The Widow Diaries

Can you find the courage to love again when you know exactly how much loss can hurt? Dr Kim Morgan-Short shares a remarkable story of love, loss, resilience, and hope. A military doctor, mother of five, and widow twice over, Kim has experienced profound grief – first losing her husband "Shorty" in a plane crash, and years later losing her second husband Stewart to cancer. Yet despite the heartbrea...

What happens when the worst day of your life becomes a news story everyone else is talking about? In this deeply moving episode, Lee Lovell shares the story of losing his wife Emma during a violent home invasion in December 2022. While many Australians know the headlines, Lee offers a different perspective, that of a husband grieving the woman he loved, a father supporting his children through uni...

What happens when your world changes in an instant and you’re left to navigate grief while still caring for the little people who need you most? In this deeply honest and heartfelt episode, Anna shares her story of losing her husband Chris suddenly in February 2023, while pregnant with their baby and already a mum to a young son. In the months that followed, Anna found herself navigating the inten...

What does it look like to return to work after losing your partner, when grief is still sitting just beneath the surface of every day? In this honest and practical conversation, Kate Nuttall shares her experience of going back to work after the sudden death of her husband Tim. Balancing grief, parenting, and professional life, Kate reflects on the emotional reality of those early days, and what it...

There’s something profound about a life ending on the same date it began, and in the same place it started. In this deeply raw conversation, Kelli McCombe shares the story of losing her husband suddenly on his birthday in 2024 and in Papua New Guinea, the place he was born. A devoted husband, father, and well-known member of his community, his death left Kelli navigating shock, trauma, and an over...

There’s something about losing your person in a same-sex relationship that can add an extra layer to grief – when love has to be named, explained, and sometimes defended, even in loss. Jonathan Teo shares the story of an ordinary day in October 2023 that turned into the day everything changed. His husband Julian left for work and never came home. A catastrophic brain haemorrhage took him within da...

What happens when the moment you are preparing to become a mother becomes the moment your world falls apart? In this deeply emotional and honest episode, Cassandra Barrie shares her story of losing her husband while 30 weeks pregnant with their son – where joy and heartbreak collided in the most unimaginable way. In the months that followed, Cass also faced further loss and upheaval that reshaped...

What happens when the story you’ve lived becomes part of the work you go on to do? In this thoughtful and deeply reflective episode, Annabelle Wilson shares her experience of losing her husband Josh, and navigating widowhood and new motherhood while connected to the unique realities of military family life. In the years that followed, Annabelle found herself not only rebuilding her own life but st...

What if grief began long before the goodbye? Lisa Corduff is a speaker, coach, writer, and solo mum, but her journey through grief began years before her husband Nick passed away. As she puts it, “addiction widowed me” and in this deeply honest conversation, Lisa opens up about loving someone through addiction, navigating solo parenting, and the complex grief of losing someone you’d already starte...

What if the key to healing after loss… started with your body? When Paula Hindle lost her husband Chris to suicide in 2013, she was suddenly a solo mother to two small children, with grief in one hand and survival in the other. But what followed wasn’t just a journey through pain, it was a deep, powerful return to the body, to self-worth, and to the kind of healing that reconnects you to life. Sin...

What happens when the happiest day of your life becomes one of the hardest to face? For Jodi Carpenter, New Year’s Eve was the day she met her husband Chris, the day they got engaged, and eventually the day they married. But after losing Chris to brain cancer that once-joyful date – like so many others – took on a whole new meaning. In this tender and wise conversation, Jodi – a second-generation...

What happens when the life you imagined shatters, but you choose to keep dreaming anyway? Lauren Leslie Carr became a widow at just 26 when her husband James died only a year into their marriage. Grieving young and rebuilding her life wasn’t easy, but in the years to come Lauren would find her own way forward, ultimately making the bold and beautiful choice to become a solo mum by choice. Lauren s...

What does it mean to truly live after loss? In this moving and energising episode, we meet Josh Clayton - a shearer, trainer, mindset coach and solo dad from regional NSW who lost his partner Haley to Motor Neurone Disease, when their daughter Stella was just two and a half.  Since then, Josh has channelled his heartbreak into a mission of health, healing and hope - not only for himself and his da...

What do you do when your world shatters, but your children still need bedtime stories and packed lunches? Megan Daley is an award-winning teacher librarian, author, podcaster, and mother who shares the layered grief of losing her brother, her aunt, and then her husband Dan. She takes us inside those early days of parenting through heartbreak, how stories helped her daughters process loss, and why...

What if you could laugh and cry in the same breath while talking about death, grief, and finding love again? That’s exactly what happens in this heartwarming and honest episode with Claire Scoles – a nurse, mum, and self-proclaimed “collector of husbands” who shares her journey through loss, blended family life, and remarriage after the death of her husband, Chris. With warmth, wit and insight, Cl...

What happens when your whole world is turned upside down just six weeks after saying “I do”? In this powerful and deeply moving episode, Rebecca Adams shares her story of losing her husband unexpectedly, just days into their marriage and how that profound grief planted the seed for something bigger. From navigating the weight of widowhood to co-founding  First Light Widowed Support , Rebecca talks...

The Widow Diaries is a podcast that holds space for the often-unspoken stories of grief, love, and life after loss, as a young widow. Join journalist and widow Caroline Winter each episode and hear from others who’ve walked the winding path of widowhood in their own way. The Widow Diaries for First Light Widowed Support is there to support you or someone you know and provides information, resource...