May 4, 2025 • 59 mins
Georgia Love — and yes, that is her real name — has always had a lot of love to give.
Almost a decade ago, she stepped onto our screens as The Bachelorette, searching for just that: love. She found it, too, forming a relationship in the public eye that captured hearts around the country. But now, almost ten years on, that same relationship is ending — also in full view of the public.
Georgia is no stranger to loss — both the kind she has chosen to share with the world, and the kind she's fought fiercely to keep private.
In this conversation, you'll hear:
- Georgia discuss losing her mum just days after her Bachelorette finale aired
- The very public cancellation she endured that still stings...
- Stepping away from her career, a heartbreaking friendship breakup, and the ways in which she's been changed by public scrutiny.
- And, of course, her very recent separation from her husband, and how she's picking up the pieces.
Georgia has weathered more storms than most. Each time, she's picked herself up, rebuilt her life, and somehow stayed open-hearted. Resilient, vulnerable, and tougher than she often gets credit for, Georgia Love is a woman who has lived many lives in one.
You can follow Georgia Love here.
You can listen to Georgia's Mamamia Podcast, Everyone Has An Ex, here.
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CREDITS:
Host: Kate Langbroek
Guest: Georgia Love
Executive Producer: Naima Brown
Senior Producer: Grace Rouvray
Audio Producer: Jacob Round
Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
You're listening to a MoMA mia podcast. Mama Miya acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That's been a big part of what has been difficult
about making the public announcement that we have decided to separate,
because I don't want to feel like I've.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Let anyone down.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Sorry, I'm getting teary about this because it's so silly,
because it's not about anyone else. But so many people
say often that they look at our relationship and feel
like that gives them hope.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Hi, I'm Kate lane Brook and welcome to No Filter.
Georgia Love and yes that is her real name, has
always had a lot of love to give. Almost a
decade ago, she stepped onto our screens as the bachelorette
search for just that love. She found it too, forming
(01:13):
a relationship in the public eye that captured hearts around
the country. But now, almost ten years on, that same
relationship is ending, also in full view of the public.
Georgia is no stranger to loss, both the kind she's
chosen to share with the world and the kind she's
(01:34):
fought fiercely to keep private from losing her mum just
days after her Bachelorette finale aired to navigating a very
public cancelation, stepping away from her career, losing friendships, and
now facing the end of a major chapter in her life.
Georgia has weathered more storms than most each time she's
(01:59):
picked herself up, rebuilt her life, and somehow stayed open hearted, resilient, vulnerable,
and tougher than she often gets credit. It four Georgia
Love is a woman who has lived many lives in
one and I think by the end of this conversation
you're going to fall a little bit in love with
(02:21):
Georgia Love too. Georgia Love, Hello, welcome to No Filter.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It's lovely to have you here in this chair. Well,
it's lovely to have you there in that chair. We
may be in the same chair, I mean, I like
that since you first came to our attention. Bachelorette twenty sixteen. Yeah,
the most remarkable that everyone, the whole nation was like,
(02:49):
it's her name Love, it's her name Love, and she's
looking for love.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I'm sure that's why I got the gig. The promos
wrote themselves, Oh it.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Was, It's amazing. So Love is a blessing and has
proven to be. I think also your quest in.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Life, maybe, yeah, very much. I would hope it's everybody's.
I think as humans, we all strive for love, be
that a romantic relationship or friendships, or a love for
your career. I think we should all be striving for
love because that's what keeps us going.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
What's the point otherwise one minute in and already wisdom
my name by nature, Kate.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I have to believe that you know that self fulfilling prophecy.
You know that your name can propel you into a
certain course. You also have a podcast, a very successful
podcast called Everyone Has an X, and you now.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Have an X.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
That's why I'm putting the everyone in everyone has an X. Absolutely,
But this is the thing, right, it does what it
says on the tin.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Everyone does, and.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's true, you know, we all do. And I think
that hopefully people can see that. I always have and
will certainly continue to treat our guest stories with care
and understanding because I'm very much going through that myself.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
At the moment, when did.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
You start to realize that you and lay your beautiful
husband ex husband ex husband.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well not yet really, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I don't know what you're still in that muddy where, yeah,
we're agreed to separate, but where yeah, there's certainly no
paperwork or anything done or that takes a long time.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Anyway. I feel very weird calling him my ex husband.
He doesn't. And this is.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Also a very interesting time to sit down and do
an interview, isn't it when you're Are you raw or
are you Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Very much?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
But I also know that I will be for a
long time. Lee and I were together for nine years
and married for four, So it's not it's not just
an ex you know, It's not something that in a
year's time I'll go, oh, the ex boyfriend, very very
much ingrained in each other's lives, you know, through share
(05:05):
family and friendships and.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Horrible love, terrible disgusted. We'll say again, it's in my name.
My name's punned my whole life. I can't help it.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
But yeah, I don't think he'll ever feel like my
ex husband. I think we are very I think we
will always be very connected. We've shared such a beautiful
life together. I feel so, so so lucky and grateful
for that. We've gone through a lot in our nine years,
(05:41):
individually and as a couple, and We've had the most
wonderful time together as well, So I'll never look back
on our time together as an ex relationship or something
that I completely move on from.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
That's very much part of my life story and always
were woven into the fabric. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I don't think any long term relationship at all, let
alone a marriage, and let alone a marriage that has
gone through big life changes, you know. The loss of
my mum started our relationship. That was the day after
our bachelorette finale, my mom passed away. So we've shared
too much together and we have too much love for
(06:25):
each other and respect of each other to look back
on any time with any negativity at all.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
There's an intimacy that the public have with you because
we watch you fall in love, and so how.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Is that when you are.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Consciously uncoupling from someone. But there's so many people that
have got fingers in the pie of your life, you know,
and feel entitled to a little piece of it because
we're invested in you.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, and I understand that.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
So that's been a big part of what has been
difficult about making the public announcement that we have decided
to separate, because.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I don't want to feel like I've.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Let anyone down, which is so silly because it's not
about anyone else.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
It's just about us.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But people have been so wonderful following our story along
since the start, and I feel sorry I'm getting teary
about this because it's so silly because it's not.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
About anyone else.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But so many people say often that they look at
our relationship and.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Feel like that gives them hope, yes, that they'll.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Find their person, and they really Yeah, I've been very
sad about feeling like I've let people down, or we've
let people down.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Very much.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Believe in love where we have not fallen out of love.
There has always been deep love there. But I don't
want people to be disappointed.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
No, And that's I understand what you're saying, because even
though people could go, oh, that's ridiculous, but it's not
as though there was There were only two of you
in the relationship. Obviously at an intimacy level, it was
whatever happened there. But you should feel like you can
serve yourself. But that's really hard. And also I understand
(08:24):
why you're moved. I think because it's the when you've
been through a rough time, people showing you kindness is
what can wipe the knees out from under you.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
That is what has moved me the most. To use
your words. You know, some people have been nasty, as
you can always expect with anyone that's in the public
eye at all. Online online, that's the thing. No one
ever comes up to your face and says nasty things.
It's only ever online. And of course I knew there
would be the people that would come out of the
(09:00):
woodwork and go you met on reality TV.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Surprise, surprise, it didn't work. The thing is, it did work.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
We met on a reality TV show, We fell in love,
we got married, and we've spent the most incredible years together.
That's not a failure of the relationship. It's not another
bachelor couple has failed. I don't see it as a
failure at all.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I would imagine those people, though didn't watch the show,
probably not because that was a very beautiful series and
it was a very open series. Also because of where
you were at with your mom, and because he was
very beautiful, and the tension between Lee and Maddy j
(09:45):
and all of that, Like people were just you let
people see you, and I.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Do that probably to a fault, But I like that
about myself that I do that, because I think if
people are walking around the world guarded and trying to
put on a face or put on a show, that's
only doing a disservice to yourself. So I've always been
very old, open and vulnerable, and going into that show,
I didn't look at it as a show.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I looked at it as.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
This opportunity has come to me for a reason, this
is how I meet my person.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I took it really seriously, I.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Know, which is amazing actually for someone who's got a background.
I mean, you were a journalist, but very much well prior. Yeah,
you were, I don't even want to say just a journalist,
but you were a journalist and newsreader. And I would
have thought that someone who knew enough about television would
have been more cynical than you were, and yet you
(10:46):
were not.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
No.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I very much saw it as a sign I was
approached about applying.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I wasn't just handed the gig, but I was approached
to see if I wanted to apply, and I thought,
this can't be for no reason. There's got to be
a reason I meant to be doing this. I always
say I'd rather have a regret than go through life
thinking what if, because I think that does plays more.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
On your mind if you always going, oh what it
is on that? Yeah, what if? So that's what I think.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, I went into it very seriously in that way,
and I think that's what came across. And it's such
a beautiful group of boys men on my season as well.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I was very very lucky.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
And it's really nice to for you to say that
that came across, because I think if anyone goes in
and people do go into these kinds of shows wanting
to come across a certain way or wanting something out
of it, that isn't actually what the show is there for.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Well, particularly then, and I mean things have changed quite
rapidly because now when you watch reality, you know it's
basically a bunch of rotters who want to who want
to get a teeth for near you know, sponsorship or
good on them.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
But that wasn't the case then, no, and I think
a big.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Difference when we did it, and then of course all
the years before, we weren't even allowed to use social
media until three months after the show, so it was
not a part of.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
It at all. What was social media then I can't.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
It was Instagram, yeah, but the world of influences and
influencing was very fresh, and it was you know, it
was kind of celebrities would do things like that.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
But I don't even know if the term influencer was really.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Around or used, but so we weren't even allowed to
use it at all. So that was not something that
would ever cross your mind going on to it, whereas
I think now, because so many people have had such
success in that world, of course from going that has
been sparked by going on reality TV, there's a difference
in priorities for people going on a lot of those shows.
(12:57):
It's certainly not everyone, but it does feel like sometimes
you're seeing comes across a bit like people are going, right,
what will give me the most airtime on this show,
because then that will give me the most social media followers.
And I think that's a big difference from those early
days of these kind of shows.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
You've had such a period of intensity that I'm like,
how did you even process like the passing of your
mum at the same time as you said like that
in the midst of the Bachelor finale, and.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
All of that.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Then been catapulted into this into this world where there
was a big appetite for you and a hunger. And
it's a really intense period that post bachelor where you know,
I was on radio, we'd always talk to the bachelor
of bachelorette at the time, and yet you had this
also massive loss and these massive material or career opportunities
(14:01):
as well.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
How did you handle that? And you had Lee who was.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Not media savvy, no, and we were brand knew, brand new.
We were getting to know each other and he's getting
to know me through the depths of my grief, getting
to know my family that way. He met all of
my friends and family at mum's funeral. A what a rollercoaster.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I can't think of any other term.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
It was the highest of HIGs and the lowest of
lows that year, and though they've continued, the high heighs
and low lows have very much.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Continued since then. To answer your question, I don't know
how I handled it. I don't know. That was the
path I was dealt.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So I had to because Mum died so soon after
the show. All of that media intensity in terms of,
as you say, going on the radio shows and talking
about the show and everything that was pulled back. Of course,
Channel ten and the producers understood that that wasn't anyone's
priority at that time, so I was very grateful for that.
(15:04):
It wasn't I wasn't thrust into that as much as
other people are after the shows, and then I certainly
didn't put myself out there looking for new jobs and
jumping for opportunities or anything, because I was dealing with
the toughest period in my life and I didn't know
how to deal with that, being rallying around my dad
(15:26):
and my family, trying to deal with what life looks
like now, as I was getting to know Lee and
seeing what our relationship is going to look like too.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So I think I have been I don't like the
word luck.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I was going to say, I think I've been lucky,
but I think that's unfair when people use that word
too much.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Why do you say that?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Because I think people work for what they've got. I
think people can be fortunate. I think that's very different
to luck. So I think I was fortunate that I've
been able to go on since that time and still
do my media work. But again, maybe that's not even fortune,
and that was operation Yeah, and eight years of work
(16:12):
in the media before I was on The Bachelorette two.
I just tried to live my life and work out
what that new life looked like throughout the end of
twenty sixteen without thinking or worrying about anything else. And
I suppose the fortune slash luck, whatever you want to
call it, came from when I did start working again
(16:35):
into twenty seventeen. My time out of the media wasn't
looked at as time away.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And that's probably something from working in the media so long.
You know, you've got to hustle and got to work
up that ladder. And that was a bit of a
scary thing for me, even because you.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Do think that that that opportunity knocking is not.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I might not be there right, but that wasn't the
priority at the time. My priority was my family and
my own mental health. So I suppose that's what I
mean about the fortune came from the fact that I
don't feel like I lost any opportunity or you know,
going away or underground for a certain amount of time
didn't mean all the work I had done on my
(17:16):
career beforehand went away.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
But when you say in twenty seventeen that that was
when you first kind of came out of your seclusion, Yeah,
relative seclusion. What was the opportunity that lured you out
or what was the feeling where you were like, I'm
ready to do this.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
The reason for that was because I love my job
so much.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I've only ever wanted to do journalism since I was thirteen,
and I love it so much. I've loved every single
day of my work in that industry. So I really
missed it. I wanted to go back to work. I
wanted to be doing that again.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
And I do think work is underestimated, oh big time.
And in times of pain, work is a salvation.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
That is so true. Okay, that's exactly what feeling at
the moment. Going through this separation is such a difficult time, emotionally,
such a difficult time. I love my work so much.
I love my job so much. I've got most beautiful colleagues.
I know where I am to be every day. I
(18:26):
know that I'm needed, i know that I'm value to there.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
What are you doing at the moment.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
I'm doing radio news for Gold Okay, Yeah, and I
love it.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
And only someone who's in a certain degree of life
pain could think that the news cycle.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
That shows I am actually a journal, but it is
that's been such a salvation for me.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
And I know the.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Difference as well, because there have been periods in my life,
and you know, since Mum died in the last few years,
I've had periods where I haven't had work as.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
A salvation and that has been horrible.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, so I agree with you entirely that I think
work can be underestimated as a source of joy and
a source of routine is really good for the brain
as well, especially when you're going through a tough time.
To have something at least that is a foundation and
is solid, because I feel like everything else in my
life right now is not that, and everything is turning
(19:29):
quickly and looking differently, and I don't know what the
next year will look like, let alone the next five
or ten. And having that consistency of work that I
love and people around me that I love and are
supportive has just been a godsend.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
It's like that conventional wisdom that you can if you've
got you've got the three pillars. You know, your home,
your love life, and your work, and you can operate
with two of like one of them being a bit wobbly,
but at the moment, aside from the work, you're kind
of in flux.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, I've certainly only got one that's a real at
the moment, the other to a certainly wobbly. But having
that one as such a strong feller is it adds
a godsend. After this short break, Georgia Love reflects on
her cancelation, what she's learnt from it, and how she
(20:29):
moved forward.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Don't go anywhere. If you look at the unimaginable but
real loss of your mum along the way the slings
and arrows of life, do you think the losses that
you've incurred, do you think that all of that has
(20:53):
led to perhaps the end of your marriage or this
state of flux that you find yourself in now.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I don't think any of it has led to it,
but I do think there's a real compounding.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Feeling of grief.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, as you say, the loss of my mum, the
loss of my job. I was. I hate the term canceled,
but that's the term that people use a few years ago,
and I lost my job after that.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Why was this in twenty twenty one or was this
the cat? Yes, picture the cat in the restaurant like
this is so crazy to even say that is a sentence,
but that lead to you losing your job?
Speaker 1 (21:34):
It did.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I posted something on Instagram that I didn't realize on
posting that would or could be taken as offensive. I
was immediately called out on that and told that it
was and was mortified. Immediately took it down and apologized.
But I had upset and.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Offended a lot of people in that And who were
these people? Now, this is what I find very interesting
about when you look at the pleathuare of people that
come across our paths in public life. And it seems
to me that some people are forgiven for things and
some people are not. And what is it do you
(22:14):
think that led to you not being forgiven?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I think there were probably a lot of factors. It
was during COVID, It was towards the end of COVID,
and it was that time and all were as well,
when both Melbourne and Sydney were in their longest lockdowns.
At the time, everyone was chomping at the bit. Everyone
(22:42):
was angry at the world and at each other and whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
And online and so you know, it was Podcasts were
going through the roof, and social media was going through
the roof because people's only access to the world was
through that, so everything was amplified, and it was.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
The only These were the only kind of things that
were happening that weren't COVID related. There was no news
that wasn't about cod course, so everything else was amplified
because that's what was happening. So I do think that
was part of the reason it became as big as
it did. That doesn't take away from the fact that
I said something that offended people.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
It's certainly no excuse for that.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I do think that's a part of why it became
as big and as well known as it did at
the time. I also think that there is an element
of because I was a journalist, I should have known better,
and because I was a former reality TV person, it's
easy and fun to put them down, right, it's not
(23:42):
easy and fun to put them down, but that's right
people with an.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Element of sport to.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
It, because it's almost like because I do think in
cases like that that sometimes it comes from within.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
The biggest commentary from people you know, openly and loudly publicly,
from people that I don't and didn't associate with.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
People.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
What do you mean, like professional people or ordinate ordinary
boot both.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
But you know, there were a number of people who
wrote public opinion pieces and open letters and used me
as an example of the worst type of racism and
the worst of the worst that there is. And these
were people who didn't say anything to me. They didn't
reach out to me to say, this is why I
(24:32):
believe what you said was wrong.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I hope you learn from this.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
The people that came out and spoke about that publicly
in a negative way never reached out to me personally,
and I've I've got a real issue with that because
I think, what's the point of calling someone out and
this public vitriol against them if you're not having the
conversations with them, if you're saying what anyone has said
(24:56):
is wrong, then they need to learn from that.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
So you need to be talking to them about it.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
But also there needs to be some sort of perspective,
which and that's why a lot of the time, perspective
wasn't around.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I don't even know if it is now.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
But I also think that people are in a period
of disconnection from themselves. We live in a time we
have had to put the you know, the cross the
street lights on the pavement, and I myself am in
the grip of the you know, it's a it's a
proper thing. And as people feel that they're connected, they're
(25:33):
actually increasingly disconnected in that situation. And I work in
the media, as you know, and there are times when
you get blowback on stuff and you reflect yourself, like
what role did I play in this? You always have
to do this in a relationship, in a friendship whatever.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
I'm not you, obviously, but I can't see it for you.
I can't see what it is about you.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
I seem to be easy to dislike. I guess I
don't think I'm unlikable. It maybe feels like it's almost
the opposite. I think I've been nice and I've been kind,
and I've kind of kept my head down and just
done my work and enjoyed that and enjoyed my life.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And maybe that's.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
The reason people go, oh, there's something, there's something there.
You know, there are people too good to be true,
almost like you know, it's too nice, it must be
something got to rip it down. There are people who
say and do things that you know are wrong or
are taken in the wrong way. They're people who are
(26:40):
always outspoken, so it's almost like the pushback and the
strength that comes from them sharing their opinions so often
means they can say the wrong thing and go, Okay,
I acknowledge that was the wrong thing, but we'll move
on and no one cares. But because and probably because
I've always worked in news, I don't talk about my opinions.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
I don't strogers and userider has to. Yeah, I'm high
neutrality to it. I'm strong in my personality.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
But I've never been someone that's, you know, had one
of those podcasts where you sit there and talk about
your opinion on what's happened on the news this week
or what someone has said on social media.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
So maybe is there a part of you now that thinks,
oh fuck it, I may as well, or are you just.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Not wired that way.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I'm not wired that way, I think from being in
news forever. But if anything, that period has made me
more guarded, not guarded about what I say, really guarded
in myself.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Put a lot of walls up from that.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
That period really damaged me and really has changed me
as a person. Not my nature or my core, but
the way I react to things or where my mind
jumps to. You know, still to this day, if or
when my boss calls me, my heart sinks and I go,
(28:04):
oh God, what's happened.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
What's happened? I can't shake that.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
And you know, I've done work and I've moved on
from that period in my life. But it really has
changed me. It made me probably go inwards a lot
more and be a bit more independent in myself because
it's probably taught me that you can only rely on
(28:30):
yourself everything you do and say you're the one that's
accountable for And yeah, it's probably made me go within
a bit more. And then even shortly after that time,
I had a really bad friendship breakup, which I think
that people don't place enough emphasis on how heartbreaking they
(28:52):
can be. Yes, and that compounding on top of losing
my job as well, kind of all within the space
of about six months.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, it kind of really changed to my So this friendship,
what was the nature of this friendship?
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Seventeen years of best friends, very very close, the person
that was literally sitting in the hotel room the second
I finished filming Bachelorette there with open arms, and that
friendship fell apart for reasons I still don't understand and
have come to terms with the fact that I won't.
(29:29):
But that was really traumatic, and I think people don't
think about that. People think about the loss of romantic
relationships and realize that for someone else. If you're going
through a separation or you've been dumped or you've been divorced,
people sympathize with that more. But I think friendship breakups
(29:52):
aren't given gravity.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
That they aren't.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
They are devastating. That was a real grief for me
and remains that way. But life changes, relationships change, people change,
and this is what I'm learning more more.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Can you give me your hand?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah, Oh, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Oh my goodness. People go through so much worse, people
go through so much.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It doesn't it doesn't. They're not in the room with us. Now,
do you know what I mean? You don't have to
have everything bad happen to you in the world for
what's happening to you to not be bad.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
And you've had You've had a lot in a quite
compressed period of time.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I do laugh about the fact that I had a
very very, very easy and wonderful and privileged twenty seven years, right.
I feel like someone or something up above went, oh shit,
we forgot.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
To give any bad things to Georgia.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Just because it is like that, is it that seven
year cycle? But hang on, I know that's a nine
year cycle three twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Well, there we go.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
That makes sense because it's nine years this time and
Lee and I have just split, so there's it's the nineties.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
But also I think that I mean, I'm not a shrink,
but we know a lot more now about trauma and
we recognize it in ourselves and loss and you know,
PTSDN to a certain extent, these terms are almost by
being bandied about, but I don't think in your case
(31:31):
that they are. So what processing have you even you're
talking about losing your girlfriend and I've had and most
of our listeners will have had.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Some experience of that.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
It is so it is down to the bedrock of
your soul, because as you said, there's a lot of
respect paid for if people have lost a romantic love
or even a parent or a relative or whatever. But
what's not factored into the loss of a true friend
(32:06):
is that you have opened yourself to them in ways
that you never do to your parent or even to
a partner.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
And there's also the side of it as well that
with a romantic relationship, if you are monogamous, then that
is the one person you're choosing to be with. So
it does get to a point for many people that
for whatever reason, that's the person that isn't going to
be your one person that you're in a romantic relationship with.
(32:37):
But friendships you can have as many as you want,
So a friendship breakup or friendship loss cuts really deep
because you kind of go, well, you can have as
many as you want, so to choose not to have
someone anymore feels like more of a choice.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Oh, yes, you know what I mean. I do think that.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
It's a painful tiara to be crowned with. But some people,
I respect you for show yourself and showing your loss
and showing your pain. And I don't mean that in
a victimy kind of way. These are just these are.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Just things that have happened, things that have happened, and
I think the kind of look at those three losses,
let's call it that mum, my job, and my friend.
The grief of those things has been very different, of course,
but has really compounded, but they've all been things that
have happened that I haven't expected or I haven't really
(33:43):
had a conscious choice. In of course, I had no
say over whether.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Mum died or not.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I didn't expect to lose my job. I didn't expect
to lose this friend. So with Lee and I separating,
one of the hardest parts of that has been choosing
to enter into a period of loss and grief again
(34:08):
right because I'm so tired, and it was very, very hard.
At the end of last year, there was a lot
of speculation around whether we had split. You know, we'll
being followed a bit to see if we were seen together.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Or whether we were wearing our wedding rings or anything.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
And I understand that that's part of being in the
public eye, especially because we met in a public way.
I do understand that, so I don't begrudge that, but
it was very very hard while I was trying to
come to terms with what was happening. Because Lee and
I have made this decision together doesn't mean it makes
(34:47):
me happy.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
It doesn't.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
I'm really really sad about it, and trying to process
that myself.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Was hard enough.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Deciding to or knowing when was the right time to
put it out there publicly, which.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
No one should have to.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
And no, we didn't have too, but we felt like
that was the right thing to do.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
But that's not a reason to stay in something either.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
I was having this conversation with a girlfriend of mine
only last week, and she lost her dad when he
was six when she was sixteen, and she's just had
a lot of grief in her life. And she's one
of these really brave people who, when she sees it
in other people, runs towards it to be of assistance.
(35:39):
But she said a similar thing. She said she now
realizes she needs and she's had therapy and whatever, and
she works as a counselor to other grieving.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Wow, amazing people.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
But she's realized herself now that as you travel through life,
more bad things are going to happen. That's it, and there's
going to be more grief and more loss. And she said,
I can't. I can't take it. I can't take it.
So now she's gone looking for, you know, a deep
(36:14):
dive to work out how she can take it.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Yeah, because that's the thing too, that's what I have felt.
But you do because you have to, because that's life.
You say, you're going to go through bad things, some
that you know you're going to go through, some that
come unexpectedly.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yes, a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Of people say to me, you know, how did you
get through that period, or how did you do that?
Speaker 1 (36:38):
You shouldn't do it. People will always say that I
couldn't do it. Yes, you could. You have to, You
have to. That's the cards that life has dealt.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
That's not all of my conversation with Georgia. Up next,
we talk about how she started the process of healing
after her split and the magical powers of friendship.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
What do you do? So you went overseas?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, I did so, and that trip had always been planned.
So one of my best friends in the world, who
I met on the school bus when we were.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Fifteen, he moved to New York a.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Year ago, so I handed and he loves musical theater
as well, so perfect.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
We spent the whole time on Broadway. I had always
planned to go there. It was going to be my
first Christmas and New Year period without him, which sounds
like such a funny thing, but he was very much
part of my family as well, so I had always
planned to go and spend that time with him in
New York.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Anyway, the timing.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Just ended up being even more perfect than I realized
it would be when it was boring, because I went
over there and spent that time with Aba, my friend,
and it was amazing taking.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Myself out of that bubble.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
When you're going through something, no matter what it is,
it can feel like it is everything. It's taking over
your life, it's taking over your world, and it's very
easy to think that other people are all looking at
you thinking that thing too. But stepping outside of that,
you realize that isn't everything for everyone else, and even yourself.
(38:26):
Me physically removing myself from the you know where I
live and seeing people every day that are asking about
the relationship and have.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Any anonymity of being in New York, that's it I was.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I was meeting people as Arba's friend. You know, no
one knew or cared had context you, and it was
very freeing and it was It gave me a lot
of strength and realizing that I am not just Georgia
Love who was on the Bachelorette. I've never thought that
about myself. I'm very strong willed and I have a
(39:00):
strong belief in myself. But it was also very easy
to fall into feeling like, well, if I'm not that,
if I'm no longer with that person, will I have
disappointed people? And of course I'm meeting people that don't
know anything about that and don't care anything about that,
and of course that's not a big deal to anyone.
(39:23):
I think it made me realize I wasn't I haven't failed,
I don't le and I's marriage didn't fail. It's ended,
that doesn't mean it's failed. And I think a lot
of me stepping out of being in the depths of that,
stepping out of that and spending time with other people,
(39:46):
not having that be the thing on the front of
my mind and the thing that everyone is asking about, and.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
You're identifying like you have a brand on your forehead,
and of course I don't know, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
You know, people aren't looking at me and going, oh,
that's the girl that was on the Bachelorette nine years ago.
That's not a thing. But it was even in my friendships,
I really withdrew in myself a lot because I didn't.
It's so exhausting going through these emotions yourself, let alone,
then sitting down and always talking about it. But the
(40:20):
timing of it New York in the end and ended
up being perfect. What did you see, by the way,
I saw Hamilton obviously my favorite of all times.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Sunset Boulevard with Nicole Scherzinger, oh mind, pussy Cat John
playing She was incredible.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
The Tony Awards so Audra McDonald and Gypsy also amazing.
I saw Awful One, which was only on for a
short time, but it was famous Broadway people reading short plays.
It was amazing. I saw Titanic, which the beautiful Calum Francis.
So did you see Kinky Boots when it was in Australia?
Speaker 3 (41:05):
No?
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Not so the leading Kinky Boots is over there. Amazing.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
I saw or a show called Teeth maybe happy ending
and the Outsiders and you, well.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
You know what is interesting about you?
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Because you've got yourself kind of musical theater energy.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Do you know what?
Speaker 3 (41:23):
Yeah, you come in like you could play the lead
in Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Do you know what you may peep in your step?
I've always said I have.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
No one can ever doubt the enthusiasm and passion I
have for musical theater.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Unfortunately I can't not met with Dallas. I'm the same,
I mean, I love.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Me musical or maybe we can just we can do
some Karryoke together one but.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
That's a very therapeutic thing to do. It is escapism.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
And also most musicals also have a point at which
you cry, oh God, yeah, oh God.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Yes, So all of that is very good.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
It was, and I saw some of them by myself
when you know, I was at work some days and
you were just so bang up for absolutely, because I
was there for two and a half weeks, so he
had to go back to work at some point.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
But it's New.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
York and it was snowing and it was so great.
It was such a good time. And even that spending
days just walking by myself, deciding to go to a
show by myself.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
And seeing different things.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
And realizing I can go through life on my own.
I've never thought that I can't. I have never been
someone that has thought I need a partner, but being
in the depths of but it went on the Bachelorette.
No because I wanted a partner. I'm very staunch. I
don't think anyone needs a partner. I never felt I
needed one. When I went on the Bachelorette. I was
(42:46):
at a point in my life where Mum had just
been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
That changed my.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Perspective on everything. I'd always moved around for jobs because
my job came first, My career came first, and relationships
had inevitably fallen apart because of that because I was
up and leaving and going into state numerous times. So
when Mum was diagnosed, that really changed that perspective.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
I kind of went, well, who do I have?
Speaker 2 (43:15):
What do I have as my support if the worst happens.
I also looked at Mum and Dad and their relationship,
and Mum going through that and having Dad there made
me look at that and.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Go, oh, that it is. It is pretty.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Important to have support and love if you can find it.
So that's pretty important, it is, George, I do have
support and love around me. Of course it doesn't have
such a siting is still. I mean to give credit
to Lee, not that you're not giving always will, but
what an extraordinary man to fall in love with you
(43:54):
and then to shoulder your burdens with you. That came
so rapidly and unexpected. In with young love, you don't.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Normally expect that you're going to fall in love with
a girl who's in the process of saying goodbye to
her mum.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
All of those things are so hard on him. He
has been an amazing support through those times. He's been
very supportive of me through all those stages. And I
don't think people give the partners of someone going through
quote unquote something the time and respect.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
That they need as well.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Because people were rallying around me when Mum had died,
but he was shouldering that too.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
That was difficult on him too. He didn't know how
to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
When I lost my job and felt like public enemy
number one for a long time. That was difficult for
him because I was in the depths of that sounds
so dramatic, depths of despair, but I was very not
well mentally for quite some time, and he's trying to
(45:02):
pick me up through that too, and that of course
affected his life.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
You know, people go through.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Things at different stages of their lives. We have both
and each gone through big things in our nine years together,
and things that inevitably have changed us as people. And
some of those things we have grown together through and
other parts we've sadly grown apart, probably due to those
(45:34):
changes in who we are as people because of the situations.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Well, pressure makes diamonds, and pressure can also cleave a
mountain into Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
And we've been through so much in nine years, good
and bad, and unfortunately the relationship has ended in terms
of being each other's romantic partner. But we have weathered
(46:06):
a lot together and have a deep, deep love and
respect for each other, and I truly hope we always will.
I think we always will, but I hope we always will.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
I think in a.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Breakup after a long period of time, which I've also had,
you almost if there's deep love there have to help
each other navigate through it, which is so painful. But
(46:40):
it's a measure of the it's a measure of the connection.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Because I don't know, I've never had to go through
a really hard period without him, yes, which I probably
never thought about that really until just then.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
I haven't.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
The first bad thing that ever happened to me was
losing my mum.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
So give me a hand, oh my darling. Yeah, And
I think that's a really hard part of this as well.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
We are helping each other through it as much as
we can, but realistically there's obviously parts of it we
can't either.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Yeah, it's hard. I've just never I never expected to
be here.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
I mean, if you always try to look for the
lesson in something, which is sometimes an exercise in tedium
or listening to people do it on podcasts, But if
there is something that you have learned through you know,
the battering of life, and like you said, there's worse batterings,
(47:51):
but it's battering.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
It's absolutely battering.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
You don't have to be qualifying what you have suffered
and what you have lost.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
What have you learned about grief?
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Well, that everyone faces it, that there are so many
different levels of it and facets of it.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
I think we use the word grief to talk about
the loss of someone.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
I think grief is usually spoken about in terms of
the death of someone, but grief can come in many forms.
Deep down, the feeling of loss is the same, but
different shapes. I think the loss of Mum is very
different because that's something that cannot be changed and will
not be changed, and it's looking forward to a hopefully
(48:41):
long life of that loss always being there. Nothing and
no one will replace that. The loss of the friend
that can be filled because I've got other beautiful friends,
the loss of my partnership with Lee, that exact hole
won't be filled because every relationship is different. But I
(49:04):
don't look ahead to the rest of my life and
think that that will be a hole forever like I
do with a loss of mum.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
Right, angus, have you got any tissues? Sorry? So sorry, No,
I just I could use one as well. Actually, what
a terrible mother I am, What a terrible mother?
Speaker 1 (49:26):
I have tissues in my bag. I know him from.
Speaker 3 (49:33):
Your public falling in love and that he's not a
shallow character. No, no, And he's a person of great
depth and also had a huge and has I don't know,
I'm assuming has a huge love for you.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Yeah. And also it's in your name. There will be
more laugh There will.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
Be more laugh, yes, I hope, so I believe there
will be two. Are you too immersed in where you
are at the moment to have a forward projection for yourself,
even in a vague sort of sceense. Is there even
a shape on your mental vision board of your future? No?
Speaker 2 (50:12):
But they're also they kind of never has been because
I don't know if I blame this on my career
or if it is it is realistically because of my career.
But there's not a clear path in the media industry.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
And certainly not anymore. Oh gosh, no, exactly.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
So I've always been of that belief that I've not
ever had a five year plan and gone, I'll do this,
so I can do that, so I can do that
in my career.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
So I haven't done that in my life.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Either, because opportunities come, opportunities go away. I don't think
you can plan out anything really solidly, and if you
try to, you're more likely going to feel disappointed. So
I don't believe in these resolutions either. I don't know
what's going to happen that year. What about personally? Like
(51:04):
the is a relationship something that you want?
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Yeah, it is? It is. I love having a partner
through life.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
I've got very close friendships, and I deeply love my
poetry people.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
My cat is the love of my life.
Speaker 2 (51:23):
She really is, and now officially the longest relationship I've
ever had, which is a bit sad, right, how long
she's ten?
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Right? I had her for always, haid, I had her
for you before I had to leave, and he had
to get over his allergies and dislike for cats. Yes,
and he did so very well. He's a very good
cat dad.
Speaker 2 (51:44):
No, I think personally, for me, I need to get
through this period. It's not quick, you know, it's not
quick to go through any of this. I'm very lucky
to feel there's that word again, to feel very solid
in my work at the moment and really enjoying that.
So I know I've got that to focus on as
(52:04):
I deal with and move forward with everything else.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Do you do you think, because I say this as
a mother, I believe that a mother's love is the
most enduring love. Do you feel like your mum is
with you and will guide you through this?
Speaker 1 (52:26):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (52:26):
I'm not particularly spiritual. I don't, you know, feel her
with me or anything. But I think the way I
feel like she's with me is because she was a
very strong woman and very opinionated, and we always knew
(52:48):
what she was thinking. And this is something we laugh
about in the family, is you know, at least will
never be sitting here going, oh God, what would mom say?
Speaker 1 (52:58):
She would say?
Speaker 2 (52:59):
And I do find comfort in that as well, because
I don't sit there and think, you know, God, what
would she tell me to do?
Speaker 1 (53:05):
What's been really hard is not.
Speaker 4 (53:08):
Having her here through this period. There have been so
many times that I've just said, I just want my mom.
I don't think it matters what age you are. I
just want my mom. Yeah, but that's life, isn't it.
That's one of the fuck things about Yeah.
Speaker 3 (53:30):
As well, like this, I know and I love that
you can say still talk about yourself as lucky, which
you are.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
Fortunate in many ways. We know that.
Speaker 3 (53:45):
Your mother has also bestowed her blessings upon you already,
like beauty and grace, and I am very stamina musicals.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
That's definitely her fault.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
One thing I really have grappled with, and that's been
very difficult for me, is.
Speaker 1 (54:09):
The fact that Lee met mum. She was very, very sick,
he did, but she knew him. Yeah, she died.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Knowing I was with him. And it's been very difficult
to think about the prospect of potentially.
Speaker 3 (54:31):
Being someone else that doesn't know your mom, that didn't
know your mom, and that she didn't she didn't know.
Speaker 2 (54:38):
And I know that silly, because whether you're spiritual or not.
If you're not spiritual, you go, what doesn't matter. She
doesn't know anyway, she's dead. If you are spiritual, you go, well,
she knows what's going on with you all the time.
Speaker 1 (54:51):
But I feel sad that she.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
Thought my life was going one way and it has
that path has changed.
Speaker 1 (55:06):
I feel sad about that as well. I feel sad.
I'm just sad.
Speaker 3 (55:12):
There is stuff to be sad about, and that is
part of the journey of life, is that some things
will make you sad and some things will make you happy.
Speaker 1 (55:26):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
And I'm having both of them all the time. You know,
I'm not just in a period of all darkness.
Speaker 1 (55:33):
At you join my life. I've established that you're very lucky.
Oh God, I want anyone here, and I had to
go for exactly exactly. I just don't. I don't want
anyone to you know what, Oh God, where things happen.
I know, I know.
Speaker 3 (55:51):
Some things you just have to let in and settle,
even though it's like being in yoga when the stretch
is so painful that monkey mind just wants to make
you run away from it. And I hope the road
rises to meet you because.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
You've shared yourself.
Speaker 3 (56:13):
So much with people, and I even think that this
exchange will help so many people. So much of what
you're experiencing is is just universal.
Speaker 1 (56:25):
That's it. Yeah, I'm not special. You know, lots of
people go through you can also be special. You can
also be special. Okay, you're so self effacing. I'm I'm
very confident in myself.
Speaker 2 (56:40):
I am so I'm not only self effacing at all.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
I know what it is.
Speaker 3 (56:45):
I know that you don't want to be seen and
we all have that to be, you know, to be
sort of like self absorbed or like suffering or the
fact is sometimes there's shit to cry about.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
That's it. Yeah, and I do is the time, and
I do.
Speaker 2 (57:02):
I think one thing from doing my podcast everyone has
an X is hearing everyone's story. So the way that
I do that show is I sit down with the
person and interview them is probably the wrong term. They
tell me their story and those interviews go for about
two and a half hours every time, and every person's
(57:23):
story is different. Every person's story has touched them and
changed them in a way and has been devastating for them,
and then being able to put that story out there
for other people. And the feedback that I get from
that is that other people's stories have helped them, even
if it's one person that hears and goes I'm not
(57:45):
alone in feeling that.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
And yes, I suppose the irony of it all is it.
Everyone does, Yes, they do. Some people have more than one. Yes.
Georgia Love, I love you, Oh, I love you.
Speaker 2 (58:01):
Thank you so much. Thank you for letting me cry
and name musicals and talk about Petri.
Speaker 1 (58:10):
Two of my at least two of them are my
favorite things. Thank you a musical. Oh, there we go.
Speaker 3 (58:21):
I think it's always a bit of an honor to
get to talk to someone about love and loss, and
in the context of Georgia who had lost her mum,
it's always interesting to feel and to hear what she
wishes she could tell her. Also, what fun to talk
(58:42):
about show tunes? And that's life, isn't it. It's hard
and it's easy, and it's dark and it's light. If
you would like to listen to Georgia Love's podcast, everyone
has an X.
Speaker 1 (58:55):
We put a link in the show notes.
Speaker 3 (58:58):
The executive producer of No Filter is Naima Brown and
the senior producer is Grace Rufrey. Audio production is by
Jacob Brown and I'm your host, Kateline Brook.
Speaker 1 (59:09):
Thanks for listening.
You're listening to a MoMA mia podcast. Mama Miya acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
That's been a big part of what has been difficult
about making the public announcement that we have decided to separate,
because I don't want to feel like I've.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Let anyone down.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Sorry, I'm getting teary about this because it's so silly,
because it's not about anyone else. But so many people
say often that they look at our relationship and feel
like that gives them hope.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Hi, I'm Kate lane Brook and welcome to No Filter.
Georgia Love and yes that is her real name, has
always had a lot of love to give. Almost a
decade ago, she stepped onto our screens as the bachelorette
search for just that love. She found it too, forming
(01:13):
a relationship in the public eye that captured hearts around
the country. But now, almost ten years on, that same
relationship is ending, also in full view of the public.
Georgia is no stranger to loss, both the kind she's
chosen to share with the world and the kind she's
(01:34):
fought fiercely to keep private from losing her mum just
days after her Bachelorette finale aired to navigating a very
public cancelation, stepping away from her career, losing friendships, and
now facing the end of a major chapter in her life.
Georgia has weathered more storms than most each time she's
(01:59):
picked herself up, rebuilt her life, and somehow stayed open hearted, resilient, vulnerable,
and tougher than she often gets credit. It four Georgia
Love is a woman who has lived many lives in
one and I think by the end of this conversation
you're going to fall a little bit in love with
(02:21):
Georgia Love too. Georgia Love, Hello, welcome to No Filter.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It's lovely to have you here in this chair. Well,
it's lovely to have you there in that chair. We
may be in the same chair, I mean, I like
that since you first came to our attention. Bachelorette twenty sixteen. Yeah,
the most remarkable that everyone, the whole nation was like,
(02:49):
it's her name Love, it's her name Love, and she's
looking for love.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
I'm sure that's why I got the gig. The promos
wrote themselves, Oh it.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Was, It's amazing. So Love is a blessing and has
proven to be. I think also your quest in.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Life, maybe, yeah, very much. I would hope it's everybody's.
I think as humans, we all strive for love, be
that a romantic relationship or friendships, or a love for
your career. I think we should all be striving for
love because that's what keeps us going.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
What's the point otherwise one minute in and already wisdom
my name by nature, Kate.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I have to believe that you know that self fulfilling prophecy.
You know that your name can propel you into a
certain course. You also have a podcast, a very successful
podcast called Everyone Has an X, and you now.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Have an X.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
That's why I'm putting the everyone in everyone has an X. Absolutely,
But this is the thing, right, it does what it
says on the tin.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Everyone does, and.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
It's true, you know, we all do. And I think
that hopefully people can see that. I always have and
will certainly continue to treat our guest stories with care
and understanding because I'm very much going through that myself.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
At the moment, when did.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
You start to realize that you and lay your beautiful
husband ex husband ex husband.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well not yet really, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
I don't know what you're still in that muddy where, yeah,
we're agreed to separate, but where yeah, there's certainly no
paperwork or anything done or that takes a long time.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Anyway. I feel very weird calling him my ex husband.
He doesn't. And this is.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Also a very interesting time to sit down and do
an interview, isn't it when you're Are you raw or
are you Yeah?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Very much?
Speaker 2 (04:43):
But I also know that I will be for a
long time. Lee and I were together for nine years
and married for four, So it's not it's not just
an ex you know, It's not something that in a
year's time I'll go, oh, the ex boyfriend, very very
much ingrained in each other's lives, you know, through share
(05:05):
family and friendships and.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
Horrible love, terrible disgusted. We'll say again, it's in my name.
My name's punned my whole life. I can't help it.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
But yeah, I don't think he'll ever feel like my
ex husband. I think we are very I think we
will always be very connected. We've shared such a beautiful
life together. I feel so, so so lucky and grateful
for that. We've gone through a lot in our nine years,
(05:41):
individually and as a couple, and We've had the most
wonderful time together as well, So I'll never look back
on our time together as an ex relationship or something
that I completely move on from.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
That's very much part of my life story and always
were woven into the fabric. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
I don't think any long term relationship at all, let
alone a marriage, and let alone a marriage that has
gone through big life changes, you know. The loss of
my mum started our relationship. That was the day after
our bachelorette finale, my mom passed away. So we've shared
too much together and we have too much love for
(06:25):
each other and respect of each other to look back
on any time with any negativity at all.
Speaker 3 (06:31):
There's an intimacy that the public have with you because
we watch you fall in love, and so how.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Is that when you are.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Consciously uncoupling from someone. But there's so many people that
have got fingers in the pie of your life, you know,
and feel entitled to a little piece of it because
we're invested in you.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, and I understand that.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
So that's been a big part of what has been
difficult about making the public announcement that we have decided
to separate, because.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
I don't want to feel like I've.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Let anyone down, which is so silly because it's not
about anyone else.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
It's just about us.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But people have been so wonderful following our story along
since the start, and I feel sorry I'm getting teary
about this because it's so silly because it's not.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
About anyone else.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But so many people say often that they look at
our relationship and.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Feel like that gives them hope, yes, that they'll.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Find their person, and they really Yeah, I've been very
sad about feeling like I've let people down, or we've
let people down.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Very much.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
Believe in love where we have not fallen out of love.
There has always been deep love there. But I don't
want people to be disappointed.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
No, And that's I understand what you're saying, because even
though people could go, oh, that's ridiculous, but it's not
as though there was There were only two of you
in the relationship. Obviously at an intimacy level, it was
whatever happened there. But you should feel like you can
serve yourself. But that's really hard. And also I understand
(08:24):
why you're moved. I think because it's the when you've
been through a rough time, people showing you kindness is
what can wipe the knees out from under you.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah, that's so true.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
That is what has moved me the most. To use
your words. You know, some people have been nasty, as
you can always expect with anyone that's in the public
eye at all. Online online, that's the thing. No one
ever comes up to your face and says nasty things.
It's only ever online. And of course I knew there
would be the people that would come out of the
(09:00):
woodwork and go you met on reality TV.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Surprise, surprise, it didn't work. The thing is, it did work.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
We met on a reality TV show, We fell in love,
we got married, and we've spent the most incredible years together.
That's not a failure of the relationship. It's not another
bachelor couple has failed. I don't see it as a
failure at all.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I would imagine those people, though didn't watch the show,
probably not because that was a very beautiful series and
it was a very open series. Also because of where
you were at with your mom, and because he was
very beautiful, and the tension between Lee and Maddy j
(09:45):
and all of that, Like people were just you let
people see you, and I.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Do that probably to a fault, But I like that
about myself that I do that, because I think if
people are walking around the world guarded and trying to
put on a face or put on a show, that's
only doing a disservice to yourself. So I've always been
very old, open and vulnerable, and going into that show,
I didn't look at it as a show.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
I looked at it as.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
This opportunity has come to me for a reason, this
is how I meet my person.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
I took it really seriously, I.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Know, which is amazing actually for someone who's got a background.
I mean, you were a journalist, but very much well prior. Yeah,
you were, I don't even want to say just a journalist,
but you were a journalist and newsreader. And I would
have thought that someone who knew enough about television would
have been more cynical than you were, and yet you
(10:46):
were not.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
No.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
I very much saw it as a sign I was
approached about applying.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I wasn't just handed the gig, but I was approached
to see if I wanted to apply, and I thought,
this can't be for no reason. There's got to be
a reason I meant to be doing this. I always
say I'd rather have a regret than go through life
thinking what if, because I think that does plays more.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
On your mind if you always going, oh what it
is on that? Yeah, what if? So that's what I think.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Yeah, I went into it very seriously in that way,
and I think that's what came across. And it's such
a beautiful group of boys men on my season as well.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
I was very very lucky.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
And it's really nice to for you to say that
that came across, because I think if anyone goes in
and people do go into these kinds of shows wanting
to come across a certain way or wanting something out
of it, that isn't actually what the show is there for.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Well, particularly then, and I mean things have changed quite
rapidly because now when you watch reality, you know it's
basically a bunch of rotters who want to who want
to get a teeth for near you know, sponsorship or
good on them.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
But that wasn't the case then, no, and I think
a big.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Difference when we did it, and then of course all
the years before, we weren't even allowed to use social
media until three months after the show, so it was
not a part of.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
It at all. What was social media then I can't.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
It was Instagram, yeah, but the world of influences and
influencing was very fresh, and it was you know, it
was kind of celebrities would do things like that.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
But I don't even know if the term influencer was really.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Around or used, but so we weren't even allowed to
use it at all. So that was not something that
would ever cross your mind going on to it, whereas
I think now, because so many people have had such
success in that world, of course from going that has
been sparked by going on reality TV, there's a difference
in priorities for people going on a lot of those shows.
(12:57):
It's certainly not everyone, but it does feel like sometimes
you're seeing comes across a bit like people are going, right,
what will give me the most airtime on this show,
because then that will give me the most social media followers.
And I think that's a big difference from those early
days of these kind of shows.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
You've had such a period of intensity that I'm like,
how did you even process like the passing of your
mum at the same time as you said like that
in the midst of the Bachelor finale, and.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
All of that.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Then been catapulted into this into this world where there
was a big appetite for you and a hunger. And
it's a really intense period that post bachelor where you know,
I was on radio, we'd always talk to the bachelor
of bachelorette at the time, and yet you had this
also massive loss and these massive material or career opportunities
(14:01):
as well.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
How did you handle that? And you had Lee who was.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Not media savvy, no, and we were brand knew, brand new.
We were getting to know each other and he's getting
to know me through the depths of my grief, getting
to know my family that way. He met all of
my friends and family at mum's funeral. A what a rollercoaster.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
I can't think of any other term.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
It was the highest of HIGs and the lowest of
lows that year, and though they've continued, the high heighs
and low lows have very much.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
Continued since then. To answer your question, I don't know
how I handled it. I don't know. That was the
path I was dealt.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So I had to because Mum died so soon after
the show. All of that media intensity in terms of,
as you say, going on the radio shows and talking
about the show and everything that was pulled back. Of course,
Channel ten and the producers understood that that wasn't anyone's
priority at that time, so I was very grateful for that.
(15:04):
It wasn't I wasn't thrust into that as much as
other people are after the shows, and then I certainly
didn't put myself out there looking for new jobs and
jumping for opportunities or anything, because I was dealing with
the toughest period in my life and I didn't know
how to deal with that, being rallying around my dad
(15:26):
and my family, trying to deal with what life looks
like now, as I was getting to know Lee and
seeing what our relationship is going to look like too.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
So I think I have been I don't like the
word luck.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
I was going to say, I think I've been lucky,
but I think that's unfair when people use that word
too much.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Why do you say that?
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Because I think people work for what they've got. I
think people can be fortunate. I think that's very different
to luck. So I think I was fortunate that I've
been able to go on since that time and still
do my media work. But again, maybe that's not even fortune,
and that was operation Yeah, and eight years of work
(16:12):
in the media before I was on The Bachelorette two.
I just tried to live my life and work out
what that new life looked like throughout the end of
twenty sixteen without thinking or worrying about anything else. And
I suppose the fortune slash luck, whatever you want to
call it, came from when I did start working again
(16:35):
into twenty seventeen. My time out of the media wasn't
looked at as time away.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
And that's probably something from working in the media so long.
You know, you've got to hustle and got to work
up that ladder. And that was a bit of a
scary thing for me, even because you.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Do think that that that opportunity knocking is not.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
I might not be there right, but that wasn't the
priority at the time. My priority was my family and
my own mental health. So I suppose that's what I
mean about the fortune came from the fact that I
don't feel like I lost any opportunity or you know,
going away or underground for a certain amount of time
didn't mean all the work I had done on my
(17:16):
career beforehand went away.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
But when you say in twenty seventeen that that was
when you first kind of came out of your seclusion, Yeah,
relative seclusion. What was the opportunity that lured you out
or what was the feeling where you were like, I'm
ready to do this.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
The reason for that was because I love my job
so much.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
I've only ever wanted to do journalism since I was thirteen,
and I love it so much. I've loved every single
day of my work in that industry. So I really
missed it. I wanted to go back to work. I
wanted to be doing that again.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
And I do think work is underestimated, oh big time.
And in times of pain, work is a salvation.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
That is so true. Okay, that's exactly what feeling at
the moment. Going through this separation is such a difficult time, emotionally,
such a difficult time. I love my work so much.
I love my job so much. I've got most beautiful colleagues.
I know where I am to be every day. I
(18:26):
know that I'm needed, i know that I'm value to there.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
What are you doing at the moment.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
I'm doing radio news for Gold Okay, Yeah, and I
love it.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
And only someone who's in a certain degree of life
pain could think that the news cycle.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
That shows I am actually a journal, but it is
that's been such a salvation for me.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
And I know the.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Difference as well, because there have been periods in my life,
and you know, since Mum died in the last few years,
I've had periods where I haven't had work as.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
A salvation and that has been horrible.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, so I agree with you entirely that I think
work can be underestimated as a source of joy and
a source of routine is really good for the brain
as well, especially when you're going through a tough time.
To have something at least that is a foundation and
is solid, because I feel like everything else in my
life right now is not that, and everything is turning
(19:29):
quickly and looking differently, and I don't know what the
next year will look like, let alone the next five
or ten. And having that consistency of work that I
love and people around me that I love and are
supportive has just been a godsend.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
It's like that conventional wisdom that you can if you've
got you've got the three pillars. You know, your home,
your love life, and your work, and you can operate
with two of like one of them being a bit wobbly,
but at the moment, aside from the work, you're kind
of in flux.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, I've certainly only got one that's a real at
the moment, the other to a certainly wobbly. But having
that one as such a strong feller is it adds
a godsend. After this short break, Georgia Love reflects on
her cancelation, what she's learnt from it, and how she
(20:29):
moved forward.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
Don't go anywhere. If you look at the unimaginable but
real loss of your mum along the way the slings
and arrows of life, do you think the losses that
you've incurred, do you think that all of that has
(20:53):
led to perhaps the end of your marriage or this
state of flux that you find yourself in now.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I don't think any of it has led to it,
but I do think there's a real compounding.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
Feeling of grief.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, as you say, the loss of my mum, the
loss of my job. I was. I hate the term canceled,
but that's the term that people use a few years ago,
and I lost my job after that.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
Why was this in twenty twenty one or was this
the cat? Yes, picture the cat in the restaurant like
this is so crazy to even say that is a sentence,
but that lead to you losing your job?
Speaker 1 (21:34):
It did.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
I posted something on Instagram that I didn't realize on
posting that would or could be taken as offensive. I
was immediately called out on that and told that it
was and was mortified. Immediately took it down and apologized.
But I had upset and.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Offended a lot of people in that And who were
these people? Now, this is what I find very interesting
about when you look at the pleathuare of people that
come across our paths in public life. And it seems
to me that some people are forgiven for things and
some people are not. And what is it do you
(22:14):
think that led to you not being forgiven?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
I think there were probably a lot of factors. It
was during COVID, It was towards the end of COVID,
and it was that time and all were as well,
when both Melbourne and Sydney were in their longest lockdowns.
At the time, everyone was chomping at the bit. Everyone
(22:42):
was angry at the world and at each other and whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
And online and so you know, it was Podcasts were
going through the roof, and social media was going through
the roof because people's only access to the world was
through that, so everything was amplified, and it was.
Speaker 2 (22:56):
The only These were the only kind of things that
were happening that weren't COVID related. There was no news
that wasn't about cod course, so everything else was amplified
because that's what was happening. So I do think that
was part of the reason it became as big as
it did. That doesn't take away from the fact that
I said something that offended people.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
It's certainly no excuse for that.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
I do think that's a part of why it became
as big and as well known as it did at
the time. I also think that there is an element
of because I was a journalist, I should have known better,
and because I was a former reality TV person, it's
easy and fun to put them down, right, it's not
(23:42):
easy and fun to put them down, but that's right
people with an.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Element of sport to.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
It, because it's almost like because I do think in
cases like that that sometimes it comes from within.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
The biggest commentary from people you know, openly and loudly publicly,
from people that I don't and didn't associate with.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
People.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
What do you mean, like professional people or ordinate ordinary
boot both.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
But you know, there were a number of people who
wrote public opinion pieces and open letters and used me
as an example of the worst type of racism and
the worst of the worst that there is. And these
were people who didn't say anything to me. They didn't
reach out to me to say, this is why I
(24:32):
believe what you said was wrong.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I hope you learn from this.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
The people that came out and spoke about that publicly
in a negative way never reached out to me personally,
and I've I've got a real issue with that because
I think, what's the point of calling someone out and
this public vitriol against them if you're not having the
conversations with them, if you're saying what anyone has said
(24:56):
is wrong, then they need to learn from that.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
So you need to be talking to them about it.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
But also there needs to be some sort of perspective,
which and that's why a lot of the time, perspective
wasn't around.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I don't even know if it is now.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
But I also think that people are in a period
of disconnection from themselves. We live in a time we
have had to put the you know, the cross the
street lights on the pavement, and I myself am in
the grip of the you know, it's a it's a
proper thing. And as people feel that they're connected, they're
(25:33):
actually increasingly disconnected in that situation. And I work in
the media, as you know, and there are times when
you get blowback on stuff and you reflect yourself, like
what role did I play in this? You always have
to do this in a relationship, in a friendship whatever.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
I'm not you, obviously, but I can't see it for you.
I can't see what it is about you.
Speaker 1 (25:57):
I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
I seem to be easy to dislike. I guess I
don't think I'm unlikable. It maybe feels like it's almost
the opposite. I think I've been nice and I've been kind,
and I've kind of kept my head down and just
done my work and enjoyed that and enjoyed my life.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
And maybe that's.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
The reason people go, oh, there's something, there's something there.
You know, there are people too good to be true,
almost like you know, it's too nice, it must be
something got to rip it down. There are people who
say and do things that you know are wrong or
are taken in the wrong way. They're people who are
(26:40):
always outspoken, so it's almost like the pushback and the
strength that comes from them sharing their opinions so often
means they can say the wrong thing and go, Okay,
I acknowledge that was the wrong thing, but we'll move
on and no one cares. But because and probably because
I've always worked in news, I don't talk about my opinions.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
I don't strogers and userider has to. Yeah, I'm high
neutrality to it. I'm strong in my personality.
Speaker 2 (27:09):
But I've never been someone that's, you know, had one
of those podcasts where you sit there and talk about
your opinion on what's happened on the news this week
or what someone has said on social media.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
So maybe is there a part of you now that thinks,
oh fuck it, I may as well, or are you just.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Not wired that way.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I'm not wired that way, I think from being in
news forever. But if anything, that period has made me
more guarded, not guarded about what I say, really guarded
in myself.
Speaker 1 (27:40):
Put a lot of walls up from that.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
That period really damaged me and really has changed me
as a person. Not my nature or my core, but
the way I react to things or where my mind
jumps to. You know, still to this day, if or
when my boss calls me, my heart sinks and I go,
(28:04):
oh God, what's happened.
Speaker 1 (28:06):
What's happened? I can't shake that.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
And you know, I've done work and I've moved on
from that period in my life. But it really has
changed me. It made me probably go inwards a lot
more and be a bit more independent in myself because
it's probably taught me that you can only rely on
(28:30):
yourself everything you do and say you're the one that's
accountable for And yeah, it's probably made me go within
a bit more. And then even shortly after that time,
I had a really bad friendship breakup, which I think
that people don't place enough emphasis on how heartbreaking they
(28:52):
can be. Yes, and that compounding on top of losing
my job as well, kind of all within the space
of about six months.
Speaker 1 (29:02):
Yeah, it kind of really changed to my So this friendship,
what was the nature of this friendship?
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Seventeen years of best friends, very very close, the person
that was literally sitting in the hotel room the second
I finished filming Bachelorette there with open arms, and that
friendship fell apart for reasons I still don't understand and
have come to terms with the fact that I won't.
(29:29):
But that was really traumatic, and I think people don't
think about that. People think about the loss of romantic
relationships and realize that for someone else. If you're going
through a separation or you've been dumped or you've been divorced,
people sympathize with that more. But I think friendship breakups
(29:52):
aren't given gravity.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
That they aren't.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
They are devastating. That was a real grief for me
and remains that way. But life changes, relationships change, people change,
and this is what I'm learning more more.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
Can you give me your hand?
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Yeah, Oh, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Oh my goodness. People go through so much worse, people
go through so much.
Speaker 3 (30:21):
It doesn't it doesn't. They're not in the room with us. Now,
do you know what I mean? You don't have to
have everything bad happen to you in the world for
what's happening to you to not be bad.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Yeah, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3 (30:34):
And you've had You've had a lot in a quite
compressed period of time.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I do laugh about the fact that I had a
very very, very easy and wonderful and privileged twenty seven years, right.
I feel like someone or something up above went, oh shit,
we forgot.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
To give any bad things to Georgia.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
Just because it is like that, is it that seven
year cycle? But hang on, I know that's a nine
year cycle three twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Well, there we go.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
That makes sense because it's nine years this time and
Lee and I have just split, so there's it's the nineties.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
But also I think that I mean, I'm not a shrink,
but we know a lot more now about trauma and
we recognize it in ourselves and loss and you know,
PTSDN to a certain extent, these terms are almost by
being bandied about, but I don't think in your case
(31:31):
that they are. So what processing have you even you're
talking about losing your girlfriend and I've had and most
of our listeners will have had.
Speaker 1 (31:44):
Some experience of that.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
It is so it is down to the bedrock of
your soul, because as you said, there's a lot of
respect paid for if people have lost a romantic love
or even a parent or a relative or whatever. But
what's not factored into the loss of a true friend
(32:06):
is that you have opened yourself to them in ways
that you never do to your parent or even to
a partner.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
And there's also the side of it as well that
with a romantic relationship, if you are monogamous, then that
is the one person you're choosing to be with. So
it does get to a point for many people that
for whatever reason, that's the person that isn't going to
be your one person that you're in a romantic relationship with.
(32:37):
But friendships you can have as many as you want,
So a friendship breakup or friendship loss cuts really deep
because you kind of go, well, you can have as
many as you want, so to choose not to have
someone anymore feels like more of a choice.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
Oh, yes, you know what I mean. I do think that.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
It's a painful tiara to be crowned with. But some people,
I respect you for show yourself and showing your loss
and showing your pain. And I don't mean that in
a victimy kind of way. These are just these are.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Just things that have happened, things that have happened, and
I think the kind of look at those three losses,
let's call it that mum, my job, and my friend.
The grief of those things has been very different, of course,
but has really compounded, but they've all been things that
have happened that I haven't expected or I haven't really
(33:43):
had a conscious choice. In of course, I had no
say over whether.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Mum died or not.
Speaker 2 (33:48):
I didn't expect to lose my job. I didn't expect
to lose this friend. So with Lee and I separating,
one of the hardest parts of that has been choosing
to enter into a period of loss and grief again
(34:08):
right because I'm so tired, and it was very, very hard.
At the end of last year, there was a lot
of speculation around whether we had split. You know, we'll
being followed a bit to see if we were seen together.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
Or whether we were wearing our wedding rings or anything.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
And I understand that that's part of being in the
public eye, especially because we met in a public way.
I do understand that, so I don't begrudge that, but
it was very very hard while I was trying to
come to terms with what was happening. Because Lee and
I have made this decision together doesn't mean it makes
(34:47):
me happy.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
It doesn't.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
I'm really really sad about it, and trying to process
that myself.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Was hard enough.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Deciding to or knowing when was the right time to
put it out there publicly, which.
Speaker 1 (35:07):
No one should have to.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
And no, we didn't have too, but we felt like
that was the right thing to do.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
But that's not a reason to stay in something either.
Speaker 3 (35:17):
I was having this conversation with a girlfriend of mine
only last week, and she lost her dad when he
was six when she was sixteen, and she's just had
a lot of grief in her life. And she's one
of these really brave people who, when she sees it
in other people, runs towards it to be of assistance.
(35:39):
But she said a similar thing. She said she now
realizes she needs and she's had therapy and whatever, and
she works as a counselor to other grieving.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Wow, amazing people.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
But she's realized herself now that as you travel through life,
more bad things are going to happen. That's it, and there's
going to be more grief and more loss. And she said,
I can't. I can't take it. I can't take it.
So now she's gone looking for, you know, a deep
(36:14):
dive to work out how she can take it.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
Yeah, because that's the thing too, that's what I have felt.
But you do because you have to, because that's life.
You say, you're going to go through bad things, some
that you know you're going to go through, some that
come unexpectedly.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
Yes, a lot.
Speaker 2 (36:33):
Of people say to me, you know, how did you
get through that period, or how did you do that?
Speaker 1 (36:38):
You shouldn't do it. People will always say that I
couldn't do it. Yes, you could. You have to, You
have to. That's the cards that life has dealt.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
That's not all of my conversation with Georgia. Up next,
we talk about how she started the process of healing
after her split and the magical powers of friendship.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
What do you do? So you went overseas?
Speaker 2 (37:10):
Yeah, I did so, and that trip had always been planned.
So one of my best friends in the world, who
I met on the school bus when we were.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Fifteen, he moved to New York a.
Speaker 3 (37:21):
Year ago, so I handed and he loves musical theater
as well, so perfect.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
We spent the whole time on Broadway. I had always
planned to go there. It was going to be my
first Christmas and New Year period without him, which sounds
like such a funny thing, but he was very much
part of my family as well, so I had always
planned to go and spend that time with him in
New York.
Speaker 1 (37:43):
Anyway, the timing.
Speaker 2 (37:45):
Just ended up being even more perfect than I realized
it would be when it was boring, because I went
over there and spent that time with Aba, my friend,
and it was amazing taking.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
Myself out of that bubble.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
When you're going through something, no matter what it is,
it can feel like it is everything. It's taking over
your life, it's taking over your world, and it's very
easy to think that other people are all looking at
you thinking that thing too. But stepping outside of that,
you realize that isn't everything for everyone else, and even yourself.
(38:26):
Me physically removing myself from the you know where I
live and seeing people every day that are asking about
the relationship and have.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Any anonymity of being in New York, that's it I was.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
I was meeting people as Arba's friend. You know, no
one knew or cared had context you, and it was
very freeing and it was It gave me a lot
of strength and realizing that I am not just Georgia
Love who was on the Bachelorette. I've never thought that
about myself. I'm very strong willed and I have a
(39:00):
strong belief in myself. But it was also very easy
to fall into feeling like, well, if I'm not that,
if I'm no longer with that person, will I have
disappointed people? And of course I'm meeting people that don't
know anything about that and don't care anything about that,
and of course that's not a big deal to anyone.
(39:23):
I think it made me realize I wasn't I haven't failed,
I don't le and I's marriage didn't fail. It's ended,
that doesn't mean it's failed. And I think a lot
of me stepping out of being in the depths of that,
stepping out of that and spending time with other people,
(39:46):
not having that be the thing on the front of
my mind and the thing that everyone is asking about, and.
Speaker 1 (39:51):
You're identifying like you have a brand on your forehead,
and of course I don't know, I'm not.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
You know, people aren't looking at me and going, oh,
that's the girl that was on the Bachelorette nine years ago.
That's not a thing. But it was even in my friendships,
I really withdrew in myself a lot because I didn't.
It's so exhausting going through these emotions yourself, let alone,
then sitting down and always talking about it. But the
(40:20):
timing of it New York in the end and ended
up being perfect. What did you see, by the way,
I saw Hamilton obviously my favorite of all times.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
Sunset Boulevard with Nicole Scherzinger, oh mind, pussy Cat John
playing She was incredible.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
The Tony Awards so Audra McDonald and Gypsy also amazing.
I saw Awful One, which was only on for a
short time, but it was famous Broadway people reading short plays.
It was amazing. I saw Titanic, which the beautiful Calum Francis.
So did you see Kinky Boots when it was in Australia?
Speaker 3 (41:05):
No?
Speaker 1 (41:05):
Not so the leading Kinky Boots is over there. Amazing.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
I saw or a show called Teeth maybe happy ending
and the Outsiders and you, well.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
You know what is interesting about you?
Speaker 3 (41:18):
Because you've got yourself kind of musical theater energy.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Do you know what?
Speaker 3 (41:23):
Yeah, you come in like you could play the lead
in Oklahoma.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
Do you know what you may peep in your step?
I've always said I have.
Speaker 2 (41:31):
No one can ever doubt the enthusiasm and passion I
have for musical theater.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
Unfortunately I can't not met with Dallas. I'm the same,
I mean, I love.
Speaker 2 (41:41):
Me musical or maybe we can just we can do
some Karryoke together one but.
Speaker 1 (41:47):
That's a very therapeutic thing to do. It is escapism.
Speaker 3 (41:52):
And also most musicals also have a point at which
you cry, oh God, yeah, oh God.
Speaker 1 (41:57):
Yes, So all of that is very good.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
It was, and I saw some of them by myself
when you know, I was at work some days and
you were just so bang up for absolutely, because I
was there for two and a half weeks, so he
had to go back to work at some point.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
But it's New.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
York and it was snowing and it was so great.
It was such a good time. And even that spending
days just walking by myself, deciding to go to a
show by myself.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
And seeing different things.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
And realizing I can go through life on my own.
I've never thought that I can't. I have never been
someone that has thought I need a partner, but being
in the depths of but it went on the Bachelorette.
No because I wanted a partner. I'm very staunch. I
don't think anyone needs a partner. I never felt I
needed one. When I went on the Bachelorette. I was
(42:46):
at a point in my life where Mum had just
been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
That changed my.
Speaker 2 (42:53):
Perspective on everything. I'd always moved around for jobs because
my job came first, My career came first, and relationships
had inevitably fallen apart because of that because I was
up and leaving and going into state numerous times. So
when Mum was diagnosed, that really changed that perspective.
Speaker 1 (43:12):
I kind of went, well, who do I have?
Speaker 2 (43:15):
What do I have as my support if the worst happens.
I also looked at Mum and Dad and their relationship,
and Mum going through that and having Dad there made
me look at that and.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Go, oh, that it is. It is pretty.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Important to have support and love if you can find it.
So that's pretty important, it is, George, I do have
support and love around me. Of course it doesn't have
such a siting is still. I mean to give credit
to Lee, not that you're not giving always will, but
what an extraordinary man to fall in love with you
(43:54):
and then to shoulder your burdens with you. That came
so rapidly and unexpected. In with young love, you don't.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Normally expect that you're going to fall in love with
a girl who's in the process of saying goodbye to
her mum.
Speaker 2 (44:10):
All of those things are so hard on him. He
has been an amazing support through those times. He's been
very supportive of me through all those stages. And I
don't think people give the partners of someone going through
quote unquote something the time and respect.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
That they need as well.
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Because people were rallying around me when Mum had died,
but he was shouldering that too.
Speaker 1 (44:37):
That was difficult on him too. He didn't know how
to deal with it.
Speaker 2 (44:41):
When I lost my job and felt like public enemy
number one for a long time. That was difficult for
him because I was in the depths of that sounds
so dramatic, depths of despair, but I was very not
well mentally for quite some time, and he's trying to
(45:02):
pick me up through that too, and that of course
affected his life.
Speaker 1 (45:06):
You know, people go through.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
Things at different stages of their lives. We have both
and each gone through big things in our nine years together,
and things that inevitably have changed us as people. And
some of those things we have grown together through and
other parts we've sadly grown apart, probably due to those
(45:34):
changes in who we are as people because of the situations.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
Well, pressure makes diamonds, and pressure can also cleave a
mountain into Yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
And we've been through so much in nine years, good
and bad, and unfortunately the relationship has ended in terms
of being each other's romantic partner. But we have weathered
(46:06):
a lot together and have a deep, deep love and
respect for each other, and I truly hope we always will.
I think we always will, but I hope we always will.
Speaker 1 (46:16):
I think in a.
Speaker 3 (46:19):
Breakup after a long period of time, which I've also had,
you almost if there's deep love there have to help
each other navigate through it, which is so painful. But
(46:40):
it's a measure of the it's a measure of the connection.
Speaker 1 (46:44):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (46:45):
Because I don't know, I've never had to go through
a really hard period without him, yes, which I probably
never thought about that really until just then.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
I haven't.
Speaker 2 (46:57):
The first bad thing that ever happened to me was
losing my mum.
Speaker 1 (47:01):
So give me a hand, oh my darling. Yeah, And
I think that's a really hard part of this as well.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
We are helping each other through it as much as
we can, but realistically there's obviously parts of it we
can't either.
Speaker 1 (47:22):
Yeah, it's hard. I've just never I never expected to
be here.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
I mean, if you always try to look for the
lesson in something, which is sometimes an exercise in tedium
or listening to people do it on podcasts, But if
there is something that you have learned through you know,
the battering of life, and like you said, there's worse batterings,
(47:51):
but it's battering.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
It's absolutely battering.
Speaker 3 (47:53):
You don't have to be qualifying what you have suffered
and what you have lost.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
What have you learned about grief?
Speaker 2 (48:07):
Well, that everyone faces it, that there are so many
different levels of it and facets of it.
Speaker 1 (48:12):
I think we use the word grief to talk about
the loss of someone.
Speaker 2 (48:19):
I think grief is usually spoken about in terms of
the death of someone, but grief can come in many forms.
Deep down, the feeling of loss is the same, but
different shapes. I think the loss of Mum is very
different because that's something that cannot be changed and will
not be changed, and it's looking forward to a hopefully
(48:41):
long life of that loss always being there. Nothing and
no one will replace that. The loss of the friend
that can be filled because I've got other beautiful friends,
the loss of my partnership with Lee, that exact hole
won't be filled because every relationship is different. But I
(49:04):
don't look ahead to the rest of my life and
think that that will be a hole forever like I
do with a loss of mum.
Speaker 3 (49:13):
Right, angus, have you got any tissues? Sorry? So sorry, No,
I just I could use one as well. Actually, what
a terrible mother I am, What a terrible mother?
Speaker 1 (49:26):
I have tissues in my bag. I know him from.
Speaker 3 (49:33):
Your public falling in love and that he's not a
shallow character. No, no, And he's a person of great
depth and also had a huge and has I don't know,
I'm assuming has a huge love for you.
Speaker 1 (49:49):
Yeah. And also it's in your name. There will be
more laugh There will.
Speaker 3 (49:53):
Be more laugh, yes, I hope, so I believe there
will be two. Are you too immersed in where you
are at the moment to have a forward projection for yourself,
even in a vague sort of sceense. Is there even
a shape on your mental vision board of your future? No?
Speaker 2 (50:12):
But they're also they kind of never has been because
I don't know if I blame this on my career
or if it is it is realistically because of my career.
But there's not a clear path in the media industry.
Speaker 1 (50:28):
And certainly not anymore. Oh gosh, no, exactly.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
So I've always been of that belief that I've not
ever had a five year plan and gone, I'll do this,
so I can do that, so I can do that
in my career.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
So I haven't done that in my life.
Speaker 2 (50:42):
Either, because opportunities come, opportunities go away. I don't think
you can plan out anything really solidly, and if you
try to, you're more likely going to feel disappointed. So
I don't believe in these resolutions either. I don't know
what's going to happen that year. What about personally? Like
(51:04):
the is a relationship something that you want?
Speaker 1 (51:10):
Yeah, it is? It is. I love having a partner
through life.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
I've got very close friendships, and I deeply love my
poetry people.
Speaker 1 (51:21):
My cat is the love of my life.
Speaker 2 (51:23):
She really is, and now officially the longest relationship I've
ever had, which is a bit sad, right, how long
she's ten?
Speaker 1 (51:30):
Right? I had her for always, haid, I had her
for you before I had to leave, and he had
to get over his allergies and dislike for cats. Yes,
and he did so very well. He's a very good
cat dad.
Speaker 2 (51:44):
No, I think personally, for me, I need to get
through this period. It's not quick, you know, it's not
quick to go through any of this. I'm very lucky
to feel there's that word again, to feel very solid
in my work at the moment and really enjoying that.
So I know I've got that to focus on as
(52:04):
I deal with and move forward with everything else.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Do you do you think, because I say this as
a mother, I believe that a mother's love is the
most enduring love. Do you feel like your mum is
with you and will guide you through this?
Speaker 1 (52:26):
Yes?
Speaker 2 (52:26):
I'm not particularly spiritual. I don't, you know, feel her
with me or anything. But I think the way I
feel like she's with me is because she was a
very strong woman and very opinionated, and we always knew
(52:48):
what she was thinking. And this is something we laugh
about in the family, is you know, at least will
never be sitting here going, oh God, what would mom say?
Speaker 1 (52:58):
She would say?
Speaker 2 (52:59):
And I do find comfort in that as well, because
I don't sit there and think, you know, God, what
would she tell me to do?
Speaker 1 (53:05):
What's been really hard is not.
Speaker 4 (53:08):
Having her here through this period. There have been so
many times that I've just said, I just want my mom.
I don't think it matters what age you are. I
just want my mom. Yeah, but that's life, isn't it.
That's one of the fuck things about Yeah.
Speaker 3 (53:30):
As well, like this, I know and I love that
you can say still talk about yourself as lucky, which
you are.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
Fortunate in many ways. We know that.
Speaker 3 (53:45):
Your mother has also bestowed her blessings upon you already,
like beauty and grace, and I am very stamina musicals.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
That's definitely her fault.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
One thing I really have grappled with, and that's been
very difficult for me, is.
Speaker 1 (54:09):
The fact that Lee met mum. She was very, very sick,
he did, but she knew him. Yeah, she died.
Speaker 2 (54:18):
Knowing I was with him. And it's been very difficult
to think about the prospect of potentially.
Speaker 3 (54:31):
Being someone else that doesn't know your mom, that didn't
know your mom, and that she didn't she didn't know.
Speaker 2 (54:38):
And I know that silly, because whether you're spiritual or not.
If you're not spiritual, you go, what doesn't matter. She
doesn't know anyway, she's dead. If you are spiritual, you go, well,
she knows what's going on with you all the time.
Speaker 1 (54:51):
But I feel sad that she.
Speaker 2 (55:01):
Thought my life was going one way and it has
that path has changed.
Speaker 1 (55:06):
I feel sad about that as well. I feel sad.
I'm just sad.
Speaker 3 (55:12):
There is stuff to be sad about, and that is
part of the journey of life, is that some things
will make you sad and some things will make you happy.
Speaker 1 (55:26):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
And I'm having both of them all the time. You know,
I'm not just in a period of all darkness.
Speaker 1 (55:33):
At you join my life. I've established that you're very lucky.
Oh God, I want anyone here, and I had to
go for exactly exactly. I just don't. I don't want
anyone to you know what, Oh God, where things happen.
I know, I know.
Speaker 3 (55:51):
Some things you just have to let in and settle,
even though it's like being in yoga when the stretch
is so painful that monkey mind just wants to make
you run away from it. And I hope the road
rises to meet you because.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
You've shared yourself.
Speaker 3 (56:13):
So much with people, and I even think that this
exchange will help so many people. So much of what
you're experiencing is is just universal.
Speaker 1 (56:25):
That's it. Yeah, I'm not special. You know, lots of
people go through you can also be special. You can
also be special. Okay, you're so self effacing. I'm I'm
very confident in myself.
Speaker 2 (56:40):
I am so I'm not only self effacing at all.
Speaker 1 (56:43):
I know what it is.
Speaker 3 (56:45):
I know that you don't want to be seen and
we all have that to be, you know, to be
sort of like self absorbed or like suffering or the
fact is sometimes there's shit to cry about.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
That's it. Yeah, and I do is the time, and
I do.
Speaker 2 (57:02):
I think one thing from doing my podcast everyone has
an X is hearing everyone's story. So the way that
I do that show is I sit down with the
person and interview them is probably the wrong term. They
tell me their story and those interviews go for about
two and a half hours every time, and every person's
(57:23):
story is different. Every person's story has touched them and
changed them in a way and has been devastating for them,
and then being able to put that story out there
for other people. And the feedback that I get from
that is that other people's stories have helped them, even
if it's one person that hears and goes I'm not
(57:45):
alone in feeling that.
Speaker 1 (57:47):
And yes, I suppose the irony of it all is it.
Everyone does, Yes, they do. Some people have more than one. Yes.
Georgia Love, I love you, Oh, I love you.
Speaker 2 (58:01):
Thank you so much. Thank you for letting me cry
and name musicals and talk about Petri.
Speaker 1 (58:10):
Two of my at least two of them are my
favorite things. Thank you a musical. Oh, there we go.
Speaker 3 (58:21):
I think it's always a bit of an honor to
get to talk to someone about love and loss, and
in the context of Georgia who had lost her mum,
it's always interesting to feel and to hear what she
wishes she could tell her. Also, what fun to talk
(58:42):
about show tunes? And that's life, isn't it. It's hard
and it's easy, and it's dark and it's light. If
you would like to listen to Georgia Love's podcast, everyone
has an X.
Speaker 1 (58:55):
We put a link in the show notes.
Speaker 3 (58:58):
The executive producer of No Filter is Naima Brown and
the senior producer is Grace Rufrey. Audio production is by
Jacob Brown and I'm your host, Kateline Brook.
Speaker 1 (59:09):
Thanks for listening.
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