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Tammy Hembrow Deep Dive Episode 1: The Rise of Tammy Hembrow · Outspoken the Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Tammy Hembrough is Australia's most talked about influencer. At 19,
0:06
Speaker 1: she made it big on social media when she shared
0:09
Speaker 1: her fitness journey while pregnant.
0:11
Speaker 2: This is my first vlog again, so it might be
0:15
Speaker 2: a little bad. I don't know if it's going to
0:17
Speaker 2: be boring or what, but I hope you guys enjoy it.
0:20
Speaker 1: Tammy's life is far from boring. The fitness influencer and
0:24
Speaker 1: her family are Australia's answer to the Kardashians. In fact,
0:27
Speaker 1: she's even been involved in a few Kardashian scandals herself.
0:31
Speaker 2: A model explains why she had to leave Kylie Jenner's
0:34
Speaker 2: Los Angeles birthday party in a stretcher.
0:37
Speaker 1: By sharing her life online, Tammy has attracted over 20
0:41
Speaker 1: million followers and built an empire worth $ 50 million. What
0:45
Speaker 1: has really kept her followers glued are her romantic relationships.
0:50
Speaker 1: Over the last 10 years, the internet has borne witness
0:52
Speaker 1: to three engagements, three children, one epic wedding and now
0:56
Speaker 1: a divorce. We are journalists Sophie and Kate Torber and
0:59
Speaker 1: in this special Outspoken series, we explored the real story
1:03
Speaker 1: behind the rise of Tammy Hembrough. This has got to
1:06
Speaker 1: be our most highly requested deep dive. Every time we
1:10
Speaker 1: put up a question box asking who you want us
1:12
Speaker 1: to discuss, Tammy Hembrough is number one. There's a definite
1:15
Speaker 1: fascination with her and I can see why because she
1:19
Speaker 1: has lived her life so publicly for so long now,
1:22
Speaker 1: but she's always kept it interesting for us. She's always
1:24
Speaker 1: kept her followers on their toes, particularly when it comes
1:27
Speaker 1: to her relationships. Oh, she has. Now, I want to
1:29
Speaker 1: go back to the beginning. So Tammy was born on
1:32
Speaker 1: the 22nd of April, 1994, to her parents, Natalie Stanley
1:37
Speaker 1: and Mark Hembrough. So it's pretty crazy because her parents
1:40
Speaker 1: actually met in Trinidad Tobago back in 1989 when her
1:45
Speaker 1: dad was acting in a TV show called The Last Island.
1:48
Speaker 1: So Natalie was born in Trinidad and ended up moving
1:50
Speaker 1: back to Australia with Mark. So Tammy was the youngest
1:54
Speaker 1: of her parents' three daughters. She grew up with her sisters,
1:56
Speaker 1: Amy and Emily, who are four and two years older, respectively.
2:00
Speaker 1: Tammy has described her childhood as being simple but fun.
2:03
Speaker 1: Her family moved around a bit, but she spent most
2:06
Speaker 1: of her younger years in the Corumban Valley, which is
2:09
Speaker 1: a really beautiful part of the Gold Coast, which actually
2:12
Speaker 1: borders with New South Wales. And it used to be
2:14
Speaker 1: part of the Southeast Queensland rainforest. And it might surprise
2:18
Speaker 1: people to hear, but the town that Tammy grew up
2:20
Speaker 1: in had just 80 people while only a handful of
2:23
Speaker 1: kids went to her primary school. And Tammy said that
2:26
Speaker 1: she was naturally a very shy kid who was a
2:29
Speaker 1: barefoot flower child. It did surprise me that she grew
2:32
Speaker 1: up in such a small town. She doesn't really give
2:34
Speaker 1: off small town vibes, does she? Now, while she was
2:38
Speaker 1: a shy kid, she grew up wanting to follow in
2:40
Speaker 1: her dad's footsteps and become an actor. So in Tammy's book,
2:43
Speaker 1: Step Up, she described her dad as being somewhat famous
2:46
Speaker 1: in Australia. So I had to do a stalk of
2:49
Speaker 1: Mark Hembrough's Wikipedia. And he was a guest actor in
2:52
Speaker 1: a lot of 80s and 90s TV shows that I'm
2:55
Speaker 1: not familiar with, as well as acting in a lot
2:57
Speaker 1: of theater productions. The one TV role I got excited
3:00
Speaker 1: about was he was a guest singer on Mr. Squiggle.
3:04
Speaker 1: He also played Georgie Saint on 55 episodes of The
3:07
Speaker 1: Young Doctors in the late 70s. He was interviewed on
3:11
Speaker 1: Matt Zukowski's podcast. Oh, I haven't listened to that one.
3:14
Speaker 1: You could tell he loved talking about his acting days.
3:17
Speaker 1: I was going to say about himself. Maybe that too.
3:20
Speaker 1: He was very sweet. He seemed very eccentric. That's the
3:24
Speaker 1: vibe that I got.
3:25
Speaker 2: Yeah.
3:25
Speaker 1: Well, Tammy's parents ended up getting divorced when she and
3:28
Speaker 1: her sisters were very young and And in her book,
3:30
Speaker 1: Tammy said her parents fought a lot to the point
3:33
Speaker 1: where her sisters and her don't know how they were
3:35
Speaker 1: even together. And when her parents split, Tammy and her
3:38
Speaker 1: sisters ended up living with their dad on a farm.
3:41
Speaker 1: So the house they lived in was this old reception
3:44
Speaker 1: venue where they used tables as walls and they had
3:47
Speaker 1: an outside bath. After seeing the lifestyle that Tammy is
3:51
Speaker 1: living now, I can't picture her living on a farm,
3:53
Speaker 1: but it is quite nice to know these details about
3:55
Speaker 1: her childhood and Now, Tammy's mum, Natalie, went on to
3:58
Speaker 1: marry a successful businessman and had four more children, Ava, Scarlett, Honre,
4:04
Speaker 1: and Maximus. And a lot of people have compared Natalie
4:08
Speaker 1: to Kris Jenner. That is because there has always been
4:10
Speaker 1: this comparison that the Hembros are Australia's answer to the
4:14
Speaker 1: Kardashian family because there's so many sisters, so many siblings,
4:18
Speaker 1: and also because Tammy's mum looks a bit like Kris Jenner.
4:22
Speaker 1: I mean, there is an uncanny resemblance there. She has
4:24
Speaker 1: got the dark hair. She definitely looks a lot like her.
4:27
Speaker 1: I think the comparison between the Hembros and the Kardashians
4:30
Speaker 1: is often made also because there was a crossover there.
4:33
Speaker 1: And we will go into that later in this series. Now,
4:36
Speaker 1: when Tammy was 12, she decided to move to Singapore
4:39
Speaker 1: to be with her mum and her stepdad. And her sisters,
4:42
Speaker 1: Amy and Emily, had already made the move to the
4:44
Speaker 1: island country. But Tammy saw out her primary schooling in Queensland.
4:48
Speaker 1: So Tammy's life in Singapore was the complete opposite of
4:51
Speaker 1: what she'd been living in rural Queensland before. Her stepdad was,
4:55
Speaker 1: as you said Sophie, an extremely successful businessman and they
4:58
Speaker 1: were living an absolute life of luxury. And Tammy said
5:01
Speaker 1: it was unlike anything she had seen up close before
5:04
Speaker 1: and had only seen in the movies. Why am I
5:06
Speaker 1: getting crazy rich Asians in my head? I love that movie.
5:09
Speaker 1: We have been visiting Singapore since our early teenage years
5:13
Speaker 1: and it is such an incredible place. I love you
5:15
Speaker 1: say that as if we're there all the time. I
5:16
Speaker 1: think I've been there like five times. Five times is
5:19
Speaker 1: quite a lot. I love in Singapore how You can
5:23
Speaker 1: only drive a new car. So there's only new cars
5:25
Speaker 1: on the road. You can't have an old bomb. A
5:27
Speaker 1: lot of people are walking around in designer gear. It's
5:30
Speaker 1: got a very rich vibe to it. In Tammy's book,
5:33
Speaker 1: she wrote a lot about what a pivotal part her
5:35
Speaker 1: stepdad's library played in this change. She said that reading
5:39
Speaker 1: books about successful business people in the library made her
5:42
Speaker 1: want to become one herself. I love the fact that
5:45
Speaker 1: they were living in such an opulent house that they
5:47
Speaker 1: had their own library. I think that really paints a
5:49
Speaker 1: picture of how successful he was in business. Yeah. And
5:52
Speaker 1: it was clear that Tammy was really motivated by this
5:54
Speaker 1: success that she saw with her stepdad and wanted to
5:56
Speaker 1: follow in his entrepreneurial footsteps. So other than knowing that
6:00
Speaker 1: she wanted to make it big, for a long time,
6:02
Speaker 1: Tammy didn't know what she actually wanted to do. And
6:06
Speaker 1: Tammy said she began spiraling after leaving high school and
6:09
Speaker 1: started partying and smoking weed. And she had no motivation
6:13
Speaker 1: and felt lost and depressed. And that was until she
6:15
Speaker 1: discovered meditation, which she said changed her. So from meditation,
6:20
Speaker 1: she turned to yoga and became an instructor. And she
6:23
Speaker 1: then found a passion for fitness and exercise in the gym.
6:26
Speaker 3: Yeah.
6:26
Speaker 1: And when she moved back to Australia, she ended up
6:29
Speaker 1: enrolling in a business degree at Bond University and chose
6:32
Speaker 1: to study business for two reasons. The first was she
6:36
Speaker 1: wanted to follow in her stepdad's footsteps. And the second
6:38
Speaker 1: was because she didn't want to work a nine to five,
6:41
Speaker 1: which a lot of us can relate to. While Tammy
6:44
Speaker 1: was studying at university, this is when she started to
6:46
Speaker 1: share fitness content on her Instagram. And this was at
6:50
Speaker 1: a time when Instagram was really at its infancy stage.
6:53
Speaker 1: No one was sharing content like this. And it didn't
6:56
Speaker 1: take Tammy long to hit 15,000 followers on the platform,
6:59
Speaker 1: which was a pretty substantial following back then because Instagram,
7:03
Speaker 1: as you said, it wasn't very popular. We didn't have
7:05
Speaker 1: heaps of influencers on it like we do now. And
7:08
Speaker 1: in the meantime, Tammy wasn't enjoying uni. The only class
7:11
Speaker 1: that really made sense to her was one about entrepreneurship.
7:15
Speaker 1: And it was in that class that she decided she
7:17
Speaker 1: wanted to be her own boss. And she figured she
7:20
Speaker 1: may as well make the most of the following she
7:21
Speaker 1: had and launch a business. So at 19, with one
7:25
Speaker 1: month of her studies to go, Tammy dropped out of
7:28
Speaker 1: uni to become an entrepreneur. I don't get this. Why
7:31
Speaker 1: would you not just stick it out for one more month?
7:33
Speaker 1: Oh no, just to get the piece of paper. Yeah,
7:35
Speaker 1: because it gives you so much credibility and something to
7:37
Speaker 1: fall back on if things didn't go to plan. I
7:40
Speaker 1: remember hearing that Sarah's day had, I think, one semester
7:43
Speaker 1: left or half a year left of her teaching degree.
7:46
Speaker 1: And it always surprised me that she didn't just complete it.
7:49
Speaker 1: I know, I really don't get it either. Now, life
7:52
Speaker 1: had other plans for Tammy though. Just as she started
7:55
Speaker 1: working on her business idea, she accidentally fell pregnant with
7:58
Speaker 1: her first son, Wolf. She was just 19 at the
8:01
Speaker 1: time and was told her life was ruined. That's terrible.
8:05
Speaker 1: It is absolutely terrible. What a message to tell someone
8:07
Speaker 1: who has fallen pregnant unexpectedly so young. Well, she really
8:10
Speaker 1: showed everyone, didn't she? Now, her baby daddy was Rhys Hawkins,
8:15
Speaker 1: a guy Tammy had been dating for only a few months.
8:18
Speaker 1: In a YouTube Q & A in 2016, this is
8:20
Speaker 1: what Tammy said about her timeline with Rhys.
8:24
Speaker 4: How long have me and.
8:24
Speaker 3: Rhys been together?
8:25
Speaker 2: We've been together like three years. longer than three years
8:30
Speaker 2: wait how old's wolf we weren't together for that long
8:34
Speaker 2: before we found out we're pregnant with wolf actually probably
8:38
Speaker 2: just like a couple months that sounds so bad but
8:42
Speaker 2: we were actually like so in love like we knew
8:45
Speaker 2: we wanted to be together forever anyway already like i'm
8:49
Speaker 2: pretty sure reese told me he was in love with
8:51
Speaker 2: me like a week after we met and i didn't
8:53
Speaker 2: say it back no i'm kidding.
8:54
Speaker 1: I did I loved watching this whole Q & A,
8:58
Speaker 1: the way she spoke about Reese. It was so funny
9:00
Speaker 1: watching it back, knowing what we all know now and
9:03
Speaker 1: just seeing how young and in love they actually were
9:06
Speaker 1: at the time. It sounds very old school because they
9:08
Speaker 1: actually met at a bar, which obviously everyone seems to
9:11
Speaker 1: meet on the apps or by sliding into DMs now.
9:14
Speaker 1: And Tammy said it was love at first sight. Here's
9:17
Speaker 1: more of what she said about that encounter. We first
9:21
Speaker 1: met at a bar.
9:23
Speaker 4: I was actually.
9:25
Speaker 3: pretty intoxicated not gonna lie i was with a couple
9:28
Speaker 3: of girlfriends and our friends were friends with his friends
9:33
Speaker 3: when i first saw him i went up to him
9:35
Speaker 3: and i grabbed his face and i was like you
9:38
Speaker 3: are so beautiful because he was literally like the most
9:43
Speaker 3: beautiful man i ever saw so it was kind of
9:46
Speaker 3: love at first sight i didn't honestly i didn't remember
9:49
Speaker 3: the full night like all that clearly but um The.
9:55
Speaker 2: Next weekend, I was going to a friend's party. he
10:00
Speaker 2: was actually like really good friends with the guy who
10:02
Speaker 2: was having the party so he was there as well
10:04
Speaker 2: which was just such a coincidence and we just talked
10:09
Speaker 2: all night we hung out together that whole night time
10:12
Speaker 2: at the party we fell in love from there we
10:16
Speaker 2: were just inseparable he was obsessed with me Like he
10:20
Speaker 2: was not going to lie, pretty obsessed with me, but
10:23
Speaker 2: I was obsessed with him too.
10:24
Speaker 1: I love that she grabbed his face and said he
10:28
Speaker 1: was a beautiful man because she's right. He is a
10:30
Speaker 1: stunning looking man. I was going to say aesthetically a
10:33
Speaker 1: beautiful man. Well, as for finding out she was pregnant
10:36
Speaker 1: with Wolf, Tammy said that she and Reese were both
10:39
Speaker 1: in shock. According to Tammy, she couldn't speak and Reese
10:42
Speaker 1: looked like he was about to pass out. Once they
10:45
Speaker 1: did get over the initial shock though, they said that
10:47
Speaker 1: they were both very excited. Now, when it came to
10:50
Speaker 1: choosing the now infamous name, Tammy said this. What made
10:55
Speaker 1: you name Wolf, Wolf?
10:57
Speaker 2: We were in the car one day and I just
10:59
Speaker 2: remember throwing it out there.
11:00
Speaker 3: It was like Wolf.
11:01
Speaker 2: And I think Rhys was like at first like, oh,
11:05
Speaker 2: I don't think so. But then it grew on him
11:07
Speaker 2: and he was like, yeah. We had a few other
11:10
Speaker 2: names as well, but all the names that I liked
11:12
Speaker 2: were like really out there.
11:14
Speaker 1: Wolf was the one we chose. I want to know
11:19
Speaker 1: what these other names were because for me, particularly 10
11:22
Speaker 1: years ago or over 10 years ago, Wolf would have
11:25
Speaker 1: been pretty out there. Yeah, the other names must have
11:27
Speaker 1: been really out there. Now, if you do cast your
11:31
Speaker 1: mind back to 2022, Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott originally
11:34
Speaker 1: named their son Wolf but later changed his name to Air.
11:38
Speaker 1: And almost two months after giving birth, Kylie wrote on
11:41
Speaker 1: her Instagram story, FYI, our son's name isn't Wolf anymore.
11:44
Speaker 1: We just really didn't feel like it was him. Just
11:47
Speaker 1: wanted to share because I keep seeing wolf everywhere. It's
11:50
Speaker 1: rumored that Kylie changed the name because of Tammy. We
11:53
Speaker 1: will go into Tammy's connection to the Kardashians a little
11:55
Speaker 1: bit later, but from a top level, Kylie and Tammy
11:58
Speaker 1: became friends after she modeled for Khloe's brand Good American.
12:02
Speaker 1: And Tammy was infamously stretched out of Kylie's 21st birthday
12:06
Speaker 1: party and was also linked to Kylie's ex, Tyga. So,
12:10
Speaker 1: it is likely that Kylie was well aware of Tammy's
12:13
Speaker 1: son's name. And just hours after Kylie went public with
12:17
Speaker 1: her son's name, Tammy shared a photo of her and
12:20
Speaker 1: her son Wolf with the caption Wolfie's mum. At the time,
12:24
Speaker 1: Tammy was also pregnant with her third child Posey and
12:27
Speaker 1: she had a lot of people trying to guess her
12:29
Speaker 1: unborn child's name. Tammy responded to one of the name
12:32
Speaker 1: guesses on TikTok with the comment actually like the name
12:35
Speaker 1: Stormy at the moment. Stormy now is of course the
12:38
Speaker 1: name of Kylie's first child. I absolutely love the pettiness
12:42
Speaker 1: of influencer and celebrity baby names because it's the biggest
12:46
Speaker 1: fuck you if you copy someone's name. But in the
12:48
Speaker 1: real world, it would be taken as quite a compliment
12:51
Speaker 1: if you like someone's name. I don't know. I think
12:53
Speaker 1: there would still be people that would be annoyed, particularly
12:55
Speaker 1: if you had had a run in with that person.
12:58
Speaker 1: But I think that influencers are just trying so hard
13:01
Speaker 1: to be unique. Yeah, there is an element of that too. Now,
13:04
Speaker 1: back to 19-year-old Tammy. After dropping out of uni, she
13:07
Speaker 1: found herself pregnant and working as a telemarketer selling solar
13:11
Speaker 1: panels while she worked on her business idea. And Tammy
13:14
Speaker 1: said that the job sucked and she would cry after
13:17
Speaker 1: shifts because people would hang up on her. Can you
13:19
Speaker 1: imagine if you were someone that got a call from
13:21
Speaker 1: Tammy Hepbro? Why do I feel like she wouldn't be
13:23
Speaker 1: that good on the phone? I feel like she would
13:25
Speaker 1: crumble in that situation. I think anyone would. It doesn't
13:28
Speaker 1: sound like a fun job.
13:29
Speaker 4: No.
13:30
Speaker 1: Well, she ended up leaving that job to work in
13:32
Speaker 1: a clothing store, but she said that she was barely
13:34
Speaker 1: making ends meet. And the highlight of her day was
13:37
Speaker 1: posting about the gym. So she went five times a week,
13:40
Speaker 1: even while she was pregnant. And while most people loved
13:43
Speaker 1: that she was young, pregnant and positive, Tammy also copped
13:47
Speaker 1: criticism online for working out while she was pregnant. She
13:49
Speaker 1: was even told that her body wouldn't be the same
13:52
Speaker 1: after she had a baby, so she couldn't be a
13:54
Speaker 1: fitness guru. I'm really feeling for 19-year-old Tammy here. It
13:57
Speaker 1: seems like she is facing some very unfair judgment and criticism. Now,
14:01
Speaker 1: in her book, Tammy said that when people tell her
14:03
Speaker 1: she can't do something, it gives her more motivation. So
14:07
Speaker 1: it seemed like this really made her more determined to
14:10
Speaker 1: prove the naysayers wrong. And she forged ahead with the
14:13
Speaker 1: idea of her own business. And ironically, Tammy's following skyrocketed
14:18
Speaker 1: when she started sharing about her pregnancy and motherhood alongside fitness. Now,
14:23
Speaker 1: the goal was to save enough money to launch her
14:25
Speaker 1: business idea, a fitness ebook called Tammy Fit. And she
14:29
Speaker 1: was motivated to launch an ebook because her gym posts
14:32
Speaker 1: got so many likes that she figured a workout guide
14:34
Speaker 1: was the perfect business idea. The initial outlay was $ 400
14:38
Speaker 1: for someone to illustrate the exercises in the PDF. So
14:43
Speaker 1: once she saved the money, she quit her job in
14:45
Speaker 1: retail and focused on Tammy Fit full time. Now, the
14:48
Speaker 1: launch of Tammy Fit coincided with another massive milestone for Tammy,
14:52
Speaker 1: the birth of her first child. So Wolf was born
14:55
Speaker 1: via an emergency C-section. Tammy did plan on having a
14:59
Speaker 1: vaginal birth without medical intervention and but said it didn't
15:02
Speaker 1: take long for her to be rolling on the floor
15:04
Speaker 1: in pain, begging for an epidural. Happens to the best
15:07
Speaker 1: of us, doesn't it? Now, unfortunately, Wolf's heartbeat was elevated
15:11
Speaker 1: and he was in distress. So they opted for the
15:13
Speaker 1: emergency C-section. I feel like Tammy was really clever and
15:17
Speaker 1: strategic about the release date because almost immediately after the
15:21
Speaker 1: birth of Wolf, that's when she launched her fitness ebook.
15:24
Speaker 1: And that is when so many eyeballs would have been
15:26
Speaker 1: on her page because so many people was so interested
15:30
Speaker 1: in this young mum who was having her first child
15:33
Speaker 1: at 19. I mean, yes, it was a strategic move
15:35
Speaker 1: in the sense that people would buy it, but it
15:37
Speaker 1: was really difficult for her personally because it was such
15:40
Speaker 1: a double whammy for her. She was dealing with being
15:42
Speaker 1: a first-time mum and also a first-time business owner. So
15:46
Speaker 1: in between looking after her newborn son, Wolf, Tammy sent
15:49
Speaker 1: out the PDFs herself. She also started earning money from
15:52
Speaker 1: Instagram promotions and she saved all the money she earned
15:55
Speaker 1: from the PDFs and her Instagram promos. and put it
15:59
Speaker 1: all back into her business. So she decided to take
16:02
Speaker 1: her PDF guides to the next level and launched an app.
16:05
Speaker 1: At the time, no one else was doing fitness apps.
16:09
Speaker 1: And Tammy did what her stepdad taught her, capitalize, reinvest,
16:12
Speaker 1: and grow. So all the money she earned was invested
16:15
Speaker 1: straight back into the Tammy Fit app. We now know
16:18
Speaker 1: that app has been downloaded over 1.7 million times. It's
16:22
Speaker 1: pretty remarkable. And I don't think enough people give Tammy
16:25
Speaker 1: Hembrough credit over her business brain and just how she
16:29
Speaker 1: was able to grow something from nothing.
16:31
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:31
Speaker 1: Well, the accolades did begin rolling in for Tammy Hembrough
16:35
Speaker 1: and critics started calling her an overnight success. But before
16:39
Speaker 1: she even had the chance to revel in her success,
16:42
Speaker 1: life threw another challenge at her. At 21, she became
16:46
Speaker 1: pregnant with her second child, Saskia, when Wolf was just
16:49
Speaker 1: six months old. She also now had a million dollar
16:53
Speaker 1: business to look after. Whilst this would be challenging, I
16:56
Speaker 1: think it also worked really well for her Instagram because
17:00
Speaker 1: people were excited that there was another pregnancy that they
17:02
Speaker 1: could follow along with. I mean, it's a bit confusing
17:05
Speaker 1: whether this pregnancy was planned or not because in Tammy's book,
17:08
Speaker 1: she acted as if falling pregnant a second time wasn't planned.
17:11
Speaker 1: But in a Q & A back in 2016, she
17:12
Speaker 1: said this, And Saskia was planned.
17:16
Speaker 2: We were like, let's just get another one out of
17:19
Speaker 2: the way so then Wolf has a little friend to
17:21
Speaker 2: play with. And I didn't realise how hard it would
17:25
Speaker 2: actually be, but it's so worth it. I'm glad we
17:28
Speaker 2: had both of them and they're the most beautiful, amazing
17:32
Speaker 2: thing that's ever happened to us.
17:36
Speaker 1: I feel like Tammy would have said that Saskia was
17:38
Speaker 1: planned due to a lot of judgment online. And, oh,
17:41
Speaker 1: this is a mistake. Oh, they haven't been together for
17:43
Speaker 1: very long. Yeah, exactly. She probably felt like she needed
17:46
Speaker 1: to defend it. And now, years later, she can say, actually,
17:49
Speaker 1: it wasn't a planned thing. Now, Tammy wanted to try
17:52
Speaker 1: a vaginal birth with Saskia. But by the end of
17:54
Speaker 1: her pregnancy, she discovered she had a condition which created
17:57
Speaker 1: extra amniotic fluid around the baby. So she was advised
18:00
Speaker 1: to have another C-section. Saskia was born at 37 weeks
18:04
Speaker 1: and five days and the post-birth recovery was really tough
18:07
Speaker 1: on Tammy. Her scar split open and she had to
18:10
Speaker 1: have it dressed and packed every day for a month.
18:14
Speaker 1: Looking back at an old vlog from this time, I
18:16
Speaker 1: was really shocked to discover that while Saskia was a
18:19
Speaker 1: month old, her dad, Rhys Hawkins, went on a boy's
18:23
Speaker 1: trip to Bali. Keep in mind, Tammy was still having
18:26
Speaker 1: to get her scar dressed daily and at this point,
18:29
Speaker 1: she also had a toddler to look after. So red flag.
18:32
Speaker 1: Not a good move. And knowing what I know now,
18:35
Speaker 1: it's clear that things were becoming rocky between the pair.
18:38
Speaker 1: As a viewer, it appeared like Tammy was doing everything
18:41
Speaker 1: while he was doing the absolute bare minimum. Yeah. In
18:43
Speaker 1: one vlog I saw, he was complaining about how tired
18:46
Speaker 1: he was, yet Tammy had been the one getting up
18:48
Speaker 1: and doing all of the feeding with a newborn without
18:51
Speaker 1: any help. In Tammy's book, she opened up about this
18:54
Speaker 1: and wrote, my partner was busy when the babies were born.
18:56
Speaker 1: So it was all down to me. I was determined
18:59
Speaker 1: to do it all by myself, which again highlights to
19:02
Speaker 1: me how remarkable this woman is. She's 19 and 21
19:06
Speaker 1: and she's running a business whilst looking after two very
19:10
Speaker 1: young kids.
19:10
Speaker 2: I know.
19:11
Speaker 1: Rather than slowing down, Tammy did the complete opposite. So
19:15
Speaker 1: with two children under two and a million dollar business
19:18
Speaker 1: to run, Tammy decided to launch an activewear brand Saskia
19:22
Speaker 1: Collection named after her newborn daughter. A lot of people
19:26
Speaker 1: thought she was taking on too much, but for Tammy,
19:28
Speaker 1: it was a move that felt right. She's very smart.
19:32
Speaker 1: She knew that she had to strike while the iron's hot.
19:34
Speaker 1: She has a newborn daughter. There's a lot of interest
19:37
Speaker 1: around her. Let's launch an activewear brand named after the
19:41
Speaker 1: daughter who has a unique name. It is genius. It
19:45
Speaker 1: was a smart move because she had a lot of
19:47
Speaker 1: brands who wanted to sponsor her and she was having
19:49
Speaker 1: to wear these brands on her instagram even though she
19:52
Speaker 1: didn't actually like any of the clothes and for tammy
19:55
Speaker 1: she had started her own business so she didn't have
19:57
Speaker 1: to do what people told her to do and she
19:59
Speaker 1: was starting to feel like she had a boss telling
20:01
Speaker 1: her what to wear and when to wear it and
20:03
Speaker 1: she didn't like it so she's like i just want
20:05
Speaker 1: to make my own clothing line that's interesting because kayla
20:08
Speaker 1: had seen us had a similar philosophy where she didn't
20:11
Speaker 1: want to have so many sponsored posts on her Instagram.
20:15
Speaker 1: She wanted to have her own app and her own
20:17
Speaker 1: brand so that she didn't have to rely on it.
20:20
Speaker 1: And Kayla has been someone, even though she doesn't have
20:22
Speaker 1: her own activewear brand, who has just worn whatever, whatever
20:25
Speaker 1: she likes, not because she's getting paid to do so. Well,
20:29
Speaker 1: with Tammy, it got to the point where she couldn't
20:31
Speaker 1: physically do it all anymore with her two businesses. And
20:34
Speaker 1: finally she asked for some help. And that came in
20:37
Speaker 1: the form of her older sister, Amy, working with her
20:40
Speaker 1: at Saskia Collection. And at the time, sadly, Tammy felt
20:43
Speaker 1: like she couldn't trust outsiders because she had people trying
20:46
Speaker 1: to leech off her. There'd be so many people trying
20:48
Speaker 1: to grow a following off the back of her and
20:50
Speaker 1: potentially also people spreading rumors about her and her relationship
20:54
Speaker 1: if they got in too deep. Yeah, exactly. And with
20:56
Speaker 1: Amy being her sister, she felt like she could trust her. Plus,
20:59
Speaker 1: she actually had her own business experience. Unfortunately, though, it
21:03
Speaker 1: didn't take long for things to deteriorate between the sisters.
21:06
Speaker 1: So Tammy and Amy began having constant arguments about the
21:10
Speaker 1: direction of the business and Tammy felt like Amy wouldn't
21:12
Speaker 1: listen to her or respect that she was the boss. Oh,
21:15
Speaker 1: we've all been there before, haven't we? Running businesses with sisters.
21:18
Speaker 1: It's a very interesting dynamic because I feel like everyone
21:22
Speaker 1: wants to be the boss and it would be difficult
21:24
Speaker 1: having your younger sister telling you what to do. particularly
21:27
Speaker 1: difficult when you're all the same age and you all
21:29
Speaker 1: want to be the boss as well. Well, Tammy actually
21:32
Speaker 1: ended up firing Amy from her role as general manager
21:35
Speaker 1: of Saskia Collections. This is just something that we would do.
21:38
Speaker 1: And Tammy says their relationship improved as soon as they
21:42
Speaker 1: stopped working together. Is that a bit of a sign, Kate? No,
21:44
Speaker 1: we will still be working together. Funnily enough, Amy is
21:48
Speaker 1: now the general manager of Tammy Fit. And Tammy says
21:51
Speaker 1: Amy was instrumental in her business's success. So maybe it
21:54
Speaker 1: was just the wrong business model. Yeah, and in an interview,
21:57
Speaker 1: she said she wouldn't have been able to do it
21:59
Speaker 1: without Amy, which is lovely. Now, in her book, Tammy
22:02
Speaker 1: revealed that relationships are the most important thing to her,
22:05
Speaker 1: but are also her Achilles heel, which I think we
22:08
Speaker 1: can all probably agree upon. She said she was struggling
22:11
Speaker 1: to juggle her business and personal life, and then everything
22:14
Speaker 1: came tumbling down. After four years, two children, and a
22:18
Speaker 1: pear-shaped engagement ring, Tammy broke up with Rhys Hawkins in
22:22
Speaker 1: June 2018. And in her book, Tammy explained it got
22:25
Speaker 1: to the point where every time she spoke to Reese,
22:28
Speaker 1: things fell further apart.
22:31
Speaker 4: Of course there's love there and kids involved too. So
22:35
Speaker 4: you try again and again as hard as you can
22:39
Speaker 4: to make it work until it doesn't. For a long time,
22:44
Speaker 4: feeling guilty about the inevitable fallout stopped me from taking
22:48
Speaker 4: the action I knew my partner and I needed. When
22:53
Speaker 4: things don't work out, many people find it hard not
22:56
Speaker 4: to blame themselves. And sure, I'm all for accountability, but
23:01
Speaker 4: in these situations, it's not really your fault or the
23:04
Speaker 4: other person's fault either.
23:06
Speaker 1: It's the relationship. The relationship failed, not you.
23:11
Speaker 4: Not one, not the other, but your combination.
23:15
Speaker 1: Now, Tammy said it took everything within her to see
23:18
Speaker 1: it as a failed relationship rather than a failed Tammy
23:21
Speaker 1: and to keep going She said she felt intense guilt,
23:24
Speaker 1: which made her want to become a super mom. She wrote,
23:27
Speaker 1: I told myself I had to do it all to
23:29
Speaker 1: be at all. There's no mother guilt like broken relationship,
23:32
Speaker 1: mother guilt and desperation that your kids won't be sad
23:35
Speaker 1: because of it. In her book, Tammy didn't refer to
23:37
Speaker 1: Reese by his name, but instead called him Wolf and
23:40
Speaker 1: Saskia's dad. And in recent years, she's tried to be
23:43
Speaker 1: really respectful of Reese and the role that he plays
23:45
Speaker 1: in his kids' lives because she's really aware that anything
23:48
Speaker 1: she says about him in the media is Her kids
23:51
Speaker 1: can go and read. Yeah, she has put a lot
23:52
Speaker 1: of effort into her co-parenting relationship with Reese Hawkins. Now,
23:56
Speaker 1: Tammy revealed that breaking up with Reese was the hardest
23:59
Speaker 1: thing she's ever gone through. As a child of divorced parents,
24:02
Speaker 1: she hated the idea of becoming a single mom and
24:05
Speaker 1: she had been so determined to make things work. But
24:07
Speaker 1: in the end, she said that they were young and
24:10
Speaker 1: people change.
24:12
Speaker 4: We grew in opposite directions. What do you do when
24:17
Speaker 4: your home life isn't the happy dream your heart chose
24:19
Speaker 4: for you? Do you stay together for the kids? The
24:24
Speaker 4: longer we stayed together, the more unhappy our home became.
24:27
Speaker 4: And I didn't want to bought my kids idea of
24:30
Speaker 4: what a healthy relationship looks like. In the end, it
24:34
Speaker 4: was a straightforward decision. Do what was best for my
24:37
Speaker 4: home and my children. Do what was best for us all.
24:42
Speaker 1: No one can underestimate how huge this breakup was on
24:46
Speaker 1: social media. As you touched on, Kate, we'd had this
24:48
Speaker 1: perfect engagement with the pear-shaped ring, which a lot of
24:52
Speaker 1: people have focused on in years to come because people
24:54
Speaker 1: like to compare her different engagement rings. But they really
24:58
Speaker 1: did hold up this idea that they were the perfect
25:01
Speaker 1: young couple. Everyone thought, wow, I want to be a
25:04
Speaker 1: young mom and dad like Reese and Tammy. And then
25:07
Speaker 1: that illusion seemed to be shattered when they broke up. Yeah,
25:11
Speaker 1: and this is the point where everyone became utterly obsessed
25:13
Speaker 1: with Tammy Hembrough's love life because we met her as
25:17
Speaker 1: a young pregnant woman who had a partner, this doting
25:20
Speaker 1: partner he was painted online to be, and suddenly there
25:23
Speaker 1: were cracks in this perfect image. Yeah, and whilst we
25:26
Speaker 1: have touched on the fact that Tammy has been very
25:28
Speaker 1: respectful and a great co-parent in the years to come,
25:31
Speaker 1: when things were fresh after this breakup, there was a
25:34
Speaker 1: lot of animosity between the pair and there was a
25:36
Speaker 1: bit of slinging publicly online, which we will get into later.
25:40
Speaker 1: in next week's episode because that is where we are
25:43
Speaker 1: going to leave you today next time we will be
25:45
Speaker 1: diving deep into the aftermath of tammy and reese's breakup
25:49
Speaker 1: while the couple vowed to remain civil for their children
25:52
Speaker 1: it didn't take long for a slinging match to erupt
25:54
Speaker 1: as new partners entered the picture and in the midst
25:58
Speaker 1: of it all tammy hembro made international headlines for all
26:01
Speaker 1: the wrong reasons Thank you again for listening to Outspoken.
26:05
Speaker 1: This podcast was recorded on the traditional land of the
26:08
Speaker 1: Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to
26:10
Speaker 1: elders past and present.