No Filter

Christmas is often referred to as the most wonderful time of the year. It’s a day that's meant to be filled with joy and love. But what if you're not feeling joyful because you're missing a loved one or you're dealing with the end of a significant relationship? How do you face the empty chair at the Christmas table? Petrea King is one of the most respected grief counselors in the country. Sh...

This is the third time Mia has interviewed Gold Logie winner Samuel Johnson for No Filter, but it may be their best conversation yet.  A year on from the death of his sister Connie, whom he lost to breast cancer, Samuel gets candid about what life's been like and the unexpected turns of the past year... Click here to subscribe to No Filter. CREDITS: Host: Mia Freedman  With thanks to spe...

Some women love being pregnant and Western Australian mother, Daniella Rule is one of them. From the age of 17 until she was 35, Daniella was pregnant nine times. Yes, nine. But five weeks after the birth of her last daughter, she received some catastrophic news. Her husband had died.  And all of a sudden she was on her own with nine children. So how did she handle such a huge change in her l...

Australia has had six Prime Ministers in 11 years and it all started with Kevin Rudd. In 2007 the country voted in the man known as Kevin ‘07. He was young and fresh and not John Howard. But everything changed in 2010, when Kevin was ousted as Prime Minister by Julia Gillard in a very public coup that, he says, changed Australian politics forever. So how did we get here? What does it feel li...

Each week, at least one woman is killed at the hands of a man who was supposed to love her. Because the thing about domestic violence, is that it doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t matter what colour your skin is, what you do for a job, or where you live. It’s all around us, and it happens every day. Gold Coast business woman Nicolle Edwards was going about her everyday life when s...

Just a warning, this episode deals with issues surrounding mental health. If you need help, please reach out to Lifeline on 13 11 14 There have been four times in Honor Eastly’s life when she felt completely and utterly hopeless.  So hopeless she wasn't sure whether she could keep on living. And those times weren't fleeting.  Some have lasted up to six months. Honor has dealt with...

Scott Pape sold 1.2 million copies of his first book The Barefoot Investor and changed the lives of a million Australians. Even though he said it'd be "the only money guide you'd ever need"  he's written a new book.  But this one is focused on families. After talking to lots of people about their relationship with money he realised to change people's approach to their finances...

When you think of Victoria’s Secret what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Fake angel wings? Diamond encrusted bras? A whole lot of beautiful people dancing down a runway? For Aussie model Robyn Lawley, the first thing that comes to mind is that there's only one type of woman walking in the show.  And she wants to change it. As a size 14-16 Robyn is classified as a plus-sized...

The past three years of James Packer’s life have not been easy. In October 2016, the 51-year-old businessman ended his very public engagement to singer Mariah Carey. He’s also battled with an addiction to alcohol. And In March of this year, he resigned from the board of his company Crown, citing mental health reasons. James has spent his entire life in the spotlight but he’s alwa...

By the age of  24, water polo player Keli Lane had accidentally fallen pregnant five times in seven years. The first two times, Keli terminated her pregnancies. The next three times she carried her babies to term without telling a soul. Two of the babies were adopted out but it was the birth and then disappearance of her second daughter Tegan, that would land Keli in jail for 18 years. T...

Fine food entrepreneur Simmone Logue had relished 17 years of true love and companionship with celebrity agent Harry M. Miller, before he died of a heart attack on July 4, 2018, aged 84. But in a way, Simmone had said goodbye to her beloved Harry long before he died. A few years into their relationship, Harry was diagnosed with dementia and his decline was swift. And for the last seven years of th...

Click here to donate to Room To Read. John Wood was sitting at his desk in Beijing when he decided to blow up his life. He was 35, in a relationship - and working for Microsoft. It was the 90s. John was earning lots of money and working as an executive. But after returning from a holiday trek in the Himalayas John knew that he couldn’t go on living the life he’d so carefully made for h...

When Gabbie Stroud shut the door on her primary school classroom in 2014, she knew that she was leaving teaching forever. Between the growing curriculum, demanding parents and standardised tests like Naplan, Gabbie had begun to see her role not as a teacher, but as a data analyst. Now Gabbie has written a memoir, Teacher , which tells her story: How she came to teaching, what our kids need from th...

The day your life turns upside down usually starts like any other. It’s ordinary, it’s normal. And then, life smacks you in the head and everything changes in an instant. Leigh Sales has spent many years interviewing people whose lives have changed suddenly and tragically and, she's had a few of those days herself. In her new book, An Ordinary Day, she speaks candidly with people who&r...

Serena Williams is one of the greatest athletes of all time. But in the 48 hours before Mia was due to sit down with her, the US Open happened, and Serena Williams was all over the news for all the wrong reasons. So we waited for her to cancel. But she didn’t. Instead, Serena Williams did what working women and working mothers do, she got on with it. She sucked up her personal feelings and m...

It’s hard not to fangirl over Olivia Newton-John. She's Sandy from Grease!  69-year-old Olivia has had some incredible highs in her life and some crushing lows. She’s had breast cancer, lost her beloved sister, miscarried, been divorced and her former partner disappeared in mysterious circumstances. But she’s also had an incredible career, a beautiful daughter and a life ful...

After the fall out from the US Open, Mia Freedman sat down with Serena Williams to talk about what it's like when the world's eyes are on you, how her daughter Olympia comforted her when she got off the court and how motherhood has changed her.  This is a sneak peek of the interview.  Click here to subscribe to No Filter. CREDITS: Host: Mia Freedman  With thanks to special gues...

On the last episode of No Filter, you heard from Mary Pershall whose daughter Anna, murdered the man she was living with during a descent into mental illness and drug addiction. One of the aspects of Anna’s story that gripped the nation was that at the time she committed the crime she was 18 weeks pregnant. So what happened to Anna’s baby?   Her sister Katie stepped in and to...

What do you do when you receive a phone call saying that your daughter has murdered someone? Mary Pershall spent 28 years trying to shield her youngest daughter Anna from her demons. First, it was anorexia, then other mental health issues and later drug use including marijuana and ice. But one act of rage in 2015 changed the course of Anna and her mother's life forever. So how do you deal with the...

This podcast will deal extensively with the subject of rape and won't be appropriate for all listeners. If this podcast does bring anything up for you then please call 1800 RESPECT. When people think of feminism, they think of Germaine Greer. Her manifesto The Female Eunuch was released in 1970 and is still shaping conversations 48 years later. But what happens when an icon - whose job it is to be...

Moana Hope is the breakthrough superstar of the AFL women’s competition, kicking goals first for Collingwood and now North Melbourne. But funnily enough, sport is probably the least interesting about Moana. She’s one of 14 kids and quit school at the age of 10 to take care of her dying father. At 26 she became the sole carer for her disabled sister Lavinia. She also runs her own compan...

"Aw, are you having a boy or a girl?" It's what every parent-to-be is asked as soon as the lines appear on the pee stick. But Kyl Myers and her partner Brent are two of a growing number of parents who refused to answer that question and made the choice to raise their child as "gender creative". Kyl and Brent have never publicly disclosed the biological sex of their child Zoomer, and they don&rsquo...

Today Malcolm Turnbull was replaced as Prime Minister of Australia by former treasurer Scott Morrison after months of speculation political in-fighting. Since becoming PM he’s been seen as a bit of a disappointment.  Too robotic, too soft and not the Malcolm we signed up for. Back in 2017, Mia sat down with Malcolm to talk politics, gay marriage and the most important relationship in hi...

Osher Gunsberg is not who you think he is. Yes, he is the guy who hosts The Bachelor and The Bachelorette and is the boss of the roses. And yes, he did used to host another massive reality show called Australian Idol back when he was called Andrew G. But throughout his life, Osher had things to hide. But now, he’s talking about them. He’s written a book called Back, After The Break, wh...

Rick Morton was born the son of a cattle baron in far western Queensland. His backyard consisted of hundreds of thousands of acres. He went to school by school of the air. And his family home was 500kms from the nearest town. But in just 24 hours, Rick’s life went from being something of an idyllic outback childhood to poverty. So how do you go from rural royalty to dirt poor? What’s i...