Divorce Story

If you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, make sure you pop on over and follow us on your podcast app of choice! Here we are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and even in full video on YouTube (wow!).

About the episode:

Tegan Higginbotham and Paul Verhoeven's love story began with a very unusual first date: a lingerie football game, followed by a birthday party and their first kiss outside a drag bar. 

Now married, the comedy creators join Tiffany Dunk to talk about their Paris wedding, the proposal almost derailed by a Cornish pasty, the ducks that interrupted their ceremony, and how they navigate working together on Stan's new comedy series, Gnomes. 

They also share what they've learned about love, laughter, communication, and keeping a relationship strong through the highs and lows of two careers in entertainment. 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• Tegan and Paul's very unusual first date 
• How their paths crossed several times before they finally got together 
• Why making each other laugh is such an important part of their relationship 
• Their "anxiety pav" and how food became their love language 
• The proposal that was almost derailed by a Cornish pasty 
• Why they decided to get married in Paris 
• The ducks that dive-bombed their wedding ceremony 
• How they navigated the ups and downs of two careers in entertainment 
• What lockdown taught them about their relationship 
• The "seven-year itch" — and why they were still going strong 
• How Tegan and Paul learned to work together creatively on Gnomes 
• Their advice for couples who work together 
• What they hope their relationship looks like in another 13 years 

You can find out more about Gnomes, the new Stan Original comedy series written by Tegan Higginbotham and Paul Verhoeven, here. 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au 

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽 

Credits 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace 

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, make sure you pop on over and follow us on your podcast app of choice! Here we are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and even in full video on YouTube (wow!).

About the episode:

Shaun Micallef admits he approached fatherhood much like an IKEA flatpack: without reading the instructions. 

Now his middle son Gabe is 26, and the pair have become colleagues, co-hosting Network 10’s Shaun Micallef’s Parents Evening, a game show that tests just how well parents and their adult children really know each other. 

In this episode, Shaun and Gabe sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about what Gabe inherited from his dad, growing up with one of Australia’s best-known comedians and how their relationship has changed now that they’re both adults. 

Plus, they reveal how the homemade movies they made together when Gabe was a child may have laid the groundwork for them eventually ending up on television together. 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• Shaun’s theory about whether love actually exists 
• Why Shaun decided not to read the parenting books 
• The simple childhood adventures Gabe remembers with his dad 
• What Gabe inherited from Shaun 
• The homemade movies they made together as a family 
• What it was really like growing up with Shaun Micallef as your dad 
• How Parents Evening brought father and son together professionally 
• What Shaun and Gabe hope for each other’s futures 

Watch Shaun Micallef’s Parents Evening on Network 10 and 10 Play. 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au 

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes. 

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Credits 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Leah Porges 

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, make sure you pop on over and follow us on your podcast app of choice! Here we are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and even in full video on YouTube (wow!).

About the episode:

Brooke McClymont rode her bike past Adam Eckersley 's house every morning on the way to school in Grafton. Most mornings he'd yell out that he was going to marry her one day. She'd yell back "in your dreams, mullet head." 

Ten years later they ran into each other at the pub at Christmas. Adam was living in his van at Merewether Beach. Brooke had a record deal. They sat up all night over cabanossi and brie and eventually worked out that they were more than friends. Then they signed a six-month lease in case it didn't work. That was 18 years ago. 

In this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, the country music couple talk to Tiffany Dunk about making a marriage work in an industry that pulls people apart: the three-week rule for time on the road, the morning shift Adam took for years so Brooke could sleep, and the six weeks he spent alone with two kids in lockdown while Brooke was on I'm a Celebrity. 

They also go to the hard places. The COVID year when they were about to lose the farm, and the idea that saved it. The month Adam stopped getting out of the ute to play with his daughter at the bus stop, and what that told him. And the night he asked Brooke to book him in to talk to someone, because he knew he'd turn up if she did. 

Their third album Souls on Show is out now, and one track, 'In and Out of Love', is the closest thing they have to a marriage manifesto: stay together while you fall in and out of it. Two decades on, Adam still says Brooke has the best female voice in Australia, and she still says he's the best songwriter she's ever written with. 

Buy Souls on Show or book tickets to their show here 

Email [email protected] with your date and accommodation preference to book Hang at the Wang 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes Australia.  

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• The teenage bike ride past Adam's house, the marriage proposal shouted from the front yard, and the two words Brooke yelled back
• Why Adam says his eldest son, not Brooke, was the first time he ever felt love, and why he still barely says the word
• Cabanossi, brie and an all-night talk: the least romantic "we're official" conversation you'll ever hear
• Living in a van at Merewether Beach, and the night-time toilet runs that finally convinced Brooke to get a lease
• A wedding on the Tamworth farm with Tom Gleeson on the mic, a mud-brown dress and a groom covered in scabies
• The three-week rule that stopped touring from quietly ending their marriage
• Six weeks alone with two kids in lockdown while Brooke was in the jungle, and the letter Adam sent in: "I'm a Parent, Get Me Out of Here"
• Nearly losing the farm during COVID, and the 40-fans-at-a-time idea that saved it
• The bus stop moment that made Adam realise he needed help, and why he asked Brooke to make the booking
• Date night is a fire in the bottom shed, and 20 years from now it's a veggie patch with Brooke on a throne

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au 

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽 

Credits 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace 

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories...

Jim Rogers met his wife Lorna in a small English town. The two connected over a shared obsession with VW Beetles. They married, had three children, and moved to Perth chasing sunshine. Life was good until Lorna was diagnosed with melanoma and tragically died within a few years, leaving Jim a single father to three children under nine. 

Eighteen months later, his parents sent him on a holiday he didn't want to go on. There, he met a man named Tyler. What followed was a relationship neither of them expected, kept quietly in the background of family life for years, and one that's now lasted 26 years. 

In this episode, Jim and Millie sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the process of writing Jim's memoir together: the hardest parts to put into words, what it was like for Millie to hear new stories about her mum and her dad's early relationship with Tyler, and Jim's more recent diagnosis of young-onset Alzheimer's, which he's chosen to speak about publicly rather than hide. 

Plus, Jim talks about the podcast he co-hosts with Hamish MacDonald, Hold the Moment, and what he hopes it can do to de-stigmatise Alzheimer's and help people with the diagnosis feel less alone. 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• How Jim met Lorna, and the VW Beetle that started it all 
• Millie's memory of the day her dad told her and her siblings their mum had died 
• The holiday Jim didn't want to go on, and the man he met there 
• Millie's first inkling that her dad's friend was more than a friend 
• The proposal on top of the Empire State Building, and the surprise engagement at home 
• Jim's young-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis 
• Why Jim decided to write it all down, "warts and all" 

Photo Credit: Rob Palmer 

You can listen to Jim’s podcast, Hold The Moment, here. 

Find Jim & Millie’s book, Holding on to Happiness, here. 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au 

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes. 

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Credits 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Leah Porges 

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories...

Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide, mental health issues, grief and the loss of a parent and child to illness. If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14. 

Find more support services here: Need help? Support services and crisis helplines in Australia - The Australian Women's Weekly 

In 2009, Gavin Larkin sat his wife Maryanne and their closest friends down at the dinner table and told them about an idea he'd been carrying since his own father died by suicide years earlier. It was a simple question that could change everything: "Are you okay?" 

Allison "Ally" Langdon, a journalist and friend who was part of that conversation, knew instantly she had to help get the message out. What followed was R U OK? Day which has since grown into a national movement. But what followed was something that neither Ally nor Maryanne could have imagined. 

In this episode, Ally and Maryanne sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the early, uncomfortable days of getting a newsroom to even say the word "suicide," what it actually looked like for Ally to show up for her friend in the hardest years of her life, and the quiet, everyday ways two women have held a friendship together, and a legacy alive, for close to two decades. 

Moments you'll hear: 

• The dinner table conversation in 2009 that became R U OK? Day 
• Why newsrooms wouldn't touch the word "suicide," and the pushback Ally got 
• Maryanne on losing both Gavin and her eldest son Gus, and why moving into her late son's bedroom with her two younger kids helped them all grieve 
• The small, practical ways Ally and their friend group showed up during the hardest years 
• What it means to keep telling stories about someone you've lost 
• Nearly 20 years on, what they still hope for each other 

Visit the R U OK? Day website here. 

Learn more about Ally and Maryanne's friendship in our exclusive interview here

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au 

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽 

Our special thanks to our partners at Vixin 

Vixin real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy: vixin.com.au 

Use the code LOVESTORIES for 30% off your order at Vixin now! 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes. 

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Credits 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace 

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories:

Ed Kavalee still remembers the exact moment he fell for his wife, and it happened on his TV screen, watching her compete as Angel on Gladiators. 

In this episode, Tiff Hall and Ed Kavalee sit down with Tiffany Dunk (or podcast Tiff as Ed calls her) to talk about how a TV crush turned into an 18-year love story, including the radio interview Ed engineered just to meet her, the moment he got cold feet six months in, and the blender that won her back. 

They also open up about becoming parents, Ed's own childhood without a father in the picture, and how that's shaped the kind of dad he wants to be. Plus, Tiff talks candidly about rebuilding her relationship with her body after having kids, and why she built a business helping other women do the same. 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• The night Ed first saw "Angel" on Gladiators, and his friend's prediction 
• The interview Ed engineered just to meet her (and the second one he asked for) 
• Their first date, and the book Ed used to test her sense of humour 
• The moment Ed got cold feet, and the gift that won Tiff back 
• Their engagement story – including a secretly pre-planned visit to a very famous jewellery store 
• Ed opening up about growing up without a dad, and what it means to him now 
• Tiff's journey to rebuilding her relationship with her body after having kids 

Find out more about Tiff’s self-defence classes here. 

Check out Tiff's work with 28 by Sam Wood here. 

Find Tiff Hall on Instagram here. 

Keep up with Ed Kavalee on Instagram here. 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at www.womensweekly.com.au  

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media, please tag us @womensweeklymag and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽 

Our special thanks to our partners at Vixin 

Vixin: real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy: vixin.com.au 

Use the code LOVESTORIES for 30% off your order at Vixin now! 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes. 

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Credits: 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Leah Porges 

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories:

Before Big Little Lies became a global phenomenon, Liane and Jaclyn Moriarty were just two sisters filling exercise books for pocket money, dreaming of becoming writers. 

In this episode, Liane and Jaclyn sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the family that shaped them: a mother who fostered more than 50 babies, a father who paid them to write, and the safety of growing up as two of six kids who loved books more than television. 

They open up about the year Jaclyn was published first, the private rage Liane admits she felt, and what it took for her to finally sit down and write her own first novel. 

Plus, they reflect on the whirlwind of Big Little Lies becoming a Hollywood sensation, the sequel Big Little Truths, writing a role for Meryl Streep, and Jaclyn's newest release, Time Travel for Beginners. 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• Growing up as two of six kids, and their mum who fostered more than 50 babies 
• Their dad’s pocket-money scheme, and the story that started it all 
• The rage Liane felt when Jaclyn was published first, and who it was really aimed at 
• Reading Jaclyn’s first manuscript, and the years it took to write her own 
• The moment Big Little Lies became a Hollywood sensation 
• Writing a role for Meryl Streep, and the text that made it real 
• What they'd write for each other, if they could 

Check out Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty here. 

Find Time Travel for Beginners by Jaclyn Moriarty here.

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at www.womensweekly.com.au  

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media, please tag us @womensweeklymag and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽 

Our special thanks to our partners at Vixin 

Vixin: real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy: vixin.com.au 

Use the code LOVESTORIES for 30% off your order at Vixin now! 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes. 

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Credits: 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace 

Production by Leah Porges 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You've been waiting a long time for more episodes from us! So we want to give you a little treat - we're thrilled to introduce to you a heartfelt new podcast from the Australian Women's Weekly called Love Stories. Hosted by deputy editor Tiffany Dunk, Love Stories is a celebration of L-O-V-E in all its glorious forms. So try out this episode and swing on over to find The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories and hit follow, + or subscribe wherever you like to watch or listen! Here we are on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and of course in video on YouTube.  Enjoy!

Miranda Tapsell has become one of Australia's most celebrated actors and storytellers, but behind every chapter of her remarkable career is the woman who taught her what love, family, and community truly mean: her mum, Barbara. 

In this two-part episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, proud Larrakia and Tiwi woman Miranda joins host Tiffany Dunk alongside Barbara for a heartfelt conversation about the unbreakable bond between mother and daughter, the lessons that have shaped their family across generations, and the love that has carried them through life's biggest changes. 

Together they reflect on Barbara's childhood as the eldest of eight children, meeting and falling in love with Miranda's father, Tony, raising a family in Kakadu in the Northern Territory, and Barbara's years supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Miranda shares how her mum's unwavering belief in her gave her the confidence to pursue acting, the extraordinary sacrifice Barbara made to help her through drama school, and the values she's now passing on to her own children. 

They also open up about the realities of navigating the world as Aboriginal women, the work ethic and resilience passed down through generations, and why Barbara always taught Miranda that family doesn't stop at your front door. 

Part 2 is available now, where Miranda and Barbara share the story of meeting James, the family "tests" every new member must pass, the joy of raising the next generation together, and why love, laughter, and culture remain at the heart of their family. 

Moments you'll hear:

• Why Barbara has become a "mythical" figure in Miranda's life stories 
• Barara growing up as the eldest of eight children and learning responsibility early 
• The workplace romance that led to Barbara and Tony's 50-year marriage 
• Why Barbara waited until her 30s to become a mum 
• The family philosophy that "family doesn't stop at your front door" 
• Life growing up in Kakadu National Park and the village that raised Miranda 
• Barbara's extraordinary career supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and Miranda reflects on having her mum at school every day 
• The special role Miranda's grandparents played in her childhood 
• Miranda's very first performances and the early signs she was destined for the stage 
• The difficult transition from the Northern Territory to Sydney and studying at drama school, and the incredible sacrifice Barbara made to help Miranda finish NIDA 
• The life lessons Barbara taught Miranda about resilience, presentation, and work ethic as an Aboriginal woman 
• The family history behind those lessons and the policies that shaped generations 
• Miranda sees the next generation's performer beginning to emerge in her own daughter 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

Before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch 

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at www.womensweekly.com.au/love-stories-podcast/ 

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at [email protected] 

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories 

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽 

Our special thanks to our partners at Vixin 

Vixin real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy: vixin.com.au 

Use the code LOVESTORIES for 30% off your order at Vixin now! 

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes. 

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice 

Credits: 

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace 

Production by Leah Porges and Helen Smith 

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team 

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For our last show we’re hearing from people reflect on what they wish then knew then. With the benefit of hindsight, what advice they wish they could go back and tell themselves when they were going through their toughest days. Plus we are also going to be chatting to social media sensation and author of the book “Happily Ever Fuck That”– our mate Constance Hall about co parenting with new partners and some of her best bits of advice to thriving after separation.

Produced by Cass Thorburn (@cassthorburn) & Annaliese Dent (@annaliesedent)

With thanks to Constance Hall

The Executive Producer & Head of Audio at Pacific is Elissa Ratliff

The original music used in Divorce Story is composed by Jackson Stefanovic

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In many families, it's common for one person in a relationship to take a step back in their career to help with the mental load and logistics of running the home and children. But, when a relationship ends, the person who has been the primary carer will often find themselves needing to increase their earning capacity and in some cases, they might have been out of the workforce for years. On the show today, we talk about relaunching your career. What options are available? What do you say on your CV? Where do you even begin?

Produced by Cass Thorburn (@cassthorburn) & Annaliese Dent (@annaliesedent)

With thanks to Gillian Fox and Nama Winston

The Executive Producer & Head of Audio at Pacific is Elissa Ratliff

The original music used in Divorce Story is composed by Jackson Stefanovic

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.