I've got and
what I've done. I look at my life now and I think how insane, how insane that all the things I've done, and some I did better than others. Absolutely, I'm a human being, and I don't think i've even started yet. You know, I don't think I've even come close to reaching a peak of what i want to
do professionally. And I'm excited about the potential of that, and I'm excited about challenging myself and I'm excited about owning it completely, as in, everything I do from this point forward is on me, and there's no one telling me what to do or how to do it, or what to wear, or who to interview, or to focus more on local or to focus more on this, and that it's entirely on me, and that ownership is exciting for me rather than scary.
Surviving really difficult things professionally personally can really give us a new perspective. And yet I can hear it in you as well, a real belief because you know what you can withstand. So I have to ask Aaron about something that you went through in June. You were in Israel. In fact, you were in Tel Aviv when rockets were coming in from Iran. You were in a bomb shelter at one point. How did you get out of there and how has that experience shifted you in terms of perspective?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely right. And I think as someone who has talked about this conflict for a long long time, to actually experience it, I think from a professional perspective was incredible.
Yes, it was.
It was very scary at times, and it was it was something I wasn't prepared for. I'd gone for one night I was being awarded an honorary doctorate, which was a lovely on from a university or a University of Rachman over there in Tel Aviv, and then I woke up the next morning ready to go to the airport and the first kind of attack had been launched onto Iran and airspace closed, everything shut and we were told to prepare for retaliation.
And yeah, it was. It was.
I think I went to a bombshelter maybe a hundred times in that week. You're running to bombshelters, multiple times a night, multiple times during the day. But this is what I you know, this is what I do. And even when I started back in Sport, I remember saying to the news director at Channel nine, I want to be a foreign correspondent.
I want to go to war zones.
And that was when I was a twenty five year old, and so to actually be in one and to be able to cover it, you know, I could have. I wasn't there working for anybody. I was just there on my own. But I went, I've got contacts here, foreign minister, President, i can go to impact sites. I can talk about
what's happening on the ground. I can point out the complete fallacy in saying this is a tit for tat war when it's you know, let's target a nuclear site or a nuclear scientist or a terrorist, and versus let's target a building with a little girl who's got cancer. So I could actually go out to these sites, and so I did, you know, every day I went out to impact sites. I went and did interviews, I went to the IDF headquarters. I used it to do my job basically, and to report and to cover it.
But again, yeah, it was I'm not going to lie. It was.
It was very unsettling and very nerve wracking, particularly when I realized that where we're staying, I think the Masade headquarters was close by underneath ground, so you kind of you know, we had missiles coming very close to where we were, so it was scary. But I was watching people there with their kids and families as well, so you know, I did. There was this poor, poor family from Florida that I just attached myself to staying at
the hotel. They were I mean, bless them. I'm going to go visit them when I'm in Florida for a talk in a couple of months. Their kids were there and having to run to bomb shelters, but I felt grateful that I wasn't have to having to worry about my child safety. And then of course we're in bomb shelters. There are people who don't, who couldn't get to bomb shelters, and so yeah, perspective, It gives you a lot of perspective.
And it was also incredible for me to experience what they do on the ground, not to that extent normally that was heightened absolutely, but for a lot of people in that region that is their everyday existence.
I imagine that you hugged your daughter a little bit closer when you did get back home to Australia.
I didn't cry it all over there at all. And you know, I had to escape through Jordan, which was which was quite a process as well, kind of trying to get through the border there, and eventually how I got out with this lovely group of people who let me sneak along with their crew, a bunch of economists from the US. But when I got to her dad's place, I think it was eleven pm at night, and I'd said I'm just going to come and get her straight away,
and yeah, that I shed a few tears there. She didn't, which was hurtful.
But.
That was probably the only time I've I've shed tears over that, and that was just relief to be home with her and very grateful to live in this incredible country.
God, we're lucky.
My final question to Erin is, once we spoke, you were talking about how your late dad had said the forties are the best decade. It's still in the very early stages of the forties.
We've spoken about what lies ahead.
Professionally, you prepared for everything, including getting in Donald Trump's radar, good and the bad. You've said that even though you're the hot sibling you never married.
My sister's are beautiful and my brother's very handsome. I have to put that on.
It's all good. Never mind that, like how mainly Australian audience.
Never mind?
But what does lie ahead?
Do you think?
What are you prepared for?
As you said, do you.
See potentially a waiting I know it's not the front of mine for you, but how are you feeling about the new opportunities with this new view that you have in yourself, this closest you've probably come to peace in a piece in a long time, high level of self acceptance radiating from you.
It is very very much exactly that.
And I feel like I look back at past relationships and I now have a greater understanding of why. And look, I had, you know, three very long term relationships, but I understand why they didn't work given where I was at. And I'm not taking full responsibility for that, but I definitely take ownership of of my shortcomings. And I mean, how can you be healthy and loving in a relationship
when you're miserable inside? And when you're anxious all the time, and when you don't particularly like yourself, and when you're living in fear, it's almost impossible. Now my life is very different, which is lovely. In terms of marriage, I'll answer right now how I feel right now. Never I'll never get married, because I don't think I would. I don't think I could without Dad there to walk me down the aisle. I think that for me is that's
the only thing I look forward to about marriage. I was hoping to make it through the whole thing without getting teary.
I was so close. But I never grew.
Up dreaming of like a dress, or like a prince charming or a But I remember when I was young, my cousin's dad walking her down the aisle and they would joke that she used to be naughty. And I was at the wedding with Dad, and he gave this beautiful speech about about how.
She was a bit of a wild child, which I was when I was younger.
And and then how she kind of, you know, she was a doctor and she was amazing, and you know, Dad and I would always, you know, he would always joke about his speech at my wedding, which he's obviously not here to give that or to what we've done.
They are. So look, marriage does.
Not interest me in the slightest at this stage, or I genuinely don't think I'll ever get married, and that's I'm so fine with that, despite the fact I'm not crying over not getting married. I'm crying because I missed
my beautiful dad. But in terms of partners, I kind of when I separated from my daughter's father, I then went into another relationship almost immediately for three years, and I didn't give my self time to be alone, and I didn't quite understand why people don't recommend that until a little while in and I wait, now, this is
why they say you should. So this year for me is all about so many different things, but it's also about me being on my own and being okay to be on my own, and it's again the loveliest, most peaceful existence I've ever had. And I'm dating. Absolutely, I'm open to connection, but in terms of commitment, not for me. No, this is my time to be selfish, to be the most present mother that I can be, and to do exactly what I want, when I want and when my daughter's with her dad for whatever period.
It is.
Last month, they got on a plane and went to South Africa for two and a half nights because and you know, a girlfriend there is there and her husband and might have been another cute guy there, you know, and I just can and it's fun. And I'm having more fun now than I've ever had in my life in every single way. So I think this year for the rest of the year will be exactly the same as in. I don't want a relationship, I don't want commitment.
I just want to live in peace. And I've found this lovely sweet spot now.
That I don't want to be ruined.
So yeah, we'll see. It's thank you for having me. It's been really lovely to chat and as always catch up.
Thank you, thank you so much, Thank you.
Eron.
The Erin Molan Show launches this month on the Salem Network, and you can hear from Erin in her previous episodes of the Stellar podcast via the link in our show notes. Thank you for your company today. Before you go, we'd love it if you take a moment to leave a review. I'll be back in your ears with another exclusive guest next week.