This episode is sponsored by Cancer Research UK. In this special episode we’re in Horsham in West Sussex to meet Livi Deane and her mum, Sarah. Aged just 12, Livi was diagnosed with a rare retinoblastoma, becoming only the second person ever in the UK to have the disease that was over the age of five. Desperate not to lose her eye, Livi went through 16 rounds of chemotherapy and spent a year in remission, but that didn’t stop the cancer and her eye was removed when she was 14. She has...

In Tunbridge Wells in Kent we meet Jamie and his mum Jacqui. Jamie is an online fitness instructor and global body-building competitor who wanted to talk to Jacqui about his decision to revert to Islam and marry a muslim woman. From a young age Jamie had obsessive tendencies, he hated school, became a heavy drinker and even spent time in prison in Thailand. Jacqui wanted to know if he recalled his youthful mania for magic tricks, how terrified she was when she discovered his body-building...

In Waltham Abbey in Essex we meet Julie, her son Tomor and his elder sister, Leonora. Julie’s late husband Bill arrived in the UK as a refugee from the former Yugoslavia and was a kind and loving father who, over time, became gripped by a gambling addiction which ultimately caused him to take his own life in a terrifying way. Leonora, Tom and Julie have all been through counseling since his death and want to remember the good and bad times and talk about their desires for their future...

In Putney, South West London, we meet mum Patricia and her daughter Jasmine, who was adopted from China as a baby. Jasmine has always wanted to ask Patricia, who suffered the loss of her birth daughter at a very young age, about how and why she decided to pursue a transracial adoption and how she feels about the process now. Patricia, who suffers from ataxia, a disorder that affects coordination, balance and speech, wanted to ask Jasmine about how she feels as an adult - and a carer - in...

In Mitcham in South London we meet Ashley and his mum, Denise. Ashley is hugely proud of his mum, a woman who, for years, has worked tirelessly to help her community even through her cancer diagnosis and subsequent mastectomy. Denise split with Ashley’s dad when he was very young and Ashley wants to talk about the times he felt unsafe without a male parent in the house and explore why Denise still thinks of him as her “golden child” even now he’s in his 30’s. To get in touch just email...

In Brighton we meet Iman and her mum, Shahla. Iman wanted to know more about her mum’s childhood and what it was like to move from Pakistan to England as a teenager. The family suffered the loss of Iman’s father during lockdown after a long and complicated illness. Iman felt this devastating event had changed their relationship and wanted to explore this with her mum, as well as talk about the miscarriages Shahla had experienced and her hopes that her mum, who’s still only in her mid-40s, can...

In Reading in Berkshire we meet Ally and her mum Wendy. As a teenager, Ally discovered she had MRKH, a rare congenital disorder that means she was born without a vagina, womb or cervix. Understandably, this was extremely difficult for Ally and her mum to deal with and Ally lived through some wild years with difficult relationships and risky behaviour. Now an advocate and spokesperson for the MRKH community, Ally says she has moved past any shame or regret, but always wanted to ask her mum if...

In Forest Hill, South East London, we meet Alex and his mum Sue. In 2020, shortly after he turned 30 Alex was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease after suffering for months with twitches and loss of strength in his hands. He’s now 33 and is a wheelchair user. Alex wanted to ask his mum about the impact of his MND diagnosis on the family, how she felt when both he and his elder brother came out as gay and about her time living in pre-revolution Tehran as an air-hostess for Iran Airways. To...

Recorded in our studios in Central London, we meet Julie and her daughter Lois. Julie was born in Scotland, trained as a singer, brought her children up in South London and now lives in Surrey. Lois wanted to ask her mum about her own childhood, where she was abandoned by her father and her mother attempted to burn the house down with the children locked inside. Lois has never spoken to her mum about the impact these events had on her own life. There’s also the incredible story of when Lois...

In Flitwick in Bedfordshire, we meet Ana and her daughter, Laura. Ana was born in Romania and moved to the UK when she was just 20 and expecting a child. Laura wanted to talk to her mum about her life in Romania, the shame culture the country still suffers with and how her parents built the good life that they all now enjoy. Ana talks about the racism and prejudice she has faced - and sometimes still faces - being Romanian in the UK, while Laura wanted to talk about her own desire to...

In Tottenham, North London, we meet Sam and his dad, Lak. Sam wanted to talk about growing up gay in the Indian community and his dad's reaction to his coming out. Lak knew his son would always remember his reaction and he treated the news with acceptance and understanding, something which Sam says is still rare across South Asian culture - although he wonders if there was a clue in Lak’s Mariah Carey, George Michael and Abba CDs? To get in touch just email [email protected]. You can find...

Launching on 19th April, Vogue Williams hosts The Apple and The Tree, a brand new podcast where a parent and their adult child get to ask each other about the parts of their shared history they’ve always wanted to know more about, but never given themselves the time to do so. These are deep, intimate and revealing conversations that move through love, grief, shame, sexuality, religion, addiction, identity and so much more.   Because these shows were recorded in our guest’s own homes, it’s...

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