Grey Areas with Petra Bagust

Kicking off Season 3, I'm delighted to welcome this absolute legend of New Zealand comedy, Michèle A'Court ONZM. (How fun that we can now put those big important letters after her name?!) Whilst I'm only at the start of my 50s, Michèle's just put them in her rear view mirror. I wanted to glean some wisdom for this upcoming decade, and have a tonne of laughs while we're at it, so who better to chat...

Kia ora e hoa mā! After six whole months, I am so excited to finally be back with you with another season of Grey Areas.  Season 3 drops in a week on Thursday, 25 May and I hope you'll join me again for more kōrero with wonderful humans about those trickier parts of getting older. This season we chat with the delightful Michele A'Court about winning in your 50s, my mate Pio Terei about the privile...

Kia ora! I have missed you. Exciting times - Season 03 of Grey Areas is dropping next week!  It's been a whole six months since Season 02 and while we've been working away at this next season, I've also been up to a little something else called Sunday Sanctuary.  It started as a live radio show on Sunday mornings on Today FM and ran for six whole weeks before the demise of the station meant it was...

Just wanted to pop in to say hi... and thanks for all the beautiful feedback on Season 2 of Grey Areas! I joined my mate Asher on his new show Pod-Heads and thought I'd share a snippet of that kōrero with you. You can listen to the full episode on the Pod-Heads feed over at https://linktr.ee/podheads Support the show: https://greyareas.nz/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...

In this episode we look a little more intently at the ill-defined edges of perimenopause - those bumpy borders on the way in and out - and how we can find support in those tricky transitions. First up, I'm delighted to welcome back to the show Lara Briden, whose wealth of experience and knowledge combined with her encouraging tone is a cool and soothing balm to so many hot-flush-addled women (myse...

From mild irritation to annoyance to fury and rage - what is anger, really? Are women allowed to be angry in our society? What role does anger play in our lives? And is it ever a good thing? Join me as a I discuss this with registered psychologist Nettie Cullen, gaining her professional insight into this tricky emotion, including how to understand what our anger is telling us and what we can do wi...

Meet two of my awesome mates, Pietra Brettkelly and Sandy Burgham, who are two fabulous wāhine living life to the beat of their own drums, and saying No to the script society says women need to follow. So I thought it'd be bloody good fun to sit down and swap stories, and find out what makes their brave risk-taking brains tick. Pietra is a documentary film-maker whose body of work includes Yellow...

How weird are boobs? I mean, when you think about it, they can be sexually stimulating to others, life-giving to babies, and at times even deadly to us! How we think about our lovely lady lumps is too often dictated by everybody else, but even our own attitudes can be laced with criticism and shame. Too small. Too big. Too uneven. Too heavy. It's all too much!  In this episode I sit down with the...

We decided to do something a little different this episode! My wonderful counsellor Shirley Pastiroff joins for a live counselling session. What could possibly go wrong?! Shirley is a counsellor at Renew Your Mind, parent coach, and author of 'The Mindful Parent'. She also runs the often sold-out workshop, Mindful Parenting. Based in Tāmaki Makaurau, she's also a mum of five well-functioning human...

Did you know that about 50 percent of women will experience a prolapse? We're talking a prolapse of their anterior vaginal wall, or their uterus or bowel starting to come down. And did you know that 34 percent of women experience leakage? But the encouraging news is 70-80 percent of women see significant improvements thanks to pelvic floor physiotherapy! It's pretty mind-blowing that we aren't hav...

I have waited so long to say this and the day is finally here! The one and only, the fabulous, the just-as-magical-in-real-life-as-you'd-imagine Suzy Cato joins me for a kōrero. After a (slightly) unfortunate encounter with my cat, we peeled back the curtain on the so-called always-happy life of Suzy Cato. We talk about losing jobs, the end of dreams, a mother's grief and how she has found her way...

Mary Holm is a bit of an institution. Her long-standing finance columns, radio appearances and down to earth books on savings and investment, have helped demystify what can be a daunting topic for so many. I'm particularly struck by her encouraging and reassuring tone. Money doesn't have to be a burden, and that's a view shared by my good friend and first returning podcast guest Te Waka McLeod who...

TV host, MC and co-author of Māori At Home, Māori Made Easy and more, this legend of New Zealand media needs little introduction. Stacey Morrison joins me for a kōrero about settling into your skin. She deep dives into her identity as wahine Māori, tells me what makes her nervous, how 'good girl syndrome' is still a thing for her, and the role spirituality plays in her everyday life. There was als...

That's right, not only are we back - we're back chatting menopause. This time, I'm speaking with Niki Bezzant, who has literally written the book on the subject - This Changes Everything: The Honest Guide to Menopause and Perimenopause.  As Niki says in our kōrero, understanding what's going on in our bodies is so empowering. We talk hormones, weight redistribution, mood swings, self-care habits,...

When I decided to make a podcast, I did wonder if anybody was gonna be interested in talking about those tricky aspects of getting older. Well, I've been delighted by your response, so, we're back for a second season! Coming up you'll hear Suzy Cato like never before… We’re talking boobs with Jay Jay Feeney, and getting some insider info on the gateway to goodness that is our pelvic floor. Let’s t...

Death, grief and loss are universal experiences - including the inevitable grief that accompanies the loss of our parents - an unavoidable season that comes in many different forms. In this final episode of Season 01, Petra speaks with journalist, broadcaster and former magazine editor, Wendyl Nissen, about her relationship and journey with her late mother who suffered from Alzheimer's, and whose...

This episode is all about our beautiful, brave, bold, bodies. Too often we have a complex and unhealthy relationship with our fabulous flesh. First up, Petra speaks with Lisa Grey, clinical manager and lead researcher at BePure scientific wellness clinic. In her day job Lisa encounters hundreds of people who are getting serious about how they treat their bodies, inside and out. Then New Zealand fa...

Everyone loves to talk about sex - but when it is talked about, it feels like we're always talking about the sex lives of young people. Petra invites sex therapist Jo Robertson to tackle the topic and provide advice and encouragement for long-time couples looking to rekindle the passion. Petra also chats with her friend Helen, who shares personal stories and practical ideas on how she and her long...

The first time we got together, Jon Bridges, Nathan Rarere and I spent so long talking about our favourite Ice TV memories that we ran out of time to talk about life since then. (Jonny also had no idea we were recording until he walked in and saw the microphones and cameras!)  This episode is all those stories - and includes a special chat with my mum, Judi Bagust, recalling her memories of that s...

Petra’s time on Ice TV wasn’t only formative for her, but was highly influential for a generation of TV viewers. Petra reunites with her mates Nathan Rarere and Jon Bridges. Hilarity ensues, along with notes of nostalgia, and comes to land in the things the trio have learned as they’ve grown up and navigated life since being on Ice TV. Song credit: Korimako, Performed by Aro, Written by Emily Look...

In this episode, Petra explores Aotearoa New Zealand's maturing relationship to the language and culture of Māori, our tangata whenua/indigenous people. Petra's first guest is radio royalty Robert Rakete (Ngāpuhi) speaking on his career and upbringing - including the fact that Robbie's father was not allowed to speak his own mother tongue of te reo Māori in school. Robbie reflects on the movement...

While we're on the topic of menopause, two of Petra's friends, Miriama Kamo and Robyn Malcolm, join her to swap personal stories from this season of life in perimenopause and menopause - and how each of these wāhine toa are navigating their way through it.⁠ There's something special about knowing we're not in this alone. Miriama Kamo (Ngāi Tahu/Ngāti Mutunga) is a TVNZ journalist, children's autho...

This episode is an introduction to menopause with naturopathic doctor, women's health activist, and bestselling author of Hormone Repair Manual, Dr Lara Briden. In this interview, Petra shares stories from her personal experience of perimenopause and Dr Lara Briden reflects on menopause comments from Petra's Instagram followers. The goal of the conversation? To demystify a topic that has only rece...

In a culture obsessed with youth, what has it been like to undergo the ageing journey whilst being a familiar face on our screens? Petra Bagust and Jaquie Brown discuss their own respective experiences of ageing in the public eye, as well as how this cultural space has shifted over recent years and the changes they hope to see in the coming decades.   We also meet Lillian Grace founder of figure.n...

Kia ora! This is my brand-new podcast about growing up and going grey in Aotearoa New Zealand. We explore the tricky, chewy grey areas of life - Identity, culture, sex, grief, menopause - nothing is off the table! I've invited some wonderful wāhine and fab fellas to join me in this eight-part season, mining our experiences for wisdom, with a few laughs along the way. Join me for the ride. Petra x...