We bring you an episode of CANCELLED, which is all about Ballerina Farm. Today we are diving into the world of ‘Trad Wives’ and more specifically the world of Ballerina Farm which is both a brand and a woman. Hannah Neeleman is a mumfluencer, a mother of eight children and has amassed a huge 10 million followers on Instagram who follow her literally churning butter and collecting eggs from her chickens. Seems wholesome right? Wrong (kinda).Her charges include competing in a beauty pageant...

Trad Wives like Hannah Neeleman and her Ballerina Farm empire have captured our imagination - and divided our opinions. Trad Wives are an Instagram phenomenon using highly-produced content to promote traditional family values - specifically, the idea that women would be happier if they stayed home and served their husbands and children, trading in a life of career-focused grind culture for a life of content domesticity - and nobody sells this idea better than Hannah Neeleman. Megan Agnew is...

Have you ever felt that instant spark of friendship with someone new? That’s exactly what happened when comedian Damian Callinan met Cal Wilson in the early 2000s. In this episode of Little Love Stories, we remember the vibrant Kiwi comedian, Cal Wilson, who passed away nearly a year ago. Damian reflects on their friendship, their collaborations on shows like Skit House, and the honour of being the MC at both her wedding and funeral— a role he describes as among the most important in his...

Young love. Remember that?! Meeting someone at your part time hospo job where you’re together every night, you start making eyes at each other and one thing leads to another - soon, you’re spending the night at their family home and having dinner with their parents. Well that’s exactly how Emily met Josh. And when you meet so young, it really only goes one of two ways. You either grow up and apart, or you grow together. Like Emily and Josh. After seven years, they knew each other like the...

[Part 1 of 2] This episode is going to help you have better relationships - and understand the bad ones you’ve had in the past - or might still be having.Because the origin of every relationship we have is our attachment style, and knowing what yours is and how that affects the way you interact with people and the romantic partners you choose can be a game-changer.Mia talks to clinical psychologist and attachment theory expert, Dr. Morgan Anderson, about all things attachment styles and so...

Sometimes, a story can save a life. This is one of those stories. Anna Martin is a recovering gambling addict who, as you’ll hear, almost lost her life to this insidious industry. Anna gambled in the shadows. She didn’t want anyone to know about her gambling habits, or the risks she was taking, or just how bad it got…to the point where she almost lost her life. Shame and secrecy are killers. And gambling is shrouded in shame and secrecy. So it’s no small thing for Anna to share her story...

In 2000, Ada Nicodemou joined the cast of Home and Away, Australia’s second longest-running soap opera, after Neighbours. She signed on for a 6-month contract to play the role of Leah Patterson-Baker. But 21 years, and a few near-death experiences and a few husbands (Leah’s had way more husbands than Ada who has only had one) one of Australia’s best-known and most-loved actors is still at Summer Bay.  On this episode of No Filter, Ada and Mia discuss everything from love, to loss, to...

You can hear part two of Mia's conversation with Ada here.  Ada Nicodemou is in love again…with her longtime co-star and on-screen husband, James Stewart. Ada Nicodemou has played the character of Leah Patterson on our screens for 24 years as one of the most iconic stars of Home & Away. In this exclusive interview, Ada tells Mia how the last few years have seen her choose herself after a lifetime of choosing others. They discuss the complexities of ending relationships and blended...

You can hear the second half of Mia's conversation with Suzanne here. When Suzanne Heywood and her little brother were told by their parents that they’d be leaving the UK, leaving school, leaving their friends and their dog to go and sail around the world for three years…Suzanne had her doubts - but like so many little girls, she trusted her father - he was her hero. But as you’ll hear in this captivating story, there is a fine line between adventure and survival. Between an extended family...

For many years Paulina Porizkova was the most recognized face in fashion & beauty - from her iconic Sports Illustrated cover to being the face of Estee Lauder. When she married rock star Ric Ocastek from the iconic band, The Cars. From the outside looking in, it seemed like she was living the dream. To look at her, she really did seem like the woman who had it all. But while Paulina was as visible as you could be…she didn’t feel like she was being heard. Not by the photographers and...

Hugo and Spencer live with their loving parents, Michelle and Jono, and are surrounded by extended family, including their grandmother Jasmina and their Auntie Sophie. But how Hugo and Spencer came to be in the world is a very unique and unusual story: their grandmother Jasmina and their aunt Sophie were actually - also - their surrogate mothers. Why did Jasmina decide to be a surrogate for her daughter…at 52 years old? And how did her pregnancy go? How did she feel about the baby? How does...

Subscribe to Mamamia Writer and activist, Africa Brooke, used to call people out on the internet all the time - because this is what the culture wars told her she needed to do.  Until one day - she suddenly stopped.  In 2021, Africa wrote an open letter and posted it online. She called it: “Why I’m Leaving the Cult of Wokeness” and it immediately went viral. The letter changed her life, but not in the way she expected it to.  So what did she write in that letter? And how did she become...

Subscribe to Mamamia On Halloween morning, Charlotte Cowles - an Ivy League educated journalist and mother of a two-year old son - received a life-altering phone call from a government agent who informed her that she had 22 bank accounts, nine vehicles and four properties registered in her name, and that she’d wired more than $3 million to Jamaica and Iraq, and that a car had been rented in her name that had been linked to drug trafficking in New Mexico…and that she had warrants out for her...

Subscribe to Mamamia Are you triggered by trigger warnings? Do you need one before you read a story about anxiety? How about before you see a photo of a meal that includes meat?What about before you watch a performance of Macbeth? Trigger warnings are supposed to protect us, but do they? Rachael Casella lost her daughter Mackenzie when she was just seven months old. And she refuses to put a trigger warning on her daughter’s life for reasons that may surprise you. Victoria Bridgland is an...

You can hear the second half of Mia's conversation with David here.  Subscribe to Mamamia David Finch is a lot of things: he’s an Autism and Neurodiversity consultant, the author of The Journal of Best Practices; A Memoir of Marriage, Asperger Syndrome, and One Man’s Quest to Be a Better Husband, an essayist for the New York Times Modern Love column…and he’s also UNmarried. In this two-part special episode of No Filter, David Finch opens up to Mia Freedman about his life before and after...

You can hear the second half of Mia's conversation with Tia here.  Subscribe to Mamamia Tia Levings was raised within the same strict Christian fundamentalist ideology as the infamous Duggar family from 19 Kids And Counting. By the time she was 19 years old, Tia found herself in an abusive marriage where the violence was sanctioned by the church. In this must-listen episode of No Filter, Tia tells Mia Freedman about the ways she was groomed to be a Trad Wife, and the moment she knew she...

Subscribe to Mamamia Jen Glantz was so sick of being invited to weddings and asked to do so much work…for free. So she did what any good entrepreneur does: she turned it into a business called Bridesmaid For Hire. In this episode of No Filter, Jen spills all the tea about her life as a professional bridesmaid - the good, the bad and the ugly (and all the dresses!) For more about Jen Glantz and Bridesmaid For Hire - go to her website. Or follow her on Instagram. THE END BITS: Listen to...

Subscribe to Mamamia Eve Wiley is one of the featured voices in the Netflix series The Man with 1000 Kids, but the story of how she came to be a fierce advocate for victims of fertility fraud is a deeply personal one…and one you have to hear to believe. In this episode of No Filter, Eve Wiley tells Mia Freedman how she finally found out that she is the child of fertility fraud and how she discovered who her biological father was - a discovery that turned her world upside down and...

Subscribe to Mamamia Before the Netflix documentary America’s Sweethearts, a 7-part series that examines the wild world of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, author and journalist Sarah Hepola created and hosted the Texas Monthly podcast America’s Girls and she has stories that didn’t make it into the Netflix series. In this wide-ranging conversation with Mia Freedman, Sarah talks about the sexual exploitation, the injuries, the pay gap, the body image issues…and so much more. Are the Dallas...

Subscribe to Mamamia Almost 40% of relationships begin online and while there are plenty of success stories, there are also some horror stories. This is one of those stories. In 2019, Mia Freedman interviewed Stephanie Wood, the author of Fake, which is now a hit TV series starring Asher Keddie and David Wenham. This is the true story behind the show. When Stephanie Wood decided to go on a date with a guy she met online she had no idea it would change the course of her life forever. ...

You can hear the second half of Mia's conversation with Dassi here.  Subscribe to Mamamia In this searing episode of No Filter, Dassi Erlich talks to Mia Freedman about growing up in an extreme ultra-Orthodox religious community in Melbourne and the abuse she suffered at the hands of her school principal, Malka Leifer. Dassi shares the story of how she fought back against both Leifer and the community that failed to protect her - a battle that took far too long. It is a story of deep...

Welcome to a brand new podcast from Mamamia's parenting podcast This Glorious Mess called Little Love Stories. Little Love Stories is an open-hearted conversation with someone who has love and gratitude to share, whether it's about a person, an object, or an event. In this first episode, This Glorious Mess co-host Annaliese Todd shares the love story she wrote to herself. No one plans on becoming a single parent, but through this journey of self-discovery, Annaliese is breaking down stigmas...

Subscribe to Mamamia The Jimmy & Nath show is the biggest weeknight radio programs in Australia. Hosted by best mates, Jimmy Smith and Nathan Roye. Jimmy and Nath joined Mia Freedman in the Mamamia studios for a candid conversation about their careers, their successes, their friendship, as well as the ways that they're using their platform and their audience to discuss some really important things - from mental health to domestic violence. We also hear about what it’s like when your...

Subscribe to Mamamia If you're a girl or a woman who doesn't think she wants to have kids - where are your role models for what your life could look like?  Portrayals of happy mums are everywhere, but rarely do we see women who choose not to have children shown in a positive light.  Ten years ago, journalist and editor Farrah Storr decided to be a non-parent. In the years since that decision, she has learned so much about the many ways a woman can live a rich, connected and fulfilling life...