Love Stories – Details, episodes & analysis

Journalist and TV host Narelda Jacobs and her wife, political strategist Karina Natt, join Deputy Editor of the Australian Women's Weekly, Tiffany Dunk on the Love Stories couch to share the very modern, very tender story of how friendship across state lines became a marriage, a baby and a whole new way of living. From a chance meeting in the ABC Q+A green room, through late‑night five‑hour phone calls and a WorldPride first date, to Karina packing up her life in Adelaide for Sydney, they talk about choosing partnership when you’ve spent years insisting you don’t “need” anyone.

They open up about the quiet at home proposal that left them both in tears, why the word “wife” still matters for queer couples navigating a world that often fails to see them as a family unit, and how they landed on their daughter Sanna’s name (and the surprisingly fraught decision of which surname comes last). They also reflect on their experience with an Aboriginal midwifery program, the gaps in post‑birth hospital care and what it showed them about advocacy, privilege and the women who don’t have the same voice.

Now on extended parental leave together, Narelda and Karina share what it’s like to build a blended family with their known donor “Daddy Mitch”, why they wrote a satirical picture book about queer parenting, and how visibility can be both a responsibility and a joy. They talk candidly about shutting out online “expert” pressure, trusting that Karina is the expert on Sanna, and what they hope to teach their daughter about love, ego, independence and emotional intelligence.

Moments You'll Hear:  
How friendship between two “strong, independent women” became a long distance love story  
WorldPride, phone calls and the moment they realised they couldn’t get through the day without each other  

Moving states, supporting the Voice referendum roadshow and building a life as a team  

The at‑home proposal, why “wifey” turned into “wife”, and the power of language for queer couples  
Conceiving Sanna with their friend Mitch, choosing her name and negotiating surnames  
The importance of culturally safe, queer inclusive maternity care   

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

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 subscription  👈🏽

If you loved hearing Narelda and Katrina's story, you can follow him on Instagram and check out their new book: 

Queers Weren't Meant To Have Kids - Book

Narelda Jacobs website

Narelda's Instagram  and Karina's Instagram

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our home: 

Vixin  real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy

Narelda, Karina and Baby Sanna

ABC 

Credits: 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski -Wallace 

Production by Thomas Crnkovic  

Our wonderful Australian Women’s Weekly team  

Learn More: Womens Weekly Website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sensitive issues raised 💓

Love Notes bonus episode is part of our series of Love Stories -  short, quiet episodes from The Australian Women’s Weekly. With small reminders that love is something we practise, not just something that happens to us.

In this Love Note, we sit with Charmaine Caldwell, CEO and founder of VIXIN and Deputy Editor Tiffany Dunk as she uncovers something special she calls her “why book”: a journal stuffed with handwritten messages from customers, friends, charities and, most of all, her son. She reads a note she wrote to herself 16 years ago a letter for the days when everything feels heavy, and quitting would be easier and explains why she carefully copies it into every new book she starts

Charmaine talks about raising her son alone, walking through a decade of menopause “fog” while building a skincare brand for women who no longer recognise their own faces in the mirror, and the messages from customers that have kept her going including one woman with cancer who asked to be buried with her VIXIN products because they made her feel beautiful on her worst days.

This is a 'Love Note' episode about the love we pour into other people and the love we’re still learning to offer ourselves: packing orders with intention, sticking Maya Angelou’s “they’ll never forget how you made them feel” on the warehouse wall, and trying, every day, to be kinder in the way we speak to ourselves than the world is.

If you need a gentle reminder to keep going, or permission to start talking to yourself like someone you actually care about, this Love Note is for you. 

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

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 subscription  👈🏽

See More: 

Menopause Symptoms No One's Talking About

Naiomi Watts 'Menopause It's Not The End'

If you loved hearing about Charmaine, you can follow her on Instagram and learn more about her products : 

Learn More About Vixin

VIXIN Instagram

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our home: 

Today’s episode is brought to you by VIXIN Beauty, high performance, Australian Made skincare built for real skin and real results. No complicated routines, no watered down formulas, just powerful actives that support your skin at every stage.

Explore the range at vixin.com.au and enjoy up to 30% off bundles

Credits: 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski -Wallace 

Production by Thomas Crnkovic  

Our wonderful Australian Women’s Weekly team  

Learn More: Womens Weekly Website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What if your armpit smell, your birth control, and a dying octopus all had something to say about your love life? In this episode of Love Stories with beloved Dr Karl Kruszelnicki - Australia’s loudest shirt and sharpest science brain we pull apart the chemistry, hormones and fascinating questions behind who we want, why we stay, and when we should absolutely run alongside Deputy Editor of the Australian Women's Weekly, Tiffany Dunk. 

We start with the body: menstrual cycles, the pill, and how shifting hormones can quietly reroute your attraction, your moods, and even how “into” your partner you feel. Then we go down the rabbit hole of smell - yes, your armpit funk and whether your odour is secretly swiping right on your behalf, nudging you toward someone whose immune system is a good match, or away from someone who suddenly just smells…not quite right for you. 

From there, it gets even more real. We ask if your “butterflies” are actually your gut‑brain axis hitting the panic button, and how your fight or flight reflex can make you do objectively unhinged things in the name of “love”. Dr Karl advises "never have sex with someone who has more problems than you" : a thesis, a warning, and a t‑shirt.

Moments you'll hear: 
We talk lust versus love the hot infatuation you feel in the early “honeymoon” haze versus the slower chemistry of long term attachment and how to tell whether you’re addicted to the drama, or actually building something with a new partner.

What happens after you come out of honeymoon mode and realise you’re in a real relationship with a real human who leaves dishes in the sink? How do you keep going when the dopamine drops.

Along the way, Dr Karl brings one of the wildest animal stories you’ll ever hear: the octopus mother who quite literally self‑destructs after laying her eggs. Then we ask: what can human parents learn from this about burnout, personal 'tradeoffs', and the quiet ways our love for our kids evolves over time?

Because this is 2026, we can’t not go there: AI and modern love. People are not just flirting with chatbots anymore; they are forming real feeling relationships and emotional affairs with coding. We pull apart the psychology and neuroscience of why humans can bond so intensely with an always available, never arguing, perfectly attentive AI – and the big uncomfortable question: are we actually falling in love with AI, or with a mirror of ourselves?

All of it is filtered through Dr Karl’s signature true style as Australia's Favourite Science Dad - rigorous, effervescent scientific communication and our favourite thing on Love Stories: messy modern mysterious love.

In this episode, we ask:
Is your armpit smell helping you fall in love  or warning you off?
Can stopping the pill really change whether you fancy your partner?  
Why do you get butterflies in your stomach, and when should you ignore them?
How does fight‑or‑flight make us do wild, sometimes self‑destructive things in relationships?  
Are you in love or in lust, and how do you tell the difference when you’re in deep?  
What actually keeps a relationship going after the honeymoon phase evaporates?
What can an octopus’s hormone‑fuelled death spiral teach us about heartbreak and parental burnout?

Can a mother not be genetically related to her child, and what does that do to our idea of “real” family?
Can you really mend a broken heart, or do you just grow around it
How does your love for your kids change as they grow and can science help you be kinder?
Are we actually falling in love with AI, and what does that say about us?


If you’ve ever stayed with someone because the sex was great but everything else was chaos, wondered why your partner suddenly smells “off” when you come off the pill, or found yourself crying over a chatbot at 1am, this episode is for you. You’ll walk away with a new way to see love – as chemistry and choice, hormones and history....all stories you will absolutely tell at your next coffe catch up. 

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

If you share your love story on social media please tag us – we’re @womensweeklymag – and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories.https://drkarl.com/

Subscribe to The Australian Women’s Weekly at subscription  👈🏽

If you loved hearing Dr Karl, you can follow him on Instagram and listen to his podcast: 

A Shirtload of Science: AI Episode

A Periodic Tale Book 

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our home: 

Vixin  real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy

Dr Karl 

ABC 

Credits: 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski -Wallace 

Production by Thomas Crnkovic  

Our wonderful Australian Women’s Weekly team  

Learn More: Womens Weekly Website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sensitive issues raised. 💓

Before she was the first winner of MasterChef Australia, Julie Goodwin was a 19‑year‑old girl on Pennant Hills Road, in a car with a quiet boy who loved rock music. The Angels came on, “I Just Want to Be With You” started to play, and somewhere between the traffic lights and the chorus, Mick casually said, “This’d be my song for you.” For Julie, that was it. Her heart locked on. “This is my person.

In this episode of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories with Deputy Editor Tiffany Dunk , we meet Julie and Mick not as TV talent and “the husband”, but as two teenagers who grew up together through youth‑group blanket drives, three babies under three, sickeningly tight finances and one life altering car accident that broke both of Mick’s legs and quietly cemented Julie’s love. 

Then life does what it does. There’s the global juggernaut of MasterChef and the strange disorientation of fame strangers kissing Julie in the supermarket, overseas trips, new opportunities and the pressure of becoming a “public person” overnight. There’s the reality of raising three boys while money was so tight that beer and pizza with friends feels like unthinkable luxury, and the dawning recognition that “the best cuisine comes from poverty” because you learn to make magic out of whatever is in the pantry.

And then there is the crash you didn’t see on TV: the years of unrelenting standards, perfectionism and deepening mental ill‑health that Julie became expert at hiding – even from the man she calls her best friend. “I think my best energy was put towards making sure he didn’t know how bad I was,” she says. “He’s the person I wanted to let down the least, which of course means he’s the person I let down the most.” Mick speaks quietly about the guilt of not seeing, the anger at himself, and the moment he realised there was something much bigger happening than being “a bit stressed”

Together, they talk about breakdown, hospitalisation, shame that “dies in daylight”, and the long, work it took of building a life back up, as a series of daily choices to stay, to love and listen and to sit in pain with someone you are devoted to. They describe their marriage as shoulder‑to‑shoulder, facing outwards: sometimes pulling in opposite directions, often resetting to remember that they still want the same point on the map. Along the way there are grandparent fart jokes, volunteer shifts in homeless kitchens, a caravan they’re restoring, and a promise to aim for 60 years together.

What makes this conversation so affecting is not just what they’ve survived, but how ordinary it all feels  a love story that moves from school‑captain youth group meetings to national fame to ICU waiting rooms and back again, without ever losing the thread of “we”. Julie says she plans to keep falling in love with every iteration of Mick that comes next. Mick says this is simply “the life we signed up for”  the rollercoaster they agreed to ride, side by side

If you’ve ever loved someone through a hard season, hidden your own unraveling from the person you trust most, or wondered how couples actually stay together when life goes sideways, this episode has something to say to you. 

Thank you for listening ❤️ 

before you leave... 

🗣️ Get in touch  

For support: Contact https://www.lifeline.org.au/ free of charge 13 11 14

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

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 subscription  👈🏽

If you loved hearing Julie, you can follow her on Instagram and read her book: 

Your Time Starts Now    available now wherever you get your books. 

Julie’s Tour dates and locations

Julie Goodwin website

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our new home: 

Vixin  real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s nothing quite like that giddy the rush of first love. But while not every first romance will last the distance, for Samantha Harris her first love became her husband… and now the father of her newly arrived baby daughter Bella. In this intimate conversation with Love Stories host Tiffany Dunk – deputy editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly – new mum Sam talks to her journey from shy small-town teen to international supermodel to the latest member of the new mum club, with the sleepless nights, self-doubt and reflection that come along with that ride.

This episode marks an exciting new chapter for The Australian Women’s Weekly as it steps beyond the page and the screen and into your ears, with stories now living across socials, the website, and this new podcast. It’s the same warm storytelling you know, now designed for your commute, your kitchen bench, and those late-night scrolls.

Moments you’ll hear:

The thrilling moment that, after months of disappointment, a pregnancy test finally “lit up like a Christmas tree” and began a whole new chapter for Samantha and her little family.

Sam relives the moment the first boy she ever dated asked her out, her thrill at received her first Valentine’s Day rose and the low-key Maccas and KFC dates that fuelled her young relationship.

Grab your tissue box as Sam reveals the heartbreaking loss that inspired her daughter’s special name.

As sleepless nights set in, Sam unflinchingly talks about her new mum uncertainty, what sustains her and what she wants others in the same situation to know.

And she talks about the importance of keeping your spark alive – an

Listen now for a sweet and relatable journey of a girl who grew up in front of our eyes learning how to raise a daughter of her own – and keep her spark along the way.

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

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 subscription  👈🏽

If you loved hearing from Sam, you can follow her on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/sam_harris

Sam has written a memoir with her mother, Myrna Davison. Role Model: Taking up pace in the fashion world is available now wherever you get your books. 

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our new home: 

Vixin  real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Love stories rarely look this cinematic in real life, but Jessica Rowe and Pete Overton make a strong case for the romcoms they both adore. In this intimate new conversation with host Tiffany Dunk Deputy Editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly, the long time couple pull back the curtain on 22 years of marriage, IVF heartbreak and joy, teenage daughters, rescue pets, and the small daily rituals that keep their love stubbornly, gloriously alive. 

This episode marks an exciting new chapter for The Australian Women’s Weekly as it steps beyond the page and the screen and into your ears, with stories now living across socials, the website, and this new podcast. It’s the same warm storytelling you know, now designed for your commute, your kitchen bench, and those late night scrolls. 

🎧Moments you’ll hear:  

From a work experience crush at Channel Nine to a Logies night almost‑miss, Jess and Pete trace the slow burn origin story that became a lifelong partnership. 

They relive the phone call that changed everything, when Jess decided to break the rules and ask him out herself  and why they now tell young women (and men) to “pick up the phone” and risk the yes. 

Their wedding was unapologetically cat coded: a Tom Jones bridal waltz to “What’s New Pussycat,” feline themed cake, and cat cupcakes for guests. 

Jess shares the raw reality of IVF  the repeated attempts, the car park phone call when “third time lucky” didn’t happen, and the Milan hotel room moment when Pete finally heard, “You’re going to be a father. 

Pete reveals the story that broke his on‑air composure the murder of Hannah Clarke and her daughters and what it taught him about letting the audience see his humanity 

Listen for a tender, funny, quietly radical love story  and a very Australian reminder that sometimes the bravest thing you can do is make the call, say the thing, pour the coffee and share an honest  conversation.  

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

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 subscription  👈🏽

If you loved hearing from Jess, follow her on Instagram or listen to The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show podcast. 

Peter presents Nine News Sydney nightly at 6pm https://www.9news.com.au/sydney 

👀 See more 

The Ying and Yang of Jessica Rowe and Peter Overtons relationship

Putting Yourself First 

Welcome to the Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories Podcast

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our new home: 

Vixin  real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy.

Credits: 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski -Wallace 

Production by Thomas Crnkovic  

Our wonderful Australian Women’s Weekly team  

Learn More: Womens Weekly Website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s your love language? The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories is for the chronically curious about the strongest of our emotions. Hosted by Tiffany Dunk, this podcast swaps cliché romcom endings for real, messy, magnetic connections told by unforgettable voices from The Australian Women’s Weekly universe. From lifelong mateship to unexpected soulmates to finding love both within and beyond yourself, Love Stories is intimate, surprising and quietly empowering.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Rob "Millsy" Mills saw Georgie Tunny on ABC Breakfast in 2018, he did what any reasonable person would do: he Googled her, found their two mutual friends, and slid into her DMs. 

In this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, Georgie and Rob sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the message Georgie left on read for three days, the Harry Potter spoof play that became their first date, and why 'sober dating' (coffee and a walk around the Botanical Gardens) might be the secret to a strong relationship. 

They open up about the realities of two demanding careers pulling them in different directions, the conversation with Georgie's mentor Virginia Trioli that helped her choose love over a job offer in Brisbane, and the unexpected gift of slowing down together while filming The Amazing Race Australia, which they won by just 43 seconds. 

Georgie also talks about her debut novel Over to You, set in the high-stakes world of morning television. Rob also reflects on the lessons he's learned working on his own projects exploring men's mental health – including a simple piece of advice from an ex-military sniper that he's never forgotten. And yes, they finally answer the wedding question: four and a half years into their engagement, is a date on the cards? 

Moments you’ll hear: 

• How Rob spotted Georgie on ABC Breakfast, googled her, and slid into her DMs - and why she left him on read for three days. 

• The Harry Potter spoof that became their first date, and the friend who convinced Georgie to go. 

• Why 'sober dating' – coffee and a walk, no alcohol required – helped them have the big conversations early. 

• The career-defining moment Georgie almost let slip past her, and the advice from mentor Virginia Trioli that changed her mind. 

• How they navigate long distances, competing careers and learning to communicate when it's hard. 

• Winning The Amazing Race Australia by 43 seconds – and the meltdown in Taiwan that nearly ended their run. 

• Georgie on her debut novel Over to You and the morning TV moment that inspired it. 

• Rob on the advice from an ex-military sniper that he still carries into his relationship. 

• What their future looks like, including the wedding that’s been almost five years in the making. 

Over To You by Georgie Tunny is available now.

Waitress: The Musical opens in Sydney in August. Find out more at waitressthemusical.com.au  

Learn more about Rob and Georgie here: https://www.womensweekly.com.au/news/rob-mills-partner/ 

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au 

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! 

Credits:

Host: Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace 

Production by Charlie Potter

Supervising Producer: 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.

When Nas Campanella was sent to Bega to take over Tom Oriti's job, neither of them expected the handover to become the beginning of a life together. 

In this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, Nas and Tom sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the early days of their relationship, from nightly drives home and Italian family dinners to the very practical first gift that somehow said everything: a corkscrew. 

They also open up about building a family together, the assumptions people still make about Nas as a blind mother, and why being visible as a family matters. Nas speaks with clarity about internalised ableism, disability and parenting, while Tom reflects on the casual comments and stares, they still encounter in public. 

But this is also a joyful family story. Nas and Tom share the rituals, boundaries and humour that keep their home grounded: less screen time, more music, audiobooks, story time, silliness, emotional language and the kind of love that is said out loud, every day. 

More in this Exclusive story from The Australian Women's Weekly: ABC journalist Nas Campanella introduces baby Lachlan and opens up about coping with other people’s prejudices

Moments you'll hear 

• How a job handover in Bega became the start of a 14-year relationship. 

• The hilarious first gift Tom bought Nas when he realised she might be the one. 

• Why Nas once wondered whether anyone would want to have children with her, and how Tom responded. 

• The everyday ableism Nas and Tom still encounter when people assume Tom speaks for her. 

• Why Nas insists their family is seen out in the world, even during ordinary four-year-old chaos. 

• How Lachie is learning disability awareness, empathy and emotional honesty at home and at daycare. 

• The boundaries Nas and Tom use to protect their relationship, family time and mental load while working in news. 

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au 

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 subscription 👈🏽 

Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our home 

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

Credits 

Host Tiffany Dunk 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace 

Production by Charlie Potter  

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.

Who loves you for the longest? Not in the dramatic, fireworks way but in the quiet “did you book your scan?” way. In this episode, we sit with Miss Universe Australia Lexie Brandt and her mum, Penny, in the kind of conversation that usually happens in hospital corridors or parked cars outside imaging clinics

Lexie was 11 when Penny was diagnosed with high grade breast cancer on the same day Lexie started Year 6 and became a school captain. It’s the age when you’re meant to be stress crying about friendships and braces, not mammograms and mortality. Overnight, the roles between mother and daughter shifted: Penny became “the patient,” but she was still quietly choreographing everyone else’s feelings, telling Lexie, “This is sad, but we’re getting it fixed,” and turning terror into a family action plan.

Tiffany Dunk Deputy Editor of The Australian Women's Weekly asks Penny and Lexie to take us through the journey, the GP visit Penny almost said no to, the waiting room that slowly emptied until there were only two women left, the phone call where Lexie half remembers 'something different was happening" and remembers asking for an ice block because kids still want snacks even when the adults are falling apart. They talk about how you tell an 11 year old you have cancer without breaking her, how you parent when you’re the one who can’t get out of bed, and what it means for a daughter to grow up with the C‑word as a constant, invisible third in the room.

Moments You'll Hear: 

How a routine 41st‑birthday check up one Penny initially tried to decline caught her breast cancer early and probably saved her life.

Lexie’s memory of “the day Mum told me,” and how Penny’s language of action over despair became the moral she now lives by.

The messy logistics of illness:  families, step siblings, proud partners who relish accepting a lasagne drop off, and the invisible admin women shoulder while they’re meant to be “resting.”

What helped most: bringing “home” into hospital rooms with photos and soft pyjamas, letting friends drive the school run, and allowing themselves to accept help instead of performing strength

The way cancer rearranged their bond but didn’t define it Lexie still sending outfit pics for approval, Penny still being the person everyone else orbits, and both of them now using their story to push other women towards early checks and being part of the strong community and event The  Mother’s Day Classic.

If you’ve ever been the child trying to stay brave for a sick parent, or the parent editing your own fear so your kid can sleep, this one will feel uncomfortably, tenderly familiar

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 awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

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 subscription  👈🏽

If you loved hearing Lexie and Penny's story see more 

Support and be apart of the Mothers Day Classic 

Lexie Brantt Miss Universe

Learn about the Mothers Day Classic 

🙏 Our special thanks for making 'Love Stories' our home: 

Vixin  real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy

Lexie and Penny and The Mothers Day Classic 

Credits: 

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski -Wallace 

Production by Thomas Crnkovic  

Our wonderful Australian Women’s Weekly team  

Learn More: Womens Weekly Website 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.