Love Stories

This episode discusses mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder and perinatal loss. Support: Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) | Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636 (24/7) | PANDA 1300 726 306 (perinatal mental health support). 

When Heather Morris met Holocaust survivor Lale Sokolov, she made him a promise: she would never stop trying to tell his story. That promise would eventually lead to The Tattooist of Auschwitz, the bestselling novel ...

Pia Miranda and Janine Allis went onto Australian Survivor with very different plans: Pia was determined to win, while Janine was looking for an adventure. Neither expected to find a lifelong best friend along the way. 

After spending around 50 days together without phones, TV or the usual comforts of life, the pair formed an extraordinary bond; one built on humour, honesty, and complete trust.  

Now, seven year...

Tegan Higginbotham and Paul Verhoeven's love story began with a very unusual first date: a lingerie football game, followed by a birthday party and their first kiss outside a drag bar. 

Now married, the comedy creators join Tiffany Dunk to talk about their Paris wedding, the proposal almost derailed by a Cornish pasty, the ducks that interrupted their ceremony, and how they navigate working together on Stan's new comedy series...

Shaun Micallef admits he approached fatherhood much like an IKEA flatpack: without reading the instructions. 

Now his middle son Gabe is 26, and the pair have become colleagues, co-hosting Network 10’s Shaun Micallef’s Parents Evening, a game show that tests just how well parents and their adult children really know each other. 

In this episode, Shaun and Gabe sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about what Gabe...

Brooke McClymont rode her bike past Adam Eckersley 's house every morning on the way to school in Grafton. Most mornings he'd yell out that he was going to marry her one day. She'd yell back "in your dreams, mullet head." 

Ten years later they ran into each other at the pub at Christmas. Adam was living in his van at Merewether Beach. Brooke had a record deal. They sat up all night over cabanossi and brie and eventually w...

Content warning: This episode discusses veteran mental health, alcohol use, and suicide. Support is available: Wounded Heroes Australia crisis line 1300 532 112 (24/7) | Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7). 

On a 3am car ride home together, Mark and Cherelle Herewini discussed marriage – four weeks later they were husband and wife. Now, after nearly three decades and multiple East Timor deplo...

Jim Rogers met his wife Lorna in a small English town. The two connected over a shared obsession with VW Beetles. They married, had three children, and moved to Perth chasing sunshine. Life was good until Lorna was diagnosed with melanoma and tragically died within a few years, leaving Jim a single father to three children under nine. 

Eighteen months later, his parents sent him on a holiday ...

Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide, mental health issues, grief and the loss of a parent and child to illness. If you or someone you know has been affected by any of the issues raised, help is always available. Call Lifeline on 13 11 14. 

Find more support services here: Need help? Support services and crisis helplines in Australia - The Australian Women's Weekly 

In 2009, Gavin Larkin sat...

Ed Kavalee still remembers the exact moment he fell for his wife, and it happened on his TV screen, watching her compete as Angel on Gladiators. 

In this episode, Tiff Hall and Ed Kavalee sit down with Tiffany Dunk (or podcast Tiff as Ed calls her) to talk about how a TV crush turned into an 18-year love story, including the radio interview Ed engineered just to meet her, the moment he got co...

Before Big Little Lies became a global phenomenon, Liane and Jaclyn Moriarty were just two sisters filling exercise books for pocket money, dreaming of becoming writers. 

In this episode, Liane and Jaclyn sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the family that shaped them: a mother who fostered more than 50 babies, a father who paid them to write, and the safety of growing up as two of six k...

Content warning: This episode discusses combat injury, traumatic limb loss and newborn emergency surgery. If it raises anything for you, support is available: Wounded Heroes Australia crisis line 1300 532 112 (24/7 for ADF members, veterans and their families); Open Arms – Veterans & Families Counselling 1800 011 046 (24/7) | Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7). 

Curtis McGrath ...

Content Warning: This story contains descriptions of drug use, addiction and death. Support is available: LifeLine. 

Wendy Whiteley has spent more than 30 years protecting the legacy of a man whom she loved deeply. In this candid episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, the artist, gardener and first-time podcast guest joins Tiffany Dunk to reflect on her extraordinary...

In Part 2 of this heartfelt conversation, actress, author, TV host, and proud Larrakia and Tiwi woman Miranda Tapsell and her mum, Barbara, share the moments that shaped their extraordinary mother-daughter bond. 

From the hilarious story of Barbara "testing" Miranda's now-husband James during his first visit to Darwin, to becoming grandmother and mother together, they reflect on how family evolves thro...

Miranda Tapsell has become one of Australia's most celebrated actors and storytellers, but behind every chapter of her remarkable career is the woman who taught her what love, family, and community truly mean: her mum, Barbara. 

In this two-part episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, proud Larrakia and Tiwi woman Miranda joins host Tiffany Dunk alongside Barbara for a heartfelt con...

Hannah Richell met Matt in a London publishing office in 2001. He had just walked in and taken the promotion she wanted, wearing jeans and Birkenstocks, and she was determined to hate him. Then September 11 happened, they sat by a canal with coffee the day after, and everything changed. 

Thirteen years later, on a completely ordinary Wednesday in July 2014, Matt went for a morning surf at Tamarama Beach bef...

Content warning: This episode discusses veteran suicide, family and domestic violence, PTSD, and severe financial hardship. If it raises anything for you, support is available: Wounded Heroes Australia crisis line 1300 532 112 (24/7, for ADF members, veterans and their families) | Open Arms — Veterans & Families Counselling 1800 011 046 (24/7) | Lifeline 13 11 14 (24/7) | 1800RESPECT 1800 737 732 (24/7). 

When a...

Matty Acton was only 18 when he met Esther and her three-year-old son, Ethan. What began as an unlikely spark on a Toowoomba dance floor turned into a marriage, two more children, and a life that has never once followed the traditional timeline. 

In this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, Matty and Esther join Tiffany Dunk to reflect on the rocky early years of their relationship, the loss of Matty's f...

For almost four decades, Vika and Linda Bull have been one of Australia's most beloved musical duos. But long before the ARIA Hall of Fame, chart-topping albums and standing ovations, they were simply two sisters growing up in a home filled with music, faith and an unwavering sense of family. 

In this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, Vika and Linda join Tiffany Dunk to reflect on ...

Content Warning: This content discusses mental health issues, suicide, and peri and post-natal depression, which may be triggering for some audience members. Help is available below. 

Just over 25 years ago, Louise "Gidget" Cotton became a mother for the first time. Not long after, she died by suicide after experiencing peri and postnatal depression that those around her didn't...