Speaker 1: Today's episode is recorded on Ranger Country, part of the
Speaker 1: Cooler Nation, and I'd like to pay respects to my
Speaker 1: elders past and present, and happy listening.
Speaker 2: I know you're going to dig this. It's like I've
Speaker 2: been given like an extra sprinkle of something. You've got layers, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I got layers.
Speaker 1: I was just thinking, I'm like, we're just such beautiful storytellers.
Speaker 2: You're making a lot of sense to that girl. No,
Speaker 2: I'm done. Let's been too honest to go.
Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Maddie is away on his beautiful Europe trip.
Speaker 1: I bet he's having the best time of his life.
Speaker 2: And I am in the studio working like a dog now.
Speaker 1: No, I really wanted to do a solo episode this
Speaker 1: week because I feel like it's been enough. Time has
Speaker 1: gone on and evolved, and I feel like we haven't
Speaker 1: really caught up. We've you know, Maddie and I are
Speaker 1: always on this like a little bit of a hamster
Speaker 1: wheel with the podcast, in interviewing people and getting to
Speaker 1: know other people, and I feel like we haven't really
Speaker 1: done like an episode where we unpack what has happened
Speaker 1: in our lives over time since we first started the podcast,
Speaker 1: which is a couple of years ago. Now crazy, right,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of things have changed for me.
Speaker 1: I think personally, I'm having this like I guess this
Speaker 1: time in my life where I'm so happy where things
Speaker 1: are going, that there is so much change, but there's
Speaker 1: also so much reflection happening. I sometimes think, well, what
Speaker 1: is the next chapter of Brook's life looking like? And
Speaker 1: it looks very different to what I thought it would
Speaker 1: be in a good way, in a very good way.
Speaker 1: I feel like you guys have first seen me come
Speaker 1: to you know, TV when I was twenty three, and
Speaker 1: I'm now thirty, and it's been seven years of my
Speaker 1: life being so public and sharing every corner, crevice aspect
Speaker 1: of it. And I thought this would be a nice
Speaker 1: chance for you guys to ask me anything.
Speaker 2: Anyways.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah, let's get into it. I love a ramble,
Speaker 1: don't I. I love a little tangent. But you know what,
Speaker 1: my goal this year is to be a little bit
Speaker 1: more concise. So let's go with questions that you guys
Speaker 1: have asked me. And I think one of them is
Speaker 1: you're around sexuality. I think you know this is a
Speaker 1: common thing for me to talk about because one I've
Speaker 1: always been really proud of my sexuality, and.
Speaker 2: It's all something that I always felt comfortable with.
Speaker 1: I think I had some, you know, reservations, especially just
Speaker 1: before going on to the show. I thought, oh god, here,
Speaker 1: I'm going on a heater normative show, but I'm definitely queer.
Speaker 2: Like do I have to shield that from myself? Do
Speaker 2: I have to like hide it? And like, will you
Speaker 2: know people make a big deal about it?
Speaker 1: Like I had some reservations of getting homophobia of course,
Speaker 1: and yeah, luckily I didn't, but I also did in
Speaker 1: a way, so like yes, coming to my sexuality off
Speaker 1: the show, one of the main questions I get is
Speaker 1: did you actually come out? And I think I didn't
Speaker 1: really ever come out in my life. I think my
Speaker 1: coming out story or like experience was I played footy
Speaker 1: for a very long time, and I'd always been really tomboyish,
Speaker 1: and I'd always been really like I.
Speaker 2: Guess, just not.
Speaker 1: Like overly extroverted in telling people everything, which is kind
Speaker 1: of funny now that I have a podcast and I
Speaker 1: tell everyone everything. But when I was younger, I in
Speaker 1: high school, I would constantly just keep things to myself.
Speaker 1: I was pretty reserved, and then I guess I had
Speaker 1: these feelings, but I didn't.
Speaker 2: Really share them.
Speaker 1: I often, you know, went to parties as you do
Speaker 1: as a high school student, and I would kiss girls
Speaker 1: and I would like it, and I didn't really express that.
Speaker 1: I had friends in high school that, you know, I
Speaker 1: could tell that I felt comfortable with being around who
Speaker 1: I thought also were gay and ended up being gay
Speaker 1: as well, but we didn't really talk about it in
Speaker 1: high school, I guess, until sort of out. My first
Speaker 1: girlfriend was when I was nineteen, and we met actually
Speaker 1: at a gay night club. So I used to go,
Speaker 1: you know, play footy, and then a Friday game or
Speaker 1: a Saturday night, we would actually go to the club
Speaker 1: called the Court, and that was a gay club, and
Speaker 1: we would you know often, I would often hook up
Speaker 1: with girls.
Speaker 2: And I didn't care.
Speaker 1: And I think because I had all my teammates who
Speaker 1: were also gay and hooking up with girls, it didn't
Speaker 1: need a coming out. It was just kind of like whatever.
Speaker 1: And then occasionally I would dead a guy. My friends
Speaker 1: would be like, yeah, cool, this is your boyfriend, like whatever.
Speaker 1: And then I met my girlfriend and then we moved
Speaker 1: in together, and I guess that was kind of like
Speaker 1: my coming out was, but you know, it just it
Speaker 1: was just weird. It just it didn't really like my
Speaker 1: coming out wasn't really like a thing. I think I
Speaker 1: went to my granddad's house and I took my girlfriend
Speaker 1: for lunch, and it was like my granddad was like,
Speaker 1: so nice to bring you a friend, and I remembered
Speaker 1: like correcting my granddad and being like, no, Granddad, this
Speaker 1: is actually my my like my girlfriend, my partner, and
Speaker 1: he goes, oh, good for you, And then then that
Speaker 1: was kind of it.
Speaker 2: That was like so chill.
Speaker 1: I didn't have a coming out like a party or
Speaker 1: like a uncomfortableness.
Speaker 2: I think because I don't know, people didn't.
Speaker 1: People kind of maybe expected that I would be gay
Speaker 1: or just knew or had a feeling, but they never
Speaker 1: really like I never really felt uncomfortable about it, which
Speaker 1: is kind of a really nice feeling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know that is not for some.
Speaker 1: I guess I'd put it down to luck and being
Speaker 1: in an environment that I guess most of the women
Speaker 1: that were playing footy at that time were queer.
Speaker 2: And there are straight girls that play footy.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna like disregard them, but I think in
Speaker 1: an environment where it's just supported, and it's just you know, known,
Speaker 1: and no one really cares, and people care about the
Speaker 1: personality of people rather than the sexuality of people. I
Speaker 1: think it just made it so much easier. So I
Speaker 1: didn't really have a coming out.
Speaker 2: Sorry.
Speaker 1: I think the coming out part was actually on the
Speaker 1: show The Bachelor when I made tabloids and it was
Speaker 1: like Brook's big secret and Brooks big bombshell, etc. And
Speaker 1: I was like, it's actually not been that of a
Speaker 1: big deal in my personal life. It's just TV life
Speaker 1: that it kind of comes to. And I actually had
Speaker 1: been with more women than men at that stage of
Speaker 1: going on the show, which is kind of crazy if
Speaker 1: you just want to side note that, but like, yeah.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I have always liked women and I will always like them,
Speaker 1: and I have a beautiful girlfriend now and it's great.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Did I feel more pressure dating more men after the show?
Speaker 2: Ah?
Speaker 1: I feel like the pressure with coming out on the
Speaker 1: show was the people at home had known me my
Speaker 1: whole life, being like this is not a secret, and
Speaker 1: then me not having like not being able to communicate
Speaker 1: with them, like, guys, I'm not making it a big
Speaker 1: deal in here, I promise, like, you know, I kind
Speaker 1: of felt like I was going to be judged by
Speaker 1: my own community in a sense because they knew that
Speaker 1: I was gay, and it was just being blown out
Speaker 1: of proportion, and I.
Speaker 2: Was like, I promise, I'm not being dramatic.
Speaker 1: It's the TV, and you know, I obviously knew that
Speaker 1: I was in a hetero you know, normative show or
Speaker 1: like season of The Bachelor, that it was a dude
Speaker 1: and I was interested in him and I had a
Speaker 1: lot of things in common with him.
Speaker 2: But did I feel pressure to date men after that? No?
Speaker 2: Not really. I felt like.
Speaker 1: When well, funny enough, like actually after The Bachelor, I
Speaker 1: went back home and I went to my normal life.
Speaker 1: I started dating a woman, so so funny. I started
Speaker 1: dating an AFLW player and we hit it off really well,
Speaker 1: but it was only casual. And then I met my
Speaker 1: actual partner and then we actually started dating, but like
Speaker 1: and we dated for like fourteen months. And it's kind
Speaker 1: of funny because every time I've dated a man, I've
Speaker 1: gone back to women. Isn't that Like that just boils
Speaker 1: my Like if I look at my track record or
Speaker 1: the pattern of such, like every time I've been heartbroken
Speaker 1: by dude, I go back to women. But then obviously
Speaker 1: it's the chicken or the egg came first.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Like my first love was a girl, and she had
Speaker 1: no idea that I was madly in love with them.
Speaker 1: She had no idea I was madly in love with her.
Speaker 1: She was my best friend. She lived across the road
Speaker 1: and we hung out like every day, and I was
Speaker 1: madly in love with her. And I was only eleven
Speaker 1: years old, and you know, but I didn't know myself
Speaker 1: too well, I'm eleven years old, Guys, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna come too.
Speaker 1: I can't say that it was easy, but I can definitely.
Speaker 2: Say it gets better.
Speaker 1: Okay, next question, So how did dating change? Well, let's
Speaker 1: say being recognized or and especially for being recognized for
Speaker 1: a dating show and wanting to find the one. I
Speaker 1: think there was this preconceived idea every time that I
Speaker 1: went on a date or went even just like started
Speaker 1: seeing someone, that they assume that I was like, I
Speaker 1: want to marry them, I want to have kids, and
Speaker 1: like I kind of like jump the gun and assume
Speaker 1: that that was something that I wanted straight away. Like
Speaker 1: they didn't give me the opportunity to just like casually
Speaker 1: date myself and experience that for myself. And I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people either like tapped out quick, which
Speaker 1: is fine, and I you know, I actually realized that
Speaker 1: there was a pattern of that, and I was like,
Speaker 1: what is it me?
Speaker 2: Like, why am I getting ghosted?
Speaker 1: But I think people realize, you know, if they're not
Speaker 1: ready in their life, they think that I'm like up
Speaker 1: here and they're down here that they have to meet
Speaker 1: me there, and then if they don't meet me there,
Speaker 1: then yeah, they sort of tap out. And I was like, wow, Okay,
Speaker 1: that hurt, but that's fine, we move on. Or they
Speaker 1: like love bonbed me and went there straight away, and
Speaker 1: I maybe wasn't as ready as well.
Speaker 2: Like I just feel like.
Speaker 1: Everyone just assumed that I was like on this journey
Speaker 1: of finding the one and I needed to find the
Speaker 1: one and never gave me the opportunity to like actually
Speaker 1: day and I actually took the time to do that,
Speaker 1: and and I had three years, like I haven't had
Speaker 1: a long term relationship since, and I were literally having
Speaker 1: a baby and getting married.
Speaker 2: Like that was the idea of you.
Speaker 1: Know, going on the show, is that he was the
Speaker 1: one for me, and it actually didn't turn out.
Speaker 2: And it took me three years really too well.
Speaker 1: It actually took me less, but I'm gonna say for
Speaker 1: three years until finding mim to realize how much how
Speaker 1: much that relationship wouldn't have worked anyways, full stop. But yeah,
Speaker 1: dating was really hard. I think people noticed you or
Speaker 1: they like want something from you. I think like sometimes
Speaker 1: they're like, oh, well, this girl's famous, Like let's just
Speaker 1: go on the date to see what it's about.
Speaker 2: And that's really mean. I'm a person.
Speaker 1: Okay, have you ever tipped off paparazzi? Fucking no, And
Speaker 1: the fact that people do that fucking baffles me. I
Speaker 1: am a person who actually loves my privacy. Like one
Speaker 1: thing that I've had to give up in terms of
Speaker 1: having some sort of in quotation fame is my privacy.
Speaker 1: The fact that I was living in a house in
Speaker 1: South Yarra and the day after or a couple of
Speaker 1: days after and I had broken up and it had
Speaker 1: broken out, I had paparazzi following me and my best
Speaker 1: friend in the street, knowing where the fuck I live.
Speaker 1: And I also had them that I've picked up their car,
Speaker 1: that I knew that they were parked down the street.
Speaker 1: Of my house, Like, is that not fucking creepy? Like, No,
Speaker 1: I don't have any relationship with the paparazzi. The only
Speaker 1: path that I know or know of are two people.
Speaker 1: I know that Jading guy because he paps all of
Speaker 1: the celebrities at the airport. And I know Ali because
Speaker 1: he works for Daily Mail, I think, and he constantly
Speaker 1: is on podcasts. So they're the two paps that I know,
Speaker 1: and I've never tipped them. I have no interest in
Speaker 1: tipping them. Why would I tip them, Like what would
Speaker 1: be the point. And I'm also not that famous. I
Speaker 1: have no interest in having my photos more in the
Speaker 1: male like absolutely not, absolutely.
Speaker 2: Not, Guys.
Speaker 1: I'm actually at a stage where I don't even know
Speaker 1: if I enjoy influencing. When I was thinking about it
Speaker 1: and I was thinking the things that I enjoy right now,
Speaker 1: I'm in love.
Speaker 2: I'm loving like doing my speaking gigs.
Speaker 1: I spoke at a Queer idahobit day the other day
Speaker 1: and I pretty much had everyone in the room crying
Speaker 1: because I think storytelling is so powerful and these moments
Speaker 1: I was like, this is what I'm good at.
Speaker 2: Not making people cry, obviously.
Speaker 1: But like telling my story in hopes to inspire our
Speaker 1: young people, and there were multiple young people who were
Speaker 1: vulnerable in the room.
Speaker 2: There were counselors in the room.
Speaker 1: It was local government, and I think, wow, this is
Speaker 1: what I was meant to be doing. Sorry, I didn't
Speaker 1: mean to sound ungrateful. I'm very grateful, I must admit,
Speaker 1: but yeah, I would never tip off paparazzi. Moving on,
Speaker 1: I feel like in the last couple of years, if
Speaker 1: you've even doing the podcast and being online, I think
Speaker 1: I always make the time to make sure that I'm
Speaker 1: on the right purpose and path that I.
Speaker 2: Need to be on.
Speaker 1: Personally, I don't care about what everyone else thinks I
Speaker 1: should be doing because I don't give a fuck. Like
Speaker 1: the thing is, I get unsolicited advice all the time,
Speaker 1: like you should do this, and you should do that,
Speaker 1: and it's like, I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2: What I want to do because it's my life.
Speaker 1: And I think sometimes people want to have they like
Speaker 1: think it's a great idea to suggest, and I think, yeah,
Speaker 1: suggestions are so fine, but always started with like this
Speaker 1: would be a great idea, like or I don't love
Speaker 1: the concept of telling someone you should do this because
Speaker 1: you should or should using the word should is like
Speaker 1: taking a person's agency away, and I'm like, stop feeling
Speaker 1: entitled to people's lives, Like I love sharing my life
Speaker 1: with you guys, but if there are things that I
Speaker 1: want to keep personal, I'll keep personal. And you guys
Speaker 1: know that, Like I'm not out here, just you can
Speaker 1: go fucking read my book if you want, like, honest
Speaker 1: to God.
Speaker 2: Like there's a book plug for you.
Speaker 1: I think for me, the next journey of my life
Speaker 1: is looking pretty fucking good.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie.
Speaker 1: My sense of self and my relationship has been the
Speaker 1: best it's ever been. Like I have felt so comfortable
Speaker 1: and so happy that sometimes I like question that this
Speaker 1: I can't be this happy, honest to God.
Speaker 2: Like I was so fucking depressed last year. I'm sure
Speaker 2: you guys could tell through Podcas that I was like
Speaker 2: so unwell and I was just battling through. But I
Speaker 2: feel like me and.
Speaker 1: I makes me so happy in so many ways, Like
Speaker 1: I feel like I've just gained a whole new family
Speaker 1: through her, that I've just gained two mums and two
Speaker 1: dads on her side.
Speaker 2: Of the family.
Speaker 1: I can't wait to spend Christmas with our families. Merged,
Speaker 1: our dogs, love each other. She's really enjoying living in
Speaker 1: Melbourne for the time being. But you know, we have
Speaker 1: to go back to long distance in a matter of time,
Speaker 1: which is always the hardest thing. But you know, I
Speaker 1: don't know. I have offered whether she wanted to move
Speaker 1: to Melbourne.
Speaker 2: I don't know. We'll see. That's a TBC, But I
Speaker 2: don't know.
Speaker 1: I just feel like our future plans for me and
Speaker 1: I and my life is that I want to do
Speaker 1: the things that I said that I would do, and
Speaker 1: I think being I think being a relationship isn't really
Speaker 1: stopping me from doing that. If I want to move overseas,
Speaker 1: I feel like mem and I will chat about.
Speaker 2: That and it will happen.
Speaker 1: If we want to have children, that will happen. If
Speaker 1: we want to get married, that will happen. I think
Speaker 1: we just absolutely in no rush to do it. And
Speaker 1: I think we've only just hit our four months and
Speaker 1: I feel like that time has just flown so quickly
Speaker 1: that I honestly literally felt like I was just getting
Speaker 1: with her yesterday. And I think that's kind of our relationship,
Speaker 1: is that we've experienced so much in such a short
Speaker 1: period of time, but also have so much to experience
Speaker 1: in our future. And I think the fact that I
Speaker 1: can actually think about our future together is actually so exciting.
Speaker 1: Like I'm not just saying this to say it for
Speaker 1: the Bachelor, Like you know, when you're in a relationship
Speaker 1: post the show, you have to actually physically figure out
Speaker 1: what your answers are to these questions, and to be fair,
Speaker 1: I'm just figuring them out in a moment. Like Mim
Speaker 1: and I got questioned about how we deal with conflict,
Speaker 1: It's like, well, we haven't really come up to that, like, well,
Speaker 1: sometimes we, you know, have little biffs, but everyone does.
Speaker 1: And hers is avoidant and mine is.
Speaker 2: Go straight for the throat.
Speaker 1: But I feel like that's because I just don't want
Speaker 1: to waste time with the riff raff and the arguing
Speaker 1: and the conflict and the.
Speaker 2: Blah blah blah.
Speaker 1: Not that we ever do that, But there's just so
Speaker 1: much love happening in my life right now, and I
Speaker 1: feel really excited. I have two beautiful housemates, our house
Speaker 1: is full, our families are, you know, lovely.
Speaker 2: I don't know what to say.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's just all on up for me
Speaker 1: at the moment, and it feels really good. But do
Speaker 1: I have any fears with being in a relationship in
Speaker 1: the public eye.
Speaker 2: Absolutely. I feel like the fact that we.
Speaker 1: Just did our first job together in a relationship, so
Speaker 1: like our first actual public, like kind of hard launched
Speaker 1: job together, which is kind of weird to say, is like,
Speaker 1: we are going to be one of those like public relationships.
Speaker 1: But I don't think to the point of sharing everything
Speaker 1: in our life. And I think there'll be boundaries and
Speaker 1: there'll be communication between mem and I with what we
Speaker 1: feel comfortable sharing and what we don't. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what makes this relationship so much worth it or
Speaker 1: so much more worthwhile, because the communication is happening and
Speaker 1: it's a respect And I think in previous relationships, yeah,
Speaker 1: there was no respect in a sense, like it hadn't
Speaker 1: been built yet. I think people forget that when I
Speaker 1: came off the show, the day of finale was the
Speaker 1: day that my sister passed away and I hadn't even
Speaker 1: known yet. And I think that people forget that grief
Speaker 1: comes in so many different ways, and navigating a new relationship,
Speaker 1: a long distance relationship, and a relationship off a TV
Speaker 1: show when your sibling has died is probably the most
Speaker 1: difficult fucking thing you could ever go through, and having
Speaker 1: to navigate get COVID and getting into WA on it
Speaker 1: through like borders, and then in two weeks of isolation,
Speaker 1: organizing a funeral, So organizing a funeral for your sibling
Speaker 1: going through flowers and coffins, which is awful, navigating a
Speaker 1: long distance relationship where your partner can't even be at
Speaker 1: the funeral because they can't either get into WA or
Speaker 1: they can't you can't be seen together with them. Like
Speaker 1: our relationship started off rocky, and it started off pretty shitty,
Speaker 1: and we tried our absolute hardest to like obviously make
Speaker 1: it work. I don't want to go too much into it,
Speaker 1: but I'm just saying, like the relationship that I'm in
Speaker 1: now is starting off with so much time, care, respect, conversation,
Speaker 1: like it's it's giving us a good chance to actually
Speaker 1: like take our time, and then if anything happened in
Speaker 1: this time, I feel like we have the best foundations,
Speaker 1: the best base to deal with whatever comes up. And
Speaker 1: that's the difference. Not to compare, but I'm just saying
Speaker 1: like that was the last relationship long term that I've
Speaker 1: been properly in. I wouldn't even call relationship like a
Speaker 1: serious relationship because it was like three.
Speaker 2: Months and then he was out. So yeah, anyways, boring story.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like it's going to get to
Speaker 1: a point where I'm gonna have more interesting things to
Speaker 1: actually like talk to you guys about other than my relationships.
Speaker 1: But you know what, our whole life is based around relationships, honestly, friendships,
Speaker 1: work relationships, love relationships, family relationships. Like I'm just so
Speaker 1: comfortable talking about each of those things that.
Speaker 2: It just comes up in conversations. So if you hate me,
Speaker 2: fuck it.
Speaker 1: Also the fact that like I post a video like
Speaker 1: throwing shade at my actual ex, they pretty much saying
Speaker 1: like you will never get this again, and they thought
Speaker 1: that Mim and I had broken up. Like everyone commenting
Speaker 1: thinking we've broken up after three months?
Speaker 2: Get a grip, people, come on.
Speaker 1: See that, you know, like this is this is the
Speaker 1: real thing. I'm not touting, I'm not jinxing it. I'm
Speaker 1: touching wood here, but like, get a grip people thinking
Speaker 1: that we've broken up?
Speaker 2: Please?
Speaker 1: You think I would let Mim slide? You think that
Speaker 1: I would let her go? You think that do y'all?
Speaker 2: Well? Please?
Speaker 1: I still think, holy fuck, how did I land her?
Speaker 1: So y'all better chill the fuck out. Anyways, that's probably
Speaker 1: the end of this episode. Thanks for catching up with me,
Speaker 1: I mean just a little catch up. Whilst madd is away,
Speaker 1: the mice will play, so I thought, you know what,
Speaker 1: let's just let's have a on. I feel like I
Speaker 1: don't really get the chance to talk to you guys
Speaker 1: on my own, so I hope you enjoyed this episode.
Speaker 2: We'll see you next week. Five