Everything Is Content - Emma Watson, The End Of Skinny & Nicole Kidman

Episode Date: October 3, 2025

Hello Content Pups, strap in, seatbelts ON, we're going on a content road trip. This week on the podcast we’re talking about Emma Watson’s Jay Shetty interview (and the subsequent fall out), the way that GLP-1S, have democratised thinness - and what that means for body trends, and perhaps the biggest divorce in recent pop culture history It's been a hefty week for celeb and pop culture stories, so yes you’re exactly right, we’re bringing back the EIC headlines; from Nicole Kidman's divorce, to Lola Young's statement and Super Bowl Sunday.Next up, last Wednesday an interview between podcaster and life coach Jay Shetty and actress Emma Watson was released. At time of recording the video of the interview on YouTube has almost 3 million views and over 6000 comments. It’s the only podcast she’s ever done and her first long form conversation in over five years. They get pretty candid about her recent driving ban for speeding, her complicated relationship to film promotion, sensitivity, fame, if she’ll return to acting, Harry Potter- all sorts. But the part that is hitting the headlines most this week is a part towards the end of the interview where Jay asks her about JK Rowling and the relationship between the two women. We get into it.And lastly, Christiana Mbakwe Medina for her Substack, Pop Syllabus, writes, ‘Right now, Ozempic and other GLP-1s are rapidly democratizing thinness, making it attainable to whomever can afford it. As a result, the value of thinness as a status symbol is diminishing, and I believe we’re about to enter a significant shift. Be prepared for The Sculpt'. Are we about to enter into a new body trend craze?Ruchira's been Loving - The ShiningOenone's been loving - The News Agents, The Rest Is Politics, Ta-Nehisi Coates on Ezra KleinBeth's been loving - The Housemaid Series, The GirlfriendEmma Watson Jay Shetty EpisodeUncovering The Truth Of Jay ShettyGoodbye Thin. Hello SculptHow Toned Arms Became a Status Symbol—And an Impossible StandardThank you so much for listening, as always please do leave us a rating and a review on your podcast player app, love you byeeeee O,R,B xx Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I'm Beth, I'm Ruchera, and I'm Anoni, and this is Everything is Content. The pop culture podcast that keeps you up to date with the biggest stories circling the worldwide web. We're the human overview providing the key information and breakdowns in the world of content this week. You can follow us on Instagram and TikTok at Everything is ContentPod. And please, please give us a rating or review wherever you're listening. We're an independent podcast and your feedback helps us us. others to find us and essentially keeps us going.

This week on the podcast, we're talking about Emma Watson's Jay Shetty interview and the subsequent fallout, the way that a Zenpit has democratised thinness and what that means for body trends and perhaps the biggest divorce in recent pop culture history. But first, and as always, I've got to ask, what have you both been loving this week? So I watched the new Paul Thomas Anderson film last week, one battle after another, starring Tiana Taylor and Leonardo DiCaprio and I was obsessed with it but a little birdie told me that we might be discussing it next week so I won't say too much but I'm just going to pepper that in there and then the other thing that I've been loving is I watched The Shining a few weeks

ago and my God what a beautiful fucking film. I don't think I've watched The Shining. Oh you should. It's so good and it is I mean I find it just fucking terrifying even though it's like a very well-lit film. It is, oh, it's fucking spooky. Oh, I'm just, I'm just gushing over it. I have not seen the film in so long because it terrifies me. What I like to do is I like to read The Shining one year and then the next year I'll re-watch the film because they're very different source materials and they kind of, and like Kubrick directed the film. I think he and Stephen King, who wrote the book, like really did not align on their visions. Like Stephen King does not even claim that film. Oh, I love that drama as well. Oh my God. I love that context. I'm

so going to go on a investigative rabbit hole god knows what later after hearing that that's amazing i see you love a bit of stephen king don't you bet i'd that was more for my dad i'd love than me but you're i've got stephen king tattoo i'm i'm stephen king tattoo and a hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy tattoo i'm everyone's dad yeah i do i have a little matchbox on my arm that says um disdain safety matches which it can pass to something else but if people get really close and read the writing and they and they're a fan of the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. They're like, fellow nerd. So yeah, I hate to say it.

Might not be my last either. Oh, I love that. I know exactly which tattoo you're talking about. I never knew what it was, though. What about you and only? What have you been loving this week? I have been very much in my political podcast bag because just the world. So I've been listening to a lot of the news agents quite religiously

and actually they've been doing some really great interviews and just general episodes, which has kind of kept me abreast because I feel like, a lot is going on at the moment and I've also been listening to the rest is politics which I dip in and out of but at the minute I kind of can't quench my thirst enough to feel I don't know if it's like a control thing or I really want to feel very conscious of what the political movements are both here in the US so I've not been doing that much fun pop culture absorption I've mostly been I also listened to Ezra Klein's as recline did like a kind of piece after the death of child Charlie Kirk, which got quite rightly, in my opinion, a lot of backlash.

And then he interviewed Tar Nahisi Coates, who was someone who wrote, like, a very big kind of rebuffled to what he said. That was a really interesting conversation. That's kind of the world that I've been inhabiting for better or for worse, probably for worse. I'm not sure it's that good for your brain, but I don't know if either of you are feeling that way in terms of wanting to be quite in the loop. That is such a good recommendation.

I'm going to listen to that podcast because I would. was keeping a little bit up to date with the fallout from Ezra Klein's piece, which was Charlie Kirk practiced politics the right way. And literally, as you said, it's been really good to listen to people thoroughly dissecting why that is an egregious, terrible, terrible take. Matt Bernstein had a really good rebuttal to this on his podcast, a little bit fruity. I would love to listen to that episode you mentioned. Thanks for that. Okay. So what I have been loving, it's actually not a love. It's probably not even alike, but it is what I was consuming, weirdly while I was in the deep south in America, over both 9-11 and when Charlie Kirk was

shot, it was very strange time. So I guess aside from sort of engaging with that, on the ground, I was trying to read some quite lowbrow stuff, which I read The House Maid, which is, it's a psychological thriller from 2022 by Frida McFadden. It's a, I mean, it's hugely successful, popular two million reviews on good reads um you and in all listing might have recently seen the trailer for the film adaptation with sydney swiney and amanda safe read which maybe is why it cropped up and they thought oh i'll read that basically amanda safe read i'll i'll say the as though i'm talking about the film because it's easier because i can't remember anyone's names but amanda safe reed plays this rich housewife who once a maid she gets one it's sydney

who arrives sort of endowedy attire and then when she gets the job seems to look a little bit more put together they get on but then they clash it feels like there's all these secrets in the house there's sexual tension with a sexy husband it's all like I think they live in upstate New York or something it's all very prim proper but also a lot going on there's a sexy gardener no one's who they say they are it's like it's psychological thriller by numbers basically and I read this on my trip and it was really not good and I was noticing it was really not good, but then I did read it really quickly and then I immediately got the second book and then the third. So obviously something was going on there. I was like,

God, this is bad. I would get the next one. I think I've just been very laxed my reading and I was like, oh, go on. I'll just have another one. I mean, it's predictable, but it's also good in the, like, you know what's going to happen, but then you don't. It's sort of like the attempt is obvious to reheat the gone girl nachos, but the plate is cold, but also I'm eating them. I don't know. it's fine. I think it might also be free on Kindle Unlimited. So if you're on holes or I'm not trying not to be judgmental because obviously I'm tearing through them. I will finish the third one as well and I will enjoy the film. Have either of you read that or am I alone in the housemate club? No. I haven't seen the film. I had seen a trailer for the film and thought it looked

yeah, very much like what you said, paint by numbers thriller. So that is a hilarious review. Thank you. It's annoying because I love Amanda Seafried and I'd actually love to see her doing something. my favourite, just side note, Amanda Cefie thing, is her doing Joni Mitchell on that instrument, which I do not know the name of. Jimmy Kimmel? She plays, what's it called? Oh, I thought it was on the,

she sang a Joni song on Jimmy Kimmel, that's not what you mean. Oh, you know, it is what I mean, but she plays that special instrument that's sort of like a guitar but it's on your lap. And her voice is amazing. I watch that every time it comes up.

But yeah, it's a shame that it's not a great film because I feel like she's such an interesting actress but actually maybe she's never done a good film. Obviously, Mama Mia's good, but it's not good. I almost leapt through the screen. Wait, what? Yes, it is.

It's one of the most fantastic films of our time. Yeah, no, she has. I'm sure she has. I'm sure she's been in something really prestige that I just can't think of the name of. The drop out? No, the sellout. That, you know, the Elizabeth Holmes TV series.

That's the only thing I can think of where it was like buzz around her performance. But I can't think of anything else. Oh, the one with when, the one with the Megan Fox, which is kind of a cult here. Jennifer's body. Jennifer's body. I mean, that's a very important film.

Mm-hmm. She rules. She does rule. I fucking love her. I might watch this film. When you say it was bad, in what way was it bad? Like badly, just like... The book was badly written.

The film actually isn't out yet. The film could be fantastic. The film could be... I don't think it will be. But the film could be really good. And actually the trailer, she looks unhinged. She's running around. There's knives.

She's like... You know, when in film, someone proper... closes the bathroom cabinet and the mirror and then someone's behind the there was a bit of that so actually I think we are going to watch the fuck out of this film I think we're going to cover this film in fact fine I'm down I'll do my second one very quickly so we can we can move on for my midge recommendations but and I mentioned this in the bonus but it's the girlfriend on amazon prime a show I watched and enjoyed even with what I said in the bonus which you'll have to go and listen to to know what that was which is psychological thriller again

starring Robin Wright from House of Cards, playing Laura, who is the mother of Daniel, who's played by Laurie Davidson, who we all saw in the road trip last year. He played the main love interest. And Olivia Cook, from the House of Dragons, Slow Horses, playing his girlfriend, his new girlfriend, Cherry. Again, she's fantastic. Daniel brings her home to meet the parents. And immediately Laura's like, oh, something's up, not getting a good vibe.

and she remembers their encounter, like this quite brash woman, sharp-tongued, like kind of a vixen, red hair, not a good dinner guess, sort of like weird. And then we also see the dinner, the meeting from Cherry's perspective, and it's different. She's shyer, she's nicer, it's, you kind of understand her actions. And the whole series is both of them disliking each other, but you see from either's perspective or like from their own perspective what they took from it and what they thought had happened. and it's like who's the liar who's what's the truth and I just think it's I think it's worth watching genuinely I think it's quite a good first binge of the the colder season like also a little bit incesty not actually incesty but like very edipal very like oh my god a lot of physical contact between mother and son here which depends on your proclivities but I really

enjoyed it so I honestly don't think we should add any more let's just leave it there Yeah, go and watch it and enjoy. So this week has been an absolutely hefty week for celeb and pop culture stories. So, yes, you're exactly right. We're bringing back the EIC headlines. First up, news broke this week that Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have separated after 19 years together, which is in Hollywood's celeb couple years, about 3,000 years. TMZ first reported the news and cited sources who said the pair,

have been living apart since the summer and Kidman does not want the separation. The BBC also confirmed the source and said the reasoning for their split is unclear. So how do we feel about our fave going through a divorce? What I learn is that a lot of people were really invested in Nicole Kidman's marriage in a way that I have now retrospectively become invested in Cross.

But I didn't, I wasn't, I don't think this news would have really hit me as much as it did if I wasn't reading everyone else's reaction to it. But the reactions have really made me laugh because people keep just quote tweeting all of the reports on it being like, sorry, not allowed, work on a marriage, go to couples therapy, I'm not having it.

Like just everyone is just really not allowing it to happen. Were you guys as invested in Keith Herbert and Nicole Kippman? No, mine's definitely retroactive. I'm invested in her and I think by extension I was like, well, she's happy that man with a bob is taking care of her all as well. I think that was important to me, but not necessarily that they were married, or it was them too.

Like, I don't know anything about Keith Urban, apart from his, his Bob. And now I'm, the parasyality in me as being like, what did he do wrong? Am I to believe TMC or whoever saying that there's another woman? Is she crying somewhere heartbroken? We ride at dawn. I do think a lot of it's retroactive and I'm very suggestible, but here we are. No, I don't really care for Keith Urban. I don't really know anything about him.

I don't really understand his fame level, which I find quite distressing, because she's obviously, you know, top-tier cream 1% Hollywood celeb star quality. It's hard to understand how they work as a pairing when I don't know who he is and I don't understand who he is. So if anyone does know, can you please tell me, is he as famous as her? I don't get the impression he is. I don't really know anything about, I think he's a country singer, but he, they're both Australian, but he, they live in somewhere.

Tennessee or so. I think he might be, I think he might be a Kiwi, in fact. Oh yeah he's key That's it And he's it So that's one of the things I know I think I've Esther Perel Too close to the sun

Because any time a famous woman gets divorced I'm just like Woohoo Like this is amazing for her This must be like A really great development Like kind of something's gone wrong

I'm just imagining That she's now going to live out Like her baby girl fantasy Even though we found out That it wasn't in the end But you know In my mind I just wasn't sad

I just thought oh fun Nicole Kiven's going to get like a younger hot boyfriend I did I thought the exact same thing And I also thought I wonder if we're going to get more Nicole Kidman films from this because she'll have more time to invest in films and TV. So I'm really sad for her, but I do really want her to be dating someone really hot and

to be in film and TV even more. I'm trying to imagine how she physically could be in more film and TV shows because I do feel like I see her more than my own mother, which is, you know, my mother's listening and I miss you very much, love you very much. But she's a wonderful replacement when I can't be with you. I do, I think people want her to be, a lot of people want her to be late in life lesbian, sapphic, maybe bisexual, that could be quite exciting.

I do, I think because we've got that picture of her, like allegedly celebrating her, her divorce from Tom Cruise, people are like, but she went through all that and we wanted a happy ending. And obviously,

happy ending does not need to be a very long heterosexual marriage to the same man. Life is long. I just, I do feel a bit sad. Maybe it's that need for like safety. I think if Posh and Beck's full,

then you will see. I think we'll have take a week of the podcast. I think that is where people are locating, like for the world to feel even slightly okay. I think Nicole has to be happy at making films and Victoria and David Beckham need to be together. That is one that I'm very invested in. But Victoria

and David are in on the bit. So like they won't. They can't and they won't. So that is probably, they'll be like the last thing. The last relic of like British culture standing will just be like posh and back as we all tumble into the descent of wherever it is that girl takes us first. So on Tuesday, messy singer Lola Young released a statement on Instagram

saying she'll be going away for a while to work on herself, adding that she'll be canceling our tour shows for the foreseeable future. I really hope you'll give me a second chance once I've had some time to work on myself and come back stronger. It comes after the 24-year-old singer was carried off stage by staff

during her performance at a festival in New York over the weekend, but later she reassured her followers that she was fine. I feel, I mean, I absolutely love Lola Young and I think she's such an incredible young artist and she's had such a stratospheric assent into fame that it really, I don't find it too surprising that she's totally overwhelmed.

Obviously there's been so much conversation around the fact that she has Amy Winehouse's old tour manager and he did actually release a statement before the gig that she did where she eventually collapsed saying, you know, that we're encouraging Lola not to perform. But I think that this perhaps might point to a turning point in how we view young artists, like how much we expect from them,

especially when they're just getting to that point of going from kind of zero to 100. I do think the messaging around fame and success, especially for young people, is really tied into this like pain and sacrificed and basically making this deal with the devil where you have to give something up, whether it's your physical or mental health, your safety,

certain ambitions. And I think we've seen so many people flame out of that. I really just hope there is room for her to take this break and then do this how she wants to do it and also how she can do it, like a consideration for her health or any limitations she might have. We don't know what's going on, but you would expect, like if someone is dealing with something ongoing or this is just a singular moment where she has, this has amounted to just an unbearable amount of stress on a brain or body, you still have to make accommodations and it's just not limitation or accommodation. Like it's not an ugly word and I, I do not

know it's it's just one of those situations where you're like how many times have we seen this what is going on where this i mean i get it it's like the pressures of fame and like physically it's physically demanding job but it's like i i really feel really protective in the same way that i did chapel rhone when we had those conversations about her reaching this pinnacle of fame very quickly and then being like damn this is hard this is going to hurt me it's just so tough i agree it really reminded me the chapel row and stuff and I just I really hope that people are kind and people are nice and it really broke my heart the way she phrased it about saying that I hope you'll give me a second chance because I can only imagine all the hurdles that are there all the people telling you don't you take a break you do you know the ramifications of this do you know all the people that will turn on you to be able to do it is so brave because you are like the feeling of letting people down is awful that's fucking awful, especially when you have got to the point of things that you have wanted your entire life to then take the time and say, I need to take a break. This is not good for me.

It's so fucking brave. It's so difficult. It is beyond, you know, the right thing. It is exactly what she needs to do if that's what she needs to do. So I just, I really hope the reaction to this is on the right side and people are kind and people treat her with the respect that she deserves, especially if she's struggling. So after weeks of speculation, and Swifty fan theories, it's been confirmed that Taylor is not playing the Super Bowl, but Bad Bunny is. I'm not a huge Bad Bunny superfan or anything. Really, really enjoy him.

But a lot of people have really gassed about this. I haven't checked in on the Swifties, but what are both are you thinking? I am shaken to the core because in my newfound interest, curiosity, dare I say, enjoyment of Taylor. Taylor Swift these past months, I really got sucked into the theories that she was going to play the Super Bowl and it was an absolute given. So that New Heights podcast episode she did with Travis Kelsey that we spoke about a few weeks ago, she kept dropping in hints to really loving baking, really loving making sourdough all the time, which is a reference to the Super Bowl. I can't be asked to get into it. If you know, you know, if you don't just literally type

in sourdough, Taylor Swift theory, it will come up. so i i assumed all of this like swifty business all of this like swifty conspiracy theory stuff online i thought it was like a hundred percent gonna happen so now i'm like oh wait so you guys were all wrong and i got sucked into this now i feel a damn fall you know good luck to bad bunny well done to him but i feel a damn fall what about you and only oh i have to be honest like i like bad bunny but i really just don't this is just too far like the super bowl is happening hundreds of millions of miles away from me as far as I can't remember. I think

in the past I've pretended to care more than I do but the reality is like I'm probably not going to watch it back. I'm trying to think who would make me. I think Lady Gaga I would be interested in. It would have to be someone that I knew was going to put on like a really crazy show. I love Bad Bunny's music but I'm not too familiar with his performances and maybe also being totally honest I'm just not as interested in a man as when it's a woman performing. maybe I just. I will say I was not also familiar with his stage presence, but a friend of mine

went to see him recently in South America and the Instagram stories. It was like a religious event had taken place. It was like she had seen the Pope, just apparently life-changing, incredible artistry, amazing vibes. I know he's a gorgeous man, but I think there's something that. And for that reason alone, actually, seeing this, I'm like, oh, I probably, I possibly will watch this back just to see if in fact it was life-changing or if, I'd have, I'd I don't know. She was ovulating. It was just like gorgeous man. I think this could be very good. But I agree. Super Bowl for me, I often have to just really think to be like, what sport is that? Like it is so far away. I know it's a huge cultural event, but I'm the same as you. I was like, yeah, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. But actually I love when people call it like the Rihanna concert with a bit of American rugby. Like the half-tone show is the main event. The sport is the silliness. I think that joke always tickles me. And also when people call it a superb owl, I enjoy that as well. the way that Americans do sport because it seems to be a lot more about the snacks like the chips and the dip and that is the kind of sport that I could get behind and Super Bowl some days when they show you on TV shows where they're all sort of eating WhatsApps and what's it's what's it's cheese it's cheesos what they call Cheetos not sure and like macaroni cheese and stuff I would like to be American for that sort of that import of it where you have a load of friends around and then just have all of that delicious food that I can get behind and that's kind of my my cultural relationship. The relationship with Super Bowl Sundays is more probably from like an episode of Modern Family or something.

Now that you said that though, Beth, I do kind of want to watch it because maybe is he, does he do sort of Magic Mike dancing then? You'd hope so. I don't actually. Well, I do hope so now. Oh my God, Magic Mike should do the Super Bowl. I think you finally, we finally come up with a good idea in this podcast. Speaking of Magic Mike, Matthew McConaughey was at the Oasis gig that I went to and there is a video of him dancing to Oasis and it is not giving Magic Mike. I need to send it to you.

He's dancing so strangely. Is it giving like dancing dad or something altogether worse? He's weirdly for some reason he's got his arm in the air and then he's sort of holding his armpit and then like it's really all. I can imagine it actually. Weirdly I can imagine it. Can I just say it on the Super Bowl? I actually went to an American football game in Florida.

And it was the Florida State Seminoles and Kent State. And oh, the pageantry, the suspense. I did get a bit tired because it was really, really hot. But like everyone does like a chopping arm. It's so intense. I actually, I kind of got it. Like, we went tailgating before. It was an all-American experience.

It was fantastic, actually. But probably the only time I'll ever do it because of the sport of all, the minute they actually started playing football, I was like, okay. And I went and got some dip and dots and like a big gulp soda. But actually, like you say, I think the culture around these things is really fun. And of all the problems in America,

it is nice that they can just throw down. So last Wednesday, an interview between podcaster and life coach Jay Shetty and actress Emma Watson was released. At time of recording, the video of the interview on YouTube had almost 3 million views and over 6,000 comments. It's the only podcast she's ever done and her first long-form conversation in over five years. They get pretty candid about her recent driving ban for speeding, her complicated relationship to film promotion, sensitivity, fame, if she'll return to acting, Harry Potter, all sorts. But the part that is hitting the headlines the most this week is a bit towards the end of the interview where Jay asks her about JK Rowling and the relationship between

the two women now. He says, quote, there's been so many conversations and comments directly from JK Rowling, whether it's her saying she'd never forgive you for your views or the fact when she was asked what ruins the movies for her, she named yourself and some of your co-stars. I imagine that's an extremely difficult thing when you've been a part of someone's world, when you felt connected to their work and then for it now to kind of be a full 180 and for someone to publicly say these things that can be quite extremely hurtful actually. And just to add some context of this, Jacob Rowling obviously has been accused time and time again of being transphobic, publicly supported other people who have lost jobs over anti-trans statements, has liked

controversial tweets about trans people, published essays about her concerns for new trans activists and celebrated the UK Supreme Court ruling this year that limited the definition of a woman to be based on biological sex. And what Jay is referring to above is also a tweet of J.K. Rowlings from earlier this year where she responded to a prompt that read, What actor slash actress instantly ruins a movie for you? And Rowling responded three guesses. Sorry, but that was irresistible with laughing face emojis.

And Emma responded to Jay's question by saying, I really don't believe that by having had that experience and holding the love and support and views that I have mean that I can't and don't treasure Joe and the person that I had personal experiences with. I will never believe that one negates the other and that my experiences of that person I don't get to keep and cherish. I just don't think those things are either or. It's my deepest wish that I hope people who don't agree with my opinion will love me and I hope I can keep loving people who I don't necessarily share the same opinion with. JK Rowling has since responded, which I think we'll get into, which it's all kind of stealing the

headlines. But I think it's an interesting interview aside from that as well. She's this like public figure, which I think has become a bit of an enigma, not like too mysterious, but just like key to millennial childhoods, but what do we really know about her? And now to be in this kind of very 20-25 spat, I don't know, I will say up front, I probably wouldn't have listened to this interview had that not been the headline, not out of like dislike. I just haven't really thought about Emma Watson for a very long time. But actually, she's so interesting, child star, living a relatively low-key life, rare and fascinating thing to be doing. but where do you both sit like would you have been dying to watch this are you glad that you did

did you watch it did you enjoy it what were your kind of takeaways so i i was on youtube on the weekend and it came up onto my front page my homepage whatever as a suggested video and i was so shocked because yeah you don't really hear from emma watson at all she definitely seems to have taken a very considered very mindful huge step back from public facing things so i was i really yeah immediately clicked onto the video and watched half of it in one gulp and was really fascinated because i just i it was bizarre to hear her voice it was bizarre to just kind of hear her talking especially about the speeding ban because i just assumed a topic like that would be off the cards off the interview roster because celebs basically get to talk about

whatever they want. So I was pleasantly surprised by that. And yeah, I, I binged half of it in one sitting. Quite enjoyed seeing her again and just getting a bit of an insight into, I guess, how she's doing at the moment and just also getting to listen to her a little bit. What about you and only? I kept getting served the clip on Instagram of her talking to Jay Shetty. And I did find it and I was like, I put a pin in it. So I was like, I do want to listen. I'm still not down to watching podcasts. Can't get my head around it. So I started listening to it. I haven't finished the whole thing because it's a lengthy episode. I thought it was really interesting, first of all, that she reached out to Jay Chetty and basically asked to be, like, to do an episode together, that she felt like it was the right platform.

I thought she was really astute and interesting in her diagnosis of the way that social media and certain platforms allow or don't allow for certain conversations. Like I think she's obviously a super intelligent woman. And I found her very interesting to listen to. And I also found something which I can't quite articulate right, but I found it so interesting how she's, so sensitive, so earnest, almost childlike in her honesty about her relationship with acting in a way which I did think we've kind of lost a little bit. Like it did feel really frank and earnest. It felt very not media trained. There's a bit when she burst into tears when she's talking about how she thought every set that she came onto was going to feel like it was making

new friends and it wasn't. She's very vulnerable in a way that I didn't think felt like she was acting and also yeah about like the speeding thing she just kind of brings it up she's like got really into cycling especially since I had my speeding ban and then she's laughing like I found her very endearing I hadn't I didn't continue listening to the whole thing because it did feel like everything was just left in to listen to and I didn't feel like all of it was super enlightening I also had to ask you both because I now can't remember what wasn't jay shetty quite controversial at one point for kind of being a bit of like a charlatan yes there was a famous guardian long read into his dubious credentials as a monk and a guru and yes we will link it in the

show notes but it was a really interesting piece and very very salacious i also had the same thing i now kind of have a bit of a like red sticker on him i never really listened to any of his stuff but i definitely think it seemed like a very detailed very researched piece basically saying that he has made some insinuations and actual outright claims that don't necessarily match up to the evidence out there. Yeah, I do remember this. It was basically, it was that time where so many, there were so many of these, like, self-proclaimed life coaches, mental health experts, and a lot of the time, the mythology that they've created around themselves is just good marketing. I completely forgot about this. I think I was also watching, like the roller decks of my mind being

like, did we talk about him once? Is there something there? Which I think, it obviously managed to come through that relatively unscathed like this the views and the subscribers were absolutely enormous and I think he is the one that does these sort of very frank interviews but again I was also watching this thinking like I'm certain that

obviously they had this relationship where she reached out and you know I think she had watched a friend had been like listen to this or read this and then she'd be like I'm going to go on this guy's show and so I imagine that there was like a decision about what would be asked and what wouldn't and

and some control that like it's polished but also does feel very candid so I was buying that she was not she didn't feel super media trained but also I think media training when you are famous from a young age is must be like coated into your DNA like it is very prim and proper but I guess she's prim and proper

I just I do know what I mean I think maybe I'm I have a hunger for the kind of journalism where it's not a polite conversation it's more it's more sparky but again no one promised me that this would be that but that stuck with me. I was kind of like two hours, 38 minutes. I kind of want a bit of juice, which you sort of get with what she says about JK. But again, like it's very polite. It's very contained. It's like I would have to sit there and write and rewrite that

to come up with an answer that is that well balanced. I would be effing a blind in. So I think that is the drawer, isn't it? I think you hit the nail on the head though with that best thing. Like she's very polite. She's very polished. That's what I was getting at second. I think it is authentic to her. I think that genuinely is her personality and I think that she is very much like that. And when she was talking about the character of Hermione, I also wondered how much she kind of perhaps became Hermione

through going for that acting role at nine years old, being absolutely desperate to get it, then kind of living as Hermione for the next nine years of her life. It does feel like somewhat, where does Emma Watson end and Hermione Granger begin? Like, did Hermione become imbued with Emma Watson? did Emma Watson become imbued with Hermione, etc. And so, yeah, I felt like she was being authentic.

But yes, it wasn't pressing and it wasn't kind of salacious. I actually do really respect her. And actually I saw a video which really annoyed me, but then I was also fascinated by it, of her at Burning Man, not that long ago. Burning Man famously are not allowed to have, take pictures or videos of anyone. And it's a festival that's all about sort of like anti-capitalism and free loving

and you kind of trade things. I don't know if either of you saw this, but someone filmed her at this festival. and it made me really enjoy seeing it because I just love the idea that she's studying at the minute and is also at a festival living quite a private life and then I hated also that I knew that because I was like the whole point is I'm not supposed to see that

and that felt quite invasive. But also what I kept thinking about was it was so understandable everything she was saying about acting and it felt so true. At the same time I kept coming back to this idea that God, it's such a privileged position to have your first acting role leave you with enough cash

that you can actually kind of go I'm going to check out now and that is maybe one sticking point that wasn't necessarily explored like that is a very specific place to sit and I know Sydney Sweeney has really fallen out of favour and she keeps making very questionable choices but I thought it was very telling that she was

when she was filming a euphoria and subsequently it's been like oh I have to take every single opportunity that I get workwise because I simply can't afford to not and I think that's maybe probably more where most people stand so as much as I felt it was very authentic and true to her I think that's the specificity of it is it's this is very much to do with Emma Watson but whether or more broadly this would apply to anyone else I'm not sure what do you think about

her her address of the jk rowling situation on the podcast because I think I think it's good she said something but it seems to have triggered quite a divisive response in terms of Some people think that is a very fair feeling to have about somebody who had a huge impact on your childhood, possibly, you know, some kind of parental adjacent figure. And then other people think that she's let down allyship to trans people by suggesting that she will have any sort of fond memories with J.K. Rowling. I feel like my opinion was hearing that it just was so understandable. And it really reminds me of when we spoke about family estrangement and, you know, children

separating from parents and maybe this is a projection but I do think her being an actor of like nine or 10 years old having this person in her life and the way she's described her before it does seem like this very influential adult throughout her childhood informative years I don't think it's a stretch to say some kind of adjacent parental figure I think it just really reminds me of when you have a complicated relationship and you divorce from a parent you don't divorce all memories from them you don't divorce all memories from a friendship breakup you try to hold the good and the bad, and also understand that you can't still have them in your life. What did you guys think of her response to it?

I found, I really, I do feel for Emma Watson a bit, a lot actually, and I see both sides. But what she's saying essentially is this is a world of division and hate and that's terrible. I will not budge on my views, but this person who thinks otherwise who I did share years of my life within a professional and I guess a personal sense, I can hold love for them and I cannot want to discard them, by, you know, even though they sit across ideological lines, what was real, remains real. I think, you know, I think she's saying she maintains the support of who she supports, which in this case would be trans people, but just doesn't see the world as clear cut, as many people do when it's rooted in, okay, you're bad, I'm good.

So she is speaking from love. I'm not, I can see why that would be exhausting for people who are suffering because of anti-trans ideology and anyone who is disappointed they didn't get. more staunch, an uncompromising take of, you know, didn't even mention trans people like trans people are in danger. Currently, this anti-trans sentiment that's rising is killing people and also maiming people's lives in so many different ways. But, you know, also it's an interview about her and I don't know, I can see it from that perspective why you wouldn't be celebrating this interview, but I do feel for her that she, it's almost an olive branch, not to J.K. Rowling, although a lot

people are seeing it as such, but it is to a culture that is so desperately divided. I can see absolutely her motivations, I think, and I just feel like, fuck, what has come from this? JK Rowling has fired back in just kind of really mean and spiteful ways. You just wish you had a sudden thing. Although maybe not, not actually, because I mean, I guess she's the one standing in love and saying something positive and JK Rowling is griping. So I get it.

Yeah, it's tricky. I can see the two ways you can take it which is wishy-washy non-committal kind of not saying anything for the sake of not saying anything or on the flip side to give it a more generous take is she's giving a nuanced response to a nuanced situation in the midst of

like a very black and white culture that wants you to say this is this and this is that and this is how I feel. And actually Sean Faye author and friend of the podcast who we spoke new before did an Instagram story that said I actually got what Emma Watson was saying last week. She tried to be honest about her complex relationship to this huge figure in her life, almost a parental figure. As a trans person,

I didn't feel affront by her generosity at all. It seemed quite clear which side she was on and she wasn't demanding anyone else to be so conflicted about their opposition to such a prominent transphobe. I also think it's telling that the generosity only flowed in one direction, though, lol. And so I think that's really generous from Sean. And I also think I wonder if this is the direction that we do need to be going in, which is actually finding ways of bridging gaps rather than constantly trying to put walls up between us. Maybe this is the only way forward. I will be interested, I guess, to see how she responds to what JK Rowling said, because I do think it was annoyingly quite damning. And even though obviously I'd actually just spoke about

Emma Watson's privilege, this is kind of the hill that JK Rowling tries to die on, is that Emma Watson has no real wild experience of living in mixed-gendered spaces because of the level of privilege that she had from such a young age. But JK Rowling also makes quite spurious claims that she was living in poverty when she was writing the book and then everyone's kind of posted the picture of the house she was living in I don't know if she knows what poverty is but it doesn't seem like that was necessarily the world that she was inhabiting when she was writing

but I think the problem with someone as volatile as JK Rowling is that that response if you read it I can see that that's also going to convince some people on the fence. J.K. Rowling is a really ambitious campaigner in her anti-trans authoritative way which is

where I guess I can understand where people go like what Emma Watson said can be unhelpful not because it's untrue to her or not right but because JK Rowling will weaponise anything and everything to bolster her argument to probably quite great effect and in that case then does Emma Watson have a responsibility to respond with equal power not necessarily like in the same way but just with something that's going to balance out the scales of the potential impact of JK Rowling's convincingness in her response because I read that and I was like, oh, it's obviously so nefarious what she's written, but I also understand that for minds that are not made up

or people that don't know how they feel about the issue, she's very convincing and she's very good with words. I don't think there's any two ways about that. Right now, a Zempic and other GLP ones are rapidly democratising thinness, making it attainable to whomever can afford it. As a result, the value of thinness as a status symbol is diminishing, and I believe we're about to enter a significant shift pre-prepared for the sculpt, writes Christiana and Bockway Medina for her substack pop syllabus. Echoing her sentiment is Anne Marie Chaker for a piece in Time magazine titled How Toned Arms became a status symbol and an impossible standard. She writes, between Hollywood's decades-long

obsession with thinness and the recent swings of the body positivity movement, GLP ones have ushered in a new era of lessness. Now comes in the next layer, muscle. And the piece goes on. The key to beauty ideals is that if they're too easily reached, they're no longer ideals, says Renee Engel, a psychology professor at Northwestern University. It's not enough to be thin. Now you have to be thin and visibly muscular. This isn't empowerment, she argues. It's the opposite. Another way to ensure women never see their bodies as good enough. I think in this current climate now more than ever, it's so obvious that beauty ideals were never meant to be attainable and that there to be markers or signifiers of a certain class of women and increasingly men who have the ability to

shape shift in order to fit into an unreachable standard. And it does feel like potentially with GLP1s the quiet part has been said out loud, the cat is out of the bag and we all actually know what's happening. I wonder if this is actually going to make us feel a bit exhausted with trends and people might opt out because we're not just being shuffled along in a sea of sort of like, oh, we're going this way now. We're quite conscious of it. How do you feel about the ever-changing and seemingly more rapidly so changing body trends? I definitely have noticed, I mean, it's been fashion week for the past few weeks and I feel like not only a body's very small. I've just seen that they have, you know, oblique lines. There's like muscle.

on people's arms it's it's like this new frontier this new kind of body that is not just small it's it's i don't even know how to explain it i guess it's synonymous with what we've been shown as like the pilate's body which is extremely feminine but extremely muscular as well and i just i mean it's just impossible to have that body for me i don't know generally speaking but i feel like it is just across-board impossible. And I mean, we know when bums were getting big, a lot of the kind of like booty influences were secretly getting BBLs and saying that it was all down to their hip thrusts. So I just, at this point, it all feels like kind of smoke and mirrors with what is put out there as attainable and what is presented as idealised. So I just, I kind of for a while have just

felt exhausted. It doesn't stop me having bad days about my body image, but I no longer aspire to have somebody else's body because I have no idea what's gone into it and I just feel a bit kind of burned by the concept of what they might be selling to me and what privately they might be doing to keep it up even to have like a you know a very athletic body for somebody like me it would take just changing my entire life and I just I can't be asked for that anymore I can't put myself through it it's just way too much shit what about you Beth I feel the same and I feel relieved to feel the same because still even at my big age with body trends like this I really have to check myself for not being affected either positively which is negative or negatively which is also negative

when like a new one arrives like when the headline said a few years ago like boobs are back I was like oh cool I have those and then I have to be like shut up like get a grip that's bad actually this does not even benefit you for numerous reasons and then this headline cropped up and I was like oh my wait my arms are really weedy does this is this bad for me and I was like again this means nothing apart from that we live in hell but it's so much the law of wanting to be accepted and normal and okay and like I've done something right finally as a woman or like god I'm finally one of the lucky women it's like just opting out is hard hard work but in this case I was immediately thinking I actually do know just from friends who are you know gym goers who can maintain either a

sort of like the one that I think they're selling or a more muscular physique or who just exorcise a lot like I recognize the amount of work that goes into it, the amount of sacrifice in the way that I think thinness it was it was even more like cloak and daggers of like you just sort of waste away and it's a bit like this is like oh I would have to get a chin membership I would literally have to do this I would have to know what a carbohydrate is I feel in this case no I'm done I'm not going to assign I'm not going to sign this kind of and moral value to strength because I think trying to control strength in a way that oh I'm getting stronger but only in a way that gives me just the right amount of muscle

that rings so many alarm bells of like that is not what strength is especially for women who've been so you know have been so maligned for being strong surely that is antithetical to the idea of going to the gym to try and be more powerful to be more strong to then go oh not too strong because I'm a girl like I just immediately was like fuck this absolutely not it's so funny you said about the boobs thing because this is one of the times within like two, like twice that my body's kind of been on trend. I am quite mushy, but I have been training with weights for 10 years. And then because I've started running recently, I've become leaner.

So my, my, like, muscles are more visible. But I actually get messages sometimes to people like, do you look like this because of running? And I'm like, no, running has just shown my muscle. Like, you don't get musley from, right. There's so much confusion around like what bodies look like. And this is just sometimes accidentally I will be on trend. But like, I'm always often actually very jealous of your really skinny arms. Beth because I feel like my arms aren't right and then all of a sudden it's like oh no my arms

are right oh okay that's interesting it's like I agree with you you cannot actually pay at any store by whether or not you fit the trend and I remember when Jim first came in years ago being really pleased because I was like finally I don't have to have a thigh gap this is really exciting like I'm on trend and it's such a heinous exhausting thing to keep up with because also as we can see the goalpost is just going to move immediately and also so much of this really fundamentally is just down to genetics. You're either kind of genetically fit that mold so you can maintain it or you're someone that lives a life that kind of ascribes to that just by virtue of who you are or you're a celebrity who pays a personal trainer to train you every day. I was talking to a friend

about this about Doolipa and they were like how does she like exercise so much and then she also goes out partying and all these things and I was like well she probably gets like a sports massage three times a week has a food company that drops off her food to her house three times a day has a personal trainer that trains her is on a drip if she goes out for drinks like it's a complete if you had that level of intervention in terms of like personal staff and access

of course you can maintain this kind of thing but if you're a normal person who's waking up to go to work every day and is trying to fit in exercise because it's good for your mental health and also see your friends for dinner and also you know not spend loads of money in the supermarket so just need to buy

what I live off quite often which are those like tortellini pasta things it's like you're not going to be able to do this and so I think that I think what's good is I like how obvious it is now because it's kind of like they're like, oh shit. And I also have watched with fascination how this democratization of thinness has made some people whose thinness is their identity. And I don't mean this and I can, I don't mean to be shardon Freudy about this, but kind of make them be like, oh no, because it shows that

it was always about the exclusivity of it. It was like the power that it gave you, the privilege that it gave you and actually people don't want others to join that club it can cause it's been quite fascinating to watch so i'm not overly surprised that actually they've had to find a new way of making it exclusive again thank you so much for listening this week quick reminder that we're on instagram and ticot at everything is content pod and also to listen to our episode which ran out on wednesday which was about cultural snobbery if you've enjoyed this episode please please be give us a five-star rating on your podcast player app. See you next week.

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