Do you A) assume everyone probably hates you? B) react impulsively to criticism? C) feel intense shame about the way your brain works? These are all things UNILAD founder Alex Partridge has felt across his life, but at 34 he was diagnosed with ADHD and his character started to make a little more sense...

In this chat with Fearne, live from the Happy Place Festival, Alex explains how his diagnosis allowed him to reframe the characteristics he had previously been troubled by, turning shame into compassion.

If you personally don’t have a neurodivergent brain, you probably work with someone, have a family member, or are in a relationship with someone who does, so Alex talks through ways you can help create an environment for them to thrive in.

Plus, there are loads of really practical coping mechanisms you can enact yourself if you’re the anxious one, or the one with ADHD.

Listen to Alex’s podcast, ADHD Chatter.

If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:

Gemma Styles

Lucinda Miller

Jordan Stephens

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Are you a Gary or an Emma? He thrives with a super social, demanding itinerary, and she’s all about lovely calm solitude. Gary Neville has had an ambitious drive instilled in him by his parents and his football career; his wife Emma is more reserved and serene, but they reckon opposites definitely attract.

Fearne had two goals for this chat, live at the Happy Place Festival: to get Gary into wellness, and to marry the subjects of football and menopause...

Emma experienced early menopause, and Gary admits to some of the errors he’s made in talking to her about her symptoms, but they also talk through the ways he’s helped her build her confidence along the way (spoiler: there were spreadsheets involved).

Do you ever wonder if you’re selfish for putting yourself first? Emma explains how she found the self-belief to start a new career later in life after slightly losing her identity to motherhood.

Meanwhile, Gary explains why his football career has made him into a solution-finder who wants to control problems in a practical way rather than dwelling on the emotional. What has he learnt about validating how his partner feels?

Plus, has your relationship with alcohol changed as you age? Gary definitely can’t drink the way he used to...

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Your brain isn’t broken; this is the reassurance influencer Gemma Styles wants you to have. Your brain is doing its best to cope with modern society – we need to be fixing our systems not blaming our brains for poor mental health.

In this chat with Fearne, Gemma – who’s an ambassador for MQ Mental Health Research – explains why understanding the science behind how her ADHD brain works helps her be kinder to herself.

Do you compare and despair whenever you scroll through social media? Gemma has over 10 million followers on Instagram and offers advice for checking in with yourself on how being online is really making you feel.

Plus, are you the type of person who leaves every social interaction convinced you’ve pissed someone off? Fearne and Gemma have some useful thoughts to make you feel less alone on that one...

Gemma’s book, Why Am I Like This, is out now.

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What is your deepest sexual desire? Where do you think it comes from? Gillian Anderson has collected a series of anonymous fantasies in her new book, Want, and she wonders that at the heart of so many fantasies is the longing to be seen for who we really are.

In this chat Fearne and Gillian explore why a lack of self-esteem might be affecting women’s experience of sex, and what a deeply personal fantasy might say about gender relations in wider society.

Gillian offers advice about how to ‘act as if...’, that is, fake it ‘til you make it if you’re lacking confidence in the bedroom. She talks about how stepping into sexy, strong characters on screen has allowed her to embrace that power in her real life.

Plus, learn how to think of fantasy as a creative and empowering act, one that allows you to literally write your own life story.

Gillian’s book, Want, is our Happy Place Book Club pick for September, and it’s out now.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for the use of Want audiobook, read by Gillian Anderson and Anonymous.

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Would you be a different version of you if you’d surrounded yourself with different people?

This is something the plot of The Husbands, the Happy Place Book Club pick for August, explores. In this chat with Fearne, live at the Happy Place Festival, author Holly Gramazio explains why she wanted to examine the idea that different relationships could significantly impact your lifestyle and personality.

She reckons there’s more than one way for you to be happy and for you to be yourself; there’s not necessarily a clear, correct choice about who you should date, what job you should have, or where you should live.

Fearne and Holly also give advice about how to start writing a novel if you feel you have one in you, including finding a friend who’s rubbish at lying to read your drafts...

Thank you to Penguin Audio for the use of The Husbands audiobook, read by Miranda Raison.

Listen to Book Club Meets: Sofie Hagen

Listen to Book Club Meets: Fearne Cotton

Listen to Book Club Meets: Jo Cheetham

Listen to Book Club Meets: Jennie Godfrey

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What you eat is having a direct effect on your mood and behaviour. Naturopath and functional medicine practitioner Lucinda Miller wants to help your brain thrive.

In this chat with Fearne, Lucinda talks about her own ADHD diagnosis and how changing her eating habits has changed her ability to cope with day-to-day life.

Learn what it means to have a neurodivergent brain, and how symptoms can be managed with diet and nutrition. A neurodivergent brain may use five times the brain area of a neurotypical brain to do just one simple task, so proper fuelling with nutritious food is essential.

Lucinda talks through the nutrients that best support emotional regulation, memory and mood, regardless of whether you’re neurodivergent or not. Plus, how the antibiotics you took years ago might still be affecting your gut health, and in turn, how your brain functions.

Lucinda’s book, Brain Brilliance, is out now.

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Can you confidently say: “I like myself”? What would it take for you to get to that place?

The Happy Place Festival Talk Stage hosted loads of speakers across the weekend at Chiswick House and Gardens, and Fearne wants to bring you in on the Festival magic!

You’ll hear parts of the talks given by Gabby Bernstein, Roxie Nafousi, Lisa Snowdon, Paul C Brunson, Will Young, and Dawn O’Porter, and learn a little bit from each of them about how to unapologetically be yourself.

During this episode, you’ll explore what limiting beliefs are holding you back, how to get clarity around who you want to be, and how to identify what values are important to you (not the ones you’re being told to value!)

Then, how to align your behaviour with your values to make tangible change for your future self, and – of course – how to put boundaries in place with other people so your values aren’t compromised...

Listen to Gabby Bernstein’s full episode

Listen to Paul C Brunson’s full episode

Listen to Will Young’s full episode

Listen to Dawn O’Porter’s full episode

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The bad times are intimately connected to the good. Author Matt Haig thinks happiness is only happiness because sadness exists.

In this chat, Fearne and Matt talk about how hindsight can be an incredibly healing perspective shifter. He’s found closure, progress, and contentment by revisiting memories that were previously traumatising.

How good are you at facing up to your traumas rather than running away? Matt explains how he stopped finding excuses and blaming external factors – people or places – when really there was internal work to do. Plus, by trying to avoid triggers, are we just making ourselves more anxious?

Fearne and Matt also chat about our ever-shifting notions of success, and why it’s useful to feel like a failure sometimes.

Matt’s novel, The Life Impossible, is out on August 29th.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains frank chat about suicidal ideation.

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We don’t get lucky, we create our own luck. Jason Donovan has achieved great success, but has worked incredibly hard to actively create his happy lifestyle.

In this chat with Fearne – live from the Happy Place Festival – Jason explains how we can choose to view moments of adversity as moments for change and reinvention.

Are you completely single-minded in your pursuit of your dreams, or do you like to have a realistic plan B? Fearne and Jason wonder where the best balance lies.

Plus, Fearne reveals the extent of her teenage obsession with Jason, and Jason reveals the secret to a long marriage...

Jason is in ‘The Rocky Horror Show’ on the West End in September 2024, and will be touring his solo music with ‘Doin’ Fine 25’ from February 2025.

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Do you think it’s uncool to be excited? Artist Yungblud wants us to marvel at the world; it’s life-affirming to be properly enthusiastic about stuff.

In this chat, Fearne and Yungblud talk about why we need to be done with being cool and distant. Instead, they share how to make sure you’re not dulling yourself down or putting filters on your real character.

Yungblud wears his heart – and his pain – on his sleeve, and explains why sharing dark thoughts can be a beautiful thing. Social media, he says, has helped us be more fearless because there will always be a tribe somewhere who will accept us.

Plus, how did Yungblud change the way he plays gigs when he realised loads of his fans are socially anxious?

You Need To Exist is published by Happy Place Books, and it’s out on August 15th.

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