Latest / Outspoken the Podcast / Matt Zukowski's Return From Rock Bottom

Transcript

Matt Zukowski's Return From Rock Bottom · Outspoken the Podcast

0:02
Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to Outspoken. It's your dose of the
0:05
Speaker 1: hottest influencer and pop culture news twice a week. I'm
0:09
Speaker 1: Sophie Torber and coming up on today's show, Matt Zukowski
0:12
Speaker 1: says he felt dead inside leading into his wedding to
0:15
Speaker 1: Tammy Hembrough. Millennials rejoice as Hilary Duff announces her return
0:19
Speaker 1: to music and Nikki Westcott's baby news. But first, Kate,
0:24
Speaker 1: I have to call you out because in last week's episode,
0:27
Speaker 1: you dared to question whether Olivia Rogers' boyfriend, Hugo, was
0:30
Speaker 1: telling white lies. I'm glad you've brought this up because
0:33
Speaker 1: I want to put on the record I was wrong.
0:35
Speaker 2: You don't often admit that you're wrong.
0:36
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's difficult for me to say that. But I
0:37
Speaker 1: received quite a few messages saying, hang on, no, Hugo
0:40
Speaker 1: was correct. So I suggested that potentially he was pretending
0:45
Speaker 1: like he didn't know who Olivia Rogers was because he
0:48
Speaker 1: said that they met out and he thought she was
0:50
Speaker 1: just this beautiful speech pathologist. And she put her number
0:54
Speaker 1: into his phone. And he claims that the phone populated
0:58
Speaker 1: all her contact details, like her full name. And that's
1:01
Speaker 1: how he discovered she was the Olivia Rogers.
1:05
Speaker 2: I called bullshit.
1:06
Speaker 1: And that's because I typed the scenario into chat GPT
1:09
Speaker 1: and said, is this true?
1:11
Speaker 2: Like, can this actually happen? This is your issue, Kate.
1:13
Speaker 1: You were typing everything into chat GPT.
1:15
Speaker 2: So this should be a lesson for you.
1:16
Speaker 1: When I was listening to it, I was screaming at
1:18
Speaker 1: you guys because I'm like, this has happened to me.
1:20
Speaker 1: A random message will come up and it will put
1:22
Speaker 1: in brackets, could be this person. Yeah, but I always
1:26
Speaker 1: thought that was because you had their details saved somewhere
1:29
Speaker 1: on your phone or on your computer.
1:31
Speaker 2: Well, I think that.
1:32
Speaker 1: You should apologise to Mr Olivia Rogers because I was
1:34
Speaker 1: quite taken with him in that interview. He sounded like
1:37
Speaker 1: a lovely guy.
1:38
Speaker 2: I was glued to that. Look, I am sorry, Mr
1:41
Speaker 2: Olivia Rogers.
1:42
Speaker 1: It seems like you were correct that you didn't know
1:44
Speaker 1: who Olivia was despite living in Melbourne and her making
1:47
Speaker 1: front page news when she broke up with her husband.
1:49
Speaker 1: I kind of like that he didn't really know who
1:51
Speaker 1: she was. I think that makes their story quite cute.
1:54
Speaker 2: He seemed to receive.
1:55
Speaker 1: Quite a good response from her followers. I saw on TikTok,
1:58
Speaker 1: people were saying that they were just smiling, listening.
2:00
Speaker 2: To the interview.
2:01
Speaker 1: Someone who hasn't received such a glowing rap is Olivia Rogers' ex-husband,
2:06
Speaker 1: Justin McKeon. Now, over the weekend, he was set to
2:09
Speaker 1: celebrate his first Father's Day. So back in May, he
2:12
Speaker 1: and his partner at the time, former Bachelor contestant, Tani Leeson,
2:16
Speaker 1: welcomed a baby boy called Arlo. And from the get-go,
2:19
Speaker 1: it seemed like things were off between Tani and Justin.
2:22
Speaker 1: He didn't appear in any of the announcement photos. He
2:25
Speaker 1: wasn't mentioned. He didn't like or comment on the post.
2:28
Speaker 1: This is despite the couple releasing this very curated pregnancy announcement,
2:32
Speaker 1: which ended up being splashed all over the news. So
2:37
Speaker 1: as you say, Kate, it wasn't particularly surprising when Tani
2:40
Speaker 1: decided to throw some shade at him on Sunday. So
2:43
Speaker 1: she uploaded an Instagram story where she was cuddling her
2:46
Speaker 1: son Arlo on the couch and she captioned the photo,
2:49
Speaker 1: I know some incredible dads and I hope they each
2:51
Speaker 1: have a beautiful day today. Although happy Father's Day to
2:54
Speaker 1: all the mamas out there doing both.
2:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel really sorry for her.
2:59
Speaker 1: I just had a bad feeling ever since she put
3:01
Speaker 1: him front and center in her pregnancy announcement because the
3:04
Speaker 1: news came off the back of him being accused of
3:07
Speaker 1: stealing almost half a million dollars from his former employer. Yeah,
3:11
Speaker 1: and also there'd been rumors that the couple hadn't been
3:13
Speaker 1: together for quite some time. They seem to have split
3:16
Speaker 1: several months earlier. Because Justin kept getting spotted on dating apps.
3:20
Speaker 1: I know so many people slid into our DMs being like,
3:23
Speaker 1: oh my God, I've just.
3:23
Speaker 2: Matched with him.
3:24
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sophie, there was another thing that we failed to
3:27
Speaker 1: mention on last week's episode when we spoke about Olivia
3:30
Speaker 1: and Hugo. I was literally screaming at the podcast because
3:33
Speaker 1: you guys failed to mention that Hugo was clearly trying
3:37
Speaker 1: to take a shot at Justin because when he was
3:40
Speaker 1: talking about his own mental health, which I thought was
3:43
Speaker 1: incredibly brave and telling that story about his father, Hugo
3:46
Speaker 1: said that he'd never ever taken drugs before, and it
3:49
Speaker 1: was something that he was very proud of. And obviously,
3:52
Speaker 1: as you said, with everything coming out about Justin and
3:55
Speaker 1: his history with drug abuse, I thought, surely this is
3:59
Speaker 1: in reference to him. Look, I did pick up on
4:01
Speaker 1: it at the time, but there was just so much
4:02
Speaker 1: to unpack with that interview. I didn't want to bring
4:04
Speaker 1: too much about Justin up.
4:05
Speaker 3: Do you think?
4:06
Speaker 1: Because Hugo and Justin look very similar. I can't help
4:09
Speaker 1: but feel like they're almost twins. Do you think that
4:11
Speaker 1: Hugo's almost trying to distance himself from Justin? He doesn't
4:13
Speaker 1: want any confusion about which one he is.
4:15
Speaker 2: Potentially.
4:16
Speaker 1: I mean, they do look so similar. She clearly has
4:18
Speaker 1: a type. And he's got such a professional background as well.
4:21
Speaker 1: I was so sad not to be involved in last
4:23
Speaker 1: week's episode. I had to bring the whole Hugo thing
4:26
Speaker 1: up again. Well, Justin also had a very professional background.
4:29
Speaker 1: He was CFO at the time he was fired.
4:33
Speaker 3: I've learned now that Chaos does not mean excitement, does
4:37
Speaker 3: not mean enjoyment. It's like unforeseen chaos or like made
4:43
Speaker 3: up chaos isn't good for you.
4:48
Speaker 1: Matt Sikowsky has given an insight into how he was
4:50
Speaker 1: really feeling months before his wedding to Tammy Hembrough. The
4:54
Speaker 1: former Love Islander revealed on the latest episode of his
4:57
Speaker 1: podcast that he had recently been triggered back to a
5:00
Speaker 1: dark place After driving past his shop, he hadn't visited.
5:03
Speaker 2: For a while, Kate.
5:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, so it turns out it had almost been a
5:06
Speaker 1: year to the day Matt had been at this undisclosed shop.
5:10
Speaker 1: And the visit was so memorable because he made a
5:12
Speaker 1: phone call to a friend about something big that was
5:15
Speaker 1: going on in his life at the time. And Matt
5:18
Speaker 1: said on his podcast that it made him realize that
5:20
Speaker 1: he's a completely different person than.
5:21
Speaker 2: He was a year ago.
5:22
Speaker 1: Let's take a listen to some of what he said.
5:24
Speaker 3: I just think about how I felt. And I even
5:28
Speaker 3: put myself in the shoes of me standing in that shop.
5:32
Speaker 3: And I got that overwhelming feeling of like that pitted feeling.
5:38
Speaker 3: My stomach went into knots and I could feel myself
5:40
Speaker 3: like closing up again. And I actually got emotional. I
5:44
Speaker 3: started crying in the car for myself. And it's funny
5:47
Speaker 3: because that person now, I'm not that person anymore, but
5:49
Speaker 3: I cried for him and how he felt and how
5:53
Speaker 3: helpless he felt in that moment.
5:56
Speaker 1: I couldn't help but feel for Matt in that moment.
5:59
Speaker 1: He seems to be quite in touch with his feelings.
6:01
Speaker 1: And it is really interesting to hear an insight into
6:04
Speaker 1: how he was feeling a year ago, because when you
6:06
Speaker 1: look at social media, it seemed to be all happy
6:08
Speaker 1: smiles and fun times. They were planning their wedding together. This,
6:12
Speaker 1: of course, comes off the back of him recently saying
6:15
Speaker 1: that he is going to be opening up about his journey, well,
6:18
Speaker 1: his divorce journey. Yeah, it was a bit of a
6:20
Speaker 1: backflip for Matt because originally when he revealed he was
6:23
Speaker 1: getting a divorce, he said that he wouldn't be speaking
6:25
Speaker 1: about it. Of course, Tammy has then come out and
6:28
Speaker 1: said quite a bit. And also launched a new relationship. Yeah. Now,
6:32
Speaker 1: the episode Matt shared his story on was one actually
6:35
Speaker 1: dedicated to Are You Okay Day. And Matt's co-host, Anna McAvoy,
6:38
Speaker 1: made a point to ask him how he was. And
6:40
Speaker 1: this is what he said.
6:41
Speaker 2: Okay, Matt, I have a question for you.
6:45
Speaker 1: Yep.
6:46
Speaker 2: Are you okay? Seriously, are you okay?
6:50
Speaker 3: Well, yes. I would like to say that I actually
6:54
Speaker 3: am okay. Like, I've noticed, and a lot of people
6:58
Speaker 3: around me have noticed how my, not my mood, but, like,
7:03
Speaker 3: how much I have changed. And we were listening to
7:06
Speaker 3: old episodes from, like, a year ago. And listening to
7:10
Speaker 3: myself now to a year ago, I was, like, dead inside.
7:13
Speaker 1: Really?
7:13
Speaker 3: Like, I'm a completely different person. My mates have, like,
7:16
Speaker 3: pointed that out to me that, like, I'm completely different now. Like,
7:20
Speaker 3: I don't have to have you know.
7:21
Speaker 1: How so?
7:22
Speaker 3: Just my personality, I can be myself again. I can like,
7:25
Speaker 3: I'm more happy.
7:25
Speaker 1: You seem lighter.
7:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, lighter, I feel like.
7:29
Speaker 1: Wow, that's a pretty big statement to make that you
7:31
Speaker 1: felt dead inside. It's a massive statement to make, particularly because,
7:35
Speaker 1: as you mentioned previously, this was a couple of months
7:37
Speaker 1: out from their wedding.
7:38
Speaker 2: Like he got married on the 23rd of November.
7:41
Speaker 1: It's crazy that's coming up to a year ago. Reflecting
7:44
Speaker 1: on the past year, he also admitted that he hit
7:46
Speaker 1: rock bottom and he struggled to get out of bed,
7:49
Speaker 1: but that he's in a much better place now. He
7:51
Speaker 1: also said one of the main things that got him
7:53
Speaker 1: through the last year of his life were his friends
7:56
Speaker 1: and his family. He then made a jab at Tammy saying,
7:59
Speaker 1: I've learned now that chaos does not mean excitement, does
8:03
Speaker 1: not mean enjoyment. Unforeseen chaos or made up chaos isn't
8:07
Speaker 1: good for you. And I stay away from that now.
8:09
Speaker 1: When I heard that, I was like, okay, so reading
8:11
Speaker 1: between the lines, it seems like he's trying to say
8:14
Speaker 1: that Tammy invented arguments and invented this sort of chaotic
8:19
Speaker 1: nature to their relationship where they were always on and off,
8:22
Speaker 1: unfollowing each other, refollowing each other. And I sort of
8:25
Speaker 1: feel like now that she's with Bailey Smith, it's played
8:27
Speaker 1: out quite well for Matt because people are starting to question,
8:31
Speaker 1: is she the problem?
8:32
Speaker 2: Was she the one wanting to rush into things?
8:33
Speaker 1: Because she has rushed into this new relationship very quickly
8:37
Speaker 1: after her divorce. That being said, I feel like Bailey
8:40
Speaker 1: Smith's a bit of fun.
8:41
Speaker 2: He's a rebound.
8:42
Speaker 3: Yeah.
8:42
Speaker 1: To stick up for Tammy here, she can date whoever
8:45
Speaker 1: she wants in whatever timeframe she wants. I mean, It
8:47
Speaker 1: appears that this relationship was dead in the water months
8:51
Speaker 1: and months before they actually announced it. But don't you
8:53
Speaker 1: think it's kind of played out well for Matt? Oh,
8:55
Speaker 1: I think from that sense, it's played out well. And
8:57
Speaker 1: he's in a good position now to talk about it.
8:59
Speaker 1: And I think he's doing it really well. He's planting
9:01
Speaker 1: a few seeds here and there without actually making himself
9:04
Speaker 1: look bad. When I was listening to the podcast, all
9:07
Speaker 1: I could think about was what actually happened to him
9:10
Speaker 1: this time last year to elicit such a huge response.
9:14
Speaker 1: And it could have been something to do. With Tammy's sisters,
9:18
Speaker 1: Amy and Emily appearing on Matt's podcast. Now we have
9:21
Speaker 1: spoken about that episode quite a number of times, but
9:24
Speaker 1: for those of you who are new listeners, Amy and
9:27
Speaker 1: Emily made it very clear that they didn't like Matt.
9:31
Speaker 1: I'd even go as far as saying that they hated Matt.
9:34
Speaker 1: And they even called him an immature baby and publicly
9:37
Speaker 1: flagged their concerns with the relationship. Now, that episode was
9:41
Speaker 1: released on the 25th of September, but it was likely
9:44
Speaker 1: pre-recorded as they had to fly over to do it.
9:46
Speaker 1: So it could be plausible that a fight erupted over
9:50
Speaker 1: that interview. And that's what he's referring to.
9:52
Speaker 3: Yeah.
9:52
Speaker 1: I mean, it's interesting that we finally have confirmation that
9:54
Speaker 1: things weren't good before the wedding. I mean, we kind
9:57
Speaker 1: of already knew that with the couple unfollowing each other
9:59
Speaker 1: and refollowing. each other.
10:00
Speaker 2: Right before the Hux parties.
10:02
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean, talking about the joint bucks and hens,
10:05
Speaker 1: there was so much drama around that. People speculated that
10:08
Speaker 1: they were fighting because of a prenup. And then, of course,
10:11
Speaker 1: we also had Megan Passetto doing an expose on Matt
10:15
Speaker 1: just weeks out from the wedding. So Clearly it was
10:18
Speaker 1: a really difficult time for both Matt and Tammy and
10:20
Speaker 1: it seems like they've just never been able to recover
10:22
Speaker 1: their relationship since then. Why is Matt kind of growing
10:25
Speaker 1: on me a little bit? He seems to have this
10:27
Speaker 1: golden retriever energy. I don't know why it's working on me.
10:31
Speaker 1: I guess because you always root for the underdog and
10:33
Speaker 1: in this situation it's like it'd be really difficult to
10:36
Speaker 1: see your ex-wife move on with the most eligible bachelor
10:40
Speaker 1: in Australia.
10:41
Speaker 2: I think all his little posts about.
10:42
Speaker 1: His movie reviews and him with his golden retriever it
10:45
Speaker 1: kind of breaks my heart because you do forget that
10:48
Speaker 1: these people are real people with real emotions. Like that
10:51
Speaker 1: would have been such a whirlwind for him going into this,
10:54
Speaker 1: the world of Tammy Hembrough and then sort of being
10:57
Speaker 1: spat out of it. It's also interesting that he said
10:59
Speaker 1: he listened back to his podcast and he didn't sort
11:01
Speaker 1: of recognize himself and he was such a different person
11:04
Speaker 1: because I've noticed more recently that he comes across as
11:07
Speaker 1: a lot more likable and funny and carefree. And I
11:10
Speaker 1: quite liked him when he first released his podcast. He
11:13
Speaker 1: seemed to have, you know, be a bit jokey and
11:15
Speaker 1: quite funny. And Yeah, he did seem to be quite
11:18
Speaker 1: a different person during that relationship. Just to keep it even,
11:21
Speaker 1: I think we should give a little bit of an
11:22
Speaker 1: update on Tammy Hembrough. So her romance with Bailey Smith
11:26
Speaker 1: has even caught the attention of the big boss of
11:29
Speaker 1: the AFL.
11:30
Speaker 2: So the league CEO.
11:31
Speaker 1: Andrew Dillon, was speaking at a dinner function at the
11:34
Speaker 1: MCG last Friday night when Geelong took on Brisbane and
11:38
Speaker 1: he name dropped Tammy.
11:40
Speaker 2: In his speech.
11:41
Speaker 1: So he said, This year, the Cats added Bailey Smith
11:44
Speaker 1: to the mix. Last week, he claimed All-Australian for the
11:47
Speaker 1: first time and the Joint Coaches Champion Player of the Year.
11:50
Speaker 1: When I went down to visit Bailey earlier this year,
11:52
Speaker 1: there was a little bit of speculation. What do we
11:54
Speaker 1: actually chat about? In the end, I was really just
11:57
Speaker 1: there to give him relationship advice. And by what I've
11:59
Speaker 1: been reading recently, I think it worked better than we
12:02
Speaker 1: thought it might have. And to the buoyant people that
12:05
Speaker 1: asked me on the way into the room, is Tammy here?
12:07
Speaker 2: No, she's not. But we do have his parents.
12:11
Speaker 1: I feel like this is all leading up to Tammy
12:13
Speaker 1: being at the Brownlow because if you're Bailey, would you
12:16
Speaker 1: not be pissed off that the CEO of the AFL
12:19
Speaker 1: is mentioning some fling you're having? Well, I think the
12:21
Speaker 1: AFL's marketing team have clearly had a strategy meeting around
12:25
Speaker 1: this and thought, okay, look at the effect Taylor Swift
12:28
Speaker 1: and Travis Kelsey dating has had on the NFL. Yeah.
12:32
Speaker 1: So they would say to him, hey, mate, could you
12:33
Speaker 1: please bring her along to the Brownlow?
12:35
Speaker 2: We need her there. Because I feel like people aren't.
12:37
Speaker 1: As interested in the brown load as they once were. Yeah,
12:40
Speaker 1: but he's not the type of person that would go, oh, yeah, sure,
12:42
Speaker 1: I'll bring her along. I mean, he's quite a divisive
12:45
Speaker 1: figure in the AFL. He's happy to.
12:47
Speaker 2: Say when things are annoying him.
12:49
Speaker 1: I mean, just this week he's made headlines because at
12:52
Speaker 1: Geelong's open training session where all of the media are
12:55
Speaker 1: invited to, he has allegedly abused a female photographer who
12:59
Speaker 1: was taking a photo of him. There's a photo of
13:01
Speaker 1: him giving her the finger, which I've seen splashed all
13:04
Speaker 1: over social media. He's been known to do that to
13:07
Speaker 1: opposition crowds as well. It seems to be his go-to. Yeah, well,
13:11
Speaker 1: according to the photographer, Alison Wind, he verbally abused her.
13:15
Speaker 1: And when she told him she was just doing her job,
13:17
Speaker 1: Bailey reportedly said back to her, you're doing an effing
13:20
Speaker 1: shit job. I just think that that reaction was totally
13:23
Speaker 1: uncalled for. The photographer was just doing her job. The
13:26
Speaker 1: media are invited into those training sessions. I could understand
13:29
Speaker 1: maybe if he abused a photographer, like someone from the
13:32
Speaker 1: paparazzi who was following him around, him and Tammy, but
13:35
Speaker 1: this just seemed pretty unfair and maybe a bit of
13:37
Speaker 1: misplaced aggression. Yeah, well, the photographer ended up speaking to
13:41
Speaker 1: the age and she said she thought it was a
13:42
Speaker 1: completely unwarranted reaction, particularly because she had just photographed Mitch
13:46
Speaker 1: Duncan on the same massage table that she was photographing
13:49
Speaker 1: Bailey on. And she said, I photographed him and then
13:52
Speaker 1: he said it was a breach of his privacy that
13:54
Speaker 1: I was trying to bait him, which is incorrect. It
13:56
Speaker 1: wasn't as if I was photographing him with his girlfriend.
13:58
Speaker 1: It was an open media training. It'll be interesting to
14:01
Speaker 1: see how this relationship pans out with Tammy Hembrough because
14:05
Speaker 1: if it is to continue, he's only going to get
14:07
Speaker 1: more intense media scrutiny. I'm Hilary Duff and I have
14:12
Speaker 1: some very exciting news to share with you. This is
14:16
Speaker 1: definitely what dreams are made of. My 16-year-old self is
14:20
Speaker 1: dying inside with the news that Hilary Duff is making
14:23
Speaker 1: a return to music. The noughties pop princess made the
14:26
Speaker 1: announcement on Instagram, sharing a photo of herself in the
14:30
Speaker 1: recording studio with the caption, new music or something.
14:33
Speaker 2: I could not believe when I.
14:34
Speaker 1: Woke up to this news because it was only over
14:37
Speaker 1: the weekend that I was thinking, how cool would it
14:39
Speaker 1: be if Hilary Duff toured again? Because I've been seeing
14:42
Speaker 1: Jesse McCartney popping up on TikTok, performing at these different events.
14:47
Speaker 1: And I mean, Jesse McCartney, that was the first concert
14:49
Speaker 1: I ever went to, bar the Australian Idol one. I
14:50
Speaker 1: don't know if that counts. I'm holding out for him
14:52
Speaker 1: to come to Australia. There just seems to be this
14:54
Speaker 1: thirst for noughties bands at the moment. There seems to
14:57
Speaker 1: be some boy bands who are touring as well. I
15:00
Speaker 1: think that it must be in your subconscious though, Kate,
15:02
Speaker 1: because Hillary has been dropping clues for a couple of.
15:05
Speaker 2: Months now on Instagram.
15:07
Speaker 1: So the first clue came back in June, when she
15:10
Speaker 1: shared a post commemorating 10 years since the launch of
15:13
Speaker 1: her album, Breathe In, Breathe Out, if you can believe it.
15:15
Speaker 1: That was back in 2015. Oh my God. That makes
15:18
Speaker 1: me feel so old because I remember being so excited.
15:21
Speaker 1: I was like, she's coming back. Like we need to
15:23
Speaker 1: get around her. But unfortunately the album ended up being
15:26
Speaker 1: a bit of a flop. I loved the album. It
15:29
Speaker 1: definitely didn't have the hype of the first album. This
15:33
Speaker 1: album holds a pretty special place for Hillary, though, because
15:35
Speaker 1: she actually met her now husband, Matthew Cormer, because he
15:39
Speaker 1: was a music producer on the album.
15:42
Speaker 3: Oh, wow.
15:42
Speaker 2: And it's pretty cute because.
15:44
Speaker 1: When she made the announcement that new music is now coming-
15:47
Speaker 1: He was also featured in one of the photos. So
15:49
Speaker 1: they were sitting together in the recording studio and she
15:51
Speaker 1: was hugging him. So he's clearly going to be working
15:53
Speaker 1: on a number of these tracks. I think that's good
15:56
Speaker 1: news because I really like the direction Hillary's music was going.
15:59
Speaker 1: I know it wasn't as popular as her first two
16:01
Speaker 1: studio albums.
16:02
Speaker 3: Yeah.
16:03
Speaker 1: I mean, he has worked with some pretty big names
16:05
Speaker 1: like Britney Spears and Demi Lovato. So he is a
16:07
Speaker 1: talented music producer. Now, as you said, Kate, this was
16:11
Speaker 1: really Hillary's comeback album, but unfortunately the fans didn't really
16:15
Speaker 1: get behind it. And in the post, Hillary acknowledged that
16:18
Speaker 1: the album didn't have the major success that her other
16:22
Speaker 1: albums had had. But she said that some of the
16:24
Speaker 1: work on that album did feel very authentic to her.
16:27
Speaker 1: And she did poke fun at herself. She wrote, if
16:29
Speaker 1: you were one of the five people who listened to
16:31
Speaker 1: Breathe In, Breathe Out, drop your favorite songs below.
16:35
Speaker 2: Love you.
16:35
Speaker 1: So if I think you, me and Amy were three
16:38
Speaker 1: of those five people, because I definitely love them. Tattoo,
16:41
Speaker 1: that was a good one. I'm going to go and
16:43
Speaker 1: listen to these when I get a moment in the
16:45
Speaker 1: car to myself. She acknowledged in the post that there
16:48
Speaker 1: have also been a lot of fans who have been
16:50
Speaker 1: blaming themselves on TikTok for not getting behind the album more.
16:54
Speaker 1: And she wrote, I see you all blaming yourselves. Not
16:57
Speaker 1: actually your fault, in brackets, but really is. Just kidding,
17:00
Speaker 1: but don't let it happen again. Next time, dot, dot, dot, okay.
17:04
Speaker 1: That was a pretty big hint that some music was coming.
17:07
Speaker 1: And if those clues weren't obvious enough, in late August,
17:10
Speaker 1: Hilary also shared a post celebrating 22 years of her
17:14
Speaker 1: first album, Metamorphosis, which freaked me out. It took me
17:19
Speaker 1: back to that time. I remember having one copy of
17:21
Speaker 1: the CD, which we used to share.
17:23
Speaker 2: With our Discman.
17:23
Speaker 1: And I remember Amy always took it at nighttime to
17:26
Speaker 1: listen to, to fall asleep. To be fair, I actually
17:27
Speaker 1: think that she paid for the album.
17:29
Speaker 2: That's why it was in her room.
17:31
Speaker 1: Okay.
17:31
Speaker 2: That seems fair enough.
17:32
Speaker 1: There were just so many bangers on that album though.
17:34
Speaker 1: They really do take me back to being a teenager
17:37
Speaker 1: in that time in your life. Well, Hilary ended up
17:39
Speaker 1: writing quite a lengthy post about the impact the album
17:42
Speaker 1: had on her fans. And I found this section pretty
17:44
Speaker 1: interesting because she wrote, as much as I look back
17:47
Speaker 1: and think this album doesn't hold the emotional depth I
17:49
Speaker 1: look for today, I know my 14 to 15 year
17:52
Speaker 1: old self meant every word. So it seems like she's
17:54
Speaker 1: trying to indicate that this new album will hold a
17:57
Speaker 1: lot more depth and maturity.
17:58
Speaker 2: Which does make sense. Hilary is 38 years old now.
18:02
Speaker 1: I think that what she wants to sing about is
18:04
Speaker 1: very different to what she wanted to sing about as
18:07
Speaker 1: a teenager. And we're not going to be getting bangers
18:09
Speaker 1: like Sweet 16.
18:10
Speaker 3: Yeah.
18:11
Speaker 1: Well, the thing is, I mean, I look back at
18:12
Speaker 1: that album and, you know, there's so many good songs.
18:14
Speaker 2: Why not?
18:15
Speaker 1: So Yesterday, Anywhere But Here. I mean, I loved literally
18:18
Speaker 1: every single song. But, you know, it's bubblegum pop. It doesn't,
18:22
Speaker 1: you know, the lyrics weren't really that in-depth. So I
18:25
Speaker 1: can see where she's coming from. Well, she made it
18:27
Speaker 1: pretty obvious that music was on the horizon in this
18:30
Speaker 1: post too because she wrote, Although these are distant memories
18:32
Speaker 1: for me, thank you for showing up the way you did.
18:39
Speaker 1: to be continued dot dot dot see at the time
18:42
Speaker 1: i was just so excited about the throwback and all
18:45
Speaker 1: the old photos i didn't even see the to be
18:47
Speaker 1: continued part it just went over my head well in
18:50
Speaker 1: a 2022 interview with cosmopolitan she also told the media
18:53
Speaker 1: that she was itching to record new material so this
18:55
Speaker 1: seems to have been in the works for quite some
18:57
Speaker 1: time now she has signed a contract with atlantic records
19:01
Speaker 1: and she is also going to be the subject of
19:04
Speaker 1: a docu-series that's going to look at her return back
19:07
Speaker 1: to music and also at her personal life. And as
19:10
Speaker 1: an OG Hilary fan, I couldn't be more excited for this.
19:13
Speaker 2: I have missed her.
19:14
Speaker 1: This is the perfect launch pad for her new music
19:16
Speaker 1: because otherwise it could go down the path of breathe in,
19:20
Speaker 1: breathe out, not get a lot of hype. But I
19:22
Speaker 1: think this is fantastic. Re-engaging Hilary Duff's fans, looking back
19:26
Speaker 1: at what she did at the time, which was amazing.
19:28
Speaker 1: And now how we support her moving forward. Well, I
19:31
Speaker 1: think it's going to be a great docuseries because it's
19:33
Speaker 1: being directed and produced by Sam Wrench, who also worked
19:36
Speaker 1: with Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift. I mean, again, Hilary's name,
19:40
Speaker 1: I think, fits quite nicely in with Taylor and Sabrina.
19:43
Speaker 1: It does seem like she is taking some inspiration from
19:46
Speaker 1: Taylor Swift. So not only has she been dropping Easter
19:49
Speaker 1: eggs for fans, she's also launched a new Instagram account,
19:52
Speaker 1: which has Taylor Nation vibes. So when she announced her
19:55
Speaker 1: return to music, she posted in collaboration with an Instagram
19:58
Speaker 1: account called Hilary Duff HQ.
20:01
Speaker 2: And in the account's.
20:02
Speaker 1: Bio is a disco ball emoji, a star and some cherries.
20:06
Speaker 1: whilst the display picture is of a pink cloudy sky.
20:09
Speaker 1: So far, this account has 11.7 thousand followers and only
20:13
Speaker 1: follows Hilary Duff. I was very intrigued by this account
20:16
Speaker 1: because I think a lot of people missed it. The
20:18
Speaker 1: fact that it's only got 11,000 followers. There's a link
20:21
Speaker 1: in the bio to a new website that's been set
20:24
Speaker 1: up called HilaryDuff.com. And when you click on it, it
20:26
Speaker 1: takes you to a landing page and it says, want
20:29
Speaker 1: to know what Hilary Duff is up to? And it
20:32
Speaker 1: was so clever because underneath is a button that says,
20:34
Speaker 1: why not? Which is, of course, in reference to that
20:37
Speaker 1: early noughties banger. When you click on it, it takes
20:40
Speaker 1: you to a landing page and it basically asks you
20:42
Speaker 1: to give your contact details so you can find out
20:44
Speaker 1: all the Hilary Duff news first. It's very reminiscent of
20:47
Speaker 1: the way that Meghan Markle dropped her website and information. Well,
20:51
Speaker 1: I think all celebrities are using this format and I
20:54
Speaker 1: think it's clever for Hilary to have her own sort
20:56
Speaker 1: of separate, I suppose, what appears to be a fan account,
20:59
Speaker 1: but it's actually her running it to promote her music
21:01
Speaker 1: and connect with fans on there rather than doing it
21:04
Speaker 1: across her own personal Instagram. I mean, she does have
21:07
Speaker 1: a lot of followers. If anyone is questioning, oh, well,
21:10
Speaker 1: you know, how big is Hilary Duff? She's got 26.8
21:12
Speaker 1: million followers. That's a lot of people following her.
21:15
Speaker 2: We are shooting today, guys.
21:19
Speaker 3: Look how bump-friendly this skirt is. Little baby bump.
21:24
Speaker 2: Auntie's here.
21:26
Speaker 1: Podcaster Nikki Westcott and her husband Ollie Frost have announced
21:29
Speaker 1: they're expecting their first child. The couple who got married
21:33
Speaker 1: in November last year made the announcement whilst holidaying in Europe.
21:37
Speaker 1: In a joint post, the couple wrote, smuggled a plus
21:40
Speaker 1: one to Europe. We can't wait to meet you Bambino.
21:43
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people probably missed this when
21:45
Speaker 1: they were scrolling Instagram. They probably just thought, oh, there's
21:47
Speaker 1: a hot picture of Nikki in bathers because it wasn't
21:51
Speaker 1: that overt that this was a pregnancy announcement. And I've
21:53
Speaker 1: noticed this seems to be a new style of pregnancy
21:57
Speaker 1: announcement post that influencers are updating. It seems to be
22:00
Speaker 1: cool to kind of do it off the cuff and
22:02
Speaker 1: just include it amongst a photo dump. It does seem
22:04
Speaker 1: a bit daggy to do the general beach photo announcement.
22:08
Speaker 1: I think that's almost being viewed as a bit chewy
22:11
Speaker 1: these days. I mean, it's a bit cliche. See, I
22:13
Speaker 1: don't even think it was the beach shots that were in.
22:15
Speaker 1: I think that was quite outdated. I think it was
22:17
Speaker 1: more going in a photo studio. with jeans on and
22:20
Speaker 1: letting your bump pop out. I mean, how many influencers
22:22
Speaker 1: do we see doing that with their Calvin Klein's poking out?
22:25
Speaker 1: This announcement did feel very them because they're known for
22:27
Speaker 1: loving a Euro summer. And when you continued looking through
22:31
Speaker 1: the photo dump, it became more obvious that this was
22:33
Speaker 1: actually a pregnancy announcement because It was followed up by
22:36
Speaker 1: a photo of Ollie cuddling Nikki's stomach.
22:39
Speaker 2: There was then an ultrasound video.
22:41
Speaker 1: Just to spell it out for the people that didn't
22:43
Speaker 1: quite put two and two together. There was also a
22:45
Speaker 1: cute little sketch that I think their niece or nephew
22:47
Speaker 1: did congratulating the couple.
22:48
Speaker 2: So it was a very heartfelt post. Do you think?
22:52
Speaker 1: Euro summer 2026, we're going to see Nikki and.
22:54
Speaker 2: Ollie with a little baby in Europe.
22:56
Speaker 1: I don't know if it will quite be the same
22:58
Speaker 1: as Euro 2025 or the year before when they were there.
23:02
Speaker 1: They probably will bring their child along with them, but
23:04
Speaker 1: I think the holiday itself will have different vibes. See,
23:08
Speaker 1: I think they're the type of people that will take
23:10
Speaker 1: their baby overseas. I see a lot of influencers doing
23:13
Speaker 1: it and hats off to them. I don't know how
23:15
Speaker 1: they possibly do it. I mean, last week we were
23:17
Speaker 1: talking about how Lauren Bullen, who is better known as
23:20
Speaker 1: Gypsy Lust, They're still globetrotting with their one-year-old in business class.
23:24
Speaker 2: I mean, that makes a difference.
23:25
Speaker 1: But honestly, my son is nearly 15 months old. And
23:29
Speaker 1: I think it's only at this point where I'm like, okay,
23:32
Speaker 1: potentially we may be able to take him to a
23:34
Speaker 1: weekend down at Middleton, which is an hour away. I
23:37
Speaker 1: actually think he's a good age that he could go
23:39
Speaker 1: on a little week-long holiday, maybe to Port Douglas.
23:42
Speaker 2: That's what I'm trying to push at the moment. See,
23:44
Speaker 2: I am just such a stickler for his routine.
23:46
Speaker 1: Like it makes me feel out of control to think,
23:48
Speaker 1: getting him on an international flight.
23:51
Speaker 2: Like I just couldn't do it.
23:51
Speaker 1: His routine is changing at the moment and he's getting,
23:54
Speaker 1: you know, big awake windows, all that sort of stuff.
23:56
Speaker 2: Anna McAvoy is actually set to.
23:57
Speaker 1: Take her baby suede to Hawaii soon. It'll be interesting
24:01
Speaker 1: to see how that one goes. I love following along
24:04
Speaker 1: because they did an overnight stay at a hotel and
24:07
Speaker 1: they forgot to bring his sleep suit. They had to
24:09
Speaker 1: rush down to Kmart, buy one, stitch it up because
24:12
Speaker 1: it wasn't small enough. Well, it was probably a good
24:15
Speaker 1: dress rehearsal for them. I heard Anna talking on her
24:18
Speaker 1: podcast about how Suede has just started to wake up
24:21
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, oh God, have they really planned this
24:23
Speaker 1: holiday at a bad time? Because she made a joke
24:25
Speaker 1: about how his personality is coming out.
24:27
Speaker 2: And it's quite loud.
24:28
Speaker 1: I just couldn't personally stand being on a plane with
24:31
Speaker 1: a baby. I mean, it's bad enough when you're sat
24:33
Speaker 1: near one, let alone you having.
24:34
Speaker 2: To deal with them.
24:35
Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like she's managed to book in the
24:37
Speaker 1: emergency row and get a bassinet, which would surely make
24:39
Speaker 1: a big difference. Getting back to Nikki's announcement, it was
24:42
Speaker 1: very sweet because Lucy Jackson, her co-host, was very quick
24:46
Speaker 1: to congratulate the couple. She ended up sharing the bikini
24:49
Speaker 1: photo of Lucy and wrote, there's a baby in there.
24:52
Speaker 1: Auntie can't wait to meet you, baby. Mom and dad
24:55
Speaker 1: on route.
24:56
Speaker 2: Oh, that's very sweet.
24:57
Speaker 1: In regards to the timing, I wonder if they had
24:59
Speaker 1: to get it out there pretty soon because the Wild
25:01
Speaker 1: Ones are set to do a podcast tour in November.
25:04
Speaker 1: I mean, judging from Nikki's photos, she is hiding it
25:07
Speaker 1: very well at the moment, the pregnancy. But as you said,
25:10
Speaker 1: once they start going to live shows, you want to
25:12
Speaker 1: be the one that announces it first. You don't want
25:14
Speaker 1: people taking photos of you in the wild and people
25:17
Speaker 1: start starting to speculate about it.
25:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
25:20
Speaker 1: And it's also a difficult thing to hide when your
25:23
Speaker 1: life is talking on a podcast and you can't talk
25:25
Speaker 1: about something so exciting and massive that's happening to you.
25:29
Speaker 1: Let's get into our Friday debrief and I need to
25:31
Speaker 1: check in with you, Sophie.
25:32
Speaker 2: How's your first week back from maternity leave? Oh, I've
25:35
Speaker 2: absolutely loved it.
25:36
Speaker 1: I have to admit though, on Sunday night, I did
25:38
Speaker 1: have a bit of a knot in my stomach. I
25:40
Speaker 1: got really nervous and it wasn't about speaking on the podcast.
25:44
Speaker 1: It was that I was just hoping that my son
25:46
Speaker 1: Luca would sleep in his two hour nap break, which
25:49
Speaker 1: would let us record the podcast because we've had a
25:51
Speaker 1: lot of support from our mom, but it's hard to
25:54
Speaker 1: juggle us each being at different houses and us each
25:57
Speaker 1: having kids. So we've worked out that the best thing
25:59
Speaker 1: to do when we're recording is to have her look
26:01
Speaker 1: after your son, whilst he has one of his wake windows.
26:05
Speaker 1: So then you can edit whilst he's asleep. It's a
26:07
Speaker 1: bit of a juggling act at the moment. Yeah, because
26:09
Speaker 1: currently their routines are a little bit different. So it's
26:11
Speaker 1: about getting as much done as possible while these lads
26:14
Speaker 1: are asleep.
26:15
Speaker 2: That's the thing.
26:15
Speaker 1: Whilst I've been recording the podcast, I've got my iPad,
26:19
Speaker 1: which has my Nana baby monitor on there. And I
26:22
Speaker 1: just keep looking over just to make sure everything is
26:25
Speaker 1: in check.
26:25
Speaker 2: I know, you'd be like, oh my God, he's dropped
26:26
Speaker 2: his dummy. And I'm like, just keep going.
26:28
Speaker 1: For any parents, is that not the worst feeling in
26:30
Speaker 1: the world when they spit their dummy out and you
26:32
Speaker 1: just hear it hit the bassinet mattress?
26:34
Speaker 2: It's just, oh, it's a horrifying feeling.
26:36
Speaker 1: Oh, it just makes me so glad that Jack sucks
26:38
Speaker 1: his thumb rather than has a dummy. It's a weird
26:41
Speaker 1: feeling though, because I feel like I'm getting my groove back.
26:43
Speaker 2: I'm getting into it.
26:44
Speaker 1: But then I'm off again next week because For those
26:46
Speaker 1: who aren't aware, we're doing a one-off, one-on scenario.
26:50
Speaker 2: So Amy is going to be back on next week.
26:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys are juggling your maternity leave as we
26:54
Speaker 1: crawl to the end of the year. I think next
26:57
Speaker 1: year you'll both be back full-time. So there'll be three
26:59
Speaker 1: of us on the podcast, which, God, I can't remember
27:01
Speaker 1: the last time that actually happened. Yeah. I mean, I
27:03
Speaker 1: think that with two, we don't have quite as many arguments.
27:05
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's less fun for the audience. Yeah.
27:08
Speaker 2: I wonder if people can pick that up. Well, we
27:09
Speaker 2: did have a bit of an armchair critic. That was Amy.
27:11
Speaker 1: She wasn't pleased to be off that week and had
27:14
Speaker 1: a few areas that I could improve.
27:16
Speaker 3: Yeah.
27:16
Speaker 2: I thought it was a bit harsh.
27:17
Speaker 1: She said that it seemed like you were just so
27:19
Speaker 1: raring to chat that you wouldn't shut up, which I
27:21
Speaker 1: thought was the whole point of having an opinion podcast.
27:23
Speaker 2: To be honest, it probably was a little bit true.
27:25
Speaker 2: I've been stuck at home with no one to talk to.
27:27
Speaker 1: I was like, oh my God. i can speak on
27:29
Speaker 1: a podcast i still remember last year when you guys
27:32
Speaker 1: let me come off maternity leave for like one episode
27:35
Speaker 1: to let you yeah because i was like i want
27:37
Speaker 1: to come back and you guys like no but um
27:39
Speaker 1: when you guys let me do the molly may breakup
27:42
Speaker 1: podcast with you sophie and we did it in jack's
27:44
Speaker 1: nursery and i was like i'm just across this like
27:47
Speaker 1: i know i'm just so happy to speak about something
27:49
Speaker 1: it's not baby related babies yeah Well, I think that's
27:53
Speaker 1: where we're going to leave things today. Thank you again
27:55
Speaker 1: for listening to Outspoken. If you do want to hear
27:57
Speaker 1: more from us, we drop a subscriber only episode every Thursday.
28:02
Speaker 2: This week, we spoke about.
28:03
Speaker 1: How Talia Skanes confronted her fiance, Jake Sajano, right before
28:08
Speaker 1: her engagement.
28:09
Speaker 2: I think that's a lot more common than people think.
28:10
Speaker 1: I think generally a lot of people have arguments the
28:13
Speaker 1: day that they get engaged too, because you're like, When's.
28:15
Speaker 2: It happening, all right, buddy?
28:18
Speaker 1: We also spoke about how Tammy Hembrough has kind of
28:21
Speaker 1: brought in a new breakup trend.
28:24
Speaker 2: So rather than dyeing her hair, she's got Invisalign. That's
28:26
Speaker 2: how the rich do it.
28:27
Speaker 1: We also spoke about how Jojo Siwa has thrown a
28:31
Speaker 1: bit of shade at her ex, Kath Ebbs. And then
28:34
Speaker 1: we finished off by having a rant about Steph Klessmith's
28:37
Speaker 1: lullabies and deciding to film them. I want to say
28:39
Speaker 1: you had a rant about that, Kate. I was in
28:41
Speaker 1: defence of poor Steph and her being stuck at home
28:44
Speaker 1: on maternity leave.
28:45
Speaker 3: Yeah.
28:45
Speaker 2: You do go a little crazy, don't you?
28:46
Speaker 3: Yeah.
28:47
Speaker 1: And for anyone who has been on the fence about subscribing,
28:50
Speaker 1: you can now listen through our regular feed on Spotify.
28:54
Speaker 1: You just need to click subscribe and then set an
28:56
Speaker 1: account up with Patreon.
28:57
Speaker 2: It's really easy.
28:58
Speaker 1: We've had people come back and say, oh, wow, that
29:00
Speaker 1: was actually so simple. Thank you again for listening and
29:02
Speaker 1: I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. This episode
29:04
Speaker 1: was recorded on the traditional land of the Kaurna people
29:07
Speaker 1: of the Adelaide Plains. We pay respect to elders past
29:10
Speaker 1: and present.