For anyone who grew up in the late 80s and 90s, the name Alison Brahe-Daddo is synonymous with that Dolly magazine cover - the one blu-tacked to bedroom walls and plastered all over school lockers. 

With her dazzling smile and golden beach body, Ali exploded onto the Australian modelling scene at the age of 16, gracing the glossy covers of Cleo, Dolly and Cosmopolitan and making herself a household name. Ali was the absolute ‘It-Girl’ of the time, and everything every young woman wanted to be.

Fast-forward to today, and Alison Brahe-Daddo is a Mum to three adult children, fitness teacher, birth assistant, podcaster co-hosting the hit show "The Heart Of It" with her husband Cameron Daddo and she is also the author of Queen Menopause: Finding Your Majesty in the Mayhem.

In this episode, Ali takes us back into the often brutal world of modeling when as a self-proclaimed naïve teenager she learned to people-please her way through the industry - a pattern that followed her well beyond the runway and into her adult life.

We talk about how she fell madly in love with and married Cameron Daddo when she was aged just 22, and unpack the beautiful, messy reality of how Ali and Cam have evolved both individually and together over three decades of life and marriage.

But the big nugget in this conversation is MENOPAUSE: that universal yet profoundly misunderstood and stigmatised life change we still don't talk about nearly enough. 

Ali doesn't hold back about her own challenging journey through menopause: the crippling anxiety, terrible panic attacks, insomnia, deep depression, blind rage and complete absence of joy that beset her through this stage of life. 

What's remarkable about Ali's approach is that she doesn't just catalog the struggle: she dispels the myths, destigmatises what it means when a woman's fertile years end and explores the hidden gifts of menopause, including the power of self-love and self-compassion, and how she used this time to live a fuller, more authentic life. 

The ripple effect of menopause impacts everyone - partners, children, workplaces, society at large - so this conversation isn't just for women, it’s for all of us.

But we hope Ali’s experience and wisdom in this episode will offer help and reassurance to anyone struggling with the challenges of menopause right now.

Guest: Alison Brahe-Daddo
Podcast: The Heart Of It
Instagram: @alidaddo

Hosts: Mads Hanger (Grummet) and Sabina Read
Producer: Audio Superstar Daryl Missen

Human Cogs is available on Apple, Spotify or via our website where you can also catch great conversations with stacks of our previous guests :)

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