The final episode! Rosie spent a lifetime struggling to understand why she wasn't a cool kid, constantly wondering just what she was missing. From her early days trying to hide her poo pants from her sister's friends, to later days doing drugs and pretending to enjoy sex with boys who were terrible at it, she now confesses that she was always fixated on trying to impress everyone around her. Then for a very brief and exhausting moment, Rosie found herself on the inside looking out. That...

When you're twenty-seven years old and realise that you have no clue how to post a letter, it's obvious something has gone very wrong somewhere along the line. Now that Rosie was out there living on her own as a functioning adult, she realised she didn't know as much as she thought she did about being a functioning adult. She had somehow, against all odds, made it to her late twenties, but there were just some things she had missed along the way. Filling in the missing pieces meant for some...

If Lisa thought there was ever going to be an episode from Rosie's book 'The Anti-Cool Girl' that was going to make her squirm, this is it. This one is about Rosie's more adult escapades: the time she scared a penis back inside itself and the time Rosie went on her first and only Tinder date only for it to turn out very differently to how she thought it would. It's not very often that a mother and her grown daughter get to discuss sex, but here it is for all to listen to in all its glorious...

After her time in the mental institution, Rosie had never had a healthier sense of self-worth in her entire life. She was learning how to be her own saviour, how to feel comfortable being single and how to be mentally healthy. And then there was the issue of the weight gain. It began pretty much straight after leaving hospital. The disordered eating and Rosie's attitude towards food started back in drama school, and the cycle of binging and purging and starving had been going on in the entire...

Just like when Rosie was little, something about Mum calling her 'darling' calmed her down. After spending almost a month in a mental home, that's exactly what Rosie needed. And Lisa understood that. She was the only person in Rosie's life who understood what she was going through. So with Lisa's help, Rosie jumped on a plane to Dubbo and was soon being cared for by Mum with roast chicken and cheesy potato bake. Lisa might not have always been there for Rosie in life; but this week, this one...

When a guy wearing nothing but a bedsheet as a toga pushes in front of you in the dinner line so he can get better dibs on the custard, you know you've hit rock bottom. Rosie was twenty-four, and was in a mental institution. Pretty much nailing life. It all began when she found the boy - a perfect, funny, good-looking boy whom she met while at her job working at the movies. Rosie's year-long destructive partying phase was over, and this boy was the next distraction. Although she didn't...

Through her time at boarding school and then at drama school, Rosie had been looked after by her uncle and aunt. Then one day, they asked her to leave. Rosie wondered if it was because they found out she had peed herself at the local supermarket. Rosie's uncle and aunt were wealthy. They had taken her in when life at home got out of control; they sent her to a fancy boarding school and then paid for her short time at uni and then at drama school. They helped her to keep moving with her...

Rosie knew that she would chicken out. She knew it all the way through the rehearsal and all day before the first performance. It was 2006 and it was Rosie's second year at a very crappy drama school. But drama school wasn't just about learning to act, it was how Rosie found her soul mates - a like-minded community of people who wanted to laugh at life and then skip movement class to go to the pub. Rosie reminisces about this happy time in her life - the acting classes, going out and...

The lucky boy was Josh - a day student from the College - who Rosie had started dating during her final few weeks there. After a few false starts, Rosie's path of self-discovery was on. It was also a period of time Rosie realised a boyfriend could help fill a void in her life. A boyfriend could be like a dependency, like a drug: why deal with a pesky depression that was slowly overtaking your brain, when it disappears every time you snuggle into your boyfriends shoulder? Why bother learning...

The next chapter of Rosie's life saw her living with her Uncle Ben, who enrolled her in a very fancy boarding school. At first glance, this was an amazing turn of events: from a life of constantly moving houses, situations and people to a place with steady and protective care and learning for the next three years. Rosie had never experienced so much consistency in her entire life; she thrived on this new routine. To start off Rosie was so, so happy. It was going to be the best time of...

For a while there Mum, Rosie and family became a kind of gypsy family, living with whoever would take them in. Living arrangements included couches, caravans and being part of a new 'family'. After a period of moving from place to place, Lisa met someone new and their moving situation became more stable. Enter Pam The Lesbian. Pam was definitely a different kind of 'friend' for Lisa, she was besotted with Lisa. It also meant that Rosie got spoilt as Pam worked hard to impress Lisa and...

"There was red stuff on Rosie's undies this morning, but you don't want to know about secret women's business." Rosie was thirteen and life was the most stable it had been for a while for Rosie and family.. but this was not the type of conversation you wanted to have happen on the school bus. Her little sister spilt the beans and now everyone knew about it. This wasn't going to be the only blood related incident that year for Rosie though: an argument between mum Lisa and partner Brian...

It was hard for Rosie and her big sister to keep up appearances when mum Lisa hadn't been home in four days. After a while, others started to cotton on - including the Department of Community Services. For a while Rosie and sister stayed with relatives here and there; and then they hit the foster home jackpot: a very-well-to-do family with a big swish house AND a place in the country. Everybody kept saying how lucky they were. Until some pretty suspect things started happening. Rosie...

"Joooe... Jooooe! Come out, Joey baby," Rosie's mum Lisa chanted. She was trying to stab at her husband, Joe the Removalist's feet with a knife. Now it was up to a frightened young Rosie and her older sister to go and fetch help. After the passing of Rosie's dad, this was now the beginning of the end for Lisa's marriage to Joe. This point in time was also the beginning of Lisa's full decent into alcohol, often leaving Rosie and her sisters to fend for themselves. Rosie and Lisa now get...

Rosie realised at age 8 that she was never going to be one of those incredible kids on the news who manages to save the day in a time of crisis. While staying with her Dad and Grandpa in Tumut, a fall by Grandpa sparked off a series of events that ended up with the passing of Rosie's Dad. Rosie and Lisa talk about that moment in their lives and the effect that it still has on them to this day. This episode contains elements that may cause distress. If it does, please contact Lifeline on...

Rosie is now eight, Lisa has re-married and the family have moved out of Smurf Village. For Rosie the learning about life continues, including learning about 'special place sessions'. For most families, conversations about all things sex are uncomfortable, cringe worthy moments. For Lisa, it meant giving Rosie and her sister a book that explained it all so she wouldn't have to. Years later though and they are now sitting in a podcast studio, so they get to finish the conversation they...

Rosie's life growing up also meant time in rehab. But the rehab wasn't for Rosie, it was for her Mum. Rehab for adults with children also mean that families can stay living together at a rehab facility while the adults get the treatment they need. Time spent at one particular rehab facility turned Rosie's life upside down though when she suddenly became cool. Rosie and Lisa finally talk through the rehab experience and what it was like from both their points of view. Why did Lisa start...

One day, Rosie's Mum decided that they were becoming Mormons. Being a Mormon meant visits to church, bible readings and even a special day for Rosie's sister. Why did they become Mormon? Why did the trips to church all end one day? Why did Lisa end up marrying.. in a different religion all together? Rosie uncovers some unexpected answers about Lisa's religious past for the first time. Rosie Waterland's 'Crazy Lady' tour is touring Australia in September and October. For tickets, head...

"There's a dead guy! A dead guy!" This sighting at Smurf Village got all the children running to see. Rosie and her sister knew who it was straight away.. and it scared them. Rosie's dad would appear at random moments and how he turned up was different every time. What would happen when Dad would take the girls ice skating? Why were they always kicked out of the shopping centre by security? And what was Dad's way of getting ready for a picnic? Rosie Waterland's 'Crazy Lady' tour is...

Life's next turn sees the family move into a Houso complex nicknamed 'Smurf Village', a place planted right in the middle of affluent suburban Sydney. But Rosie and family's arrival there was not straightforward: there was a short lived marriage to a Navy man, time living in Hawaii and then moving back again to Tumut. How did all this happen? Why was Lisa arrested by the military police? And how does one navigate through the cacophony of life that is 'Smurf Village'? Rosie Waterland's...

It starts off with a prickly question from an attendee to Rosie's 4th birthday party. But how is a child to know to all the answers about Mum's personal life at that age? Rosie did eventually work out that mum Lisa worked as an escort, but how Lisa got there and what she actually did has been a mystery to Rosie until now. At that same time in Lisa's life, she was also coming to terms with the fact that she was adopted out. Reuniting with her own birth mother was not all roses.. Find...

In the middle of the night Rosie's Mum and Dad pack everything in the car and flee Sydney to escape bikie drug dealers after a deal did not exactly go to plan. Mum and Dad escape to Tumut, with Rosie in Lisa's tummy and Rosie's big sister safe in the back seat of the car. But is that what really happened on that fateful night? Lisa's recollection is somewhat different to the story Rosie has been able to piece together over the years; and fleeing Sydney in the middle of the night isn't just...