Mamamia Out Loud

Welcome to the first ever episode of Out loud Reccos — the show where Mia Freedman and the Out loud hosts tell you exactly what they've bought, watched, read and tried, and whether it was worth it.

In this episode: how Em Vernem repainted her bathroom tiles for $200 instead of $2,000, the Uniqlo barrel pants Holly Wainwright now owns in five colours, Keeshia Pettit's genius free playlist hack and Mia on the new Matthew Perry documentary that may make you cry.

Plus, guest host, Liv James from the Gen Z comedy pod In The Comments joins us wi...

When Mia Freedman turned 50, she realised she’d accidentally become grout: the stuff between the tiles that nobody notices, holding everyone else together… while quietly falling apart.

Grout is a living audio memoir about mid-life.

A face she doesn’t recognise, a body that wants to be a circle, kids who need her less, parents who need her more and a new name she definitely didn’t ask for. 

It’s funny, it’s poignant and it’s a mess.
The prologue lands Tuesday 17 November, and new chapters drop as life keeps happening. 

Taylor and Travis. Beyoncé and Jay-Z. Katherine Ryan has noticed a pattern and it all comes down to who was born first. Holly Wainwright unpacks the theory that eldest daughters keep ending up with youngest sons and Jessie Stephens has a confession about the charming men she used to date.

Plus, a woman named Kim House charges $85 an hour to run other people’s homes like corporations. Jessie asks whether what we all actually need is a household manager.

Also, Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS released a $276 advent calendar. It runs for 12 days and includes bobby pins...

The very famous man at the centre of a years-long journalistic investigation and a months-long legal fight in the UK has been named. Holly Wainwright explains why his name was kept private until now.

The clean girl has packed up her slick-back bun and left the building. Her replacement has smudged eyeliner and teased hair, but it may have taken just as long to get ready. Keeshia Pettit, Stacey Hicks and Holly Wainwright unpack ‘mess-washing’ and why some brands are now telling influencers not to clean their kitchens before they film.

Plus, what makes a good...

Outlouders, enjoy this free taster of Jessie Stephens, Emily Vernem & Holly Wainwright on our subscriber-only episode. You can listen to the full conversation here: “How Do I Do It All? I Don’t.”

"How does Holly Wainwright write a book while doing... everything else?" An Outlouder asked. Holly’s answer starts with a list of things she doesn’t do.

Plus, Jessie on the running monologue of everything she’s not getting to and the small habit that keeps her reading.

Also, has productivity culture made us all feel like we’re failing? Em confesses w...

This morning Holly picked Amelia up at 5:30am with a coffee and a podcast already queued. Amelia learned that the subtext was ‘no talking until the sun comes up’.

Russell Brand spent two decades doing a very convincing impression of a man who loved women. We unpack the Russell Brand verdict, the system that protected him and the women who waited two decades  to hear a court label him as guilty.

Plus, Holly has the inside word on the James Bond shortlist which just grew by two names. One of them has Jessie threatening to flip...

Em Vernem changes the books on her shelf every time a date comes over. Margaret Atwood goes front and centre. So does a novel she hasn't actually read. Today Jessie Stephens wants to know how we're all arranging our books, and why a fantasy series coming out two centimetres taller has sent Em into a full meltdown.

Plus, Holly Wainwright asks whether there's any such thing as guilt-free reality TV, after Celebrity Traitors UK ended under a duty of care cloud.

Also, Em explains how a 20-year-old just became Formula One world champion and why...

Three coffee machines. A 3am bottle. A 5am stealth mission in the dark. Holly Wainwright, Jessie Stephens and Em Vernem walk you through everything that happened before they sat down for our 9am meeting.

Plus, Em’s phone update has been quietly sabotaging her alarm and a dream about a cockroach has ruined her entire day. Then Holly shares the cockroach story that proves dreams can come true.

Also, why Jessie wakes one of her twins at 3am on purpose and which baby has just learned to crawl like a drooling little snail.

An...

A blue wave just swept across America, with Democrats seizing both houses of Congress and flipping states like Texas and Kansas that haven’t voted that way in decades.

Our very own Amelia Lester joins The Quicky to unpack what it means for Trump’s final two years, from the Iran war to AI, and the voters who abandoned him. Plus, we meet the half-Aussie senator some are tipping as the Democrats’ best shot at the White House in 2028.

Subscribe here for 30% off your annual Mamamia subscription for Black Friday with code BLACK30. Code applied at the...

Yesterday was a big day in Australia. You may or may not have known that it was the Melbourne Cup and there's a specific link between King Charles and Bec Judd that has them not as worried about the interest rates rise as the rest of us.

On Monday, author Craig Silvey was sentenced to seven months in prison. The same day, he published a 9,000-word ‘apology’ on Substack. We unpack what's in it, what's missing from it and how he was even able to publish it.

Plus, last year we were all told to ‘Let Th...

Jennifer Lawrence has launched a hair care line called Mes°, and she’s told the world she wants to be a “sexy mum at drop off”. Amelia had to do some serious soul-searching to work out why she’s so furious about it. Jessie thinks we only have ourselves to blame, and Holly needs a word invented for one very specific feeling.

Plus, how many tins of baked beans are in your pantry right now? Amelia found out who started the stockpiling panic and we explain why most of it can be ignored.

Also, a husband-a...

Should you love your partner exactly as much as they love you? Holly, Jessie and Em can’t agree, and one of them has a bedtime ritual that might settle it. Then they name the famous couples who aren’t quite equally in love. All speculation of course. Tom and Zendaya, we're looking at you.

Plus, it started with an Amazon dish rack and a broken wine glass, and ended with a 30-part TikTok series and nine million views. Em unpacks the New York roommate war the internet couldn’t stop picking sides on, and Holly reveals some o...

Out Louders, Dr Carter from ER is all grown up and officially the Sexiest Man Alive. Em Vernem has the tea on how the winner actually gets chosen, and it starts with a very grumpy Mel Gibson. Was Noah Wyle your pick, or was someone robbed?

Plus, Holly Wainwright saw her first “word of the year” post this week and felt her neck tense up. It isn’t even November and Christmas decorations are already on sale. We ask why this is the exact week the end-of-year panic sets in.

Also, indoor skydiving, trampoline parks, adult...

Mia asked whether two of her kids’ friends were dating. The answer? No, they’re “talking”. Em and Keeshia try to explain the difference between talking, hooking up and dating, and somehow make it worse.

Plus, Keeshia confesses she’s the friend who never checks in. With the internet now saying that’s a red flag; she's asking whether the weekly “how are you?” text is a kindness or really a chore?

Today, each of our three hosts brings a dilemma to the table. We’re woefully unqualified, but we give it a red hot go.

We’re s...

For years, the most damning thing anyone could say about Meghan Markle was that she doesn’t speak to her dad. This week, that story took a very dark turn. Holly, Jessie and Amelia unpack the allegations against Thomas Markle (which he denies), Meghan’s response and the role the tabloids have played in all of this.

Plus, if you’re having a rubbish start to the week, it could be because Mercury is now in retrograde in Scorpio! If that sentence gave you the maths-lady meme face, Amelia explains why the next ten days could change the wo...

Somewhere on Lily Allen’s tour schedule, between soundcheck and emails, was “test butt plug”. Holly unpacks the new merch and asks whether celebrity sex toys are still smart business, or just the new perfume.

Plus, Jessie makes the case against being nice. Is keeping the peace quietly wrecking our relationships?

Also, the questions to ask your friends if you actually want to know them better, and why one of them is a slippery slope.

And of course our weekly reccos, including a podcast interview with a bombshell that had one of us gaspin...

“Thank you, you lovely people. I appreciate your help.” Those were reportedly Helen Haines’s first words to the strangers who ran to her aid outside her Wangaratta office on Monday. Jessie, Mia and Holly reflect on the woman, described by all sides of politics as the best of us, on the strangers who ran to help her, and on what female politicians are now saying about their safety. Our love goes to Helen and her family.

Also, Russell Brand is on trial in London, and he and his wife Laura are posting about it every day. Holly...

What happens when you announce your divorce with an FAQ and forget your Instagram is public? A man named Michael found out, five million views later, and now Em needs answers. Who initiated it? Who gets custody of the pet social account? And are Millie and Bug even dogs?

Plus, Holly and Jessie discuss the rise of the collab breakup post, and the one detail that tells you a split is anything but amicable.

Also, Tobey Maguire stands at the altar at his ex-wife’s wedding, as the officiant. Is there a statute of limitations on...

Andy Lee and Bec Harding were together 12 years before they married in New York on the weekend, and Holly Wainwright isn’t mad, she’s just disappointed.

Plus, a man online says it’s rude NOT to ask to stay at a friend’s place when you’re in their city. Holly, Jessie and Amelia draw up the houseguest rules, right down to who strips the bed.

Also, Amelia unpacks what’s really happening on the streets of France, and how Pope Leo handled a phone call from Vladimir Putin three days after surgery.

And, three...

What actually is perimenopause, and how would you know if you’re in it?

Outlouders, we’re popping into your feed on a Sunday for a very important conversation: a special Out Loud episode, where we're talking perimenopause and menopause.

Amelia Lester, Mia Freedman, Holly Wainwright, Jessie Stephens and Leigh Campbell are five women at three life stages, from 35 and seven months postpartum to 55 and on the other side of menopause. One of us forgot what year it was this morning. Another questioned whether 'rage' could be added to a list of possible symptoms or whet...

Would you ask a date what they earn? A BBC piece found plenty of people who’d rather not, but Em Vernem has a strict rule she adheres to — Holly's Britishness hates it.

Also, quiet quitting is over. Loud working, with emails scheduled for 2am, is the new survival strategy.

And the new Rules of Rudeness. If you bring a bottle of wine to a friend’s house, are you allowed to drink it? Jessie Stephens and Holly Wainwright can't agree, and it’s just one of the social rules nobody explained to us. Holly has gone...

Our favourite freelance royal Prince Harry is teaching a masterclass in grief, and he’s being paid for it. If everyone from the brother to the butler has made money off Diana, why not her son? Jessie has a theory, and Mia has a number.

Plus a comedian has walked onto one of the biggest stages in American TV and announced that women at the gym now dress like wh*res. Shane Gillis hosted Saturday Night Live, and Jessie has watched the whole monologue - and thinks it’s worse in context. Then the female comics of the...

Mary Fowler pulled out of two Matildas games and flew home, reportedly to be with her injured partner Nathan Cleary. Good on her, or did she let the team down? Em, freshly back from Cambodia, brings Holly and Jessie the sport story everyone has an opinion on. And would the conversation be different if it were Cleary?

Plus, Kelly Clarkson walked into a Brooklyn curiosity shop, asked about a singing mechanical bird and walked out feeling like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Holly and Em perform a dramatic reading of the feud that followed on X. Who’s...

A 50-year-old woman woke up in a hospital bed last week, angry and confused, because her execution didn’t work. Jessie unpacks the Christa Pike case, and Holly has questions about the Pentagon’s plan livestream the next one.

Stand on the edge of the photo, please, so we can crop you out later. One woman has been getting that treatment from her in-laws for 30 years, and Mia, who is Jessie Stephens’ mother-in-law, wants to talk about it. Jessie is surprisingly understanding.

Also, the boss of Signal refused to play along with a BBC quickfire round...

Zoë Foster Blake has two rules for friendship, and one of them starts with a word we can't print here. Keeshia, Holly and Jessie unpack why seeing your friends now needs a Google Calendar reminder.

Plus, a stylist says there's only one place your clothes actually need to fit. Holly's shirt has some explaining to do.

Also, Jessie let four internet sleuths loose on her life for 24 hours. Some of what they found couldn't go to air.

In the reccos, a lipstick that won't budge and a man who narrates running that Holly i...

Sam Wood built a fitness empire for hundreds of thousands of Australian women. Now he's been charged with domestic violence offences after his arrest in Noosa, which he intends to defend. Holly Wainwright, Mia Freedman and Jessie Stephens unpack what we know so far.

Plus, couples are getting ‘food divorces’ and psychologists are worried, but Mia actually already has one. Plus in big Outlouder news, she's finally learning how to cook. Huge, we know.

Also, Pete Davidson told Variety that Get Ready With Me videos make him feel like the world is broken. Jessie has spot...

Taylor Swift promised Life of a Showgirl was 12 bangers, no extras. Then came The Encore. Mia has a theory about why Taylor keeps doubling down and what it might have to do with an Oscar, while Holly asks whether it's sexist to want Taylor to have a little lie down and let us miss her.

Plus, Jessie has been manipulated into bringing Meghan news and she arrives with four juicy tidbits, including the pub that allegedly refused to serve the Duchess (and her controversial order - well, it surprised us). Plus Mia and Holly disagree about a...

Outlouders, we’ve unlocked an exclusive subscriber episode for your long weekend listening pleasure. You're welcome. Enjoy!

When did you realise you were an adult?

Not a specific age - but the moment you're suddenly the one who's supposed to know what to do. There's an essay doing the rounds arguing adults don't actually exist and we're all just winging it, some of us with better posture. So what actually defines an adult? Is it knowing the right thing to do or just being the one willing to do it, even when you'd rather not? An...

Holly Wainwright finds Laurie Anderson’s three rules for life inspiring. Em Vernem finds them embarrassing - so cue a generational war in today’s episode.

Plus, The Guardian has named the five types of people ruining conversations, from the serial monologuer to the trauma dumper. Holly, Jessie and Em have met every one of them, and one is hated more than the rest.

Also, Jessie has found a recruiter who says to never walk into a job interview holding this one diverse item. We debate whether its a fair accessory or a power play.

Breast milk fountains have hit the runway and for someone who self-identifies as ‘not a fashion girlie’, Jessie Stephens has never been more on trend.

Holly's algorithm has decided it’s time for her to bounce up and down in fitted lycra. We question if it’s ever okay to film during an exercise class and shared some lived experiences that could be used as evidence for why the answer to that question should be ‘no’.

Plus, two years on, the ‘Cornell Seven’ case has been reopened. A civil lawsuit, a reopened investigation and a fraternity group...

Outlouders, enjoy this free taster of Jessie Stephens, Emily Vernem & Holly Wainwright on our subscriber-only episode. You can listen to the full conversation here: The Victoria Beckham C-word Investigation

It's Tuesday, which means gossip we probably shouldn't be enjoying this much.
There is a rumour that Taylor Swift invented her own award at the VMAs, then acted surprised when she won it. Wild if true. Em unpacks it for us and details what happens when Taylor and Charli XCX end up at the same show after writing diss tracks about each other.

Plus, Holly...

814 hours. That's how much extra care two full time working parents of primary schoolers need to find every year to cover the gap between school hours, school holidays and the working week. We discuss Georgie Dent’s speech that just about every parent shared last week.

Should you pay a friend back for a cup of coffee? One writer argues nobody should ask a friend to pay them back for anything under $15.

Also, Taylor Swift seems to have entered her ‘wife’ era. She has some new songs out, she’s proudly shouting about who her husband...

A few weeks ago, Holly recommended an episode of Mamamia’s Gen X podcast, Unleashed, and we’re bringing it to the Outlouders feed.

If you haven’t listened before, Unleashed is a podcast for Gen X women who need a laugh, a chat and sometimes a space for the harder parts of life.

Unleashed co-host Dr Ginni Mansberg recently shared the deeply personal story of her mum’s decision to choose voluntary assisted dying. Ginni wanted to talk about what was happening with her family, but we wanted to give her the space to tell the...

Are you the most annoying person in the workplace? Keeshia Pettit joins the show for her first ‘main show’ and she’s directing this question specifically at Jessie Stephens after learning that she might be an ‘office pinger’. 

Why does every man alive want to throw a rock into water? We share some of the funniest and strangest things that men like to do and leave asking why they all want to put things on their heads.

Also, is free time the new status symbol? There's a very specific number of 'free time' hours that decides if...

Outlouders, enjoy this free taster of Jessie Stephens, Emily Vernem & Keeshia Pettit on our subscriber-only episode. You can listen to the full conversation here: Is It Just Us, Or Does Everyone Sound Exactly The Same?

Would you rather your group chats were leaked, or your ChatGPT history? And how did "Would you like me to develop these ideas for you?" become the most dangerous question of our age?
We're asking whether outsourcing our emails to AI is harmless - or whether it's slowly shrinking the part of our brain we need most. Also, we get into...

Ed Sheeran walked onto a stadium stage in Philadelphia with no band, no support acts and a scripted statement. We unpack the fallout between Ed Sheeran, Macklemore and a stadium owner, and discuss whether it’s possible for a celebrity to be apolitical in 2026.
Plus, the NRL grand final has no pre-match entertainment this year, reportedly because Tones and I refused to sing Dance Monkey. There’s irony in the song being called Dance Monkey...
Also, Cue and Veronika Maine have collapsed. Mia wants to know whether it's bad business or whether getting dressed has fundamentally changed.
A...

Princess Diana's brother has a 'tell-all' memoir out tomorrow, and the King has already made a "furious" statement about it. But the big question remains: Did he really say THAT?
The movie about long-term relationships that you might have to watch alone.
Also, Patrick Clancy has sat down for a 60 Minutes interview with his new wife. Why would he do that?
Plus, over the weekend, internet sleuths stumbled on what they think is a very famous man's Instagram account and he appears to be trolling his equally-famous exes.

Also, it's been a horror few...

Would strangers open up to you on a train? Do people quietly start copying the way you talk? Em Vernem has found the 19 signs that show you might be more attractive than you think.

Plus, Jessie unpacks the rise of the "thoughtfluencer" and how easy it is to appear to be an expert online. While it makes information a lot more accessible, we question if you can trust anything you’re reading.

The push-up bra is back! You can decide whether to pack away the wire free comfort bras or not. Plus, Holly has found a c...

Taylor Swift is hanging out with her wedding guest Tom Cruise at a football game and we want to know who's got more to gain from those optics. 

You've heard about the Hyrox athlete who, um, soiled herself mid comp but went on to win. There are lots of memes. But we’re asking a different question: would you do the same for the prize money of $21k?

Today's a big day for Mia, as you'll hear as she struggles to get through our conversation about kids. And why did the advice to 'act like a d...

Outlouders, enjoy this free taster of Holly Wainwright, Emily Vernem & Jessie Stephens on our subscriber-only episode. You can listen to the full conversation here: The Emmy’s Love Story We Can’t Stop Thinking About

Harry and Meghan pulled their kids out of school after just two days, and Holly has a theory about what's really driving it and who should be footing the bill to fix it.

Plus Karl Stefanovic's podcast has gone dark for three weeks. We chat about the court battle with his business partner and the very rich name he's floa...