If you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, make sure you pop on over and follow us on your podcast app of choice! Here we are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and even in full video on YouTube (wow!).

About the episode:

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

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

On this episode of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories, Heather joins Tiffany Dunk for a deeply moving conversation about the many forms love can take. She reflects on growing up in rural New Zealand, the great-grandfather who made her feel heard, her decades working in social work and the love she shared with her late husband, Steve.

Heather also reveals how she came to writing later in life, why she continues to tell the stories of ordinary people living through extraordinary times, and the remarkable true story behind her latest novel, The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse, about a woman who risked everything to protect a young Jewish girl during in Nazi-occupied Paris.

Moments you’ll hear:

• The great-grandfather who taught Heather the importance of listening

• The love story between Heather and her late husband, Steve

• What decades in social work taught her about unconditional love and grief

• The promise she made to Holocaust survivor Lale Sokolov

• How Heather became a bestselling author later in life

• The real-life stories behind The Tattooist of Auschwitz

• How The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse came to be

• The extraordinary story of a piano that helped a young girl survive the Holocaust

• Heather’s advice on following your dreams at any age

You can buy Heather’s newest book, The Piano Teacher of Montparnasse, here

Thank you for listening ❤️

Before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we''re @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories

Subscribe to The Australian Women’'s Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽

Credits

Host: Tiffany Dunk

Edited by Leah Porges

Production by Leah Porges

Our wonderful The Australian Women’'s Weekly team

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain

Learn More: The Australian Women’'s Weekly website

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, make sure you pop on over and follow us on your podcast app of choice! Here we are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and even in full video on YouTube (wow!).

About the episode:

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

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

Now, seven years after Survivor, Pia and Janine join Tiffany Dunk to talk about the friendship that changed how they see themselves, why they believe true friends should make you the best version of yourself, and how they stay close despite living in different states and having very different lives.

They also reveal their friendship's love language, their hilarious holiday rituals, why their husbands have accepted that they're basically each other's "wives", and the advice they'd give anyone trying to make meaningful friendships later in life.

Plus, Pia talks about her new ABC cooking show Recipe of the Year with Adam Liaw, the TV project she and Janine are developing together, and why they're both exploring spirituality and self-growth.

Moments you’ll hear:

• How Pia and Janine first met on Australian Survivor
• The moment Janine tried to vote Pia out and why it cemented their friendship
• What 50 days without phones, TV or creature comforts revealed about them
• How Janine helped Pia recognise her own strength
• How they built complete trust in a game based on paranoia
• How their friendship has changed the way they approach other relationships
• The moment Pia realised this was a lifelong friendship
• How they maintain a close friendship while living in different states
• Their theory of "friendship buckets" and why happiness can't come from just one person
• How to recognise when you've found "your people"
• Their advice for making new friends
• How they support each other through parenting, work, health and life
• The TV show they're developing together, exploring spirituality and self-growth
• Their ideal friendship date: surfing, walking, talking and good food
• Why they know they'll grow old together

You can find out more about Recipe of the Year, the new ABC cooking series with Pia Miranda and Adam Liaw here.

Thank you for listening ❤️

Before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽

Credits

Host: Tiffany Dunk

Edited by Leah Porges

Production by Leah Porges

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, make sure you pop on over and follow us on your podcast app of choice! Here we are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and even in full video on YouTube (wow!).

About the episode:

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

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

They also share what they've learned about love, laughter, communication, and keeping a relationship strong through the highs and lows of two careers in entertainment.

Moments you’ll hear:

• Tegan and Paul's very unusual first date
• How their paths crossed several times before they finally got together
• Why making each other laugh is such an important part of their relationship
• Their "anxiety pav" and how food became their love language
• The proposal that was almost derailed by a Cornish pasty
• Why they decided to get married in Paris
• The ducks that dive-bombed their wedding ceremony
• How they navigated the ups and downs of two careers in entertainment
• What lockdown taught them about their relationship
• The "seven-year itch" — and why they were still going strong
• How Tegan and Paul learned to work together creatively on Gnomes
• Their advice for couples who work together
• What they hope their relationship looks like in another 13 years

You can find out more about Gnomes, the new Stan Original comedy series written by Tegan Higginbotham and Paul Verhoeven, here.

Thank you for listening ❤️

Before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽

Credits

Host: Tiffany Dunk

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace

Production by Leah Porges

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories, make sure you pop on over and follow us on your podcast app of choice! Here we are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and even in full video on YouTube (wow!).

About the episode:

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

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

In this episode, Shaun and Gabe sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about what Gabe inherited from his dad, growing up with one of Australia’s best-known comedians and how their relationship has changed now that they’re both adults.

Plus, they reveal how the homemade movies they made together when Gabe was a child may have laid the groundwork for them eventually ending up on television together.

Moments you’ll hear:

• Shaun’s theory about whether love actually exists
• Why Shaun decided not to read the parenting books
• The simple childhood adventures Gabe remembers with his dad
• What Gabe inherited from Shaun
• The homemade movies they made together as a family
• What it was really like growing up with Shaun Micallef as your dad
• How Parents Evening brought father and son together professionally
• What Shaun and Gabe hope for each other’s futures

Watch Shaun Micallef’s Parents Evening on Network 10 and 10 Play.

Thank you for listening ❤️

Before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes.

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice

Credits

Host: Tiffany Dunk

Edited by Leah Porges

Production by Leah Porges

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories...

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

Eighteen months later, his parents sent him on a holiday he didn't want to go on. There, he met a man named Tyler. What followed was a relationship neither of them expected, kept quietly in the background of family life for years, and one that's now lasted 26 years.

In this episode, Jim and Millie sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the process of writing Jim's memoir together: the hardest parts to put into words, what it was like for Millie to hear new stories about her mum and her dad's early relationship with Tyler, and Jim's more recent diagnosis of young-onset Alzheimer's, which he's chosen to speak about publicly rather than hide.

Plus, Jim talks about the podcast he co-hosts with Hamish MacDonald, Hold the Moment, and what he hopes it can do to de-stigmatise Alzheimer's and help people with the diagnosis feel less alone.

Moments you’ll hear:

• How Jim met Lorna, and the VW Beetle that started it all
• Millie's memory of the day her dad told her and her siblings their mum had died
• The holiday Jim didn't want to go on, and the man he met there
• Millie's first inkling that her dad's friend was more than a friend
• The proposal on top of the Empire State Building, and the surprise engagement at home
• Jim's young-onset Alzheimer's diagnosis
• Why Jim decided to write it all down, "warts and all"

Photo Credit: Rob Palmer

You can listen to Jim’s podcast, Hold The Moment, here.

Find Jim & Millie’s book, Holding on to Happiness, here.

Thank you for listening ❤️

Before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes.

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice

Credits

Host: Tiffany Dunk

Edited by Leah Porges

Production by Leah Porges

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories...

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

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

In 2009, Gavin Larkin sat his wife Maryanne and their closest friends down at the dinner table and told them about an idea he'd been carrying since his own father died by suicide years earlier. It was a simple question that could change everything: "Are you okay?"

Allison "Ally" Langdon, a journalist and friend who was part of that conversation, knew instantly she had to help get the message out. What followed was R U OK? Day which has since grown into a national movement. But what followed was something that neither Ally nor Maryanne could have imagined.

In this episode, Ally and Maryanne sit down with Tiffany Dunk to talk about the early, uncomfortable days of getting a newsroom to even say the word "suicide," what it actually looked like for Ally to show up for her friend in the hardest years of her life, and the quiet, everyday ways two women have held a friendship together, and a legacy alive, for close to two decades.

Moments you'll hear:

• The dinner table conversation in 2009 that became R U OK? Day
• Why newsrooms wouldn't touch the word "suicide," and the pushback Ally got
• Maryanne on losing both Gavin and her eldest son Gus, and why moving into her late son's bedroom with her two younger kids helped them all grieve
• The small, practical ways Ally and their friend group showed up during the hardest years
• What it means to keep telling stories about someone you've lost
• Nearly 20 years on, what they still hope for each other

Visit the R U OK? Day website here.

Learn more about Ally and Maryanne's friendship in our exclusive interview here

Thank you for listening ❤️

Before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a brand-new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at womensweekly.com.au

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

If you share your love story on social media please tag us, we're @womensweeklymag, and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽

Our special thanks to our partners at Vixin

Vixin real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy: vixin.com.au

Use the code LOVESTORIES for 30% off your order at Vixin now!

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes.

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice

Credits

Host: Tiffany Dunk

Edited by Phoebe Zukowski-Wallace

Production by Leah Porges

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hope you enjoy this episode of The Australian Women's Weekly Love Stories:

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

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

They also open up about becoming parents, Ed's own childhood without a father in the picture, and how that's shaped the kind of dad he wants to be. Plus, Tiff talks candidly about rebuilding her relationship with her body after having kids, and why she built a business helping other women do the same.

Moments you’ll hear:

• The night Ed first saw "Angel" on Gladiators, and his friend's prediction
• The interview Ed engineered just to meet her (and the second one he asked for)
• Their first date, and the book Ed used to test her sense of humour
• The moment Ed got cold feet, and the gift that won Tiff back
• Their engagement story – including a secretly pre-planned visit to a very famous jewellery store
• Ed opening up about growing up without a dad, and what it means to him now
• Tiff's journey to rebuilding her relationship with her body after having kids

Find out more about Tiff’s self-defence classes here.

Check out Tiff's work with 28 by Sam Wood here.

Find Tiff Hall on Instagram here.

Keep up with Ed Kavalee on Instagram here.

Thank you for listening ❤️

Before you leave...

🗣️ Get in touch

What did you think? We are a new podcast and would love to hear from you as we build this together. Join our friendly Love Stories community and visit us at www.womensweekly.com.au

Email us your love stories (and any feedback) at awwlovestories@aremedia.com.au

If you share your love story on social media, please tag us @womensweeklymag and use the hashtag #AWWLoveStories

Subscribe to The Australian Women's Weekly at www.womensweekly.com.au 👈🏽

Our special thanks to our partners at Vixin

Vixin: real results, simple skincare that's a little bit fancy: vixin.com.au

Use the code LOVESTORIES for 30% off your order at Vixin now!

Sending thanks to our partners at Wounded Heroes.

You can help Wounded Heroes deliver emergency assistance to current Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families by donating at: www.woundedheroes.org.au/actsofservice

Credits:

Host: Tiffany Dunk

Edited by Leah Porges

Production by Leah Porges

Our wonderful The Australian Women's Weekly team

Our Head of Vodcasting is Rachel Fountain

Learn More: The Australian Women's Weekly website

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.