WEBVTT - Megan Gale on the one question you should never ask a woman 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.080 You have come fresh from the set of Stella. We 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:06.480 made you work hard this morning. You have been on 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:09.320 set with our fabulous fashion team all morning and then 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:11.239 straining the car and over here to me in the 0:00:11.400 --> 0:00:12.680 Something to Talk About studio. 0:00:13.039 --> 0:00:13.880 It's quite all right. 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:17.560 I mean Stella has a well oiled machine of a team. 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.239 They're great, So we smashed through the shoe and yeah, 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:22.720 popped over here for a little chat. 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.360 Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About the Stella Podcast. 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:35.280 I'm Sarah Lamarquin, your host, and every week I sit 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:37.280 down with some of the biggest names in the country 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:40.560 because when Australia celebrities are ready to talk, they come 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.319 to Something to talk about. When Meek and Gayle Kick 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.680 started her modeling career in the early noughs, she never 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.240 expected she would still be at it as she neared 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.560 her fiftieth birthday. But as we reach the end. 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:55.639 Of twenty twenty four, that's exactly what. 0:00:55.640 --> 0:00:59.160 Has come to pass. On today's episode is Something to 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:02.600 Talk About. Meghan opens up about learning the hard way, 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:05.319 what happens when a woman dares to speak her mind, 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.960 and why it's not so easy to quote unquote push 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.920 her buttons anymore and why fourteen years into what she 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:17.240 dubs the longest engagement ever to her fiancee Sean Hampson, 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:21.600 she's still in no rush to get married. Megan Gail, 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.920 Welcome to the Stellar podcast. Thank you, so tell me 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.240 how it feels to be on set of a fashion shoot, 0:01:29.319 --> 0:01:32.440 because for you, at this point in your career, that 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:35.399 would be light for a lot of us, like breathing 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:38.760 or turning on your computer. It's just automatic. But of 0:01:38.840 --> 0:01:42.880 course it is quite a production. It's literally a production 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:44.600 with lights and camera and crew. 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:46.800 It is it is, and I have to say, look, 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.040 once upon a time for me, it was it was 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:53.480 another day because I did it so much, so frequently. 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.400 But then I stopped for a while to go and 0:01:56.440 --> 0:01:59.640 have my beautiful babies. The first of whiches is now ten, 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.560 and so it became less frequent and common for me, 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:08.680 And so when I do step back on set, it's familiar, 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:10.720 but I have to kind of get back into the 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:12.760 It takes me a little bit longer to get into 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:15.639 that groove again because it isn't something I do as 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:19.120 frequently as I once did, so it doesn't quite feel 0:02:19.160 --> 0:02:23.240 like breathing and brushing the teeth, but there is there 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:24.520 is a bit of a what's that saying? 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:26.080 With getting on a bi you never forget how to do. 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:30.360 I was thinking about the bike like, it's really a 0:02:30.360 --> 0:02:32.720 bit of a confidence game, isn't it, whether it's riding 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:35.440 a bike or being on set of a fashion shoe. 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:36.080 One hundred percent. 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.200 You recently returned this year as a friend of David Jones. 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:44.040 You have obviously worked with them over the years. It 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.480 was really part of what made you a household name 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:51.080 in Australia. It had huge success overseas very early on 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:53.840 in your career, particularly in Italy, and then in that 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:56.160 great Australian tradition, once. 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:56.840 Someone cheers that. 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:02.639 Everybody and so David Jones really snapped you up there. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.240 Yeah, let me ask you about. 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.720 A bit like with the first question about being on 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.160 set of a shoot. As you and I are talking, 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.520 it's end of twenty twenty four, so we know how 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:17.600 much the industry has disrupted different technology. The notion of 0:03:17.680 --> 0:03:23.080 celebrity has changed for you when you were working with 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:27.520 David Jones in that era, luckily not its and as 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:32.840 opposed to today, what's changed in terms of the runway was 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.480 always a huge part the two times a year when 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:40.120 we would do the autumn, winter, and summer runway. And 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:42.320 then of course back then you didn't really have to 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:46.160 do anything for social media. Now there's content I'm online. 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.680 How would you say some of the big differences of 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.720 being a friend of David Jones have changed in terms 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.440 of what that says about changes in the industry over 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:56.040 that time. 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:01.360 It has changed so much, I think, and trying to 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.120 kind of wrap your head around those changes and adapt 0:04:04.120 --> 0:04:07.600 to them is, you know, not tricky, but it's something 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.119 you have to be very mindful of because a lot 0:04:10.160 --> 0:04:12.880 of what Yeah, you're right, it was mainly very heavily 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:18.080 focused on catwalk and photographic and not really digital at all. 0:04:18.560 --> 0:04:20.919 You'd go, you'd do the job and you'd leave it. 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.719 Whereas now with everything being with all this content based 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.960 and digital and online and and so you have to 0:04:27.000 --> 0:04:30.640 be very well versed on how to execute that on 0:04:30.680 --> 0:04:34.040 your social media page. And it's after the shoot and 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:37.680 there's all this timing and scheduling. And I mean the 0:04:38.000 --> 0:04:41.000 younger generation that's coming through that would be like child's 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:43.680 play for them would be it's so easy. But for me, 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.200 who's not really he sort of tech savvy and digital 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:51.120 friendly person. It takes a little while, but I've gotten there. 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:54.880 But it's it's definitely it's definitely different. You know, we 0:04:54.920 --> 0:04:57.800 don't do TV commercials as we as we as much 0:04:57.800 --> 0:04:59.520 as we used to because people prefer to put their 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.800 spend into digital. But particularly as well, I think when 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.400 you're doing shoots and stuff, everything's a lot more streamlined 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:07.680 because technology has come such a long way as well, 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:09.919 so in a lot of ways it's changed for the 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:11.440 better and it's easier. 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.560 Do you have a favorite part of what you do? 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.359 We talked a little bit there about being on the runway, 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.360 and then we've talked about being on set, and then 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.960 obviously the different parts of that that are now required 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.320 in terms of video and of course opportunities where you 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:32.640 are required or you are speaking on a TV show 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.039 or something like this on the cover of Stella and 0:05:35.080 --> 0:05:38.000 sitting in a podcast studio. What parts of it are 0:05:38.040 --> 0:05:42.000 you most comfortable with and what parts would you find 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.680 are a little bit taking you out of your comfort zone. 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:47.320 I used to always love catwalk. 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.880 I loved it when I started modeling, even before I 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.320 started at David Jones, I always always loved doing shows, 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:57.080 doing fashion shows. I don't know there's just something about 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.520 the theatrical stage, makeup, you close your costume, it's just 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.240 something very dramatic about it. That I weed the music 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:08.080 that I always loved that I always loved working with 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:11.080 a whole a huge team of people. And I've always 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.960 loved TV commercials as well, always loved doing that, And 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:16.000 again I don't do much of that anymore, and I 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:20.040 think I've done a ton of them. 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:21.159 I couldn't even tell you how. 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.000 Many, but I think in doing them that aspect has 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.440 helped me with content a bit. Just with the filming 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:30.159 digital side, it's kind of lends itself well to doing content. 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:32.520 So fortunately I did a lot of TV commercials because 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.799 that helps me with this sort of evolution that's happened 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:38.520 with how content's created now. 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:40.200 And in terms of out of. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:44.719 My comfort zone, sometimes I find photo shoots uncomfortable now. 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.520 They were always an area that I would always be 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:53.560 a little bit not uncomfortable in, but certainly not as 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.279 comfortable as catwalk and TV. And I think because sometimes 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.159 on photo shoots there's a lot of moving parts and 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.960 there's a lot of very that need to align, especially 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:06.200 when you're working with light and weather, and there's a 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.840 lot of elements that need to come together and you 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.680 feel quite out of control. But on the flip side, 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:16.040 that teaches you to let go and to just kind 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.320 of trust in the process and all of that, which 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:20.680 is hard for us as humans to do. But yeah, 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:24.040 sometimes I find photo shoots a little bit tricky in terms. 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:29.680 Of being a perfectionist. Have you become less hard on yourself? 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:34.600 And this is probably just a general question about your 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:37.960 life and the way that a lot of women, especially 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:40.800 my own experience. A lot of women that I've spoken 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.720 to in my own life, friends and family, but certainly 0:07:43.760 --> 0:07:47.000 here in the podcast have talked about the notion of 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.600 as we move through life, starting to let a little 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.520 bit of the stuff go that we used to be 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:54.840 our own worst critics. 0:07:55.600 --> 0:07:57.960 Have you found that yourself? 0:07:58.400 --> 0:07:59.160 Absolutely? 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:02.240 I think as you as you progress through life and 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:08.000 you get older, you you don't get as caught up 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:10.800 and hung up, or if you start to, you don't 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:15.000 ruminate on it for as long, mostly because you're too 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:17.960 tired and you haven't got time. You can't be I 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:19.240 think that's what there's a lot of. 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:22.080 Yeah. 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:24.800 I remember the other day there was like there was 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:27.280 something on Instagram. There was a comment that someone had 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:30.200 written on a post that I'd done, and it was it. 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.199 Was just button pushing me. 0:08:32.360 --> 0:08:35.080 And look back in the day, if I'd seen, you know, 0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:38.560 a troll or or something, I would really think about it, go, 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:41.120 I'm gonna should I say something. I'm going to say something. No, 0:08:41.240 --> 0:08:42.880 maybe I better think about it. Oh, And then it 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:44.560 would just it would it would hurt and it would 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.120 sit with me. And now I just sort of look 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:46.880 at it and go. 0:08:47.800 --> 0:08:51.320 I can't even be bothered. Like I can't. I can't 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:51.880 be bothered. 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.520 And it's just it's things like that where you just 0:08:55.640 --> 0:08:58.080 there's so many especially when you've got two young kids 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.760 and your partner works and you work. You you're juggling 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:04.680 a thousand things. You don't really have time to sit 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:07.560 there and get caught up on things or judge what 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.320 you're doing too much. I think, you know, you really 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:14.600 start to simplify what you devote your time and energy to, 0:09:14.800 --> 0:09:18.120 not just your physical energy, but your mental energy. It 0:09:18.160 --> 0:09:20.400 becomes more precious and important, so you don't want to 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:22.120 part with it too often. 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.679 It's so make sense, it makes so much sense. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.200 I think it is sometimes that you've just got a 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.440 lot going on in certain stages of your life. 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:30.480 You just don't have. 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:35.880 The headspace to rent out to random people the criticism 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:40.720 of other people. I wanted to ask you how you feel, 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:43.000 because I don't think there's obviously there's no right or 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.200 wrong answer to this, and everyone's got their own take 0:09:45.280 --> 0:09:48.319 on it. I was speaking to someone a few weeks ago, 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:50.920 I think it was in the office, and she said 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.880 to me, oh, gosh, you know to be twenty three again, 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:56.640 And I said, oh god, no, I wouldn't go back 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.679 to twenty three for anything. And I was curious what 0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:03.080 you because obviously we can understand you'll will maybe look 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:04.720 back at a time in your life and think it 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:07.160 was a bit more uncomplicated, or oh my gosh, I 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.800 look so young then, or whatever, or like, yeah, didn't 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.240 like I didn't even know that, you know, knee pain 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.679 was the thing or whatever it is. But then what 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.120 we've just talked about made me think about that that 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:23.040 perspective and just having to let stuff go. Like I said, 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:25.840 there's no right or wrong here. Do you lean towards 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.400 one camp of that or not. 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:32.480 I'm a big believer in. 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:38.600 Being content to where you are because every little, every 0:10:38.600 --> 0:10:41.080 little phase of life and every little step along the 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:42.880 way has led you to where you are, and where 0:10:42.920 --> 0:10:45.040 you are is where you're meant to be. I think 0:10:45.200 --> 0:10:50.199 starting to fantasize and wonder about. Look, I'm the first 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.839 to admit, if you went back to say, let's say 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:58.360 your twenties, mid twenties, you've got so much more time 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.920 on your hands, and you haven't as many responsibilities necessarily, 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.400 and you feel fitter, you feel healthier, feel stronger, You've 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:06.040 got more. 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:07.319 Energy and vitality. 0:11:08.280 --> 0:11:11.520 But I think the reason why we think and feel that, 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:13.839 and we all have it, it beat fleetingly or it's 0:11:13.920 --> 0:11:18.640 constant yearning. I think we feel that way because we 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:22.040 get to an age where we're so much more appreciative 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:26.240 of our health, of our vitality, of free time, and 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.560 we just sit there. I remember thinking I thought I 0:11:28.679 --> 0:11:31.480 was busy. Back then, I didn't know what busy was. 0:11:32.080 --> 0:11:34.120 So in one sense, it's good because it makes us 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.800 more appreciative and grateful, because I think we'll get to 0:11:36.960 --> 0:11:38.880 if we're lucky enough, we'll get to seventy and eighty. 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:41.640 I'd love to go back to my forties. So it's 0:11:41.679 --> 0:11:45.280 a constant looking back. But I think, and that's fine, 0:11:45.280 --> 0:11:47.120 But I think what we need to do is a 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:52.120 look at the appreciation that has triggered that for all 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:53.000 of those things. 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:56.640 Another thing that I think has probably changed over the 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:58.679 course of my time in media, and I would imagine 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:00.880 for U Megan in the industry, is the fact that 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:05.120 we're starting to appreciate some of the value and those 0:12:05.200 --> 0:12:08.319 gifts that come with women once they are shock over 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:13.280 twenty five, because you at forty nine are friend of 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.880 David Jones and you are fronting campaigns and on the 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.560 cover of magazines. Again, not to put words in your mouth, 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.600 but is that anything that you and your peers would 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:28.160 have foreseen when you were starting out as an international 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:30.080 model and a supermodel. I mean, that is a word 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:32.720 that got overused for a very long time. 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:34.680 I don't have ever been used in the same sentence 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:34.960 as me. 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.240 Oh well it has, and I definitely have and I 0:12:38.280 --> 0:12:41.720 would definitely use it. I think that is the point, 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.120 I think when it is a word that actually is accurate. 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:49.360 But yeah, so you and your contemporaries, supermodels or otherwise, 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.640 would you have foreseen a day where both here in 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:54.960 Australia and internationally. 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:56.640 We are seeing obviously a lot. 0:12:56.320 --> 0:13:00.520 Of change in the industry in terms of body diversityicity, 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:05.120 we're seeing less ableism, I think on the runway, but 0:13:05.200 --> 0:13:06.800 specifically about age. 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:07.600 I mean forty nine. 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:08.920 As you say, we're going to look back one day 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:11.600 and go, God, I was a baby. But when you 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.120 were starting out, it would have thought, well, I definitely 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:18.040 won't be doing mainstream commercial, major campaigns at forty nine. 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:22.960 Definitely because when I started, if you were still modeling 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.600 after twenty five, that was considered rare. But I think, 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:31.400 on one hand, I didn't necessarily expect that I would 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:35.320 still be back working in the industry and in a 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:39.040 role like I am with Zava Jones at this point 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.840 in my life. But not because I thought, oh, no 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.760 one will hire me because I'm old. It was more 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:47.920 because I wasn't sure where I would want to be 0:13:48.040 --> 0:13:49.679 and what I would be doing. I mean I kind 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:52.360 of thought that, I mean, I wanted to get all 0:13:52.400 --> 0:13:55.400 of my work, bulk of my work done by the 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:58.480 time I hit early forties, so that I could just 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:02.679 stop be mum and have the luxury to be able 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:03.319 to do that. 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:06.480 So it was more about that. But I think for me, 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:07.880 I always kind of. 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:11.560 Had a little bit of a habit of breaking the 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:17.560 mold anyway I was. I didn't really find my success 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.680 until my early twenties mid twenties. By then most girls 0:14:20.680 --> 0:14:26.040 were finishing. I was never stick thin. I was kind 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:29.400 of like not your stock standard look as well, having 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:35.280 a bit of different ethnicities, and so for me to 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:38.960 kind of already go down that path of being non conventional, 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.760 I suppose it's a nice surprise to kind of be 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:44.680 picked up again at this at this point in my 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:47.880 life and be with David Jones. But it's kind of 0:14:48.920 --> 0:14:51.800 keeping true to what I've always done. But it's I 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.200 think it's super important now more than ever to be 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:58.680 in this position because I know women do often think like, oh, 0:14:58.800 --> 0:15:02.080 you know, models or that front brands are all young, 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.640 pretty things that I can't relate to. So to have 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:07.400 someone there that has been in the industry for a while, 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.560 has stepped away, had a family come back, it sends 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:12.360 a really good message. 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:13.240 To women, I think. 0:15:13.360 --> 0:15:17.120 So hopefully that's that is something that is getting communicated 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:18.080 on some level. 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:20.680 I think it definitely is, and I would hope that 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:24.520 the more visibility there is, then the less it becomes 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:26.000 something that you have to talk about. 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.040 It's like when you speak to the first. 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.320 Female prime Minister of Australia and you think hopefully in 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:33.600 thirty forty years it won't be such a big deal 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:34.720 and we don't have to be. 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:37.320 A token thing either. I don't have a bit the token. 0:15:37.600 --> 0:15:39.880 And that's why I think it's really careful. I want 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:41.960 people to be really careful as well, and brands and 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.680 businesses when they are looking to you know, cast the 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.480 net wide and include women, men of all ages, body 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:54.600 shape and size, ethnicity, gender, whatever it is. It can't 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.800 be token. It can't be some little thing for some 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.240 you know, clickbait. Let's get a pat on the back 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:03.640 because you know, we used a woman over sixty, aren't 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.040 we great. It's got to be less yimmicky than that. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:09.720 I don't like it when it becomes that, and I 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:11.720 wanted to be really sure that when I sort of 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.600 stepped back into this space that it was not going 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:18.040 to be you know, with that in mind or for 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.440 that purpose. It's almost like a nice little side thing 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:25.720 as well. So yeah, it's hopefully it's being received as 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:26.760 something quite positive. 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.120 Another thing I think that has from my observation at 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.440 least changed a little bit since when you were first 0:16:33.480 --> 0:16:36.720 working with David Jones is the way that we talk 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.040 about women in the public eye. And we've spoken about 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:43.160 this before with you at Stella, not here, you and 0:16:43.240 --> 0:16:46.160 me on the podcast, but just calling out some of 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:50.480 those tropes where you, working with David Jones were pitted 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:54.560 against other high profile women what we called the quote unquote. 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:59.400 Store was which and me, Megan, I know, my goodness, 0:16:59.480 --> 0:17:01.480 what a time, What a time. 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:03.200 So do you think that would happened now? 0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.280 I don't think that it would in a lot of 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:10.600 the media. I think it never fully goes away, and 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:11.879 I think it's still. 0:17:11.600 --> 0:17:12.480 There in the little loone. 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:14.639 I was going to say corners of the dark Web, 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.800 but I think there's that certain light kind of screaming, 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.600 you know, tabloid headline that really still traffics a lot 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:27.479 off policing women and pitting women against other women. But 0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:31.159 I would like to think that we're certainly living in 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:33.760 a time where we're thinking twice about that narrative. 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.680 Absolutely, And I tell you what if, And again going 0:17:37.760 --> 0:17:39.439 back to what we were saying about being younger and 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.520 feeling like if I had the voice that I have 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:43.680 now and the platform, And that's a good thing about 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.719 social media. You've got your own platform and voice I 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:50.880 don't think I would have. I wouldn't if it happened now, 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.320 and it was different times, I wouldn't have. 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:56.000 Stagsip about it. 0:17:56.240 --> 0:17:58.119 And I think I'm also I was very conscious of 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:02.480 like I'd speak up once about it, and it came 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.119 back to bite me on the butt because I was 0:18:05.200 --> 0:18:07.760 doing something for I can't remember if it was a 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:09.520 current affair or something, and it wasn't to do with 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:12.639 David Jones, and it was to do with another brand, 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.639 and the interview had finished, and someone and that I 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.879 thought the cameras were off again, just naive and green, 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:25.280 and someone had asked me something about, you know, Jen 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:29.440 and Meyra, and I said, I think it's really unfair 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:32.160 to do that to us. I think we're both achieving 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:34.360 so much in our own right. And also I had 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:36.639 I had been around for quite a while and earned 0:18:36.640 --> 0:18:40.119 my stripes and to have it all reduced down to 0:18:40.320 --> 0:18:45.200 this who's better and let's I remember seeing polls online 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:49.080 about and picking us apart, and I hated it. I 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.960 loved Jen and I respected her enough as a peer 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:54.080 to go, I love what you're doing. I don't want 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:55.680 to be picked apart next to you. It's not good 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:59.159 for anyone, but and it had been going on for 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.520 a while, and I said, you know, I've been around 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:03.359 for ten years, I've been doing this, We've been doing that, 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:05.760 and or even longer, I think it was. And I said, 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.440 and you know, why is this happening? Kind of thin 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:11.320 and then it got sort of turned into this Megan 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:13.200 s lambs Jen and then I was like. 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.560 Oh my god, because I said that was it. I 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:17.760 said it was insulting. 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.480 I said I am insulted that this, and they turned 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.879 it more into that I was insulted by her or 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.320 being compared to her, and then that really and at 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.320 that point I was like, I'm just not speaking up again. 0:19:30.920 --> 0:19:32.919 I'm not speaking up again because it's not worth it 0:19:32.960 --> 0:19:35.680 because no matter what I say, it will be taken 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.720 and twisted around to fuel that. 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:40.560 And so I just you know. 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:44.560 And luckily though, we both got cast together to work 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:46.639 together and as straight as Next Top Model, and that 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.280 was brilliant because we could finally have an opportunity to 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:53.760 come together side by side. We did a beautiful Murray 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:57.320 clayre covered together, and it was just a really nice 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.560 way to show everyone, like, see, we don't each other, 0:20:01.640 --> 0:20:05.720 We're totally fine. What we hate is people trying to 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.320 because she's divine and you would have met her over 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.640 the years. She's the most non confrontational person and every 0:20:11.640 --> 0:20:14.040 time we'd see each other, we'd be like, why is 0:20:14.080 --> 0:20:19.880 this happening? So yeah, it resolved itself, but I really 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:23.120 don't think it would happen now. 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:26.639 I think it would just be true. There would be 0:20:26.680 --> 0:20:27.159 an uproar. 0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:29.240