Widowed AF: Real stories of love, grief and beyond - With Rosie Moss

What happens when you have to grieve the person you love before they’ve even gone? This week I’m joined by Holly Matthews. Holly is a former actress, TEDx speaker, founder of The Happy Me Project, and was widowed at just 32 when her husband Ross died from grade four brain cancer, leaving her to raise their two young daughters alone. But before any of that, there was a Pimm’s promotional job, an in...

What do you say when “How are you?” feels impossible to answer? This week I’m joined by Erin Clark, whose husband Greg died suddenly from a heart attack in 2021 after more than 30 years of marriage. One moment they were enjoying a simple family dinner with their children, and the next Erin found herself performing CPR on the man she’d loved since she was 19. In this deeply moving conversation, Eri...

In this 'chatty' episode I’m joined once again by the wonderful Julie Farrin, who first appeared on Widowed AF to share the story of losing her husband Andy to glioblastoma just months after they were married. A year on from her first appearance, we’re talking about what happens after the immediate chaos of grief. After the funeral, after the paperwork, after everyone else has gone back to their l...

When Charlotte’s husband Josh died suddenly from SADS (Sudden Adult Death Syndrome), she was just 32 years old. One ordinary Monday morning, Josh went for a run, came home, started work and then, without warning, collapsed and died. Hours later, Charlotte found him at home while their two-year-old daughter waited downstairs. In this deeply moving episode, Charlotte shares the reality of navigating...

In this episode of Widowed AF, Rosie is joined by Josie Jakub, CEO of Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide (SOBS). Josie shares the story of her fiancé Olivier, a kind, spiritual French lorry driver who was loved by everyone around him. Together they were building a life, planning their wedding and creating a future in rural France. Then, just weeks before they were due to marry, Olivier died by su...

In this episode Rosie Moss speaks with widower, writer, coach and devoted girl dad Danny Lesslie. Danny shares the extraordinary love story he built with his wife Rafaela, known to everyone who loved her as Raffi. They met on the bluffs of Santa Monica, fell hard, built a family together and chose each other every day. But when Raffi was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive squamous cell carcinoma...

In this episode Rosie Moss is joined once again by Emma Grey. Emma is a former wills and probate lawyer turned grief-informed coach and counsellor, and founder of Rainbow Hunting. The conversation moves into the reality of long-term grief and the parts people don’t really talk about once the initial shock fades. Emma speaks openly about how bereavement can strip away the coping strategies and mask...

In this episode Rosie Moss speaks with Donna Rice-Hannam, who found Widowed AF just five weeks after her husband Mark died suddenly in October 2024. What follows is a conversation full of heartbreak, fury, dark humour, and the kind of honesty that makes grief feel a little less lonely. Donna shares the story of meeting Mark through mutual friends, a “blind blind date,” and a pub-stairs snog that t...

In this episode Rosie Moss speaks with Corinne Longland-Malam, known online as the “Fairy Grief Mother,” about losing her partner Lee after a rare and devastating illness turned their lives upside down in the space of months. Corinne shares the story of meeting Lee “very romantically on Facebook,” falling quickly into a relationship that felt less like fireworks and more like finally feeling safe....

In this episode Rosie Moss speaks with Jackie L. Disch, who shares the story of her wife Katie and the life they built together over 23 years. A relationship rooted in deep acceptance. Katie’s death came suddenly in 2020 after a series of strokes, during a time when COVID restrictions meant hospitals were inaccessible, isolating, and frightening. What followed was a rapid shift from normal life in...

In this episode I’m joined by Orlagh Reynolds, whose husband Fraser died from motor neurone disease. Their story starts the way so many of the best ones do. A chance meeting in Dublin, a bit of boldness, and a gut feeling that turned into a life. Together they built something full. Australia, travel, work, marriage, and their daughter, Una. And then another gut feeling. This one telling Orlagh the...

Rosie is joined by Fran Milne, whose husband Matt died suddenly after collapsing on a flight home from Singapore. What begins as a familiar story of work travel, school runs and family life shifts in an instant into something unthinkable. A knock at the door. A police officer standing on the driveway. And the kind of shock that splits your life into before and after. In this deeply honest conversa...

Jess Herrick was 28 when her partner Max was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. What followed was a year of brutal treatment, long hospital stays, and a kind of life that no one in their twenties expects to be living. Against the odds, Max went into remission and they tried to rebuild. But just a year later, the cancer came back, this time terminal. In this episode, Jess talks about lovi...

Rosie is joined by Leslie Harter-Berg, author of You Are So Strong , to talk about sudden loss, solo parenting, and rebuilding a life you never asked for. Leslie’s husband Ryan died unexpectedly in 2019 after suffering an aneurysm and stroke while they were on a family holiday. He was 34. They had two very young children. One moment they were by the pool, the next, everything had changed. They tal...

In this episode, Rosie Moss speaks with Stuart J Green, author of The Regenerative Leap , whose story of love, loss and survival is almost impossible to comprehend, and yet deeply human. Stuart takes us back to a life built in the Philippines, where he met his wife Maya, a brilliant lawyer, mother, and woman deeply committed to justice. Their love story is rich with humour, culture and connection....

In this episode Rosie Moss is joined by writer and lifelong music obsessive Cath Holland . Cath brings her husband Andy vividly to life, a thoughtful, principled “music buff” whose love of records, gigs and humour carried them through 25 years together and somehow held on right until the end. The conversation begins in the life before. Liverpool gig scenes, record shops, and a shared vinyl collect...

This week on Widowed AF , Rosie is joined by LA-based comedian Sam Morrison , whose life changed forever when his partner Jonathan died from Covid in 2021. Sam is currently in London performing his critically acclaimed show Sugar Daddy , a wildly funny, deeply personal comedy about love, loss and everything that comes after. What started as grief eventually found its way onto the stage, proving th...

In this episode, Rosie Moss speaks with Natalie Dodds. Natalie is a mum of two who lost her partner, Dave, following a workplace crane collapse. She speaks with clear eyed honesty about parenting through shock, bureaucracy and the long tail of grief, while still finding ways to keep Dave’s humour and presence alive at the family dinner table. We begin with life before. How Natalie and Dave met, bu...

In this episode the host Rosie Moss speaks with Caroline Booth. Caroline is a widowed mother of two and the driving force behind a powerful grassroots campaign to reform bereavement support in the UK, born from her own experience of sudden loss and systemic failure. Caroline’s story begins with the unexpected loss of her husband Steve to aggressive bowel cancer. As she navigated the raw terrain of...

In this deeply moving episode, host Rosie Moss speaks with Christine Fader , an educator and advocate who became the primary caregiver to her husband, Michael, through his cancer journey. Christine and Michael met in 1997, an instant yet thoughtful connection that led to marriage within months. Long before cancer entered their lives, they were already navigating complexity, including Christine’s o...

In this episode of Widowed AF , Rosie Moss is joined by Betsy Ronel, a widow of 15 years, mother, New York real estate agent, and host of the podcast Heavens to Betsy . Betsy shares the story of her marriage to Daniel, a gifted plastic surgeon known for his integrity and deep ethical conviction. From early online dating to raising young children within a small-town medical community, their life to...

In this episode of Widowed AF , Rosie Moss sits down with Hannah Ramsey to tell a love story that began in childhood and ended far too soon. Hannah and her husband, Blue, met in primary school and spent 35 years building a life together. They raised four children, ran a business from home, renovated houses, travelled, laughed, and lived with a deep sense of partnership and mutual respect. Blue was...

Rachel Hart-Phillips is back. You might remember her from season three, when she told the story of losing her husband to suicide while she was pregnant. Six years on, she’s raising their little boy, navigating the bits of grief that don’t come with a map, and building a life that holds both love and loss without trying to cancel either out. We talk about the strange reality of parenting a child wh...

In this episode, it’s just me. I recorded this on Christmas Eve to mark the end of season three and to say thank you. There’s no script and no guest. Just a chance to talk honestly about the year that’s been. I reflect on winning Gold at the podcast awards and why it still feels surreal. I talk about my marriage ending, going back to solo parenting, and supporting my neurodivergent daughter throug...

In this episode, Rosie Moss speaks with teacher and young widow Amy Brunt, whose life changed overnight when her husband Max died suddenly from meningococcal septicemia in December 2023. Amy shares their story with candour and affection, beginning with the playful first date where they unknowingly arrived in matching outfits, through marriage, motherhood, and the everyday quirks that made Max unfo...