All Episodes

November 29, 2023 • 32 mins

This episode discusses issues such as self-harm, domestic and family violence, suicide and eating disorders that may be difficult for some listeners. If you need support, get in touch with Beyond Blue at http://www.beyondblue.org.au. If you're in an emergency or at immediate risk of harm to yourself or others, please contact emergency services on triple zero, or emergency services in your country. For support services outside of Australia, please visit http://checkpointorg.com/global.

Jelena Dokic joins Sam Wood to talk about her experience as a pro-athlete, going from survivor to thriver and her book Fearless.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of the WOODLFE discusses issues such as self harm,
domestic and family violence, suicide, and eating disorders that may
be difficult for some listeners. If you need support, please
call Lifeline on thirteen eleven fourteen. If you're in an
emergency or at immediate risk of harm to yourself or others,
please contact Emergency Services on Triple zero. For support services

(00:23):
outside of Australia, please visit checkpoint org dot com slash global.
If you decide today's episode is not for you, that's okay.
There are plenty more episodes of the Woodline for you
to enjoy.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
What a couple of weeks it has been fate haven't
touched the ground, or at least that's how it feels.
Hello everybody, I am launching am on You supplement brand
twenty eight go and pur launch events with the whole
family in Sydney, and a bunch of other things happening
with my Jim the Woodshed. It's been a crazy few
weeks to put to be back, I can't wait to

(01:02):
speak to this person, someone that I've always always admired,
but in particular in recent times, just been completely drawn
and compelled by their story and honesty and vulnerability and openness,
and that is former number four tennis player in the world,
Elena Dokicch.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
We're going to hear from her, hear her.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Story how she now uses that story to empower and
inspire others. Then we're going to talk about kids, which,
now kids in general is the topic very close to
my heart, but this one in particular about how to
get your kids moving as a parent, either get moving
with them or get them moving and be a good
role model.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
That's all coming up in a very exciting episode.

Speaker 4 (01:44):
Of The Woodlife.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Okay, we are joined in the studio today by Sporting Royalty,
and I don't use that term lightly. We just had
a bit of a we just got a bit off
cuff because we decided not to wear our headphones because
Joleana's hair looks absolutely spectacular.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
And why would we put that at risk? Mine? Not
so much.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Welcome to the Woodlife, Thank you so much for joining us.
Elna Dockitch joins us in.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
The studio today.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Why do you think the media is so infatuated with you?
Did it all start as a tennis player with your dad?
Do you think is that where it all sort of
kicked off?

Speaker 5 (02:37):
Yeah, I don't know where to start after that great introduction,
but thank you, no, thank you. Look, I burst onto
the scene very early on as a fifteen year old,
so dating itself, even just as a fifteen year old
girl and tennis player coming through and getting through in
Grand slams already and having big wins is massive and

(02:58):
in any in any sport, and we have that today
as well. We've got incredible young stars coming through. So
that always comes with a lot of media attention in itself,
whether you want it or not.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Why when someone is a sports person, I think we
have a different attitude to or a different expectation to
how much they should be able to handle it.

Speaker 5 (03:16):
Kind of do go and say, look, it does come
with the territory.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah, so you used to tell yourself that that was
your attitude.

Speaker 5 (03:23):
Well, I think you're kind of almost thrown into it
and you're yeah, and especially sports that are global like
tennis is. But at the same time, that's why it's
important to have that protection for players and to be
able to get help or to be able to teach
them certain things or how to handle certain things. And
that's where a lot of the team around you management

(03:46):
and so on plays a crucial part.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
And do you think you did have that or didn't
have that?

Speaker 5 (03:51):
Well, I think it was very different times as well
when I grew up. I think my story is very
different to a lot, even though abuse in itself happens
a lot in sport, not just from parents, but from
cultures as well, and we're hearing more and more stories
about it today because of incredibly courageous and vulnerable women

(04:13):
that have especially women, because it happens a lot more
to girls, and we have been able to hear about
those stories. And Simon Bars and the US gymnastics team
is just one that comes to that uncovered decades of
just horrendous abuse and control and how everything happened.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
And so for those that don't know with your story,
only if you comfortable, I've got what what happened to you.

Speaker 5 (04:41):
Look, I'm an open book. I think everyone that follows
me knows that started with my book Unbreakable six years ago.
Fearless is now a second part. We'll get to that,
But look, I'm someone I wasn't born in Australia. I
was born in water On, Yugoslavia, a region that's now
country Croatia. I grew up in poverty, didn't have very much.

(05:03):
My father was very motivated by me playing tennis that
it was a way out. When I was eight the
war erupted, had to move into neighboring Serbia, and then
three years later at the age of eleven, to Australia,
so we were refugees twice, lived in really difficult conditions,
barely had anything to we didn't have heating in winter.
I remember standing at the Red Cross in Line as

(05:26):
an eight year old at four am to just try
and get some bread. So I think that kind of
was a big part of my childhood. But I loved tennis,
and I had this big passion for tennis, and I
had a bit of a natural talent as well. But
my father was extremely abusive from the very first day
that I started playing, which was from the age of six,

(05:48):
not just emotionally and psychologically, but physically as well, which
got worse and worse as the years went on, and
by the time I was fourteen fifteen, I was pretty
much kicked and punched on was daily. I was hit
with a leather belt until I bled.

Speaker 3 (06:05):
I was based on your performance on the court.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
Yes, and sometimes I would even win matches and I
would still get beaten. So it was really almost pretty
much like a loose little scenario for me, and every
single day it was kind of a battle to either
have a good practice session or win a match. And
it was basically, am I going to survive another day?
Because he was getting worse as I was getting older,

(06:27):
because he was also an alcoholic as well. But I
had one of my worst beatings when I was about
seventeen eighteen, and I was kicked and punched in a
head until I fell unconscious. That was a catalyst for
me to escape a little bit later at the age
of nineteen. But also what really hurt for me, I

(06:50):
even sometimes say worse than the abuse, and people look
at me and arabit shockmen. I say that, but I
genuinely mean that is the fact that his outbursts really
shattered my reputation with my fans, with the tennis community,
and with everyone.

Speaker 3 (07:07):
Around separated you.

Speaker 5 (07:09):
It was it was.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
The double act.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Not that that was your plan or what you wanted,
but that's how the media always bundled it.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
I mean, I remember it even that was twenty odd years.

Speaker 5 (07:19):
Ago, and I talk about that openly in both of
my books and the effect that had on me, and
I left at nineteen, for example, and actually.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
You completely lose your passion for tennis.

Speaker 5 (07:32):
No, actually I didn't.

Speaker 3 (07:33):
It's interesting and I asked that now because you comment tennis.

Speaker 5 (07:38):
I actually loved tennis, and I've always said it's not
Tennis is not kind of to blame, really, although it
would have been understandable if I didn't have the love
for the game.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
Really, if you.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Walked away forever and never wanted to see another record
or ball, I don't think anyone would.

Speaker 5 (07:52):
But it's been the opposite. And I've always said from
that age of six, I don't think I would have
also been able to go through the amount of abuse
that I went through if I didn't love tennis, because
I genuinely wanted to play, and I genuinely felt like,
even from a very young age, that was my passion
and it was meant for me. You know, I loved competing,
and yeah, I kind of always felt like that was

(08:13):
my calling, and that's why I think I endured a
lot of the things that I did. But look, I
left at nineteen, but it came with a lot of consequences,
not just with the media and my reputation which had
a big impact on me, but with my father as well.
Once you leave, it doesn't end. People think you leave
maybe an abusive relationship or you know, a domestic violent

(08:34):
situation with family, and that it just ends. It doesn't.
You're you know, it turns into a very different battle
where you are like scared constantly every single day and
looking over your shoulder. And my father will show up
in tournaments. I'd hire around the clock security for months
and months at a time. And for me, it came
with financial consequences as well. Okay, I gave everything away

(08:58):
to my father just because I wanted I thought he
would make things easier. I wanted peace. I didn't care
about the money, so I gave away millions. Obviously it
didn't matter to him. He always wanted kind of more
and more and more, and he was a control thing
as well. And yeah, for me came with consequences where
by the time I hit or turned twenty two in

(09:20):
two thousand and five, I almost committed suicide. I didn't
know it at the time, but I was battling anxiety
depression and PTSD. I was very traumatized, and at the
same time, yeah, I tried to continue to be on
the tour. But yeah, again it was really really hard
for me because I couldn't separate myself or my image
or who I was from my father. And even though

(09:41):
people didn't actually notice that I left time at nineteen
and I never had an outburst myself, I never you know,
I always just went about my business and played tennis,
and I was still never separated from the things that
he was doing. I was never looked at as a
tennis player. Again, pretty much up until I write Unbreakable

(10:01):
and told my story. And yeah, that was.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Something really empowering and therapeutic about airing or telling everybody,
getting it off your chest.

Speaker 5 (10:12):
Well, I didn't, to be honest with you, I didn't
know that that would happen.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
No, that was a deliberate That was a nice consequence
to come out of writing this book.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yes, so even if it was, you know, I would
have gone, Okay, this is very therapeutic for me. I'm
going to write a book. But I actually didn't know.
That's the thing. I was actually very fearful going into
writing Unbreakable.

Speaker 3 (10:32):
I can imagine that.

Speaker 5 (10:33):
Because I said to my publisher and my ghost writer,
I said, look, if I'm going to do this and
write my book. I'm going to tell my whole story.
I'm going to be.

Speaker 3 (10:43):
If I really tell the truth, don't.

Speaker 5 (10:45):
Hold anything back. And I say at the end of Unbreakable, actually,
if my story helps one person, for me, it's mission accomplished.
That's what I wanted. I just thought. I said to
my ghostwriter Jest, she had so much passion for actually
telling my story and writing it. I said, look, if
this helps one person and prevent and you must have.

Speaker 3 (11:03):
Had thousands of paper reach yet, yeah.

Speaker 5 (11:05):
Tens of absolutely, But I said, if this prevents one
kid going through what I went through, it's all worth it.
That's what I want to do it for. And I
wanted to actually raise awareness of how much that happens,
but not just in sport, but outside of sport antennis
as a society in general. Because I grew up I

(11:26):
grew up in Eastern Europe, that kind of thing is normal.
Abuse is normal, especially towards women and girls, and that
kind of control. So yeah, that was the reason I
kind of went into it. But it was cathartic while
we were actually doing it for about thirteen fourteen months,
but at the same time it was very draining, but

(11:46):
the day that Unbreakable came out, and I said it
every single days since is the best day of my life.
And I didn't know would do that, no idea. And
why I say that is because vulnerability turned into me
finding my voice and having this also incredible. I think

(12:07):
courage and finding myself who I am as a person,
but not living in darkness and in silence anymore, and
finding my voice and finding who I am because when
you live you know under someone's basically rule as a kid,
but also when you live with mental health struggles, when
you live with trauma, when you've been a part of

(12:28):
it for fifteen twenty years as a family unit, that
doesn't go away.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
So you need to.

Speaker 5 (12:34):
Completely rediscover yourself, find your strength, find your courage, find
your voice, and also find a way on how to heal.
And I genuinely believe that the way that we find
or the way to healing is to tell us stories
and also survivors to share our stories to help others.
Because I'll give you an example. I always had role

(12:56):
models growing up. So my role models in tennis, my
heroes were Steffi Graffamsellis, and I wanted to play like them,
and I did. I was very competitive and aggressive, but
also wanted to carry myself like them. I really liked
how professional they were. And so that's kind of what
the whole point of why we want to be role
models and we want to inspire others. Right. So, but

(13:17):
when I kind of grew up and went through all
of the other things outside of sport, I didn't really
have role models, you know sometimes for as those are parents,
I didn't have that to look up to. So I
didn't have anyone I could resonate with, maybe someone that's
been through abuse or domestic violence or mental health struggles.
So for me, it was like, maybe I can be
that for someone, for that one person out there, because

(13:41):
so many of us live in silence and have actually
died in silence due to mental health and abuse and
domestic violence, which is don't talk about it. But since
amazing people have come out and told their stories, like
Grace Tame, who didn't just come out and changed them,
but she changed the law, like I said, Simon Bars

(14:02):
and the use gymnastics tem so many people that have
come at me to movement. Let's not forget how that
started as well. So a lot has changed and we
all of a sudden have so much more awareness, and
we're starting these conversations that we wouldn't have if a
few people and a few of us weren't vulnerable. And
very often I think also in sport and you said

(14:23):
it a little bit when we started this, athletes are
looked at these amazing human beings that can't do no wrong, right,
so almost like this perfection thing and silence is golden,
but it is so wrong because actually vulnerability is strength
and courage not a weakness. It takes guts to be
vulnerable and to come out and share your story. But

(14:43):
also shattering this myth that we have to be perfect
somehow as athletes or even as human beings has put
all this unnecessary pressure and unattainable standards and actually now
listening to survivor stories, we are getting so much more
out of it and actually making a change and creating
a difference.

Speaker 3 (15:02):
What's your relationship with social media now? Do you use
it a lot? Do you know? How do you deal
with the good, the bad, the ugly? How do you
deal with it?

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Now?

Speaker 5 (15:13):
I try and use social media for something with a positive.
I want to do it to create a community where yeah,
I can try and still put out inspirational posts or
even things that I do, like work and stuff that
people actually like to see. A lot of the time,
you'd be surprised when I sometimes I feel like I'm
posting too much about my work and they go, no, no,
we'll love to see that behind the scenes, and you

(15:33):
forget sometimes because for us it's normal, right. But I
try and actually do it for something good. That's what
I always when. That was always my goal going into it.
Does it come with downsides and trolling, absolutely, and I
think we've all been there. It's just a matter of
I think how you deal with it. Of Course I
use the block button, but I've been very open in
the trolling that I've received, the body shaming that I've

(15:56):
had to face as well, even making fun of mental health.
And I've done it the last couple of years. I
especially did it this year at the Strain Open. We're
actually exposed the messages and how vile they were, and
I think that was important because I think it's important
to show people and be very transparent on what's out
there and what social media is like. It's just a
no one kind of again, we come to fear of

(16:19):
society if you talk about it, and a lot.

Speaker 3 (16:21):
Of people don't realize the severity of it exactly.

Speaker 5 (16:24):
Some of the messages that I done like it.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
It's horrendously Yeah, some.

Speaker 5 (16:29):
Of the messages that I got, and people, other commentators
and other people that are in a public life people
have read and go, oh my god, I can't believe
someone can even write that. And I'm looking at and going, oh, well,
this is normal.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
I've received this.

Speaker 5 (16:44):
Yeah, and then you realize, oh my god, it's not normal.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
So how did you deal with the body charming your lanning,
because I think that might be something that really resonates
with our wood life audio.

Speaker 4 (16:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (16:54):
So for me, the big thing is, look, I've been
everything from you know, size two and four when I
was an athlete, to a size ten due to having
an actual eating disorder, which I open up about in Feelers,
which came again due to my mental health and I
didn't even know I had it for a very long time.
So but regardless of that, I am a big believer
in not judging people and just being kind. And I

(17:17):
am just a big advocate of being incredibly kind to
one another. I think sometimes I feel like we've lost
a little bit of that, especially through social media.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
It sounds so simple, it sounds like, of course we
should all be like that, but we're not.

Speaker 5 (17:30):
No, especially I think social media at a little bit
because it's.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
So high behind your keyboard exactly to.

Speaker 5 (17:35):
Just write something on a keyboard to someone you don't know,
and then it's taken a turn where people are just vile.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
So what have you when you've called someone out? What
have you done?

Speaker 2 (17:45):
Give you an example of where you've called because I
love that you've done that, because these people don't they
don't think. I mean, I think some people are just
complete assholes. I think other people do it without a
lot of thought. Yeah, I've you're a real person and
impact this might be having on you. And imagine if
they said that to someone that they know or care about,

(18:06):
how horrendous that would be.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
You know, Like, what do you do when you call
someone out?

Speaker 4 (18:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (18:09):
So I've called it out for body shaming, not just
for me but for others, because I really genuinely believe
that that shouldn't be a measure. So I really think,
you know, I've done a lot of things since even
retiring from tennis to twenty nine, which is quite early
for an athlete because of injuries forty. So I worked
for quite a few years to reinvent myself and you

(18:31):
know what's next. And I did struggle after tennis because
I felt like that was my whole identity. So to
then be able to go and you know, have two
best selling books, be a commentator and an analyst, to
be a speaker, and then you kind of get judged
on your size and your measurements, and for some comments

(18:52):
to even say, oh, look, she's a great commentator, but
I can't listen to her knowing that she's a size eighteen,
so I think that says that all. Yeah, so I
felt like, oh my god, where's the kindness gone? So
that's why I've called it out. I did it this year,
and I really felt like this year people started to
really go, Okay, enough is enough to just in general
troll people, not just based on body size, just in general,

(19:16):
because I've had people that are size zero and that
struggle also maybe with inorexia and Bilima. Thank you for
doing this. It's not just for people that are size eighteen,
but it's for everyone in general exactly. And I've actually
answered back to some people going, look, they weren't so bad,
but they were a little bit abusive, And I said, look,

(19:36):
do you realize what you've just written? What if you
got a message like that, or your sister or your
mom or your daughter for example. Do you think I've
had a couple where they go, oh my god, I
am sorry, I was, you know, I apologize. And then
you have some others that are just like you know,

(19:57):
and you just you know. And I don't get into
it too much, but I think it's important to talk
about it openly and publicly because I think with social media,
a lot of people say, oh, don't worry about it,
just block, which is an easy thing to do. Yes,
but some even say maybe, like it kind of comes
with the territory on social media, like well not really.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Now you've got it with celebrity, you're in the public eye,
why doesn't it Yeah?

Speaker 5 (20:22):
But I'm like, well, you know what, No people said, Oh,
maybe it's expected when you're a public person, But why
is it expected? Because what we're public, you know, figures,
so you can do whatever you want. You can insult
us or abuse us. Not really because actually you wouldn't
do it in real life. You would be surprised with
even I've even had some journalists go, look, my daughter
is fourteen and she saw that and she saw you,

(20:46):
you know, talk about trolling and that, and it really
you know, she really looks up to you, and what
an age I know, and it just really like like
it really touches you your heart, and not just because
I go through it and then to see helps someone,
but when you hear that, it's like, oh my god,
I'm actually doing something good with this, So let's continue.
And that's why I think it's important and not to

(21:08):
I think it's I think the age of just shoving
everything under the rug when it comes to domestic violence
or abuse, or sexual abuse, trolling, you know, social media abuse.
I think it's over. It needs to be called out
and we need to do the right things and go, look,
we need more kindness and less judgment in this world
because otherwise, if we keep going, what are we going

(21:30):
to have in twenty thirty forty years time.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
Absolutely, and what you must have a lot of people
that look up to you that are in really difficult situations,
perhaps in an abusive situation themselves. I'm sure there's not
just one answer, but there is there something that you
would to our listeners out there that are perhaps in
that situation themselves. Is there a piece of advice that

(21:54):
you give them if you are in an abusive situation
or relationship.

Speaker 5 (21:58):
I think it's hard to tell anyone to do because
every situation is very unique. So it's also very different
if you're a ten year old or if you're a
twenty five year old, because as a kid, of course,
you've got a lot less options and you can't just leave,
and you're small and you don't know any better. Yes,
so that's very hard to tell someone directly what to do.

(22:18):
The one thing that I would say, you know to
be wle is just what domestic violence and family violence does.
It kills your self worth and your belief and any hope.
And it did that to me as well, So I
had to find that again.

Speaker 2 (22:33):
How long was the gap between when you were sort
of retired and then at your lowest to when those
shackles came off.

Speaker 5 (22:40):
It takes time years, exactly ten years, I would say,
And I think it's important to know that the process
is not linear.

Speaker 3 (22:50):
And it is up and down, and you will have
and now we're done and it's.

Speaker 5 (22:54):
Behind now, and you will have bad days. But also
I think it's important to know, you know, you're self worth,
not to allow anyone to put you down, and that
you can get out of those situations, and that you
can start over again, and that you don't deserve to
go through abuse. No one does. So I felt like
it was all my fault. I'm to blame. I mean,

(23:15):
here I am. You know, I made the semi finals
at Wimbeddon at seventeen and my father didn't allow me
to come back home because it was not good enough.
I slept on the grounds at Wimbedon. So how do
you go? You know, to yourself, I'm actually good enough
as a person when someone does that. So that's why
I go, you know, just believe in yourself and you're

(23:36):
self worth, not allowing anyone to take that away from you,
and that even I think courage is a big one.
I've always gone into everything with courage and bravery, no
matter what happens.

Speaker 3 (23:45):
So that's the name of your book. Fearless.

Speaker 5 (23:47):
Yes, not because I have no fear, but it's actually
the opposite I do. But your courage.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 5 (23:54):
I've always even as a player, you know, I've you'd
have a big point and I'd go for it, and
I'd trust my self and sometimes it works out. Sometimes no,
but and that's okay. But I was like, okay, I'm
not going to allow or let my opponent dictate that
I will. In life, I did the same. I think
if you yeah, I think you have to believe in
yourself to be able to get through the tough times

(24:15):
and the dark times. And that's what I always did.
I always went into with coach. When I left home
at two o'clock in the morning and escaped, I went,
you know, I want to use the effort here, but
I went, you know, I'm just going to do it
whatever happens. Did I risk maybe, you know, not being
here and something happening, maybe, But I you know, I
fought for what I believed in, which was freedom and

(24:36):
myself and the right to live a good life, for
a normal life, or at least to give myself the
chance for that. And that's what I think. You know,
Unbreakable is my story, but feel less six years later,
it's I wanted. I didn't want to just be victim
to survivor. I wanted victim survive a thriver. That's why
I say fearless, finding the power thrive and how to

(24:58):
do it through healing and through finding some of those
core values and what actually makes you happy. And I
think the biggest takeaway we are often if you've gone
through trauma, is often that we blame ourselves and that
we're defined by it. So I think it's very important
not to be defined by it and feel like you're

(25:18):
defeated by it or that it cements who you are.
I think it's important to be able to accept it
and leave it in the past. Not everyone's path is
easy and the same life's tough. But to be able
to not be defined and defeated by its very very important,
and then go, I can do this, I can get
past that that's not who I am, that's what happened

(25:38):
to me will shape me as a stronger person. But
then I'm actually going to go and I'm going to
thrive here. I'm not just going to survive it. I'm
actually going to go and find, you know, myself and
what I'm good at and what I want to do,
what my passion in life is. That's what I've that's
the way I've done it.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Yeah, I think that's the key. You've done it. There
are so many.

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Self help books and experts out there that you know,
their resume reads beautifully, but they haven't been where you've been.
You are a very inspiring person, very and I think
our listeners will absolutely agree that.

Speaker 4 (26:13):
Well.

Speaker 5 (26:13):
I think our stories in general are our power to
be honest with you. And I think not being silent
is a power and finding your voice because everything I
kind of say, everything that's bad, thrives in silence. So
if you look at abuse, any kind of abuse, domestic
white sexual abuse, if you look at even mental health
and not talking about it, there's so many things that

(26:34):
actually thrive in silence. And that's where I find, you know,
people like Grace staems so inspirational because breaking through that
and not being silent, that's our power. So actually having
these conversations and actually talking about it and our experiences
is our biggest strength. That's how you actually can go okay,
that's how we can change something. And we talked about

(26:57):
the media earlier, but it's interesting because Unbreakable came out,
so many journalists and so many of the media have
talked to me and apologized to me, which I'm really
grateful for.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
But I was like, ah, because in the problem, Yeah,
because my father was.

Speaker 5 (27:13):
A joke and a punchline and a headline, and no
one thought for a second, well, there's two underage kids
going home with this person. My brother was easy younger
than me.

Speaker 3 (27:20):
The media did make a bit of a mockery of it.

Speaker 5 (27:22):
Yeah, Well the media was a bit different because a
lot of them did do interviews with my y, so
they actually understand it, and they still didn't do anything
of it. Yeah, they saw him dry.

Speaker 3 (27:30):
I did wonder that.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
I was thinking there must have been a lot of
people behind the scenes who were going to hang on
a second, there's really something that right here, but no
one was really doing it.

Speaker 5 (27:38):
But I was really that was you know, I always
say like, they didn't have to do that. They did.
That was lovely, and we've gone, Okay, that's a realization
that's what happened. We can't do that again, and that's
what we get to the point of. Did sharing my
story change a bit of that and that realization going okay,
we need to really, you know, if something like this
happens again, we will treat it differently, and I definitely

(27:58):
think we would. We've come a long ways, so yeah,
I think that that's kind of the point of it all.
But yeah, we can do so much together, but especially
by you know, even I think the media and everyone
like even podcasts like this and talking to you to
give people that have been through things a safe space
to talk about it.

Speaker 2 (28:18):
Yeah, which is why I wanted to speak today. I
literally just knew if you shared some of your you've
scratched the surface. I'm sure people are going to go
to body you incredible best selling books. But I can't
thank you enough for coming on the wood Life. Hopefully
I'll see you around Australia. Open and thanks so much
for joining, Thank you for having me. Okay, so I wow,

(28:46):
Blaine has just left the studio. I I'm being blown away.
What an incredible person, what an incredible woman. We'll come
back after a little break and we will talk about
how to get.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
Your kids moving because it's so important.

Speaker 2 (29:08):
All right, kids fitness, staying on track with your fitness
goals while getting your kids moving. Now, sometimes they can
be in isolation. Sometimes they can work beautifully together. It's
wonderful when they can work together. And there's a couple
of reasons for that. One, it's efficient. You kill two
birds with one stone. Two you are being a brilliant

(29:30):
role model. Kids are sponges. They will notice everything we do,
or in some cases, everything we don't do, and model
that behavior more than we know. The three most important
words when it comes to kids and fitness, and I
shouldn't say fitness because it's really kids in activity. Make

(29:52):
it fun and guess what, if it's fun for them,
it'll be fun for you too. So you should never
forget that. You've got to find what works for your kids.
You've got to find what works for your family. But
it's genuinely challenging to get our movement in as adults,
to get our kids moving when there's iPads and screens
and school isn't doing as much activity as perhaps in

(30:15):
the past. You know, pe once maybe twice a week.
So anything that you can do to encourage your kids
to get moving, I mean, there's nothing more beautiful when
they find something that clicks with them and they go
and do that activity for four or five hours without
even thinking about it. It might be you know, playing
at the beach or going exploring, or playing in the

(30:36):
water because they love swimming, or whatever it might be.
But when they have that moment and then you go,
oh my god, my little girl have been in the
pool together for three hours and I'm having to drag
them out basically kicking and screaming with wrinkley fingers, and
they've just loved every second of it. That's a real
breakthrough moment as a parent. And then when you can
join them, well that's just the icing on the cake.

(30:58):
So summer is here, God, it feels. We're saying that
it's important to start thinking about how are you going
to keep your kids active over the school holidays? How
are you going to keep yourself active with your kids
over the school holidays? What can you help them do?
What can you do together as a family, Have a
bit of a plan, think outside the box, try different things,

(31:19):
don't take yourself too seriously, really have.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
Fun with it and have the best active, fun summer ever.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Well, if you have any questions about today's episode, we'd
love to hear from you. If you have any other
guests that you'd like us to speak to, or topics
that you like us to cover, as always as a
link in the show notes.

Speaker 3 (31:42):
We'd love to hear from you.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
If you've got any ideas to get your kids active
that you'd like to share that we can share with
our listeners, or perhaps any specific questions about getting your
kids active, or fussy eaters with kids, or whatever it
might be. I'm here to help, not as a kid's expert,
but as a parent who's really passionate about this stuff.

Speaker 3 (32:02):
And I'd love to hear from you until next week.
I'll see you then, h m h
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Super Bowl LIX Podcasts

Don't miss out on the NFL Podcast Network and iHeartPodcasts' exclusive week of episodes recorded in New Orleans!

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

Today’s Latest News In 4 Minutes. Updated Hourly.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.