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Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed B.

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Speaker 1: Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcast now on iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: So very sad news broke this morning that Key we psychologist,

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Speaker 2: author and broadcaster Nigel Latter died yesterday, a year after

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Speaker 2: being diagnosed with stomach cancer. He leaves behind his wife

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Speaker 2: Natalie Flynn, daughter Arena, son Kieren, and three step children, Elijah,

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Speaker 2: Maya and Leon. Bridget Tapsell is family spokesperson and also

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Speaker 2: Natalie's best friend, and she joins us on the line now, Bridget,

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Speaker 2: good afternoon to you and our deepest condolences to you

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Speaker 2: and the family.

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Speaker 3: Oh, Jena QUADAA thank you.

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Speaker 4: When you think back on your friendship with Nigel, what's

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Speaker 4: the first memory that pops into your mind?

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Speaker 3: For me personally? He went over and above what friends

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Speaker 3: normally do for me and my family in a situation

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Speaker 3: that was really sticky and uncomfortable, and he went out

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Speaker 3: on a limb for us and he was Yeah, he

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Speaker 3: advocated for a situation and he was brave and it

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Speaker 3: turned the situation around massively for us personally. That's the

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Speaker 3: type of human he is. He he was driven by

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Speaker 3: his galues and he stood by his Zalius and he

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Speaker 3: lives by Xalius. A very very special human, a person

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Speaker 3: who was well Maria, I would say, call Year, Dad,

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Speaker 3: call Year. He was love and love with Nigel and

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Speaker 3: a man of love. Yeah, and I feel right at

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Speaker 3: the moment if I look at the response from the

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Speaker 3: Prime Minister and all the responses that are happening around

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Speaker 3: the country, and as Natalie said, she feels like old

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Speaker 3: titlor is giving Nigel one huge hug right now. And

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Speaker 3: that's because of the man who he was.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, what was Nigel like away from from the camera?

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Speaker 4: And you know, people people like Tyler and I we

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Speaker 4: only know him from from enjoying his television shows and

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Speaker 4: reading his books. What was he like away from from

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Speaker 4: the camera and the public eye, bridget he was.

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Speaker 3: He was a very kind person, just very laid back

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Speaker 3: and obviously very very well known. So like if you

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Speaker 3: we'd go out for dinner, there would always be lots

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Speaker 3: of people would approach him and talk to him. He

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Speaker 3: had that kind of or about him. People wanted to

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Speaker 3: connect with him from seeing him on TV, from his

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Speaker 3: parenting shows, but after a while you actually forgot he

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Speaker 3: was famous because he was just he was a humble human,

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Speaker 3: very real, very focused on other people, not focused on him. Uh.

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Speaker 3: He was egoless. Yeah, a fantastic human. You would have

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Speaker 3: you would have loved his company, honestly, would have. He

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Speaker 3: would have made you both feel like you were the

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Speaker 3: most important before in the room. That's you gift. Yeah.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I was ucky enough to interview a couple of times,

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Speaker 4: but yeah, and he was. He was lovely on those occasions. Now,

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Speaker 4: Nigel made You've got to say, he made psychology, which

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Speaker 4: is reasonally complex, complex ideas relatable to a lot of

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Speaker 4: New Zealanders in your opinion, What made him such a

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Speaker 4: good communicator of all these complex ideas well?

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Speaker 3: I actually would you know. Obviously I hit him and

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Speaker 3: Netalie on tap and Netalie's a psychologist as well, so

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Speaker 3: I had firsten experience of what it was like to

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Speaker 3: wring him up and say, hey, I've got this parenting problem.

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Speaker 3: What do you think? And he was just he just

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Speaker 3: didn't muck around like he would just get straight to

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Speaker 3: the point you know this is he was just black

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Speaker 3: and white. Compassionate of course, but just very pragmatic. And

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Speaker 3: I think for me that's what was very relatable, and

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Speaker 3: that's what I think the nation was relating to is

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Speaker 3: like there was nothing fluffy or nothing that you couldn't

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Speaker 3: sort of go, oh, that actually makes sense. Oh, and

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Speaker 3: I actually have some practical advice to walk away with

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Speaker 3: and make some positive change in my family and in

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Speaker 3: my children. And that's I mean, I mean you, I'm

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Speaker 3: sure you've seen his programs at DAM and that's probably

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Speaker 3: what you've saught as well. And that's that's he had

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Speaker 3: just the ability to connect to other people and communicate

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Speaker 3: in a way that wasn't too highbrow. You know, that

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Speaker 3: was just very you can understand them basically. Yeah, that's

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Speaker 3: that's kind of was my personal experience.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, I definitely came through in the way you experienced.

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Speaker 4: And he seems very similar on as broadcasting as in

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Speaker 4: his writing as he was to you in person. Now

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Speaker 4: I just started speaking of his writing. I just started

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Speaker 4: reading his new book, Lessens on Living, and you know,

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Speaker 4: it starts off with some pretty hor stories of you know,

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Speaker 4: time he spent with people that have done some pretty

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Speaker 4: horrific things. He he he had to deal with a

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Speaker 4: lot of that that that serious, horrible dark side of society,

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Speaker 4: crime and murder and parenting gone wrong. But he was

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Speaker 4: also very funny. How did that did that? Did that

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Speaker 4: stuff affect him? Because it would be hard to keep

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Speaker 4: that completely out of out of your your life when

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Speaker 4: you're you're doing that that sort of stuff professionally.

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Speaker 3: I mean, I I didn't see any sign of that

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Speaker 3: affecting him. I felt that he was able to. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I think when you're an empathetic critician, you're able to

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Speaker 3: put the darkness of life into context, a way to context,

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Speaker 3: and he obviously had the ability to do that. So yeah,

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Speaker 3: he was his his ah, I think parkd his his

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Speaker 3: being was always so positive, you know, it was always

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Speaker 3: so up. It was also so hopeful, always so optimistic.

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Speaker 3: You know of anybody who know I think you know,

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Speaker 3: you can't escape some of the shadows of life. So

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Speaker 3: that was a reality. But you know, it depends what

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Speaker 3: you focus on. And so I learned from him that

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Speaker 3: it is what depends what you focus on, like focus

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Speaker 3: on the good, focus on the beauty, focus on the positivity.

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Speaker 3: And he was testament to that. That's how he lived.

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Speaker 2: The honesty and that pragmatism that he showed Bridget when

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Speaker 2: he was diagnosed clearly resonated with so so many people

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Speaker 2: in New Zealand who are going through a similar thing

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Speaker 2: and provided them comfort because it was so honest and

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Speaker 2: and that philosophy and as you say, that pragmatism that

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Speaker 2: he was he was so talented at. When the message

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Speaker 2: messages I no doubt started flooding in from people going

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Speaker 2: through something similar, how did Nigel and the thing deal

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Speaker 2: with it.

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Speaker 3: With grace and with dignity and with understanding, you know,

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Speaker 3: I mean that's I mean, I've never had cancer, so

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Speaker 3: I don't know that. I can only imagine how difficult

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Speaker 3: that is to navigate. Yeah, so he did it with humility,

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Speaker 3: strength and dignity and very honest communications within in a circle.

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Speaker 3: But having said that, though, the communication was always very optimistic,

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Speaker 3: and so last week when he went to the oncologist

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Speaker 3: on Wednesday, he went with optimism like he wasn't probably expecting,

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Speaker 3: you know, to find out that there was no there

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Speaker 3: was nothing else that could be done. So yeah, right

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Speaker 3: up until the last week, he was optimistic.

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Speaker 4: So you know, I think I've you've answered this sort

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Speaker 4: of throughout your your answers to our questions, But how

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Speaker 4: much of a gap do you think he will leave

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Speaker 4: in the country and then your personal life.

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Speaker 3: Bridget, I mean it's absolutely huge. I mean there's just

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Speaker 3: nobody like Angel Letter personally. For Natalie, I mean it's

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Speaker 3: a mass and under family and the children, it's an

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Speaker 3: undescribable loss. Yeah. And for me, I mean, gosh, I

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Speaker 3: didn't sleep last night so hard. It's hard to it's

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Speaker 3: hard to take the news, to be honest, I was,

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Speaker 3: like everybody else in this country, just hoping that he

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Speaker 3: was going to be a run for a lot longer.

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Speaker 4: Well, look, thank you so much for talking to us,

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Speaker 4: and look so sorry for you for your loss there, Bridget.

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Speaker 4: He was, as you say, at great human, great communicator, communicator,

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Speaker 4: and he sounds like a great friend too. So yeah,

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Speaker 4: I'm going to say so if you're.

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Speaker 2: Lost, thank you very much, Bridget. Yeah, lots of love

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Speaker 2: to you and to Natalie and the family as well.

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Speaker 2: That is Bridget Tepsil our close family friends of Natalie

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Speaker 2: and Nigel, speaking about the said loss of Nigel Letter.

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Speaker 1: For more from news Talk said b listen live on

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