What if the most dangerous moment in an abusive relationship isn't staying, it's trying to leave?  

As Australia continues to grapple with the national crisis of domestic violence and violence against women, this week on You're Gonna Want To Hear This, Marie Claire Australia Editor Georgie McCourt speaks with Nicole Yade, CEO of the Women and Girls Emergency Centre, whose own experience surviving family violence and coercive control has shaped decades of frontline advocacy for women and children escaping abuse. 

Before Nicole dedicated her life to helping others find safety, she was a child growing up in a home ruled by fear. As an adult, despite promising herself she'd never repeat the cycle, she found herself in an abusive relationship of her own. At 24, she fled with her five-month-old baby, leaving behind violence and stepping into homelessness because staying was no longer safe. 

In this deeply personal conversation, Nicole shares why leaving an abusive relationship is far more complicated than people often believe. She unpacks domestic violence nd the invisible barriers that keep women trapped, while drawing on decades of experience supporting victim-survivors on the frontline. 

This is a conversation about survival, resilience and rebuilding a life after trauma. Nicole also explains why domestic violence services are at breaking point and what needs to change to better protect women and children.  

If you or anyone else you know is experiencing domestic, family or sexual violence, support is available. You can call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 

JOIN THE WALK TO END VIOLENCE. Walk for WAGEC details here, Centennial Park Sydney, Sunday 13th September 2026.  

This episode covers:

• Growing up in a home shaped by domestic violence 
• Why leaving an abusive relationship is far more complex than people realise
• Coercive control and the invisible tactics that keep women trapped
• Breaking the cycle of family violence across generations
• Escaping abuse as a 24-year-old with a five-month-old baby and experiencing homelessness
• The realities of rebuilding life after domestic violence
• How children are impacted by living with family violence
• The critical work of the Women and Girls Emergency Centre (WAGEC)
• Why frontline domestic violence services remain overwhelmed
• What recovery and healing really look like after trauma
• Why domestic violence can happen to anyone
• The role men can play in preventing violence against women
• Challenging the question, "Why doesn't she just leave?"
• A message of hope for victim-survivors rebuilding their lives 

 

Stay up to date with Marie Claire Australia on Instagram  

🎧 Listen to You're Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  

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Credits:   

Host Georgie McCourt   

Edited by Helen Smith 

Head of Vodcasting Rachel Fountain 

With thanks to our amazing team at Marie Claire  

You're Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Continuing from part one, Marie Claire editor Georgie McCourt talks to designer Bianca Spender about how she protects her creative energy while running an 18-year-old Australian luxury label: splitting her days into “creative time” and “business time,” and why her most productive hours are between 5pm and 2am, once the emails stop. 

Bianca describes the Bianca Spender aesthetic in her own words: clothes built around freedom and movement, designed to make women feel completely themselves, or better yet, want to dance. She also shares why she kept two skin cancer diagnoses private for years, and why launching her first swimwear collection and sun care campaign felt like the right moment to speak about it publicly, including how two separate conversations with friends led her to catch both cancers early. 

In the second half of this episode, Bianca reflects on some of the most defining moments of her life: the sudden and very public loss of her mother, and the loss of her father eighteen months later. She talks about the advice on grief that has stayed with her since: “it never leaves, it just visits less frequently,” and how grief reshaped her sense of courage and self-forgiveness. She closes with how she protects her time through boundaries with technology, her “swimming epiphanies,” and a final message for anyone listening: trust yourself. 

This episode covers: 

• Protecting her creative energy by separating “creative days” from “business days” 

• Why her most creative hours are 5pm to 2am, once the world switches off 

• The Bianca Spender aesthetic: designing clothes meant to free the body and “make you dance” 

• Going public with two skin cancer diagnoses after years of privacy 

• Launching her first swimwear collection and sun care campaign 

• Navigating the sudden, very public loss of her mother 

• Living with grief as an ongoing companion: “it never leaves, it just visits less frequently” 

• Finding courage and self-forgiveness in the wake of loss 

• Protecting her time with boundaries around technology 

• Her “swimming epiphanies” and other ways she switches off 

• A closing message to trust yourself 

Stay up to date with Marie Claire Australia on Instagram  

🎧 Listen to You're Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  

👀 Watch and subscribe to You're Gonna Want to Hear This on YouTube 📺 for full episodes and clips.  

Credits:   

Host Georgie McCourt   

Edited by Helen Smith 

Head of Vodcasting Rachel Fountain 

With thanks to our amazing team at Marie Claire  

You're Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What does it take to earn your place in one of Australia's most famous fashion families? 

This is part one of a two-part conversation. Marie Claire editor Georgie McCourt sits down with designer Bianca Spender to talk about growing up as the daughter of fashion icon Carla Zampatti. Bianca takes us back to her childhood: sharing a bedroom with her sister, now-federal MP Allegra Spender, the strip of masking tape that kept the peace between them, and discovering, decades later, that dyslexia ran through three generations of her family. 

She reflects on the lessons learned at the “School of Mum”: working in the family business from age nine, learning to say yes to everything, and what she only came to understand about her mother's leadership after becoming a parent and business owner herself. Bianca is candid about mum guilt, treating the business as her “first child,” and the four years she spent working in Paris, deliberately choosing a place where nobody knew her mother's name, so she could prove her own worth. 

She also opens up about the strict terms under which she finally joined the family label: one season, three months, twenty pieces, and an agreement that she would leave if the collection failed to sell. It's the story of how “the market decides” became the clearest and kindest way for Bianca to earn her own place, separate from her mother's approval, and how that same conviction led her to launch her namesake label. 

Part two continues the conversation with Bianca's creative process, her aesthetic, two skin cancer diagnoses, the loss of her mother, and what she's learned about living with grief - it's live right now in your podcast app!

This episode covers: 

• Sharing a room with her sister, now-federal MP Allegra Spender, and the masking tape down the middle 

• Discovering dyslexia ran through three generations of her family 

• Working in the family business from age nine instead of watching TV 

• What she only understood about her mother after becoming a parent herself 

• Wrestling with mum guilt, and treating the business as her “first child” 

• Moving to Paris for four years to prove her worth entirely outside her mother's name 

• Earning her place in the family label through a strict “market decides” trial 

• The moment her own namesake label found its own space 

• Finding the confidence to trust her own aesthetic, even when it meant disagreeing with her mother 

 

Stay up to date with Marie Claire Australia on Instagram  

🎧 Listen to You're Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  

👀 Watch and subscribe to You're Gonna Want to Hear This on YouTube 📺 for full episodes and clips.  

Credits:   

Host Georgie McCourt   

Edited by Helen Smith 

Head of Vodcasting Rachel Fountain 

With thanks to our amazing team at Marie Claire  

You're Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens after the worst day of your life? 

This week on You're Gonna Want To Hear This, Marie Claire Australia editor Georgie McCourt speaks with bestselling Australian author Hannah Richell, whose powerful new memoir, An Ocean and a Day, revisits the sudden death of her husband, Matt Richell, and the journey that followed. After years of writing acclaimed novels, Hannah is telling her own story for the first time. 

In 2014, Matt drowned in a surfing accident at Sydney's Tamarama Beach, leaving Hannah widowed with two young children. For years, she focused on raising her family, continuing her writing career, and rebuilding a life that had been shattered. But privately, she was also documenting the reality of grief as she lived it. 

Now, twelve years later, those pages have become An Ocean and a Day. In this deeply personal conversation, Hannah shares why she waited so long to write this memoir, what it was like to revisit the darkest chapter of her life, and how she's learned that moving forward doesn't mean leaving grief (or love) behind. 

If you or someone you know needs immediate assistance, call 000. For confidential 24/7 crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au. Support is also available through Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or at beyondblue.org.au. 

This episode covers:

• The moment two police officers arrived at Hannah's door to tell her Matt had died in a surfing accident
• Breaking the news to her young children and the hardest day of her life
• Writing her first pages of grief just seven days after Matt's death
• Falling in love with Matt after he "stole" her job in London, in the shadow of 9/11
• The isolating, shame-tinged early days of widowhood and single parenthood
• Living with unbearable yearning and rebuilding a sense of normalcy for her kids
• Returning to Tamarama Beach to piece together what happened, and meeting the fisherman who witnessed it
• The freak accident that took Matt's life, explained in full
• What her children have taught her about grief, laughter, and resilience
• Leaving their Sydney home two years on, and her son's words while scattering Matt's ashes: "Daddy, be free"
• Navigating loneliness, dating, and desire again after loss
• Finding new love and remarrying, and blending two families
• Her reflections on acceptance, carrying grief as an honor, and the message she hopes readers take from her memoir: love stays, even after loss

Stay up to date with Marie Claire Australia on Instagram  

🎧 Listen to You're Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  

👀 Watch and subscribe to You're Gonna Want to Hear This on YouTube 📺 for full episodes and clips.  

Credits:   

Host Georgie McCourt   

Edited by Helen Smith 

Head of Vodcasting Rachel Fountain 

With thanks to our amazing team at Marie Claire  

You're Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if the person who was meant to protect you was the one you needed protection from? 

This week on You're Gonna Want To Hear This, Marie Claire Australia Editor Georgie McCourt speaks with world champion runner Jess Denham, who is telling her story publicly after years of being unable to do so. 

Raised in isolation and controlled by her parents, Jess appeared to be a sporting prodigy. But behind closed doors, she was enduring unimaginable abuse. Today, both of her parents are in prison for those crimes. 

In this deeply personal conversation, Jess also speaks publicly for the first time about living with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), sharing what it's really like to live with a condition that is so often misunderstood. 

This is a story of survival, resilience and reclaiming your voice after years of being silenced. Jess also shares why she's fighting for stronger protections for survivors and helping change the way Australia responds to sexual violence. 

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains themes of childhood abuse and coercive control. If you or someone you know needs immediate assistance, call 000. For confidential 24/7 crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au. Support is also available through Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or at beyondblue.org.au. 

This episode covers:  

• Growing up as a homeschooled child prodigy under total parental control 
• Living a hidden double life as a champion runner while surviving abuse 
• Isolation as a tool of abuse and why escape felt impossible
• Finding the courage to report abuse to police
• Living with dissociative identity disorder (DID) and dismantling the stigma around it
• How trauma shapes the brain and body in survival mode
• Rebuilding trust, identity and community after a lifetime of betrayal
• Healing through art and creative expression
• The fight against victim-blaming and sensationalized media reporting
• Advocating for stronger protection of survivors' counseling records
• A message of hope for survivors: "you're not your worst chapter" 

Stay up to date with Marie Claire Australia on Instagram  

🎧 Listen to You're Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify  

👀 Watch and subscribe to You're Gonna Want to Hear This on YouTube 📺 for full episodes and clips.  

Credits:   

Host Georgie McCourt   

Edited by Helen Smith 

Head of Vodcasting Rachel Fountain 

With thanks to our amazing team at Marie Claire  

You're Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There comes a point on Tradwife TikTok when the fantasy turns dark. The soft linen, the homemade bread and the children who never cry give way to something else: subservient wives, the manosphere, and a fight over who's allowed to be angry. 

Caro Claire Burke went looking, and wrote Yesteryear, the runaway-hit novel about an American tradwife influencer who wakes up in the brutal 1850s. This week, Marie Claire deputy editor Mel Gaudron interviews Caro about the book all your friends are arguing about. 

They cover why "tradwife" was a term invented by incels to describe a woman who doesn't exist, why culture adores unlikable men but punishes unlikable women, the Anne Hathaway film adaptation with Amazon MGM (Hathaway is set to play Natalie), writing about motherhood while seven months pregnant, and Caro's rallying cry: women disagreeing isn't catty and it isn't a failure. It might be exactly where we should be heading. 

Plus, editor Georgie McCourt on the country-life fantasy that gave her two miniature donkeys. 

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke is out now. Go deeper at https://www.marieclaire.com.au. 

Stay up to date with Marie Claire Australia on Instagram 

🎧 Listen to You're Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 

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You're Gonna Want to Hear This is a Marie Claire podcast, produced by Are Media. 

Guest host: Mel Gaudron

Marie Claire Editor-in-chief: Georgie McCourt

Supervising Producer: Leah Porges

Head of Vodcasts: Rachel Fountain

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When everyone else swam for shore, Charlie Verco paddled the other way: straight towards a great white shark. On a clear, busy Saturday morning at Coogee Beach in June 2026, the 25-year-old surf lifesaver and elite board paddler was training when a woman, Leah Stewart, was attacked just ahead of him. What he did next made headlines around the world.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains detailed descriptions of a shark attack and serious injury that some listeners may find distressing.

Charlie grew up a North Bondi nipper and is now one of the country’s best ocean paddlers, the youngest ever winner of the Molokai to Oahu Paddleboard World Championships. In this conversation he walks Marie Claire Editor Georgie McCourt through the rescue minute by minute: reading the shark’s behaviour, the moment Leah was dragged under, towing her to shore one-armed when she lost consciousness, and the lifeguards and paramedics whose training saved her life on the sand.

It is a story about courage, but Charlie is uneasy with the word hero. He talks honestly about fear, adrenaline and imposter syndrome, how surf lifesaving and sport trained him to think under extreme stress, what a shark expert later told him, and why he is now urging two things: better shark safety on Australian beaches, and for people to donate blood.

In this conversation, Charlie Verco joins Marie Claire Editor Georgie McCourt to talk about the Coogee Beach shark attack, what it takes to act in a crisis, fear of the ocean, surf life saving, and why blood donation saves lives.

This episode covers:

• The Coogee Beach great white shark attack: what Charlie Verco saw on Saturday 13 June 2026
• Why he paddled towards the shark instead of swimming to safety
• What it is like to come face to face with a great white shark
• How surf lifesaving training and Ironman racing prepared him to act under extreme stress
• Towing an unconscious woman to shore one-armed on a paddleboard
• What a shark expert later told him about great white behaviour
• The beach response: tourniquets, lifeguards and the teamwork that saved a life
• Managing fear, adrenaline and the shakes after a traumatic rescue
• Going back into the ocean: how Charlie feels about the water now
• Shark safety in Australia: drones, detection and what he thinks needs to change
• On being called a hero, and the imposter syndrome that comes with it
• Why he is urging Australians to donate blood, especially O negative

 

If this conversation raises issues for you, support is available.

In Australia, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 for 24/7 crisis support. To support the cause Charlie raises in this episode, you can donate blood through Australian Red Cross Lifeblood (O negative is especially needed in emergencies).

 

Donate blood (Australian Red Cross Lifeblood): https://www.lifeblood.com.au

Support Leah Stewart (family GoFundMe): https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-leah-stewart-victim-of-shark-attack-in-coogee

 

Follow Charlie Verco on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/char1ieverco/

🎧 Listen to You’re Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/youre-gonna-want-to-hear-this/id1849312864

Listen and follow on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2Vsxq2nZIMJLnywOXfuxqZ

👀 Watch and subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@marieclaireau

 

Credits:

Host: Marie Claire Editor Georgie McCourt

Supervising Producer: Leah Porges

Head of Vodcasting: Rachel Fountain

Learn More: You’re Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains themes of childhood abuse, physical punishment, sexual trauma and coercive control. If you or someone you know needs immediate assistance, call 000. For confidential 24/7 crisis support, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or visit lifeline.org.au. Support is also available through Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636 or at beyondblue.org.au. 

What if leaving your faith meant losing everyone you'd ever loved? 

This week on You're Gonna Want To Hear This, Marie Claire Australia Editor Georgie McCourt speaks with author Bek Condello about her extraordinary journey out of one of Australia's most controlling Pentecostal churches. 

Raised inside the Geelong Revival Centre, Bek grew up believing the outside world was dangerous. Every aspect of life, from education and friendships to marriage and work was dictated by church leaders. Curiosity was discouraged, obedience was demanded, and fear shaped almost every decision. 

In this deeply personal conversation, Bek reflects on the childhood she now recognises as abusive, the lasting impact of religious trauma and the heartbreaking reality that leaving meant losing her family, community and identity. 

She also opens up about purity culture, consent, body shame, marrying to escape one form of control only to enter another, and the years it took to trust herself and build a life on her own terms. 

Today, Bek has transformed unimaginable loss into purpose. As the state of Victoria investigates high-control religious groups, she explains why sharing her story has become about much more than personal healing... it's about helping others recognise coercion, reclaim their autonomy and know they're not alone. 

This episode covers: 

• Growing up inside the Geelong Revival Centre 

• How high-control religions shape identity 

• Religious trauma and childhood abuse 

• The psychological impact of fear-based faith 

• Purity culture, consent and bodily autonomy 

• Escaping a controlling church 

• Rebuilding life after leaving a cult 

• Learning to trust yourself again 

• Why leaving is a process, not a single moment 
• Bek's advocacy for survivors of coercive religious groups

Can You Handle a Girl Like Me? by Bek Condello is available from mid-July. 

Stay up to date with Marie Claire Australia on Instagram 

🎧 Listen to You're Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify 

👀 Watch and subscribe to You're Gonna Want to Hear This on YouTube 📺 for full episodes and clips. 

Credits:  

Host Georgie McCourt  

Edited by Leah Porges 

Head of Vodcasting Rachel Fountain

With thanks to our amazing team at Marie Claire 

Learn More: 

You're Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What happens when the search for answers becomes a dangerous obsession? 

Georgie sits down with journalist and author Hannah McElhinney to discuss her book Wormhole, the true story of her cousin Lauren.

Lauren spent much of her life battling debilitating symptoms and collecting diagnoses including chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and POTS, while struggling to find meaningful answers from the healthcare system.

As her trust in traditional medicine eroded, she was drawn deeper into online communities promoting controversial and unproven treatments - including coffee enemas, bleach protocols, ozone therapy and hyperthermia treatment. 

At just 37 years old, Lauren travelled alone to Malaysia for an alternative treatment she hoped would finally make her well. She never came home. 

Hannah shares the heartbreaking story behind Lauren’s death, and the broader questions her story raises about health anxiety and the booming wellness industry. 

The conversation also explores Hannah’s own experiences with IBS, OCD and health anxiety, and how her personal journey informed her understanding of Lauren’s search for answers. 

This episode contains discussions of health conditions and unproven treatments, please see your doctor for medical advice.

This episode covers: 

• The true story behind Wormhole 

• Lauren’s decades-long battle with chronic illness 

• Why chronic illness can leave people vulnerable to misinformation 

• The rise of alternative medicine and wellness culture 

• The online communities that fuel medical distrust 

• The dangers of unregulated treatments and medical tourism 

• Chronic Lyme disease and the controversy surrounding the diagnosis 

• The intersection of health anxiety, OCD and chronic symptoms 

• Women’s experiences of being dismissed within healthcare systems 

• The fine line between hope, desperation and exploitation 

• How Hannah’s own health journey shaped her understanding of Lauren’s story 
• What Lauren’s life can teach us about trust, wellness and living fully 

Wormhole by Hannah McElhinney is available now. 

Read more on Marie Claire: The 'treatment' that went horribly wrong in Malaysia, and the wellness world behind it

Stay up to date with Marie Claire Australia on Instagram

🎧 Listen to You’re Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts orv Spotify 

👀 Watch and subscribe to You're Gonna Want to Hear This on YouTube 📺 for full episodes and clips.  

Credits:  

Host Marie Claire Editor Georgie McCourt 

Edited by Charlie Potter 

Supervising Producer Leah Porges 

Head of Vodcasting Rachel Fountain 

Learn More: You're Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever stood in a room wondering why you walked in, burst into tears over something small, or lain awake at 3am completely exhausted? You’re not going crazy, and you’re not “just busy”. It could be perimenopause.

Dr Mary Claire Haver is one of the world’s leading voices in women’s health: a board-certified OB-GYN, menopause specialist and #1 New York Times bestselling author whose books The Galveston Diet and The New Menopause sparked a global conversation about menopause, and whose appearances on The Diary of a CEO with Steven Bartlett and The Mel Robbins Podcast have reached tens of millions of women. Her new book, The New Perimenopause: An Evidence-Based Guide to Surviving the Zone of Chaos and Feeling Like Yourself Again, is the guidebook women have been desperately searching for.

This one gets personal. At 44, Georgie has been told by her own gynaecologist that she’s “just busy”, then handed an HRT script with no explanation of how to use it. Dr Haver explains why that dismissal is so common, what’s really happening inside the body during the hormonal “zone of chaos”, and why suffering through it is optional.

In this conversation, Dr Mary Claire Haver joins Marie Claire Editor Georgie McCourt to talk perimenopause symptoms, misdiagnosis, hormone therapy (HRT), brain fog, rage, weight gain, weight-loss drugs, osteoporosis, low libido, and the one message every woman needs to hear.

This episode covers:

• The perimenopause symptoms doctors dismiss: anxiety, rage, brain fog, insomnia, weight gain and low libido
• Why perimenopause can start in your mid-30s, 7 to 10 years before menopause
• How to tell the difference between depression, burnout, ADHD and hormone-driven changes
• Why so many women are misdiagnosed and prescribed antidepressants instead of hormone therapy
• Is HRT safe? The real benefits and risks of menopause hormone therapy
• Menopause and divorce: the viral “two camps” debate
• Why belly fat can double or triple in menopause, and why more cardio isn’t the answer
• Ozempic-style weight-loss drugs (GLP-1s), muscle loss and the “GPS” rule: GLP-1 + protein + strength training
• The osteoporosis statistic every woman needs to hear: 50% of women will have an osteoporotic fracture
• How vaginal oestrogen cuts recurrent UTIs (and sepsis) by 50%
• Low libido in perimenopause: the five causes of sexual dysfunction, and where testosterone fits in
• Dr Haver’s message: “Perimenopause is inevitable. Suffering is not.”

The New Perimenopause by Dr Mary Claire Haver is out now.

🎧 Listen to You’re Gonna Want to Hear This and follow us on Apple Podcasts

Listen and follow on Spotify

👀 Watch and subscribe to You’re Gonna Want to Hear This on YouTube 📺 for full episodes and clips.

Credits:

Host: Marie Claire Editor Georgie McCourt

Supervising Producer: Leah Porges

Head of Vodcasting: Rachel Fountain

Learn More: You’re Gonna Want to Hear This is a production of Marie Claire and Are Media.

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.