Speaker 1: I love a return you know, I love a return guest.
Speaker 1: So this guest is someone that we had on when
Speaker 1: Angie and I were doing the show, and I just
Speaker 1: couldn't wait to get her back. April Helene Horton is
Speaker 1: her name, but you might know her as a v Bodzilla,
Speaker 1: And if you don't know who she is, go and
Speaker 1: have a look right now. I think one of the
Speaker 1: most inspirational people that I've ever met. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that in a cliched way. Even if she didn't do
Speaker 1: what she does and who she is, she'd still just
Speaker 1: be a rock chick who just rocks your world by
Speaker 1: knowing her. I just for you know, you just feel
Speaker 1: lucky to know some people and to be considered a
Speaker 1: friend by them.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I couldn't wait to get her back on, and
Speaker 1: I get the scoop on something that's just launched, so
Speaker 1: you're hearing about it if you haven't seen it on
Speaker 1: and you don't know who she is, and you're hearing
Speaker 1: about it for the first time.
Speaker 2: Through her today right here.
Speaker 1: So please enjoy April Helene Horton, aka the body Zilla.
Speaker 1: The last time I had you on there was a
Speaker 1: wei It was really two Girls One Pod. It was
Speaker 1: actually three girls that day because you were our third
Speaker 1: and Angie was here.
Speaker 2: Now I've got you back all to myself.
Speaker 3: Oh my god, you've all start two girls with just
Speaker 3: these two.
Speaker 1: It's just us too, so and I'm really glad because
Speaker 1: I love a returning guest and you were one of
Speaker 1: our first guests on if not the first of the
Speaker 1: two Girls one Pod, like it wasn't when it wasn't
Speaker 1: just me and Angie and we were just like champion
Speaker 1: to have you on.
Speaker 2: So having you back because I adore you so much.
Speaker 1: And in between that time and this time, we've met Irl,
Speaker 1: We've hugged, we've eaten together, I've met your husband and
Speaker 1: your child.
Speaker 2: Yes, it was the best. How is my little boyfriend?
Speaker 3: He is just glorious? Thank you? He is just the sweetest.
Speaker 4: I actually did canteen Judy today before our child was that.
Speaker 3: Oh it was so funny. It's just I actually do
Speaker 3: I get because I work part time.
Speaker 4: I get to have these occasional fun things that I
Speaker 4: get to do lean into that mum life kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: And he sort of he like came to.
Speaker 4: The door and was just like hi, Mom, and I
Speaker 4: was like I love it because you know, you hear
Speaker 4: from other parents that at some point your kid's gonna
Speaker 4: be like too cool to talk to you, don't tell
Speaker 4: anyone you're my mum. And he's still not like he's
Speaker 4: in that stage of being thinking. It's rad that I'm
Speaker 4: there and.
Speaker 3: He's like hi, and I'm just like, oh, it's so
Speaker 3: bloody love.
Speaker 2: And he's such a nice human, Like he's a person,
Speaker 2: isn't he.
Speaker 3: He gets that from him you.
Speaker 1: Well, no, he gets her from his mum as well.
Speaker 1: You both are beautiful people, and you're raising a beautiful
Speaker 1: little human. I'm wearing the glasses now that he popped on,
Speaker 1: and I have the most divine photo of him in like,
Speaker 1: he's like a delicious looking human that you're just like,
Speaker 1: let's exploit him and put him into modeling.
Speaker 2: Well, this is the thing.
Speaker 4: Well, so we always have funny conversations about this stuff.
Speaker 4: So I feel really strongly about child safety online and
Speaker 4: also about their privacy. So for me, I don't use
Speaker 4: his image like on my public socials. I did used
Speaker 4: to a few times. You know, I got him involved
Speaker 4: in a couple of things because he loves to be
Speaker 4: part of the spectacle of creating content which who wouldn't
Speaker 4: look so fun?
Speaker 3: Right? It's all it's all gland behind the scenes, isn't it.
Speaker 4: But ilo, Yeah, but I'm conscious also of you know,
Speaker 4: his digital footprint, his privacy, his safety because although I'm
Speaker 4: certainly not at the scale of you know, other public
Speaker 4: figures whose children are in the spotlight, such as you know,
Speaker 4: he's not Northwest, but I don't want for him to
Speaker 4: have to be subjected to the Internet any sooner than
Speaker 4: he needs to be. And I also think that it's
Speaker 4: important for you know, he doesn't at his age because
Speaker 4: he's you know, he's he's quite young. He doesn't understand
Speaker 4: what it means to put things online and what the
Speaker 4: ramifications are that the internet is forever that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: And of course all the stuff I've posted is all
Speaker 4: is all sweet stuff.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: I wouldn't be the kind of person to post something
Speaker 4: embarrassing anyway, hopefully, although parents never really know what's cool,
Speaker 4: do they never?
Speaker 1: You know? And he would consent to it because it
Speaker 1: looks like fun, and then could also say, yeah, I was.
Speaker 2: A child, I can't couldn't consent to.
Speaker 4: Me, that's rightter in life, Yeah, it's not informed consent
Speaker 4: if the person isn't capable of understanding what it actually means.
Speaker 4: So the other afternoon he said, we were my friend
Speaker 4: and I were doing our makeup at the kitchen table
Speaker 4: and he was like, can you do my makeup? So
Speaker 4: I did the most gorgeous, little glowy moment, just a
Speaker 4: bit of you know, home beauty all over the face.
Speaker 3: Everyone looks good with a bit of that.
Speaker 4: Popped a little bit of you know, shimeria a shadow,
Speaker 4: and did his brow. I was just you know, to
Speaker 4: make him feel like he was part of all the
Speaker 4: part of the action. Pop some lip gloss on there,
Speaker 4: and took a picture just because I want to remember. Yeah,
Speaker 4: he literally looks exactly like me when he has makeup on.
Speaker 4: It's like, ye, he's uncanny, how like we look. And
Speaker 4: he's I took the photo, he goes.
Speaker 2: You get a filter of the younger you literally.
Speaker 3: And he's like, are you gonna put that on the Facebook?
Speaker 2: Mom?
Speaker 4: And I was like, no, I'm not, but that's like cute.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I definitely think I want to have all
Speaker 4: those memories. And when he's old enough to have social media,
Speaker 4: I'll be like, you're going to air drop you those
Speaker 4: photos so you can post hashtag throwback.
Speaker 3: You know, I'll capture the memories, but I don't need
Speaker 3: to share them.
Speaker 2: And I'm really glad that you're doing that.
Speaker 1: And I have a lot of friends who have their
Speaker 1: children online and I don't like it. I watch it
Speaker 1: and I just think, oh, this makes me really uncomfortable.
Speaker 1: And if you're anyone who's listening, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: talking people who have a really small following.
Speaker 2: Maybe we have more than ten k.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and your public, like I know, Clementine Ford never
Speaker 1: shows her small Yes, she calls him, but in her Facebook,
Speaker 1: she has a very private Facebook.
Speaker 2: And she does show him and it's so.
Speaker 1: Beautiful because we get to see him. It's you know,
Speaker 1: obviously she's taking a risk, but she's doing it the
Speaker 1: right way, I believe, Like, because we get to see
Speaker 1: your family, gets to see your child who may not
Speaker 1: be able to see them regularly, yes, in a you know,
Speaker 1: in that kind of way, and everyone gets to comment
Speaker 1: and blah.
Speaker 2: Blah blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it is especially people who are making money
Speaker 1: off their children.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, And I think that Clementine absolutely is someone who
Speaker 4: like that that approach. For certainly, I learned from that
Speaker 4: because you know, I definitely saw from my point of
Speaker 4: view that once we had a conversation about it, and
Speaker 4: I was like, you're so right about that, And you know,
Speaker 4: I do think that if you're gonna, yeah, share their
Speaker 4: image and things like that, like there is a risk.
Speaker 4: And I think certainly also from a safety point of view,
Speaker 4: that I think probably applies much more in a much
Speaker 4: more scary way for her because of the type of
Speaker 4: very will we say, unhinged individuals who will sometimes comment
Speaker 4: and the things they say. I think it's safer for
Speaker 4: her to make that choice, absolutely so. But I definitely
Speaker 4: would say that that same approach is like, that approach
Speaker 4: has influenced what I do and how I do social media.
Speaker 4: So for me, when I do post things same thing
Speaker 4: private Facebook, there's a special list of people, which is
Speaker 4: people who have actually met my child are on that list.
Speaker 4: So even my personal Facebook friends who I'm like, I
Speaker 4: only am friends with you because I knew you in
Speaker 4: high school, they're not on that list because they're I
Speaker 4: wouldn't invite into my house or have my kid hang
Speaker 4: out with them. So that's kind of that's how I
Speaker 4: measure that. That's my baseline.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1: I have a personal one as well, and I have
Speaker 1: a public one and with Facebook, with Instagram, it's just.
Speaker 2: You know, all on and I'll put my kids up
Speaker 2: all the time. And they're furry. They are furry. I
Speaker 2: love it and no consent, not happy, but I don't care.
Speaker 2: They're too cute. So I want to ask you.
Speaker 1: There's something that you are doing and it's just launched
Speaker 1: this week, so can you tell me and.
Speaker 2: Our listeners all about it? Because this is a bit
Speaker 2: of a scoop.
Speaker 3: It is enough scoop.
Speaker 4: You are you are definitely the first person two that
Speaker 4: I've talked to about this, you know in this context.
Speaker 4: I so I am part of the really incredible let's
Speaker 4: get explicit campaigns. So basically the incredible as Me James.
Speaker 4: Some of you might know her as the author of
Speaker 4: the book Kinky History or have seen her online talking
Speaker 4: about Kinky History, doctor as Maos. She is now basically
Speaker 4: encouraged us to be part of it because we want
Speaker 4: to take back our bodies, take control of our bodies,
Speaker 4: saying enough is enough and put the narrative on what's
Speaker 4: considered explicit, because what we've seen is that you know,
Speaker 4: over the last few months, especially, this conversation around gendered
Speaker 4: violence continues and people are not talking about it in
Speaker 4: a way, especially the media, in a way that actually
Speaker 4: says what's going on. We see over and over again
Speaker 4: that media is publications and people are writing about the
Speaker 4: issue as if it's somebody's fault, but never the person
Speaker 4: who perpetrated the crime. So I think being able to
Speaker 4: take back that narrative, being able to say, you know,
Speaker 4: violence against women that happens every day, well.
Speaker 3: Then let's have a calendar for every day.
Speaker 4: So I got together with some really incredible, iconic, gorgeous
Speaker 4: humans and we had a photo shoot. There was actually
Speaker 4: two shoots. We did one on Gadgal Country in Sydney
Speaker 4: and then there was one also numb in Melbourne where
Speaker 4: you are gorgeous gal and so there was two groups
Speaker 4: of talent.
Speaker 3: We all got together.
Speaker 4: We got to pick our own concept of like what
Speaker 4: we were gonna shoot for lots of us that was
Speaker 4: something that meant something to us. So when you see
Speaker 4: my images, if you're kind of like, what does that
Speaker 4: mean to you, oh, well I will tell you I
Speaker 4: really wanted something powerful, something that almost went against what
Speaker 4: you expect in terms of pushing back against the idea
Speaker 4: that this you know that victims are the problem, that
Speaker 4: you should be as someone who's a survivor of gender violence,
Speaker 4: that you should have been smaller, you should have been less,
Speaker 4: you should have you know, changed the way that you were,
Speaker 4: rather than the person who perpetrated it not doing what
Speaker 4: they did. Basically, the idea was that we would get
Speaker 4: together create a calendar of important days. But instead of
Speaker 4: them being the everyday, regular days that you mark on
Speaker 4: the calendar, there are days where we know the data
Speaker 4: says that gender violence, violence against women takes place more prolifically. So,
Speaker 4: you know, I think I saw something the other day,
Speaker 4: someone talking about the fact that on things like Grand
Speaker 4: finals and you know sports, days of significance in sport
Speaker 4: are often days where we see a rise in cases
Speaker 4: being reported, or you know that the data says that
Speaker 4: there are more instances of violence against women by men
Speaker 4: on those days.
Speaker 2: So we are.
Speaker 4: Asking everyone to mark their calendar. We're going to give
Speaker 4: you a gorgeous calendar. We're going to donate the profits
Speaker 4: to give it Domestic and Family Violence Appeal and they
Speaker 4: are I am just so excited by the talent and
Speaker 4: the images. Sosha from Full Bloom Photography has just it
Speaker 4: was the most incredible experience too.
Speaker 3: It was really safe and beautiful.
Speaker 4: We have the best time running around in our undies,
Speaker 4: like during the day kind of you know, everyone was
Speaker 4: getting their hair and makeup done. It was just you know,
Speaker 4: very very Yeah, the girl moment, which was so fun.
Speaker 4: And I think that, you know, we're really lucky to
Speaker 4: have the opportunity to speak because I think that over
Speaker 4: forty women this year have their voices taken away from
Speaker 4: them and their lives, and so if we can turn
Speaker 4: our expression of ourselves and our bodies into something so
Speaker 4: powerful and also change that narrative, then that will be amazing.
Speaker 2: That would be so amazing. Oh so I can't wait.
Speaker 2: Can you tell us who else is in it?
Speaker 3: Oh? I think I probably can so.
Speaker 4: A couple of the incredible people that I got to
Speaker 4: be on the shoot with include the beautiful Antoinette Latoufe,
Speaker 4: who we absolutely.
Speaker 3: Adore, love her, we do.
Speaker 4: She was one of the incredible talent and we got
Speaker 4: to also hang out and chat, which was great fun.
Speaker 4: Maddie McCrae, if you are a follower of Hilarious Redheads
Speaker 4: on the Internet, then you will know who Maddie McCray is.
Speaker 4: Maddie's a comedian, actor all round, good Egg love her.
Speaker 2: I don't know her.
Speaker 4: Oh she's so, she's absolutely gorgeous. Who else the incredible
Speaker 4: Bianca Hunt. If you know Bianca love yes, I'm for years,
Speaker 4: She's gorgeous.
Speaker 2: Of her for years.
Speaker 4: One of the most incredible and intelligent people I have
Speaker 4: ever met in my life.
Speaker 3: And I have met a lot of people, but I really, really.
Speaker 2: And you're an intelligent person.
Speaker 4: So I know, I know when I'm talking to someone
Speaker 4: who's switched on.
Speaker 2: Girly tis one to know one yes.
Speaker 4: And so if you've you might know Biancha from she
Speaker 4: was on I'm a celebri Oh.
Speaker 2: And you know what pissed me off? She was the
Speaker 2: first to go.
Speaker 1: I was so so excited to see her on there
Speaker 1: and then to see her talk, and it looks like
Speaker 1: they just got her to talk a few stories, a
Speaker 1: few lived experiences, and then they were like, okay, bye,
Speaker 1: thanks person of color, thank you goodbye.
Speaker 2: I don't know if that's the truth. I don't know,
Speaker 2: but it's I don't know.
Speaker 1: It really pissed me off that she was the first
Speaker 1: to go, because she certainly wasn't the one who deserved
Speaker 1: to go first.
Speaker 4: Look, I think the reality is regardless of you know,
Speaker 4: I think we all know that television productions are more
Speaker 4: than just the bits you see on TV, obviously, but
Speaker 4: I think the reality is if that's a TV show
Speaker 4: where people vote, people are gonna always vote to keep
Speaker 4: the people that they like and they resonate with because
Speaker 4: they potentially don't want to think about the fact that
Speaker 4: actually it would be more worthwhile for my life to
Speaker 4: listen to the stories of, hear the experiences of and
Speaker 4: simply promote and be a supporter of a young woman
Speaker 4: of color, a young black woman, because they're like, oh, well,
Speaker 4: I don't what's that person got to offer. Well, wait
Speaker 4: and see, wait and see. That's my advice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what you could learn from that person.
Speaker 4: And also like, you know, and keep in mind too
Speaker 4: that you know, it's not not wanting to in any
Speaker 4: way like say that we shouldn't be learning from those people,
Speaker 4: but also not that's not just why Bank is on
Speaker 4: TV and why Bianca has been given jobs like that.
Speaker 4: She's funny, she's smart, she's gorgeous, she's all the things,
Speaker 4: she's talented, you know, and so it's it's also kind
Speaker 4: of like let her have a chance because she's hot
Speaker 4: new talent in the industry as well, so it's sort
Speaker 4: of like it's not it's also not just about what
Speaker 4: you get out of it from her, but giving her
Speaker 4: the opportunity. You're part of the you know, I think
Speaker 4: if we're talking about you know, we've just come off
Speaker 4: the back of Reconciliation Week, and I know that a
Speaker 4: lot of the conversation is about the fact that reconciliation
Speaker 4: is a concept that no longer has the value that
Speaker 4: it used to after, you know, following what happened last
Speaker 4: year with the referendum. But I think that it's really
Speaker 4: you know, then we go, well, what's my personal commitment then,
Speaker 4: as as a person living on this country who is
Speaker 4: not aboriginal or terrestrate islander and doesn't have that connection
Speaker 4: and isn't part of that you know, big country is
Speaker 4: part of all of the people who are the traditional owners.
Speaker 3: Well then why don't we give back?
Speaker 4: You know, we talk about paying the rent, how important
Speaker 4: that is about allowing people to tell their own stories
Speaker 4: and also being willing to get uncomfortable when they're truth telling.
Speaker 4: And I think that people's discomfort with truth telling really
Speaker 4: comes out in those situations where they go, oh, we'd
Speaker 4: rather just vote her off because.
Speaker 3: Then we don't have to feel uncomfortable about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, completely, completely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and you know it's true what you said, Like,
Speaker 1: it's not just what she can teach us, it's seeing
Speaker 1: her like us as well and giving her that opportunity. Yes,
Speaker 1: you don't don't write someone off just because you think
Speaker 1: they're not like you when they could be just like
Speaker 1: you and.
Speaker 2: You didn't know.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I think the things.
Speaker 4: That that could be a lesson indeed, and I think
Speaker 4: it doesn't. TV doesn't have to be smart all the time.
Speaker 4: You know, you watch I watch. The TV that I
Speaker 4: watch is just like something to switch the brain of sometimes,
Speaker 4: or watching reality shows because you just think, oh, this
Speaker 4: is hilarious, it's not too scripted. I want to see
Speaker 4: something that's real. That's the power of reality TV. But
Speaker 4: it's also kind of like, if it's going to be real,
Speaker 4: it should represent everyone, and that means a diverse group
Speaker 4: of people having a chat, not just a bunch of
Speaker 4: the same, same, same, same all around the campfire.
Speaker 1: So the calendar sounds amazing. I cannot wait to buy
Speaker 1: one and the proceeds go to WHO Again.
Speaker 4: All of the profits will be donated to the Give
Speaker 4: It Domestic and Family Violence Appeal. So they're released with
Speaker 4: a retail price of forty dollars, which is representative of
Speaker 4: the more than forty women who've lost their lives to
Speaker 4: gender base violence in Australia just this year, and a
Speaker 4: digital version will also be available with a pay what
Speaker 4: you can option, So obviously if digital's your thing, it
Speaker 4: will be pay what you can. But remembering that if
Speaker 4: we're donating all of those profits, the more you give,
Speaker 4: the more they get.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't even know there was a digital calendar.
Speaker 2: That's how old boomer.
Speaker 1: May why, but I would still be getting the I mean,
Speaker 1: there's nothing better than putting that up on the wall
Speaker 1: in the bathroom, a calendar. I love doing that every year.
Speaker 2: I just love it. I never look at it apart
Speaker 2: from the pictures, because you know, I don't use a calendar.
Speaker 2: I use a digital calendar.
Speaker 1: Now, but I still love that I have a hanging
Speaker 1: calendar with a great you know whatever, like it once
Speaker 1: used to be the fireman with puppies and then it's
Speaker 1: just puppies. But this is a really great one. This
Speaker 1: is a really really good one. So I'm really glad
Speaker 1: that you made it. You were just saying that you
Speaker 1: were doing the photoshit and you're running around in your undies,
Speaker 1: and you know, the first thought that popped into my
Speaker 1: head was, I just love how often you're in your undies.
Speaker 2: I just love it.
Speaker 1: I love how often I get to see me represented
Speaker 1: in you on my phone, Like it's just it makes me,
Speaker 1: It makes my hearts well because you know, once upon
Speaker 1: a time, we never saw ourselves as beautiful. We saw
Speaker 1: ourselves as the butt of jokes only. Yeah, and it
Speaker 1: is just so beautiful because I have completely redone my
Speaker 1: algorithm so I only follow inspiring people. I was driving
Speaker 1: in the car with my friend and we pulled up
Speaker 1: next to, you know, the wall of all different billboards,
Speaker 1: like it's always next to you, and Minky was in
Speaker 1: the latest whatever she's working on at the moment.
Speaker 4: Cleopatra's bling dot com, wasn't it.
Speaker 2: That's it? Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And my friend just looked and it was like
Speaker 1: he was face to face with her because we were
Speaker 1: so close, and he just went, oh and then just
Speaker 1: continue the conversation. And I grew up with boys. And
Speaker 1: once upon a time, if we saw a fat person
Speaker 1: outside of the car, the men in my family would
Speaker 1: you know, would they point out to me that there's
Speaker 1: you in twenty years, there's you in you know that
Speaker 1: kind of thing. It was so entrenched in my family
Speaker 1: that the worst thing you could.
Speaker 2: Be was fat.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: To see not only me now on billboards and you know,
Speaker 1: the posters and things like that, and being represented as
Speaker 1: models and oh but seeing my friends not blink an eye, yeah,
Speaker 1: which would have once they would have been like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's the right person for that.
Speaker 1: You know, Gee, she's not wearing very much. Do you
Speaker 1: think she should cover up? Like, gee, you look at
Speaker 1: her guts? Or you know, just something that they never
Speaker 1: knew was hurting me, like exponentially absolutely, And now it's
Speaker 1: just it's gone in my life.
Speaker 4: And I think that says a lot about the you
Speaker 4: talked about you've curated your Instagram algorithm. Sounds to me
Speaker 4: like maybe you've also curated the friend group to make
Speaker 4: sure it's only great people, because I'm certain that there
Speaker 4: are still people in our lives in that peripheryal people
Speaker 4: that think that they're that they know us because they
Speaker 4: once knew us and go you would not spend time
Speaker 4: with them socially because they're still in those mindsets. And
Speaker 4: certainly for me, I you know, I find that I
Speaker 4: still and this is kind of silly, but I get
Speaker 4: surprised sometimes when I go, especially onto Facebook.
Speaker 3: So for example, today.
Speaker 4: I was looking at a post that had gone up
Speaker 4: with a collaboration post that had gone up on Insta
Speaker 4: had also gone up on Facebook with a radio interview
Speaker 4: that I had done, and I just forget that people
Speaker 4: are going to jump on there because of course it's
Speaker 4: not me that they follow, but they follow the radio
Speaker 4: station or they follow that you know, it comes up
Speaker 4: because it's local, and the comments are not always great,
Speaker 4: and I think, you know, that's okay for me because
Speaker 4: I just go, oh my god, imagine you got up
Speaker 4: in the morning and you thought I'm going to go
Speaker 4: on Facebook and leave that comment like get a hobby,
Speaker 4: grow up, Daniel. But also, at the same time, it's
Speaker 4: not about me reading it and feeling bad.
Speaker 3: It's about you or someone like you or someone who's
Speaker 3: you know, me.
Speaker 4: Before I was able to accept myself and celebrate myself
Speaker 4: and be confident, you know, reading those comments and see
Speaker 4: like as you say, seeing yourself reflected on that on
Speaker 4: that billboard, seeing minky and going what an icon and
Speaker 4: being with someone who went stunning. Love that in the
Speaker 4: same way that you feel so empowered seeing that and
Speaker 4: so confident and happy that experience of being demeaned by
Speaker 4: proxy when they say, oh, that person looks terrible and
Speaker 4: you go, well, I look like that. So if you know,
Speaker 4: the math is mathing on that, on that negative sentiment,
Speaker 4: if you feel that way about them, the only reason
Speaker 4: you're not saying that to me is because you like
Speaker 4: me and you know me and you potentially lots of
Speaker 4: people will talk about how they don't see color, or they.
Speaker 3: Oh you're not fat, you're beautiful, and it's kind of like.
Speaker 4: Well a, I'm both also see me as a whole
Speaker 4: person and seeing someone's whole identity. You know, the idea
Speaker 4: that people would say I don't see color, what they're
Speaker 4: really saying is I see you as a white person.
Speaker 4: I see you as like me, a default person, uh,
Speaker 4: and that I don't value that about.
Speaker 3: You, but it's part of who you are.
Speaker 4: It's almost as if you know, imagine saying to a
Speaker 4: queer person, oh, I don't I just think of you
Speaker 4: as being straight.
Speaker 3: What that doesn't make any sense? So bad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've got to celebrate the differences. We've got to
Speaker 1: see them, and we're going to celebrate them absolutely.
Speaker 4: You know, we talk about you know, diversity, and diversity
Speaker 4: is wonderful, but inclusion and authentic conclusion, not the tick
Speaker 4: boxy kind, is actually being like I see every part
Speaker 4: of you, and I accept it.
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 4: I love it for you. I think it's totally totally
Speaker 4: fine for us to all be different and you know,
Speaker 4: accept ourselves and not aspire to be like someone else.
Speaker 4: I think it's healthy for us to not aspire to
Speaker 4: or compare ourselves to other people. But at the same time,
Speaker 4: I think a lot of us are, perhaps especially people
Speaker 4: who haven't really put their minds to seeing that the
Speaker 4: world is more than just what they know and what
Speaker 4: they what they like. I think that the idea that
Speaker 4: you know, we can have more people out there for
Speaker 4: you and I to aspire to and compare ourselves to
Speaker 4: in a positive way.
Speaker 3: If she can do that, I can do that. I'm okay.
Speaker 3: I feel good seeing myself represented.
Speaker 1: Yes, and knowing that where those women as well, like, yes,
Speaker 1: you know, not only for each other, but for you
Speaker 1: know how beautiful April.
Speaker 2: Is when you get those dams.
Speaker 3: Oh there's nothing.
Speaker 4: There's actually nothing better, you know, in terms of you
Speaker 4: spend this much time on the internet, you get to
Speaker 4: go to cool stuff. Sometimes brands want to send you
Speaker 4: cool stuff or pay you to talk about something that
Speaker 4: you love from their brand. That's fantastic and I'm so
Speaker 4: so thankful that I get to do that because it
Speaker 4: brings me so much joy. But nothing compares to someone
Speaker 4: sending me a message that says, I bought a swimsuit
Speaker 4: today because I saw you wearing a swimsuit and I thought, she.
Speaker 3: Looks fine, she looks great, she looks whatever. Compliment.
Speaker 4: And I can be that person too, who goes to
Speaker 4: the beach and is happy and not having a terrible
Speaker 4: time because I'm wearing a T shirt over my cozies
Speaker 4: and it's all a mess and whatever, and whether that's
Speaker 4: you know, that's one example, you know, especially from you know,
Speaker 4: when I did the really cool campaign that I did
Speaker 4: with Curvy Swimwear where I got to be on a
Speaker 4: billboard and people were like I was overwhelmingly you know,
Speaker 4: I received way more positive messages. Of course, I got oh,
Speaker 4: I got some foul comments, and I get those. They
Speaker 4: happen quite regularly, and I honestly go, I'm actually not
Speaker 4: bothered by that, because for every one person leave a
Speaker 4: crappy comment calling me some kind of name, I get
Speaker 4: ten twenty messages from people who go, I did a
Speaker 4: thing to I wore shorts today because it's hot, and
Speaker 4: I thought I can wear shorts because I've seen someone
Speaker 4: else doing it and I feel safer doing that. And
Speaker 4: I'm like, well, then you can take your trolley comment,
Speaker 4: stick it where it fits, because I'm doing what I
Speaker 4: came to do, which is help me.
Speaker 1: Even if it's just one person, and it's so many more,
Speaker 1: but you're just happy with just one change of someone's
Speaker 1: heart and the way they see themselves. And to me,
Speaker 1: it brings tears to my eyes. I see these messages
Speaker 1: and you know, I'll just be doing a story where
Speaker 1: like you were doing something on Instagram the other day
Speaker 1: and you flirted with yourself. I float with myself all
Speaker 1: the time on Instagram in my stories, and sometimes if
Speaker 1: I catch something, oh you know, and I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: I say it now, Oh no, I'm not going there,
Speaker 1: not doing that, Like yeah, I'm beautiful.
Speaker 2: And I know I am, and I'm really looking in
Speaker 2: love with how great I am.
Speaker 1: And I just and you know, I'll always, without a doubt,
Speaker 1: have at least one at least I mean I get few,
Speaker 1: but I get at least one saying, oh God, you've
Speaker 1: just made me feel like that's how I want to
Speaker 1: be and I can be or I have become like
Speaker 1: you now, like it's so okay to be in love
Speaker 1: with yourself and see yourself as something that's wonderful. Or
Speaker 1: I'll get someone that'll say I've had the shittiest day
Speaker 1: to day and you bring me joy.
Speaker 2: You just bring me joy, and that I mean, what else?
Speaker 2: What else are you here for? You know?
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously it's so many things that you're here for,
Speaker 1: but April, you bring me joy. You're just you're such
Speaker 1: a beautiful heart. Like I love that you're just radiating love.
Speaker 1: And you know, can I say positivity like, yeah, of
Speaker 1: course you're a whole body body positivity, neutrality like, but
Speaker 1: to me, that's you're just you're positive about you know
Speaker 1: who we are as humans and that everyone is important
Speaker 1: and I just I can't thank you enough for existing.
Speaker 4: Oh I'm gonna make me cry, but I was actually
Speaker 4: gonna say, I love that you're one of those people
Speaker 4: that you send me messages like that, Like you talk
Speaker 4: about people.
Speaker 3: Sending you a message and going, oh my.
Speaker 4: Gosh, like thank you for posting this, or like you know,
Speaker 4: this has really made my day after having a really
Speaker 4: shitty day or whatever, and you send me those messages,
Speaker 4: and I just I'm so grateful that we got to
Speaker 4: connect and that I get to see you, We get
Speaker 4: to see each other shine. It's really special and I
Speaker 4: think so emotional. Oh my god, I yeah, I feel like.
Speaker 4: I said this to my friend Lucy Lucy Neville, She's
Speaker 4: so beautiful. I said, how good is it to just
Speaker 4: tell people how great they are, how great you think
Speaker 4: they are, And she's.
Speaker 3: Like, it's the best.
Speaker 4: And it's just like, you know, you talk about what
Speaker 4: are we here for?
Speaker 3: And I know, like times are heavy.
Speaker 4: It's us struggle sometimes to get through the day because
Speaker 4: you just it can be overwhelming when you think about
Speaker 4: the fact that there are like a horrifyingly large amount
Speaker 4: of people who do not get to have the experience
Speaker 4: that we've just talked about, because both from you know,
Speaker 4: a broad reaching kind of global in that way, but
Speaker 4: also because they're not where we are, like it's it
Speaker 4: can be so so granular around people's attitude and they're
Speaker 4: the people there that they've got around them. And it
Speaker 4: can also be that on a you know, a worldwide level,
Speaker 4: not everyone gets to have that experience because there's just
Speaker 4: a lot going on.
Speaker 3: And I think that.
Speaker 4: While I suppose I feel really strongly about the idea
Speaker 4: of two things being important and existing at once, and
Speaker 4: that you know, regardless of the fact that while we
Speaker 4: can hold space for that, whatever that might be the
Speaker 4: difficult realities of life. You know, you go online and
Speaker 4: you think, my god, I'm so lucky that I am
Speaker 4: who I am, and that you know, it's almost like
Speaker 4: being able to balance that thing of going I'm so lucky,
Speaker 4: I'm so thankful, I'm so fortunate, I'm so whatever. Being
Speaker 4: able to realize, whether it's privilege or it's just pure
Speaker 4: luck that you are where you are and not somewhere else.
Speaker 4: I think also being able to know that body image
Speaker 4: and your existence and your feelings about yourself the way
Speaker 4: that they change, are so it's so important and it's
Speaker 4: so valuable to be able to be someone who can
Speaker 4: get up in the morning and like you say, sometimes
Speaker 4: have a thought and go no, no, I'm not doing that.
Speaker 4: And I think that those two things are actually quite
Speaker 4: closely tied together because I think that our ability to
Speaker 4: be accepting of ourselves and our ability to perhaps step
Speaker 4: out confidently in the world actually empowers us to do something,
Speaker 4: take action, be part of a change, you know, for
Speaker 4: a call that's meaningful to us, because we're not held
Speaker 4: back by the fear of being judged because of how
Speaker 4: we look.
Speaker 3: So for example, people.
Speaker 4: Who you know, from my point of view, while you know,
Speaker 4: the last few months, we've seen lots of people out
Speaker 4: on the streets taking action and wanting to speak out
Speaker 4: about things that are important to them, I think that
Speaker 4: it's really important those people feel safe and confident to
Speaker 4: do that, and then they're not held back by thinking, oh,
Speaker 4: but I can't because I don't want anyone to.
Speaker 3: See me, or that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: Because the reality is, I've you know, I've had by
Speaker 4: the same you know, I've had people in my DM
Speaker 4: saying wonderful things. I sometimes have those same people saying
Speaker 4: I had a terrible experience today, this awful thing happened
Speaker 4: to me, and now I'm afraid to leave my house
Speaker 4: because I walked out the front and one of those
Speaker 4: you know, one of those cars full of dudes yelling
Speaker 4: out insults to me about my body. Just it just
Speaker 4: set me straight back to where I was before I
Speaker 4: started trying to, you know, learn that unlearned that that
Speaker 4: negative stuff about myself. It's set me back. I literally
Speaker 4: haven't left the house for two days because of it.
Speaker 4: And I think, well, we need to be able to
Speaker 4: push forward these important things that might seem unimportant compared
Speaker 4: to bigger world issues, but actually they go together. I
Speaker 4: think that you definitely have you know, people who are
Speaker 4: empowered to speak loudly for things they care about sometimes
Speaker 4: need help to be ready to do that because they
Speaker 4: need to overcome what they believed for them about themselves
Speaker 4: for a long time, about not being too loud, not
Speaker 4: being too big, not taking up too much space.
Speaker 2: Oh, well said, well said. I think we'll leave it
Speaker 2: at that.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming on, Thank you for
Speaker 1: giving us your time, thank you for being in my life.
Speaker 3: I just adore you.
Speaker 2: I love you.
Speaker 3: I love you too.
Speaker 4: Thank you for the chance to come on and have
Speaker 4: a chat. I absolutely love talking to you and I've
Speaker 4: just absolutely up to this conversation. Thank you for giving
Speaker 4: me the chance to say all of that. Thank you