Clementine Ford's Big Sister Hotline

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , Clem talks about what happens when someone you love tells you the truth about the abuse they’ve lived through, and that the family around them refuses to see it. Our listener has learned the full story of her sister-in-law’s marriage, and now she’s sitting with anger, guilt, and the pressure to keep the peace. Clem unpacks why these situations feel so heavy, h...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , a quick message recorded from a Sherpa village on the Everest Base Camp trail (yak bells and all). Clem sends a love note about choosing aliveness in small ways, invites you to think about the things you’ve told yourself you’re “too old” or “not capable” of - and to pick one to say yes to today. A gentle reminder that this is your one wild, rich life. If you w...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline, Clem unpacks what it means to love across borders. Our listener is stretched between two countries, two cultures, and two futures - one dreaming of marriage and family, the other unsure where home is. Clem explores how inequality and expectation shape our choices, and why sometimes love doesn’t fail; it teaches us how to grow, let go, and begin again. If you wo...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , Clem explores the tender chaos of desire and identity. Our listener writes from the crossroads of marriage and a queer awakening - torn between devotion to her husband and the magnetic pull of a woman who stirs something long-buried. Clem unpacks what it means to honour your truth inside systems that were never built for it, the grief of boundaries that clash...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , Clem takes on the impossible weight of fighting patriarchy from within its walls. Our listener writes about a workplace battle that left her burned out, betrayed, and questioning everything she thought feminism promised. Clem explores the moral injury of doing everything “right” in a system built to protect men, the grief of being punished for resistance, and...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , Clem unpacks the painful tension between love and self-protection when someone you care for is trapped in addiction. Our listener writes about her ex-partner’s struggle with alcoholism and bipolar disorder, and the guilt of stepping back. Clem explores how compassion and boundaries can coexist, and why saving yourself is sometimes the truest form of love. Cont...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , Clem introduces a different kind of episode; a guided meditation. A gentle practice to help you sit with loneliness, reconnect with your breath, and meet your inner child with tenderness and love. Born out of a listener’s question about friendship and isolation, this meditation invites you to soften, to play, and to remember that you are never truly alone. Let...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , we’re diving into the tender, complicated terrain of neurodivergence - from the anxiety of seeking an ADHD or autism diagnosis, to the lifelong stories we tell ourselves about being “lazy,” “disorganized,” or “too much.” Clem reflects on her own experience of diagnosis, the grief and relief that can accompany it, and why the medical system so often fails to se...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , Clem is delving into the raw terrain of family conflict; when the people we’re told to love unconditionally become the ones who wound us most deeply. Our listener writes of a painful rift with her sister, fractured by a series of cruel remarks, and the ache of missing the niece caught in the crossfire. Clem reflects on the grief of sibling estrangement, the sh...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , we’re talking about protest; why it matters, what it achieves, and how it keeps us human in fractured times. From Gaza to the streets of Melbourne, protest is both a moral stand and a collective lifeline, reminding us that people power has always shaped history. Clem dives into the difference between war and genocide, unpacks the double standards in how resist...

This week on the Big Sister Hotline , Clem unpacks the heartbreak of friendship. Those moments when trust dissolves into silence, workplaces become battlegrounds, or cherished connections fracture without explanation. The grief of a friendship ending can rival the sharpest romantic split, yet it’s a loss we’re rarely taught to mourn. In this episode, Clem reflects on how we navigate these ruptures...

In this episode of Big Sister Hotline , Clem responds to a listener who has just left an emotionally abusive relationship and is navigating the challenges of co-parenting a young child. Clem talks about the courage it takes to leave, why emotional abuse and coercive control are real and damaging, and how survivors can begin to rebuild their sense of self-worth. She shares strategies for resisting...

In this episode of Big Sister Hotline , Clem responds to a listener in her fifties who writes about feeling lonely and unsure how to make new friends. Clem talks about the importance of friendship at every age, how capitalism and ageism shape our connections, and why it’s normal for relationships to drift as we change. Clem shares some practical ideas for meeting people later in life, the role of...

This week on The Big Sister Hotline , we hear from a listener who is nearly 40, co-parenting with her ex, and longing for another baby. They still orbit each other - fighting, sleeping together, even going to kink workshops - but she knows how much the arrival of their first child strained their relationship. Should she risk diving in again, or is she courting disaster? In classic Clem style, we u...

In the first episode of the newly relaunched Clementine Ford's Big Sister Hotline , Clem dives deep into a listener's struggle with intimacy, trust, and the emotional and physical scars we carry with us. Today's caller shares her painful experience of body-shaming, sexual humiliation, and abuse from a man, leaving her torn between wanting to explore sexual connections and feeling hesitant to trust...

Welcome to The Big Sister Hotline : the no-nonsense feminist advice line that doesn’t mince its words but always leads with love. Best-selling author, writer, and fearless feminist trailblazer Clementine Ford returns with her newly relaunched award-winning podcast, here to guide you through life's most tangled, uncomfortable moments with the kind of wisdom you may not want to hear but absolutely n...

In this special crossover episode between Big Sister Hotline and Cherchez La Femme, lifelong friends Clementine Ford and Karen Pickering have a gasbag in Clem's kitchen. Topics covered: middle age and why it's powerful to embrace it; the first two episodes of And Just Like That and why revisiting cultural icons from times past can be so deeply cringeworthy; and their respective Best Of lists for 2...

This week, I talk to filmmaker, podcaster and story doula, LAURA NAGY. Laura's most recent work is a podcast series on Audible. When Laura experienced a bad break up, she turned to the world of ASMR and 'partner experiences' to find comfort. What she didn't expect to encounter was her own healing from past sexual experiences. This week's episode focuses on: SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: Portugal has r...

CN: This episode contains discussion of sexual assault and rape, homicide and vigilantism. Hello there everyone! I've tinkered with the format of the show this week, quite by accident. However, it turns out I like the tinkering and I'm curious to know what you think about it. New format might look something like this: Intro, followed by a short segment called SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT in which my g...

CN: This episode contains very fleeting references to body image, eating disorders and fatphobia. It is the recollections of a teenage girl. Welcome to a very special episode of the hotline! This week's episode features just me, reading an excerpt from my SO SOON TO BE RELEASED book, How We Love: Notes On A Life! Remember the insecurity of adolescence? The pain of unrequited love? The school dance...

Hello, and welcome to the Big Sister Hotline! We’re back this week with the wonderful LAUREN LATELY! Lauren is a public servant and book lover who lives in Canberra on Nunnawal Country, and she’s become prolific in the fight against health misinformation in a Covid era.  Lauren and I talk here about vaccines (WHICH WE LOVE), the scourge of wellness women and toxic positivity, and the use of s...

CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains discussion of racism, colonisation, and reference to Aboriginal deaths from Covid. There is also a question that relate to stalking and threatening behaviour. Hello, and welcome to the Big Sister Hotline! I took a break last week because I was recording my audio book (HOW WE LOVE, out on November 2!) But I’m back this week, and joined by the very wonderful RACHE...

CONTENT NOTE: This episode contains discussion of gender dysphoria, transphobia and a brief reference to eating disorders. Hello, and welcome to the Big Sister Hotline! We’re coming to you from Melbourne, home of lockdowns, riots and earthquakes! It is a very strange time to be alive!!! What has made it easier this week is reading the BEAUTIFUL new memoir “All About Yves: Notes From A Transition”,...

Hello, and welcome BACK to the Big Sister Hotline! I’ve been on hiatus for a few months, partly because I was taking time off to finish my book (out on November 3!) and partly because of lockdown fatigue. But here we are, launching back into the hotline with enthusiasm and vitality!  In this first episode back, I’m joined by the phenomenal AJA BARBER. She’s a writer, an activist and a content...

In November 2020, an Instagram account began to publish anonymous stories of harassment, abuse and assault in the Australian music industry. These were stories that journalist Ruby Jones had heard whispers about before. But when she started looking into them, she found that the allegations were much worse than she had thought, and that they were an open secret in the music industry. Everybody Know...