No Filter

Jasmina, a grandmother who became a surrogate for her daughter at 52, shares her incredible journey. Alongside her daughter Sophie, who also served as a surrogate, they discuss the emotional intricacies of surrogacy and navigating high-risk pregnancies. Jasmina reflects on the love and challenges intertwined in bringing Hugo and Spencer into the world, while Sophie shares her unique perspective as both mother and surrogate. Their heartfelt stories highlight the resilience of family ties, the joy of grandparenting, and the sacrifices made for love.

Subscribe to Mamamia Writer and activist, Africa Brooke, used to call people out on the internet all the time - because this is what the culture wars told her she needed to do.  Until one day - she suddenly stopped.  In 2021, Africa wrote an open letter and posted it online. She called it: “Why I’m Leaving the Cult of Wokeness” and it immediately went viral. The letter changed her life, but not in the way she expected it to.  So what did she write in that letter? And how did she become unafraid? Was she cancelled? In this bold and timely interview - Africa Brooke and Mia Freedman discuss the pressures, expectations and risks of living in the Age of Intolerance. You can find out more about Africa Brooke here. You can follow Africa on Instagram here. THE END BITS: Listen to more No Filter interviews here and follow us on Instagram here. Listen to Mamamia’s satirical podcast, Cancelled, here.Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.auShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will get back to you ASAP.Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.   CREDITS: Host: Mia Freedman You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here. Executive Producer: Naima Brown Audio Producer: Thom Lion Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subscribe to Mamamia On Halloween morning, Charlotte Cowles - an Ivy League educated journalist and mother of a two-year old son - received a life-altering phone call from a government agent who informed her that she had 22 bank accounts, nine vehicles and four properties registered in her name, and that she’d wired more than $3 million to Jamaica and Iraq, and that a car had been rented in her name that had been linked to drug trafficking in New Mexico…and that she had warrants out for her arrest. As you will hear in this heart-stopping episode of No Filter, the government agent turned out to be a scammer - and the tactics he used against Charlotte amounted to all-out psychological warfare. And it worked.  It’s a story you need to hear to believe. You can learn more about Charlotte and read her work here. THE END BITS: Listen to more No Filter interviews here and follow us on Instagram here.Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.auShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will come back to you ASAP.Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.   CREDITS:Host: Mia Freedman You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here. Executive Producer: Naima Brown Audio Producer: Leah PorgesMamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subscribe to Mamamia Are you triggered by trigger warnings? Do you need one before you read a story about anxiety? How about before you see a photo of a meal that includes meat?What about before you watch a performance of Macbeth? Trigger warnings are supposed to protect us, but do they? Rachael Casella lost her daughter Mackenzie when she was just seven months old. And she refuses to put a trigger warning on her daughter’s life for reasons that may surprise you. Victoria Bridgland is an academic and researcher at Flinders University who has studied the effects and impact of trigger warnings - and her findings may surprise you. You can learn more about Rachael and Mackenzie here. Buy Rachael’s book here. And you can learn more about Victoria’s work here. THE END BITS: Listen to more No Filter interviews here and follow us on Instagram here.Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.auShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will come back to you ASAP.Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.   CREDITS:Host: Mia Freedman You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here. Executive Producer: Naima Brown Audio Producer: Leah PorgesMamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this enlightening conversation, David Finch, an Autism and Neurodiversity consultant and author, shares his journey navigating life before and after his Asperger's diagnosis. He discusses unique challenges in childhood friendships and dating, emphasizing the importance of authenticity in relationships. David candidly reflects on his marriage, revealing what he means by being 'unmarried' and the emotional growth he pursued. His insights highlight how neurodiversity shapes personal connections and the quest for understanding in love.

You can hear the second half of Mia's conversation with Tia here.  Subscribe to Mamamia Tia Levings was raised within the same strict Christian fundamentalist ideology as the infamous Duggar family from 19 Kids And Counting. By the time she was 19 years old, Tia found herself in an abusive marriage where the violence was sanctioned by the church. In this must-listen episode of No Filter, Tia tells Mia Freedman about the ways she was groomed to be a Trad Wife, and the moment she knew she had to run for her life. This is a story of indoctrination and survival, of reinvention and strength…but it is also about the thousands of other women who haven’t escaped the Trad Wife movement, and the new ones who are joining every day. You can find out more about Tia and her book, A Well Trained Wife, here. You can follow her on Instagram here. And if you need to talk to someone, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. THE END BITS: Listen to more No Filter interviews here and follow us on Instagram here.Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.auShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will come back to you ASAP.Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.   CREDITS:Host: Mia Freedman You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here. Executive Producer: Naima Brown Audio Producer: Leah PorgesMamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subscribe to Mamamia Jen Glantz was so sick of being invited to weddings and asked to do so much work…for free. So she did what any good entrepreneur does: she turned it into a business called Bridesmaid For Hire. In this episode of No Filter, Jen spills all the tea about her life as a professional bridesmaid - the good, the bad and the ugly (and all the dresses!) For more about Jen Glantz and Bridesmaid For Hire - go to her website. Or follow her on Instagram. THE END BITS: Listen to more No Filter interviews here and follow us on Instagram here.Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.auShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will come back to you ASAP.Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.   CREDITS:Host: Mia Freedman You can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here. Executive Producer: Naima Brown Audio Producer: Leah PorgesMamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eve Wiley, featured in Netflix's The Man with 1000 Kids, shares her journey of discovering she's a child of fertility fraud. She fights for victims, lobbies for laws against conception deception, and reveals her ongoing battle. Explore the emotional turmoil, familial relationships, and legal implications of fertility fraud in this compelling episode.

Subscribe to Mamamia Before the Netflix documentary America’s Sweethearts, a 7-part series that examines the wild world of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, author and journalist Sarah Hepola created and hosted the Texas Monthly podcast America’s Girls and she has stories that didn’t make it into the Netflix series. In this wide-ranging conversation with Mia Freedman, Sarah talks about the sexual exploitation, the injuries, the pay gap, the body image issues…and so much more. Are the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders a harmless piece of beloved American culture? Or are they emblematic of a system and ideal that is harmful for women and girls? Mia and Sarah discuss it all in this episode of No Filter. You can listen to Sarah’s DCC podcast here. Her Substack Podcast, Smoke Em if You Got Em, is here. And Sarah’s own podcast is here. THE END BITS: Listen to more No Filter interviews here and follow us on Instagram here.Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.auShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will come back to you ASAP.Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.   CREDITS:Host: Mia FreedmanYou can find Mia on Instagram here and get her newsletter here. Executive Producer: Naima Brown Audio Producer: Leah PorgesMamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subscribe to Mamamia Almost 40% of relationships begin online and while there are plenty of success stories, there are also some horror stories. This is one of those stories. In 2019, Mia Freedman interviewed Stephanie Wood, the author of Fake, which is now a hit TV series starring Asher Keddie and David Wenham. This is the true story behind the show. When Stephanie Wood decided to go on a date with a guy she met online she had no idea it would change the course of her life forever. Because Stephanie quickly fell in love with a man she barely knew. And who, it turned out, was a massive conman. THE END BITS: Listen to more No Filter interviews here and follow us on Instagram here.Discover more Mamamia podcasts here.Feedback: podcast@mamamia.com.auShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice message, and one of our Podcast Producers will come back to you ASAP.Rate or review us on Apple by clicking on the three dots in the top right-hand corner, click Go To Show then scroll down to the bottom of the page, click on the stars at the bottom and write a review.   CREDITS: Host: Mia Freedman  With thanks to special guest Stephanie Wood. Buy her book Fake here: https://bit.ly/2m5rZmv  Producer: Elissa Ratliff Audio edited by Daryl Missen Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.