Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About the Stella Podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Sarah Lamarquin, your host and Stella's editor in chief.
Speaker 1: Every week I sit down with some of the biggest
Speaker 1: names in the country because when Australia's celebrities are ready
Speaker 1: to talk, they come to something to talk about.
Speaker 2: And my guest today, well, she has something very big
Speaker 2: to talk about.
Speaker 1: Late last year, Olympia Vlance opened up about the difficulty
Speaker 1: she and her husband, former AFL player Thomas Bell Chambers,
Speaker 1: encountered while trying to start a family after a rollercoaster
Speaker 1: of four years which saw her experience multiple pregnancy losses
Speaker 1: and undergo IVF, Olympia decided to speak out because she
Speaker 1: wanted anyone else going through the same thing to feel
Speaker 1: less alone. She was also getting to a point where
Speaker 1: she felt it might be time to close.
Speaker 2: The door on her fertility journey.
Speaker 1: And then earlier this year, Olympia took a pregnancy test.
Speaker 3: Eight weeks went by, and then nine weeks went by,
Speaker 3: ten weeks went by, thirteen weeks scan went by and yeah.
Speaker 4: I'm pregnant.
Speaker 1: Joining me on today's episode is Something to Talk About.
Speaker 1: To reveal her long awaited baby news. Olympia admits she
Speaker 1: has mixed feelings about going public, knowing firsthand how bittersweet
Speaker 1: such announcements can be.
Speaker 3: I haven't posted a photo on Instagram for a couple
Speaker 3: of months because I obviously look pregnant, and I've got
Speaker 3: this sick feeling in my stomach about announcing, because of
Speaker 3: what that feeling, what that will do to other people.
Speaker 4: Olympia and I.
Speaker 1: Get into all the details, including a gender reveal and
Speaker 1: a few hints on the baby name. We also chat
Speaker 1: about Logi's red carpet fomo, why so many of our
Speaker 1: most famous actors really do love their neighbors, and whether
Speaker 1: she has any plans to follow her sister Holly's lead
Speaker 1: by speaking out about politics. Before we begin, a warning,
Speaker 1: this conversation touches upon pregnancy loss. If you or someone
Speaker 1: you know is struggling, then you can find links in
Speaker 1: our show notes for support. Olympia, Welcome to the Stellar
Speaker 1: podcast and something to talk about.
Speaker 3: Thank you, it's so nice to be here. Haven't done
Speaker 3: a podcast for a while.
Speaker 1: Well, we're very nice to people, so hopefully this will
Speaker 1: be a good experience for you and get you back
Speaker 1: into podcasting more regularly. Olympia You are a regular fixture
Speaker 1: at Stella. You have been in the title many many
Speaker 1: times over the years. Your last appearance was in October
Speaker 1: of last year, where you were speaking about you had
Speaker 1: just recently opened up on Instagram and gone public with
Speaker 1: your experience as you and your husband, Tom Bellchambers were
Speaker 1: trying to start a family. You spoke about how you
Speaker 1: had gone through multiple pregnancy losses, you had embarked upon
Speaker 1: IVF that was ten months ago, and wanted to bring
Speaker 1: you back over to you what's been happening since then?
Speaker 4: Ten months ago?
Speaker 3: It's been quite the journey, hasn't it. Yeah, I guess
Speaker 3: the last time I spoke to you guys, I was
Speaker 3: just I think I was just starting IVF, and to
Speaker 3: be honest with you, it was it.
Speaker 4: Was quite an easy process. Like I had.
Speaker 3: I was going into it very very very nervous. I
Speaker 3: was scared about what, you know, the hormones would do
Speaker 3: to me body changes. I'm not good with hormones at
Speaker 3: the best of times.
Speaker 4: Like I've taken.
Speaker 3: Drugs to help ovulation and things like that, and it
Speaker 3: just mentally it didn't sit well with me. So that
Speaker 3: was a part that I was incredibly scared about. But
Speaker 3: when we kind of got into it, I think think
Speaker 3: it was because we were taking a step forward to
Speaker 3: the direction that we wanted to be, we wanted to
Speaker 3: have a child.
Speaker 4: It just it was quite easy.
Speaker 3: And I did get pregnant the first couple of times
Speaker 3: that I did IVF, but I couldn't hold them, and
Speaker 3: that was I probably haven't spoken about that since. So, yeah,
Speaker 3: we did go into IVF and it was an easy process,
Speaker 3: but it was also a very sad process as well,
Speaker 3: and I was always planning to continue to document it,
Speaker 3: but when you're in those trenches, you're just sat, you know.
Speaker 3: And I would have liked to be able to talk
Speaker 3: more openly about it because I know that people were
Speaker 3: kind of waiting for an update, but I just found
Speaker 3: I just didn't want to talk to anyone. Literally barely
Speaker 3: picked up the phone to my friends, my mom, anyone.
Speaker 4: And then.
Speaker 3: We realized that I have a funny shaped uterus that
Speaker 3: I think I think it's called a biicornial uterus, but
Speaker 3: was quite extreme, and the next the next stage was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: well you are getting pregnant, but you're just you're constantly miscarrying.
Speaker 3: And the next stage was to have this surgery where
Speaker 3: basically they sew your uterus up and make it look
Speaker 3: like a normal uterus to give the baby more room
Speaker 3: to grow. And that was scheduled for January of this year,
Speaker 3: and then I accidentally got pregnant a week before that surgery,
Speaker 3: and I just went into like a deep, deephole and
Speaker 3: I was like, oh my god, I'm going to I
Speaker 3: just I don't know if I can do another miscarriage.
Speaker 3: And I was almost I was also saying to the
Speaker 3: fertility doctors, I was like, should we just do like
Speaker 3: I know that I'm not I don't want to go
Speaker 3: another eight to ten weeks and then have a miscarriage
Speaker 3: that I know that I'm going to have. Should I
Speaker 3: just bought the baby and then do this do the surgery?
Speaker 3: And they were like no, no, no, you know, miracles happened,
Speaker 3: like let's just go through with it.
Speaker 4: But I miscarried that baby as well, and so I
Speaker 4: was just exhausted, exhausted.
Speaker 3: So going from like a miscarriage to like three weeks later,
Speaker 3: going and to this surgery and then the surgery didn't take.
Speaker 3: They couldn't, they weren't able to perform the surgery. And
Speaker 3: so after that, so I wake up, you know, drugged
Speaker 3: out from you know, the anesthesia. And I woke up
Speaker 3: and I and they told me that they couldn't complete it.
Speaker 3: I'm like, well, that's it, you know, that's the end
Speaker 3: of this. And over that past couple of months, I
Speaker 3: was kind of already looking at life without a baby,
Speaker 3: and all these things kind of were happening around me,
Speaker 3: Like I was seeing these terrorist children around me. I'm like, well,
Speaker 3: I don't want that anyway, you know. And I was
Speaker 3: like okay, just trying to protect myself, like okay, well,
Speaker 3: and I was saying to my husban and I was like,
Speaker 3: you know, well, will this just be enough, you know,
Speaker 3: you and I And he's like absolutely, and I'm like great,
Speaker 3: because it's enough for me too, And we were really happy.
Speaker 3: We got to a stage where okay, well this isn't working,
Speaker 3: and if later down the track we want to pick
Speaker 3: this up again. There's always options. We live in a
Speaker 3: day and age where there are options. There's surrogacy, there's
Speaker 3: you know, there's options. But I needed a bloody break.
Speaker 3: I didn't want to think about it anymore. I wanted
Speaker 3: to just stop thinking about it. I wanted to live
Speaker 3: my life. I was sick of It's been like four
Speaker 3: years of just thinking about babies.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I'm completely lost myself.
Speaker 3: And I didn't, you know, I don't know career. I
Speaker 3: didn't know what I wanted my career anymore. I wasn't
Speaker 3: driven Acazola was thinking about was this.
Speaker 4: And then.
Speaker 3: Thomas and I were being very very careful, like using
Speaker 3: protection and it was like we were just dating again,
Speaker 3: and then one slipped past the goalie and it was
Speaker 3: very very depressing. It wasn't a happy moment, you know.
Speaker 3: There was tears, and I'm like, I can't believe, you know,
Speaker 3: we were being really careful, and I was also like
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks away from getting an IUD put in,
Speaker 3: and I'm like, I just can't believe this has happened,
Speaker 3: like just out luck. And then eight weeks went by,
Speaker 3: and then nine weeks went by, ten weeks went by,
Speaker 3: thirteen weeks agan went by, and yeah, it just kept
Speaker 3: growing and growing and growing.
Speaker 4: So it's the miracle. Baby, I'm pregnant.
Speaker 1: Congratulations, My goodness, Olympia, what an absolute roller coaster you
Speaker 1: have you and Tom this past four years. This fab
Speaker 1: I news. I can only imagine the complex emotions you
Speaker 1: have gone through in the past few months. How far
Speaker 1: along are you as.
Speaker 2: You and I speaking in mid August.
Speaker 3: Twenty five weeks. Yeah, so I'm alone.
Speaker 1: I know a lot of people that have experienced pregnancy
Speaker 1: loss talk about that trepidation that you have then the
Speaker 1: whole time, And of course you have also touched upon
Speaker 1: this yourself, where there is that twelve week period, that
Speaker 1: conventional period, and you're holding your breath. Has there been
Speaker 1: a point where you've thought, Okay, I can start to
Speaker 1: allow myself to let some of the guarded walls I've
Speaker 1: built around myself to come down a little bit.
Speaker 3: Yes, I think it was at this because I've been
Speaker 3: getting more scans than usual because it's a high risk pregnancy.
Speaker 3: I think it was at sixteen weeks when we were
Speaker 3: at our skin at our scan and the baby looked
Speaker 3: like a baby now, like it had hands, and you know,
Speaker 3: it was kind of waving and you could see the face.
Speaker 3: And then probably last week, a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 3: when I'm feeling the baby kicking and Thomas is feeling kicking.
Speaker 2: How was that moment?
Speaker 3: Wild? Like I've always wondered what it felt like to
Speaker 3: have to feel something inside your stomach, like it's the
Speaker 3: one feeling I was.
Speaker 4: I wonder what that actually feels like. And it is
Speaker 4: a weird feeling.
Speaker 3: Because you can feel you can feel it just kind
Speaker 3: of swimming around in there and it just goes kick.
Speaker 3: It's like little flutters. It's a very nice feeling. But
Speaker 3: I'm told that I'm at a good point now where
Speaker 3: I'm kind of not too big everything, Like, I feel
Speaker 3: really good at the moment, and I'm told it just
Speaker 3: kind of goes downhill from here.
Speaker 1: I think it's called the golden trimest the it's sort
Speaker 1: of literally the golden period in the middle.
Speaker 2: I think every.
Speaker 1: Trimester has its high and low points, so there will
Speaker 1: be great times they have.
Speaker 2: I'm sure that's right.
Speaker 1: You are glowing as I speak to you. I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask you about telling people. So first of all,
Speaker 1: thank you, because what an absolute privilege to be sharing
Speaker 1: this news today. It's a tweet thing for journalists to say.
Speaker 1: I'm really honored that you have spoken to me about it,
Speaker 1: but I am genuinely honored and Limpia that you have
Speaker 1: trusted us and our audience with your.
Speaker 4: So you guys have been along the journey with me.
Speaker 1: I feel like we have, and that's why we really
Speaker 1: when you were ready, obviously did want to pick it
Speaker 1: up because I know part of the reason that you've
Speaker 1: been generous with your journey at times when you first
Speaker 1: did open up about it late last year on social media,
Speaker 1: was because you first found when you were encountering issues
Speaker 1: when you and Tom decided to start a family, that
Speaker 1: there were just things that you didn't know. Oh, you
Speaker 1: didn't realize a lot of women, I think would feel
Speaker 1: this same way that you did, where you said you
Speaker 1: spend so much of your young life, your twenties thirties.
Speaker 1: For people that are experiencing these issues further along than
Speaker 1: you are in your twenties, we think I've been trying,
Speaker 1: not absolutely, and then all of a sudden run into it.
Speaker 1: It's obviously very validating and helpful for other people to
Speaker 1: hear those stories. So is that something that has surprised
Speaker 1: you the way that your story has resonated with so
Speaker 1: many people as this journeys continue.
Speaker 4: Absolutely. It's the thing is it's not just me.
Speaker 3: There are so many so many people have come to
Speaker 3: me since I started talking.
Speaker 4: About fertility issues.
Speaker 3: So many people are going through the same thing, and
Speaker 3: there is still you know, a little bit of a
Speaker 3: taboo around it, but I think that we're heading in
Speaker 3: the right direction where.
Speaker 4: People are talking about it more. But yeah, you're right.
Speaker 3: You know, you spend so many years trying not to
Speaker 3: get pregnant, and you think that, you know, when we started,
Speaker 3: I was twenty eight, it's like, well, why isn't it
Speaker 3: kind of happening?
Speaker 4: And you do? You feel like.
Speaker 3: You totally feel like a failure, like your body isn't
Speaker 3: doing what it's meant to what it's meant to do.
Speaker 3: One of the big things that I wanted to really
Speaker 3: talk about around that kind of fertility is egg freezing.
Speaker 3: Like I wish I'm actually one of the lucky ones
Speaker 3: where I actually have a lot of eggs. But I've
Speaker 3: realized that the egg freezing process is also incredibly easy.
Speaker 3: So if you're you know, in your early twenties, mid twenties,
Speaker 3: go and do it. It takes two weeks out of
Speaker 3: your life and it doesn't even stop your life. You're
Speaker 3: just doing an injection every day because they're the best
Speaker 3: quality eggs that you can have when you're in that
Speaker 3: you know, that age bracket, because they dramatically decline as
Speaker 3: you know to say you can actually see the egg.
Speaker 3: You can see it change every year, and it just
Speaker 3: gets worse and worse and worse, and it just kind
Speaker 3: of lets women have this freedom where they're not thinking
Speaker 3: about their biological clock. They're like, Okay, well I've got
Speaker 3: I've got great eggy's in the bank, and when I'm ready,
Speaker 3: when I decide that I'm ready, not when I'm forced
Speaker 3: to find a partner that I don't really you know,
Speaker 3: want to be with because I need, I really want
Speaker 3: to have a baby, and you kind of stop your
Speaker 3: career because you've only got this kind of bracket of time. No,
Speaker 3: I mean, you can freeze your eggs at a really
Speaker 3: early age and have a baby whenever you want. And
Speaker 3: I think a lot more like I've got girlfriends. They're like, oh,
Speaker 3: you know, I haven't met any when I go. Have
Speaker 3: you phrased your bloody eggs yet? Because it's one less
Speaker 3: thing that you have to worry about because you know
Speaker 3: that they're there, and everyone should do it should be
Speaker 3: taught at school. Go freeze your egg as soon as
Speaker 3: you leave, because they're your best eggs.
Speaker 1: It's such a great moment in time for women to
Speaker 1: have all of these options, isn't it. We know that
Speaker 1: there's parts of the world where women's bodily autonomy is
Speaker 1: actually being restricted, but we're so fortunate here in Australia that,
Speaker 1: on the contrary what you're just talking about there, Olympia,
Speaker 1: especially for young women looking ahead, there really is. There's
Speaker 1: so much medical advances, technology, science support available, which is
Speaker 1: why it's so important, whether it's somebody talking to their
Speaker 1: sister or to their friend, or to a colleague or
Speaker 1: somebody like you in the public eye sharing this story
Speaker 1: through interviews like this or on your own social about
Speaker 1: just empowering women to know that there are actions and go.
Speaker 3: And I didn't know about those options until I was
Speaker 3: going through IVF. It wasn't until they said, you know,
Speaker 3: we've had a massive increase of young women coming to
Speaker 3: freeze their eggs, and I'm like, it's not a difficult process.
Speaker 3: It's actually a really easy process. But I just had
Speaker 3: no idea about it because it's just not talked about.
Speaker 1: It's interesting talking to you today, Olympia because just last
Speaker 1: weekend the guests here on the Stellar podcast were Andy
Speaker 1: Lee Harding, who recently engaged and we were discussing you know,
Speaker 1: some of the public expectation that they have encountered over
Speaker 1: the years about you know, when you're going to get married,
Speaker 1: when you're going to get married, carrying you know, it's
Speaker 1: well meaning sentiment, but you carried the way to sentiment.
Speaker 1: And that then led into this conversation around the etiquette
Speaker 1: and I think the ethics of asking people, asking women
Speaker 1: in particular and women in the public eyes, such as yourself,
Speaker 1: are you going to have a baby when you're trying
Speaker 1: for a family? That sort of thing. We had a
Speaker 1: really interesting conversation around and I realized, then, you know,
Speaker 1: you are my business week and we're now talking very
Speaker 1: open about this, and I'm asking all these sorts of questions.
Speaker 1: But in my mind, that's because if we have parameters
Speaker 1: and the conversation is driven by the person who is
Speaker 1: when they are ready to speak, it actually makes these
Speaker 1: conversations more powerful because I would never dare ask you
Speaker 1: about this unless I knew it was something that you
Speaker 1: actually felt quite strongly that you wanted to do.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it is a funny thing, you know.
Speaker 3: Obviously, early as soon as Thomas and I got married,
Speaker 3: it was the next question everyone asked, So when are.
Speaker 4: You having babies?
Speaker 3: And I think people are kind of now becoming aware
Speaker 3: that that's not kind of an appropriate question because you
Speaker 3: just don't know what's going on. I'm okay, like I'm
Speaker 3: happy to go. We're trying, you know, we're trying and
Speaker 3: it's not working. But other people that's not an easy
Speaker 3: question to have to answer. And also education around that
Speaker 3: is necessary as well. Like I've heard some real horror
Speaker 3: stories where girlfriends have just had miscarriages and someone's going,
Speaker 3: you know, are you you know you're looking pregnant. It's like, no,
Speaker 3: I've just you know, had a miscarriage. They just kind
Speaker 3: of questions you don't you don't ask like, you know,
Speaker 3: you don't ask someone, oh, are you pregnant and they're not.
Speaker 4: We've stopped asking.
Speaker 2: People that exactly. You never know what someone's going through.
Speaker 1: And eighty percent of the time it might be innocuous,
Speaker 1: but the times that it is and it's already so.
Speaker 4: Yeahful, Yeah, it is coming up.
Speaker 1: Olympia on wrestling with the guilt to sharing her big news,
Speaker 1: and we talk about her relationship with her big sister Holly.
Speaker 1: I know, Olympia, when we spoke to you late last year,
Speaker 1: you spoke about again, I think so many people will
Speaker 1: relate to this when you have experienced pregnancy loss or
Speaker 1: you're or in the middle of a fertility journey, and
Speaker 1: then it feels like everyone around you is either pregnant.
Speaker 1: I remember when one of my best friends had gone
Speaker 1: through pregnancy lost. She said, I went to the shops today,
Speaker 1: I'm telling every single woman there was, you know, six
Speaker 1: months pregnant. You talked about, you'll go on to social
Speaker 1: media or the magazines, everyone is pregnant. And then I
Speaker 1: just wanted to talk about that because again, I think
Speaker 1: you're aware or getting so much better about being aware
Speaker 1: of that and handling this with sensitivity, which is why
Speaker 1: I think your story is such an important one, because
Speaker 1: there's so many layers to it of you know, difficulty
Speaker 1: and complexity and some of the things you talked about
Speaker 1: at the start about thinking, well, what would my life
Speaker 1: look like if we didn't have children. We would be
Speaker 1: okay with that, but then also this really happy news
Speaker 1: that you have that you should be able to bask in.
Speaker 1: But then you're also aware that it could be unsettling
Speaker 1: for someone.
Speaker 3: All I think about now, it's like, even you know,
Speaker 3: there's a part of me that doesn't even I haven't
Speaker 3: posted a photo on Instagram for a couple of months
Speaker 3: because I obviously look pregnant, and I don't, you know,
Speaker 3: obviously didn't want to announce until I was one hundred
Speaker 3: percent sure that this baby was you know, okay. And
Speaker 3: I've got this sick feeling in my stomach about announcing
Speaker 3: because of what that feeling, what that will do to
Speaker 3: other people. But it's also I have to celebrate these
Speaker 3: little times, like there's been so many years of bad news.
Speaker 4: I've just got to celebrate this one. You know, this
Speaker 4: is good news. But I do I think I think about.
Speaker 3: I'm too much empathy.
Speaker 1: It's it's such an amazing quality empathy, and you're handling
Speaker 1: it always such sensitivity and empathy, and I for what
Speaker 1: it's worthing that is the best we can do in
Speaker 1: these situations where there is no.
Speaker 4: Ana, what can you do?
Speaker 1: And you are It's such wonderful news, and I'm genuinely
Speaker 1: so happy for you, and I know everyone listening will
Speaker 1: be and want to come back to the people in
Speaker 1: your life. Let's come back to you. You're announcing it
Speaker 1: literally as we speak, you are in the golden trimester.
Speaker 1: I love to talk a little bit about the reaction
Speaker 1: first of all, of because obviously not you know, most
Speaker 1: people don't know, but who does know. You know, you're
Speaker 1: very very close with your mom, for instance, you've told
Speaker 1: us in the past, is really your best friend?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 1: How has the reaction been from the few people that
Speaker 1: are in the in the has been.
Speaker 4: Really hard on the parents.
Speaker 3: I'm Thomas's mom my mum, and they're petrified to ask
Speaker 3: how anything's going because they feel the pain just as
Speaker 3: much as we as we do. So they also had
Speaker 3: the same feelings as us along the way. It's like
Speaker 3: no one could be happy, no one could be excited.
Speaker 3: There was never that where preglan, you know, we never
Speaker 3: got that. So they've been just as anxious as us.
Speaker 3: But you know, as the weeks go by, we say,
Speaker 3: you know, we tell them like, okay, well that scan
Speaker 3: went well, but just you know, don't get too excited,
Speaker 3: don't get too excited.
Speaker 4: Because we know that we're gonna let them. You know,
Speaker 4: we're gonna let them down just as.
Speaker 3: Much as as as we get leapt out as well.
Speaker 3: But God, now gay Thomas's mom is sending Thomas's little
Speaker 3: clothes from when he was a baby. I can't believe
Speaker 3: she's kept all of those mom has sent me. I
Speaker 3: can't even begin to tell you the list of Greek
Speaker 3: baby names she sent me. Some of them are actually
Speaker 3: written in Greek. I'm like, I don't even know what
Speaker 3: that says. It's gonna be like Zeus Spell Chambers. Oh
Speaker 3: my god, God, one hundred hundreds of names and they're
Speaker 3: all spirras.
Speaker 1: And do you know if you're having a boy or girl?
Speaker 1: And if so, are you able to share that? Obviously
Speaker 1: no problem, we're having a boy. Gratulations I mean, I
Speaker 1: did think sus much. Oh yeah, well I'm getting a
Speaker 1: bit nosy there.
Speaker 4: We're having a love boy.
Speaker 2: Oh, how wonderful. I'm a mom of two boys.
Speaker 4: They're the best.
Speaker 1: And speaking of boys that grow into men, I wanted
Speaker 1: to ask about your husband, Thomas Bell Chambers and his
Speaker 1: Obviously I'm not asking you to speak for him Olympia,
Speaker 1: but of course it's a very unique and complicated situation,
Speaker 1: and the enjoyful situation when there's wonderful news, of course
Speaker 1: for fathers to be.
Speaker 2: How's he feeling at the moment?
Speaker 4: Oh god, he is so sweet.
Speaker 3: He's a doting, doting a husband at the moment, you know,
Speaker 3: it was when Thomas and I first got together. It
Speaker 3: was only you know, the first couple of months we knew,
Speaker 3: like you know, we fell deeply, deeply in love, very
Speaker 3: very quickly. And one of the big questions came from him,
Speaker 3: you know, like do you want kids?
Speaker 4: And I'm like, damn, because.
Speaker 3: You know, he comes from quite a big family. His
Speaker 3: brothers have kids, and you know, he wants a baby
Speaker 3: very very bad, as do I. But so we both
Speaker 3: we both wanted kids very strongly from day one. But
Speaker 3: seeing him now is so sweet. He's just this big
Speaker 3: you know, obviously he's six foot eight and you can
Speaker 3: just I just at these scans, his face just turns
Speaker 3: into like a child again.
Speaker 4: It's like so sweet.
Speaker 3: It's so sweet to watch, and he's just going to
Speaker 3: be the best dad and the whole entire world because
Speaker 3: he's the best.
Speaker 4: Husband in the whole entire world.
Speaker 3: Oh I just I just imagine him with this tiny
Speaker 3: little baby in his big poor.
Speaker 4: I can't wait.
Speaker 1: Tom of course is a former Essendon player, so we've
Speaker 1: got afl former player dad. We have a well known actor. Mum,
Speaker 1: what do you think I mean? We're not going to
Speaker 1: you know, predetermine the career. Well, I'm certainly not going
Speaker 1: to as an onlook up for baby or whatever other
Speaker 1: fabulous names your mum has collated. But what do you
Speaker 1: think would you be either of you be supporting either
Speaker 1: a career in footy or enacting.
Speaker 3: I don't want him to play football only because I
Speaker 3: look at Thomas. He's thirty five and he's had fifteen surgeries.
Speaker 3: He can you know, he limps everywhere. He's got no
Speaker 3: cartlidge in his ankle. I'm like, I don't want that.
Speaker 3: Our sign can play golf and maybe tennis, but yeah,
Speaker 3: those those contact sports, Like he's just poor.
Speaker 4: Thomas's body is just cooked.
Speaker 3: And I think there are better sports to play that
Speaker 3: don't harm the body as much as AFL does.
Speaker 1: What about acting, in your experience in the industry, is
Speaker 1: that's something that you would support your son?
Speaker 2: Oiny of future chore.
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
Speaker 3: My whole side of my family is all in the arts.
Speaker 4: I mean, my.
Speaker 3: Stepdad Ross is a singer Athena. My little sister is
Speaker 3: going gangbusters with her punk band Gut Health. She's traveling,
Speaker 3: she's touring Europe at the moment. My other okay, there's
Speaker 3: eight of us. My other little brother is studying acting
Speaker 3: and arts in Brisbane at the moment, and he's just
Speaker 3: killing it. Obviously there's Holly as well, who was always
Speaker 3: in the arts me acting that world, I know, So
Speaker 3: if he wanted to go down that road, absolutely, because
Speaker 3: I can help down that road.
Speaker 1: This weekend is also the Logi Awards. Now you have
Speaker 1: been nominated for Logis in the past. You were nominated
Speaker 1: for Most Popular New Talent for your role on Neighbors
Speaker 1: when you first started in the industry, in your breakout
Speaker 1: role just under ten years ago. So you've done that
Speaker 1: thing and I'm sure we'll in future where you're you know,
Speaker 1: squeezing into address for the red carpet. Obviously, this pregnancy
Speaker 1: is being under wraps any fomo tonight, are you just
Speaker 1: like I'm just glad that I could just watch it.
Speaker 4: It actually would be.
Speaker 3: Fun to get a ball gown made for a pregnant stomach.
Speaker 3: That would have been really, really fun. And the Logis
Speaker 3: was always Oh god, I loved the Logis.
Speaker 4: I loved dressing up.
Speaker 3: I loved every year doing something outrageous and I normally
Speaker 3: did I normally we normally know whoever we were using
Speaker 3: to design our Logis dress. We always did something that
Speaker 3: was a little bit crazy and out there.
Speaker 4: That part I loved.
Speaker 3: Sitting through the whole logies was tough, but the red carp.
Speaker 4: It's always fun.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it would have been nice actually to wear
Speaker 3: a I mean, I've been, like I said before we
Speaker 3: went live here, I've been a bit of a hermit
Speaker 3: inside my house for the past couple of months. And
Speaker 3: thank god you can't see below because I'm wearing my
Speaker 3: husband's tracksuit pants because my tracksuit pants don't fit me
Speaker 3: at the moment. And this cookeye top that literally looks
Speaker 3: like a crop top. Now I haven't I haven't. I
Speaker 3: haven't gone out and bought some new clothes.
Speaker 4: It's hard. It's hard shopping for this new body type.
Speaker 1: It's amazing that you have kept it under wraps for
Speaker 1: so long.
Speaker 2: It's you know, keeping.
Speaker 1: A baby bump from prying eyes is no mean feet.
Speaker 3: Honestly, we've just recently moved house, and we've been very.
Speaker 4: We've been moving.
Speaker 3: And now that I'm in the new house, I'm kind
Speaker 3: of nesting in the new house and I don't want
Speaker 3: to leave because I love it. So it's kind of
Speaker 3: been I realized this is actually the third time I've
Speaker 3: left my house in the past month, actually left.
Speaker 4: And I'm like, oh my god. As i was driving
Speaker 4: in my car, I'm like, why do I have so
Speaker 4: much petrol? Like because I haven't driven anywhere.
Speaker 1: What do you think the next few months are going
Speaker 1: to look like for you? Maybe go out and you know,
Speaker 1: explore some maternity clothing options over the company I've been trying.
Speaker 3: I was actually gonna I'm very lucky that I've had
Speaker 3: worked with a stylist for ten years, Maggie, and she's
Speaker 3: had two boys herself. And I literally called her the
Speaker 3: other day and I'm like, I think I'm going to
Speaker 3: need your help because I went to Chadston and I went.
Speaker 4: I don't know what I'm doing here. I went into
Speaker 4: a few shops.
Speaker 3: I'm like, this is depressing because I don't know how
Speaker 3: to shop for myself anymore. It's really hard. And I've
Speaker 3: looked at the maternity stuff. It's just it's not pretty.
Speaker 1: You mentioned your older sister Holly there. She of course
Speaker 1: played Flick Scully and Neighbors, and just recently, the fabulous
Speaker 1: actor Janet Andrewata, who played her mom Lives Scully on Neighbors.
Speaker 2: Passed away.
Speaker 1: It's a massive outpouring of support, and Holly spoke about,
Speaker 1: you know, what a fabless support and mentor and friend
Speaker 1: Janet had been to her on set. I think it
Speaker 1: also really cut through the fact that there's something about neighbors,
Speaker 1: isn't there at Olympia that everyone the alumni never seemed
Speaker 1: to distance themselves from it. We've seen, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan came back, Margot, Robbie, all
Speaker 1: of the young actors that have come through over the years,
Speaker 1: including yourself, never seemed to be embarrassed by It does
Speaker 1: really seem to be a real solidarity.
Speaker 3: Even Margot always talks about neighbors, and Holly also, you know,
Speaker 3: I think it's just such a big part when everyone
Speaker 3: starts on neighbors, they're very young, and I grew up there,
Speaker 3: and all of those all of those people grew up there,
Speaker 3: you know, where some are really young, some are sixteen fifteen,
Speaker 3: you know, I was eighteen, nineteen, twenty twenty one, like
Speaker 3: my formative years were there, and the people around me
Speaker 3: were my second family, you know, Kate Kendall, beck Ol Malogolu,
Speaker 3: you know, they were literally my second moms. And there
Speaker 3: were you know, I've got a group chat with my
Speaker 3: mum and them like my mom's and you know, I
Speaker 3: literally grew up there. And the person that I am
Speaker 3: today is because of things that happened on neighbors. And
Speaker 3: you know, I would be a very different person if
Speaker 3: I if I didn't have that, and also that structure
Speaker 3: at that age that I didn't have, and the fun
Speaker 3: and the work ethic and the people.
Speaker 4: You know, I don't really have.
Speaker 3: A bad word to say about neighbors, And that's why
Speaker 3: everyone always goes back to. You know, that's where I started.
Speaker 3: It's just a it was a beautiful place to grow up.
Speaker 3: And I think everyone feels the same way.
Speaker 1: Do you see a return and for you a limp
Speaker 1: here on neighbors? I know that the EP Jason Herberson
Speaker 1: has said.
Speaker 3: He'd love to have I've gone back a million times.
Speaker 3: I've you know you I was there for four years
Speaker 3: full time, and then I think I went back for
Speaker 3: thirty five years. Then I think I've been back three
Speaker 3: times since then. I'll come back whenever for little stints.
Speaker 3: I like my little stints there. You go in, you
Speaker 3: work hard for a month or so, and then and
Speaker 3: then you leave.
Speaker 4: But I love that place so much.
Speaker 3: And yeah, it's just it was second home, like going in,
Speaker 3: going into that building through security. Nothing's changed, Everything's exactly
Speaker 3: the same. But yeah, Holly came back for the final
Speaker 3: of Neighbors and I didn't know, so I was like,
Speaker 3: people like, we'll Holy come back. I'm like, I doubt it,
Speaker 3: you know, I doubt there's you know that she's just
Speaker 3: not her thing. And then Holy came to my honeymoon
Speaker 3: because she got COVID for my wedding, Holly and the family,
Speaker 3: and while we.
Speaker 4: Were there, it was the final episode.
Speaker 3: And then I get all these articles while she's sitting
Speaker 3: in front of me.
Speaker 4: Saying, Holy Lance return to Neighbors.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, bitch, you didn't tell me.
Speaker 1: What are you talking about?
Speaker 3: You were there. I've told so many publications that there's
Speaker 3: no way you're returning to the show, Like, you didn't
Speaker 3: even tell me. But it was as a really nice
Speaker 3: touch that her and Nat in Briulia they did.
Speaker 4: They filmed at her house.
Speaker 1: Holly obviously is living in the UK now, and I
Speaker 1: mean her life looks very different. She is a mum
Speaker 1: of two children. Do you see each other a lot?
Speaker 2: Do you think there'll be an opportunity.
Speaker 1: I've got two older brothers, so I know what it's
Speaker 1: like when sometimes their nieces and nephews young adults. Almost
Speaker 1: by the time you're having children. The gap obviously is
Speaker 1: not that pronounced between Holly's children and yours. But as
Speaker 1: you mentioned, you've all got a huge family, and then
Speaker 1: obviously Thomas's family as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's hard. Holly's always lived overseas.
Speaker 3: She's always you know, since she was sixteen and she
Speaker 3: moved to La I think, and then to the UK,
Speaker 3: and you know, she's always been far. But they come
Speaker 3: back a fair bit to Australia. And when they came
Speaker 3: over to Greece when we're on our honeymoon, the girls
Speaker 3: were at like such a perfect age because you know,
Speaker 3: Holly always shows photos of us and you know we
Speaker 3: talk sometimes, but they were really young. But they're at
Speaker 3: this age where they're like, oh, that's AUNTI Olympia, and
Speaker 3: you know, we really bonded there and now when I
Speaker 3: see them again, we had that really special moment. But
Speaker 3: I would love to see them more. It's just, you know,
Speaker 3: like we were saying before, we should be in Greece.
Speaker 4: It's just hard.
Speaker 3: It's hard to get over to Europe for us, it's.
Speaker 4: Long and expensive.
Speaker 1: Obviously, Holly, she's started speaking out a fair bit about
Speaker 1: politics for you will IMPI is that anything you would
Speaker 1: feel interested in? Are there certain social issues or political
Speaker 1: issues that you think that you would start to speak
Speaker 1: out about publicly.
Speaker 3: There are things that I feel strongly about, for sure, But.
Speaker 4: I also.
Speaker 3: Don't feel that you know politics at the moment.
Speaker 4: Is it's.
Speaker 3: The politics environment is a scary environment. At the moment,
Speaker 3: no matter what your beliefs are, someone will have something
Speaker 3: to say and come at you so so hard, whether
Speaker 3: you're left or right. I just don't want that anger
Speaker 3: towards me.
Speaker 4: For whatever my beliefs are. You know, Holly and me.
Speaker 3: You know, I had a someone asked me a question
Speaker 3: a couple of months ago about Holly, and my answer
Speaker 3: to them was, you know, Holly and I have very
Speaker 3: different political views, but she's my sister and I love her.
Speaker 3: And then that became serious clickbait Olympia slams Holly, and
Speaker 3: I was like, this is why I don't want to
Speaker 3: talk about it, because.
Speaker 4: My words get twisted.
Speaker 3: And everyone has a right to say what they believe,
Speaker 3: whether you agree with it or not, but I just
Speaker 3: want to keep my peace.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's such a shame.
Speaker 1: This actually a bit of a recurring theme on this
Speaker 1: podcast is that we're in this hyperpartisan time, and I
Speaker 1: also find it very disappointing that there's this perception that
Speaker 1: if somebody may feel differently from you, or vote differently,
Speaker 1: whether it's a friend or a colleague or a loved one,
Speaker 1: that somehow that means that you couldn't possibly respect and
Speaker 1: love one another. I don't know when that notion became
Speaker 1: so common.
Speaker 3: Yes, you know, it never used to be like this,
Speaker 3: where where if you wanted to talk to someone, now
Speaker 3: there's no conversation or debate or it's just like you're wrong,
Speaker 3: there's no middle ground, and there is so much anger
Speaker 3: towards someone with a differing view, and it's just it's
Speaker 3: scary out there, and I don't really want to, you know,
Speaker 3: I don't want to. I definitely have strong feelings about
Speaker 3: lots of different things that are going on in the world, but.
Speaker 4: I don't feel the need to talk about it publicly.
Speaker 2: Absolutely very fair and very valid.
Speaker 1: You obviously have helped make a lot of women feel
Speaker 1: seen feel less alone by being so open about your journey,
Speaker 1: and I know that this latest chapter in it is
Speaker 1: just such fabulous news. My final question for you, Elympire
Speaker 1: is if someone's listening to this and they're still where
Speaker 1: you were six, seven months ago, a couple of years ago,
Speaker 1: what would your advice be to them, or what would
Speaker 1: you simply say to them?
Speaker 3: What you're feeling at this very moment is valid, and
Speaker 3: I understand your struggle, and it does get better, it
Speaker 3: does get easier, whether that's acceptance which really changed me,
Speaker 3: like we were talking before, where I was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: maybe this is not the path that my life's going.
Speaker 3: Let's try and accept a different path.
Speaker 4: But it's tough.
Speaker 3: It's a really, really tough journey. And I see you,
Speaker 3: I hear you. I wish it wasn't happening to you,
Speaker 3: but just keep going.
Speaker 4: And I hate that.
Speaker 3: You know, everything will Everything happens for a reason, and
Speaker 3: what will be.
Speaker 4: Will be, but it will be.
Speaker 1: Olympia, thank you so much for your time today, for
Speaker 1: your generosity. It's been an absolute joy and, like I
Speaker 1: said earlier, privilege to have you shared your story with us.
Speaker 1: I cannot say congratulations enough to you and to Tom
Speaker 1: and to everyone in your family who has been a
Speaker 1: long this time for you.
Speaker 2: Will.
Speaker 4: Thank you so much, so nice to get out of
Speaker 4: the house and chat. See you have a human being.
Speaker 1: Will We will see you soon rocking some Hailey Beaber outfit.
Speaker 4: I am sure that'll be next.
Speaker 2: Olympia.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me today and thank
Speaker 1: you to you our listeners. We recently won Best Interview
Speaker 1: Podcast at Radio Today's twenty twenty four Australia and New
Speaker 1: Zealand Podcast Towards, so thank you so much for your support.
Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed this episode. Make sure you're following
Speaker 1: us because we'll be back with another exclusive guest on
Speaker 1: Something to Talk About next week.