How To Fail With Elizabeth Day - Angel Strawbridge - No Regrets

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

You will probably know Angel Strawbridge from Escape to the Chateau, the hugely popular TV show she fronted with her husband, Dick. You might also recognise her from her trademark vintage style, bests...elling books and bright red hair. Escape to the Chateau, which followed the Strawbridges as they renovated a dilapidated French castle with no water, no electricity or heating (with two young children in tow) ran for nine seasons before coming to an end in 2022. Shortly afterwards, an audio recording of Angel speaking angrily to an unknown man was leaked. It made headline news - this is the first time Angel has ever spoken publicly about her so-called ‘explicit rant’. Today, she gives her side of the story. I’m grateful for her honesty and her willingness to discuss everything that happened.  Angel’s other failures include her struggles with dyslexia at school and taking time to find true love (but - spoiler alert - it was worth the wait). As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.  Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Join Dick and Angel on their Forever Home UK Tour this Autumn For tickets and info visit  www.fane.co.uk/dick-and-angel Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly   Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Carly Maile How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.   Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:19 Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. Hello and welcome to How to Fail with me, Elizabeth Day. On my podcast, I discussed my guests' failures each week, seeking to understand what obstacles people have overcome and what, if anything, they've learned along the way. Because ultimately, our failures are lessons that help us understand success better. Before we begin, I just wanted to remind you about my subscriber series, Failing With Friends.
Starting point is 00:01:05 And today, Angel and I look at your questions and give our advice. We covered so many things. We covered complicated friendship group dynamics and being excluded. We covered how to buy a house on a limited budget, feeling like a failure academically, and dating in your mid-30s and the challenges associated with that. We would love to hear from you. Just follow the link in the podcast notes. At 13 years old, an age where most of her friends were going to teenage parties or dreaming of ponies, Angel Strawbridge spent her free time ferreting out fines at car boot sales. As an
Starting point is 00:01:42 adult, she turned her love of vintage into a profession, first by setting up a Spitalfields market stall and then by founding the Vintage Patisserie Hospitality Company. She gained a wider audience when she appeared on Dragon's Den in 2010 and became instantly recognisable with her vintage style and bright red hair. She went on to publish best-selling books and, through her newly acquired TV agent, met her now-husband, the former army officer turned TV presenter Dick Strawbridge. He was 52, she was 32. They got married in 2015 and have two children. The couple are arguably most famous for their TV series Escape to the Chateau, which followed their decision to uproot their lives and move to France in order to renovate
Starting point is 00:02:31 a dilapidated castle with no water, electricity or heating, and with hundreds of dead flies and bats to tackle. Escape to the Chateau ran for nine seasons before coming to an end in 2022, after which there was some controversy. But don't worry, we'll get into that. As well as a podcast and a new TV show in North America, the Strawbridges have been on a series of sold-out theatre tours around the world. This autumn, they're embarking on a new 32-date UK tour. We are firm believers, says Angel, in the harder you work, the luckier you get. Angel Strawbridge, welcome to How to Fail. Oh, thank you for having me. Just thank you so much.
Starting point is 00:03:15 It is a pleasure to have you here. Tell me about the value of hard work for you, because it sounds like you're someone who has always worked from the age of 13 onwards. for you? Because it sounds like you're someone who has always worked from the age of 13 onwards. When my dad was 16, he did his apprenticeship in Hatton Garden. And him and my mom, they moved out of London, East London, not far from here, actually. And my dad got his first business. And as children, we used to, like me and my brother, we used to go and sit in his jewellery shop called Jewellery Hospital. I used to watch them work without realising it I knew what work ethic was you know I saw I saw my mum and dad work hard and we got things like a sofa or a holiday I've never been scared of hard work and I've always probably had to work a little bit harder because I'm you know naturally
Starting point is 00:04:02 not academically sort of great but there's just it's something I don't know where this the drive in me has come from but um but I enjoy work you know even if I'm mopping a floor or I'm doing like making a spreadsheet I get a satisfaction let's say out of just doing something the best I can it's's not for anyone else. It's for me. Part of the reason I'm so pleased that you are sitting opposite me today is because you are going to talk about something that you have never spoken about before, which is a leaked piece of audio that drew a lot of negative attention to you and your husband, Dick. And it forms part of your third and final failure. So we will go on and talk about it in more detail. But I wanted to ask you, Angel, why you decided that you wanted to talk about it now?
Starting point is 00:04:54 Do you know what? That's a good question, Elizabeth. I'm so grateful that you are going to talk about it. I think it's very brave. It's a year, virtually, that it's been leaked. But had I talked about it at the time, I feel like I would have had to address everything, you know, because there was a tsunami of untruths. And once you answer one thing, you have got our integrity. We're doing so well. We're happy. You know, business is fabulous. Everything's good. And I can look back and kind of go, you know what, actually, it's fine to say a thing or two. You know, this is not adding fuel to fire. What I want to do is kind of sprinkle some water on something that still irritates me if that if I'm going to be honest with you and I guess there's a spectrum isn't there you know from kind of like someone being rude to you in a shop and you sort of walking away thinking why didn't I say something
Starting point is 00:05:57 you know what I mean and and I don't know if you've ever done this but where you kind of like you replay it oh all the time your mind's like why didn't I say that yes um so I think I think it's my duty to not doing this for do you want I'm not doing this for the haters yeah I'm actually doing it for me actually so I can get a little bit of my jest I'm doing it for all the people that have written in and just been like sweetheart don't know what happens but I love you and you know and and I mean there was a tsunami of those as well so I think I think now you you know what sometimes you don't know why you don't say things or you do say things but it just like now feels the right time I'm so pleased to hear it and we'll get more into that later
Starting point is 00:06:45 I do think there's something incredibly powerful particularly for women about stepping into their own story and owning their stuff and facing up to a shame that we historically have been conditioned to feel yeah no matter what the individual incident I do think that that is a very powerful thing. I'm completely with you on that. I have been made to feel over the years that there's so many things you are not allowed to do or say, or you have to act in a certain way. And I guess, especially when you're in the public eye, and I completely understand and respect that. But I think there are instances that that need to be
Starting point is 00:07:26 taken in into context as well tell us about the chateau how's the chateau doing oh well thank you for asking do you know what it was beautiful we Dick and I were so we left this morning at five o'clock oh you came from the chateau this morning I had no idea oh my goodness you know what I haven't even looked in the mirror for the last little bit I love you so um so we we left and it was dark Petal our dog was barking away Arthur our son was uh sleeping bed because he'd said good night last night Dorothy our daughter she got up and was all snuggly. And my dad come over because they are babysitting. We sort of, you know, using this as a little bit of a date. So Dick and I held hands. We drove out the chateau and there was just this beautiful crescent moon. And as I look back,
Starting point is 00:08:17 you know, it was just nearly on the edge of dawn and the chateau just, it always takes my breath away. It doesn't matter how many times I see it. It just always feels magical. And it's good. We've got an event next week. So everyone, we're all busy, like proper spring cleaning, rationalising, weeding, repainting. And it's interesting, come the end of the season, which is like September, you sort of go into a different mode. You go into a bit more family mode.
Starting point is 00:08:44 It just gets a little bit more worn. And it's always tidy. The house is always tidy. But all of a sudden when you have got guests, oh man, it's a big old house to keep on the straight and narrow. It really is. So there's just endless lists, but you know, it's really good. So apart from what we've just talked about, what was the experience of making that TV program like for you? Because it must be kind of amazing to know that this huge part of your family life is documented. That was one of the reasons why we continued to do it. We've captured this sort of beautiful journey that when the children are whatever age and they will look back at it and show their children filming honestly and i guess this sort of links into sort of you know chatting more later but filming was great you know overall
Starting point is 00:09:33 it was incredible we didn't have a big team there it was always um like a camera pd and an assistant you know the kids with they had to be comfortable around whoever they were and whoever was filming. And part of the beauty was the innocence of Arthur and Dorothy. You know, they didn't really know what was going on. And, you know, when they were just doing silly things, you can't recreate that. You know, their innocence really kind of and the gentle sort of, you know, the family stuff that we did. That is often what people would write in about about most it you know it wasn't sometimes all all the the big exciting projects that we're doing it was just something i don't know like dick uh
Starting point is 00:10:15 cutting a peach with his with his dad's knife or something it would really touch people and and and and i think for for the kids you know i I'm looking forward to them in years to come, looking back at that journey. Thank you for sharing that. And thank you also for the work that clearly went into writing your failures. I can tell how organised you are as a person and what a great project manager you are. Because these failures came, they are so well thought through they come with bullet points but not only is there a headline failure there's then the bullet points explaining them and then at the end you put the biggest win from that video I'm like I don't need to do any work here I'm just so honestly biggest thanks to you you've made my job very easy you're so welcome and your first failure as you put it is failing academically so how did you struggle academically I am sort of quite dyslexic I mean Dick says she doesn't speak England
Starting point is 00:11:13 I don't speak English I'm always making up words but you know I'm a 78 baby so we bonded over that at the beginning yeah and my brother who's also dyslexic he's seven years my senior and very interestingly if you think about you know lots of people talk about dyslexia now and and sort of you know like-minded sort of things but no one really knew about it it was really really new and untouched and I think where where my brother really struggled to get the teachers to understand I guess as soon as I started having similar traits let's say my mum and dad was straight sort of like you know my daughter clearly has a learning sort of issue and and you know I went had all the tests great dyslexic but it was great understanding that and I used to have to
Starting point is 00:12:01 go out like once a week to sort of learn sort of special ways to I guess overcome it but the truth is I just think differently you know I've got part of my brain that thinks differently to somebody else that might be more academic in my school years that was hard because you know I wanted to be really clever you know I like to be good at everything I do and I wasn't because you know I just don't have that type of brain. You said to me that you had such a fear of being asked to read aloud in class that it made you physically sick. Yeah in our literature class this was in secondary school the teacher would be in every sort of English class everyone would just take a book
Starting point is 00:12:43 and we would just all go around and read. And just before every class, I'm going to physically be sick, you know, just that I hated the fact that the spotlight was on me and I had to read out loud. I mean, I still hate it now, but it's just because long words, I can't see them all. And what was the knock-on effect for you in exams? words I can't see them all and what was the knock-on effect for you in exams do you know I think I did I just did really average I did really well in business studies I remember getting an A plus and there was only one other person that did that because because that's all about common sense because I knew I wasn't academic I think you just find your own path yeah and I think there's a
Starting point is 00:13:22 difference between being blessed academically and being blessed intellectually, as in you're a very intelligent person and school as it was then was not geared up to meet the needs of your specific intelligence. You're so good. You've just nailed that. Why didn't I say that? I go the long way around saying things, but you're right. It just was not geared up for me. And actually, this is not a, oh, poor me moment. It was just, you know, this is just facts. When I got to college, I just accepted for me who I was. I had no desire to go to university. I just thought, what use would that be to me? Hi, I'm Matt Lewis, historian and host of a new chapter of Echoes of History, a Ubisoft podcast brought to you by History Hit. Join me and world-leading experts every week as
Starting point is 00:14:19 we explore the incredible real-life history that inspires the locations, the characters, and the storylines of Assassin's Creed. Listen and follow Echoes of History, a Ubisoft podcast brought to you by History Hit, wherever you get your podcasts. Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest? Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest? This is a time of great foreboding. These words supposedly uttered by a king over 800 years ago, these words supposedly uttered by a king over 800 years ago,
Starting point is 00:15:07 set in motion a chain of gruesome events and sparked cult-like devotion across the world. I'm Matt Lewis. Join us as we unwrap the enigma and get to the heart of what really happened to Thomas Beckett by subscribing to Gone Medieval from History Hit. Okay, so your second failure, I cannot tell you how much I love this one. I'm so happy you chose it because so many listeners will relate. I get letters about this all of the time. Failing to find love before you were 30 and there's so much pressure put on us to do things by a certain time yes there is and i love them for this so if you're listening aunties and uncles and grandma up there i am absolutely not slacking you off for this but the first question is always so have you found yourself a boyfriend no and I think growing up but you know
Starting point is 00:16:08 when 25 is like a really big number and if it doesn't happen it makes you feel a little bit odd yes and different yes I had a similar thing where when I was at school age 15 they asked us all to write an essay saying where we would be in 10 years time and I I'd planned out this whole life for myself I was going to have met the person I was going to be married to them within a year we were going to have two kids I was going to have this job I was going to live here and of course life didn't turn out like that at all and once you get there you feel like really young I was way too young to get married yeah but you feel like a failure according to your own plan you you completely do but you know secretly I never ever dreamed of marriage you know like when I speak to brides and I love it and I get really into it and and and often some of them
Starting point is 00:16:56 are showing me their wedding books that clearly they've been doing since they were like young young and I never ever dreamt of that I actually wanted to be successful I wanted to be and that's probably relates to my first failure but I think as life got on and I hit that 25 milestone and I was nowhere close you know it is that failure then what do you do about it do you kind of actively search for it or I was too busy to. So did you have any long-term romantic relationships during this time? You can say no. I genuinely never met somebody that I knew was the one. And I just had a busy life.
Starting point is 00:17:38 And I thought, well, if you're not really the one, I haven't got time. Well, now we're going to get to the happy bit. Age 32, you go to a tv party tell us the story of how you met Dick so I was on Dragon's Den and afterwards I met a lovely lady called Sophie who wanted to represent me and she came over to my East London flat and we had a we had a few drinks and she sort of said, do you know, I've got somebody on my books that I represent. I think you're going to love him. She's like, he's really efficient. This is what she said. Is that the first thing she said about him?
Starting point is 00:18:15 Yeah. That was his characteristic. I mean, she just got the vibe that I liked. I love it. And I was just like, I love efficiency. So I knew that he was going to be at Sophie's 40th birthday that I was hosting. So I have my confidence and I walk into this beautiful home in southeast London. And Dick Strawbridge is there. I know a bit about him. I know he's efficient. I completely lost my thought process. I forgot what I was doing.
Starting point is 00:18:43 And I'd never, I just, like my heart stopped. You know when your heart stops and then your brain forgets what I was doing and I'd never I just like my heart stopped yeah you know when your heart stops and then your brain forgets what it's doing so and I always had this little thing where I would someone would have a teacup I'd pour some champagne in um and some some green tea that I'd made and I always used to put a little chocolate at the bottom of it quick question was it green tea and champagne mixed together yeah delicious it's it's nice actually sorry I'm obsessed with green tea and champagne and I've never tried that combination so it's a funny story how it came about because I did this at tea party for a group of 13 year old girls and I had some green tea so I did it and sweetened it up and the
Starting point is 00:19:21 girls loved it and then the mum said to me oh do you fancy a little glass of champagne and she pours it in the the teacup with with a bit of green tea in it and I was like nah this is good nice I'm gonna try that tonight and when I finally got to Dick I forgot to tell him to take the chocolate out poured everything in the cup went bright red sort of I don't know walked around like a dog a couple of times you know chasing my tail and walked off and I and I just was like what was that you know my heart was beating so fast it was not until six weeks later that we properly got to mix it was on Celebrity MasterChef and he did this pop-up restaurant and we just sat and talked after him cooking for this this like huge or big party of guests and everyone wanted to talk to dick you know they congratulate him and um and talk about
Starting point is 00:20:13 the food and he just come and he sat next to me and we just talked all night um apart from his What is it that drew you to Dick? Where do you start? I mean, he's so passionate about life, about everything. He's a storyteller and he's got a certain energy. Honestly, even now, you know, he's got this aura about him of authority it still makes my sort of my hairs go on on on end because he's just he's a very very strong powerful man that is very kind as well and he would literally do anything for anyone and and you've got something in common on every single level which is so weird because we literally have like nothing in common yeah so and I was 32 he didn't ask me my age I knew he was a bit older I didn't care and do you believe
Starting point is 00:21:12 in the universe sending you things when you're ready yes yeah a million trillion percent yeah I think you can't rush things um they just come to you at the right time. And you went on and had two children. I know, quite quickly. I was after a boy and a girl. Yes, right. Nailed it. Dick jokes, because I gave him this little calendar one year, this handmade calendar. It was a joke, but I'd put on there, impregnate me by date.
Starting point is 00:21:50 The efficiency, again. The efficiency. joke but I'd put on there impregnate me by date the efficiency again the efficiency well when you wrote your failures I mentioned that you put the biggest win at the end of your explanation to me and if I can read out the biggest win that comes from this failure as you wrote it to me waking up every morning to a loving hubby who makes me a coffee and tells me he loves me and two kind and wonderful children who come in and give me a sleepy good morning hug says the gushy annoying mum I think that's so lovely and I'm so happy for you that you have found your story thank you so you met Dick you fell in love you got married you had kids and you started Escape to the Chateau. And that brings us on to your third failure, which is your failure to defend yourself. Tell me what happened in words that you are comfortable using.
Starting point is 00:22:38 Just tell me your side of the story. The actual incident actually happened a long time time ago so it happened about six years ago it was an interesting one because I put I put down sort of failing to defend myself but when you look back at something retrospectively it's always so easy to kind of comment on I wish I'd done that then and I wish I'd done that then but at the time it's very very difficult to to know what to do and I think you're scared a little bit actually because you don't know where this could lead to and and what the repercussions of actions sort of I guess your actions can can be but there was a number of points. I wish I'd probably done things a little bit different, or maybe I don't. I mean, we had so many amazing people around,
Starting point is 00:23:35 you know, filming Escape to the Chateau. But in this particular quite small timeframe, we had someone that wasn't particularly very nice his behavior was completely unacceptable but it didn't just happen in one little moment it happened over lots of different occasions and i don't know how much sort of detail you want me to to go into i don't you know bit I'm just nosy however much you're comfortable giving yeah I just we're so ingrained aren't we just if you haven't got anything nice to say don't say it and I'm not first of all I'm not a bloody poor me you know and and you know the reason you know I'm here because i kind of just want to get some of this off my chest yes you know i will wake up thinking this feels so so bloody unjust this particular guy was difficult you know and he was part of a twosome so there was another camera guy who was amazing we're still friends
Starting point is 00:24:43 friends with now. And this particular guy was only here for a short amount of time. And it was a high point, like towards the end of filming a series where we were sort of, you know, the way the kind of the rhythm of the series was towards, you know, set a lot of stories off parallel in parallel activity. But obviously they don't all happen and they, you know, you don't get a huge renovation done in in a month we were particularly busy and I think that's why we just didn't have the headspace to address his behavior he was not very nice he was doing these weird pictures of Dick killing animals and posting them on his Instagram. He was so horrible with the children. There was this one incident, and I actually truly believe that because he knew he was caught, I think, like, in my heart, that is why he set up this filming. Because the way that he was acting
Starting point is 00:25:40 was how he'd never acted with me before. And looking back at it, it was so bloody easy to see. That is exactly what happened. You know, you don't accidentally film someone when you're not filming. Do you know what I mean? And record everything. It completely happened secretively and on purpose. But his behaviour with the children is a really, really silly thing. But actually, he broke all of the kids' fishing rods,
Starting point is 00:26:05 which was just a real, and just left them there. I just don't know. We had a few more days of filming and it was just like, right, you know, the kids are going to be away. Let's just get on with it and do it, you know, because there's always such a tight edit, you know, for the escape. And the next day, I was upstairs and he came up in a really very out of character way for him and was really I don't know in in my face kind of like really like you know in a really angry
Starting point is 00:26:35 sort of like he'd lost it kind of way and at the start I was sort of like do you know I've not listened back I honestly I have not listened to this It makes me feel a little bit sick if I do. But obviously, all of my friends have. And they're like, I can hear you. Because he actually took out what he said, right? He's like, I can hear you gradually getting more angry, more angry, more angry. And everything he was doing and saying, I can't even really remember his words at that time but he was just in my face and then I just like just get out my fucking house I can't even remember
Starting point is 00:27:11 what he said I think I said a really bad word beginning with c cake I don't even use that word like that's how pissed off I must have been I think what's so interesting hearing you speak about it and thank you for providing all of that context. And obviously, he's not here to defend himself, so we probably have to say alleged. But let's just say, yes, yeah. But having that context is very helpful because the thing that I hear on that tape is upset. You are really upset. And fair enough, you might use bad language and therefore when it's edited a certain way and the other person's voice isn't in it you can construct a story which is someone being mean and unpleasant but now that you've explained it all actually what I hear is someone who is cornered
Starting point is 00:28:01 yeah I mean completely we're upstairs four stories up in a corridor, you know. Do you know, there was a bit that I don't even really remember, but I just know I'm just, I'm shaking, like I'm uncontrollably shaking. And, you know, what's interesting is I was the one in the wrong for losing my temper. Yeah. And do you know, I will not apologise. He was so disrespectful in our house. He was so upsetting to me, my family. And I stand by kind of what I did. And I don't know if I was to apologise and say, I'm sorry for using bad language and chucking you out. I would just be disingenuous to me. You know, I would not be who I am. And it was sad because we'd finished Escape to the Chateau on a complete high. You know,
Starting point is 00:28:53 we filmed nine wonderful series. The kids are getting older now, right? Dorothy, who was, you know, the beauty about the show was that she's so, Arthur and Dorothy were so innocent. beauty about the show was that she's so Arthur and Dorothy was so innocent and as they're getting older you can see that they're becoming more aware of themselves that was one of the main decisions why we wanted to stop we had a big party and then of course like you know I'm going to be honest we'd stop making everyone loads of money and of course it was a great time to let this moment kind of resurface. But what the sadness for me was, is that it started a tsunami of faux truth. And there was everything in there from us being bankrupt, us moving out of the chateau. We were millionaires, I think, the week after. You know, me and Dick had broken up. It was absolutely everything. And I think we're so trained to not answer, you know, anything. You don't explain.
Starting point is 00:29:55 You don't complain. Because once you answer one thing, you have to answer everything, right? And actually, when this all exploded, we had just started our wedding season. Like, literally, it was the same weekend. And I'm in bed, putting Dorothy to sleep, actually. And we've got a house full of guests. I'm getting messages from journalists, you know, wanting comments, etc. And actually, in a way, I had, honestly, I had to have a superpower and I had to box this all up because the people who were getting married at the Chateau were the most important thing to me in the world that weekend.
Starting point is 00:30:33 Did you have any cancellations? No. Oh my God, no. Why do you think that leaked audio did resurface? I think because we had finished Escape to the Chateau, I think people were thinking that maybe we were weak. I'm not really quite sure. Look, the bottom line is the people that we were filming with at the time, we just weren't vibing with. You know, they didn't understand the show originally that we wanted to make.
Starting point is 00:31:03 Yeah, we wanted to make an aspirational show. And they were after making a different show. And I think any opportunity that they could to put that back in the limelight, I think they would have done that. Peyton, it's happening. You're finally being recognised for being very online. It's about damn time. I mean, it's hard work being this opinionated.
Starting point is 00:31:29 And correct. You're such a Leo. All the time. So if you're looking for a home for your worst opinions. If you're a hater first and a lover of pop culture second. Then join me, Hunter Harris. And me, Peyton Dix, the host of Wondery's newest podcast, Let Me Say This. As beacons of truth and connoisseurs of mess,
Starting point is 00:31:45 we are scouring the depths of the internet so you don't have to. We're obviously talking about the biggest gossip and celebrity news. Like, it's not a question of if Drake got his body done, but when. You are so messy for that, but we will be giving you the B-sides. Don't you worry. The deep cuts, the niche, the obscure. Like that one photo of Nicole Kidman after she finalized her divorce from Tom Cruise. Mother. A mother to many.
Starting point is 00:32:07 Follow Let Me Say This on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new episodes on YouTube or listen to Let Me Say This ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Are you the friend who can recognize anime themes sampled by J. Cole, MF Doom, and The Weeknd?
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Starting point is 00:32:49 Or how 24K Golden gets inspired by his favorite opening themes. There are certain songs that I'm like, whoa, the melodies in this are really amazing. No idea what bro's saying at all, but I'm jacking these melodies. And you know, I hear Megan Thee Stallion is also a big anime fan. So Megan, do you want to trade AOT hot takes? We're here. Listen every Friday, wherever you get your podcast
Starting point is 00:33:13 and watch full episodes on Crunchyroll or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. It must've been incredibly hard you mentioned the ability to close it off as a kind of superpower but i cannot imagine being able to drown out the level of noise i mean it did seem a disproportionate level of noise as well in a way it's testament to your popularity that it was sort of headline news it was it felt really disproportionate and there was so much noise going on on you know this one side and on the other side there was this sort of like outpouring of of love and and understanding and people just saying you know what it's okay to be human which was really nice and and you know when you're kind of like you're a bit up against it and
Starting point is 00:34:11 someone says are you okay and you go I just don't know if I am and honestly looking back I probably had that moment every day but you know when you have around, you have to be able to zone this out because the kids pick up on everything. They knew there was stuff going on. But for me, the children put everything into perspective. It was upsetting that some of the brides were getting messages from people coming to the wedding sort of saying, oh, my gosh, where's the wedding going to be? I hear Dick and Angel have sold the chateau. And also, this went global. I just couldn't believe the momentum that everything took. Did you question yourself? Because sometimes when other people are telling you or something...
Starting point is 00:34:59 Yes. I think it was just a very noisy time. And I just had to focus on the family the business um and now looking back I probably did feel a little bit ashamed that the the kids would listen to it or the someone at the children's school would would listen to it I think I think definitely definitely but I also think that anyone with a little bit of understanding or common sense could possibly understand what happened. Do you regret anything about how that went down? I didn't do it sooner and probably in a calmer way. I think because if I had just taken a breath two weeks beforehand and thought to myself, we need to get him out and get a new person in, then I think it would have played out differently. Do you regret the language?
Starting point is 00:36:02 I don't like to use, I mean, we don't teach our children to use bad language. But I think when you're pushed that far and you kind of like are seen red, it's kind of hard to, I don't want to say I regret using it. Because you know what, I stand proud for just defending myself at that moment against his behaviour. So I probably wished I hadn't said the C word I don't even like that word I think that's such an honest answer and it gives such credibility to everything else that you said because the easier route would be to say yeah of course I'm so sorry I apologize and like I regret everything and I wish I'd take it back and actually you have clearly I think this is the power of talking about it a year on because you've had so much time to reflect and to process yeah yeah and that comes across the the
Starting point is 00:36:52 final of the questions i wanted to ask was whether you think you would have been treated differently had you been a man saying exactly the same thing well there's a lot of people that make a great living out of doing that right they even become president yeah do you know what i mean well there's a lot of people that make a great living out of doing that right they even become president yeah do you know what i mean well that's that's the thing i mean i think you probably there probably is a bit of truth in that i never really thought about it because i do feel very empowered and i love working you know my whole team is nearly efficient ladies you know maybe i hadn't thought about that yeah I'm just thinking of it in terms of how historically we have an issue with female rage more than male rage like
Starting point is 00:37:31 male rage is more acceptable it's seen as more righteous yeah and and that's I mean it's impossible to say right because it's a counterfactual and who knows how it would have gone down yeah but I do think the way that you framed talking about this that idea of standing up to your shame it just made me think about how women are sometimes treated and this definitely definitely think that we can only do our best can't we and I live every day doing doing that I mean we we have a business that I love doing and I give my absolutely everything to. And we've had a very overall, I would say, positive impact. That's been gorgeous. And that for me has felt like I've done something positive. I've left something positive. Would I like to just erase that? Yeah, I would love to. But I would also like to erase what he was doing because
Starting point is 00:38:28 my rage just didn't pop out of nowhere. You know, I just didn't wake up and think, oh, I'm going to chuck someone out my house one day. You know, it grew over time and it was provoked. And therefore, I'm not ashamed of what happened in the end. I just wished it hadn't happened. How did Dick support you through the last year? Oh, he's just amazing. Look, nothing matters in Dick's world apart from his family's happiness.
Starting point is 00:38:58 It's honestly, it's the truth. He just continuously reminds me of all the positive things and our family. And you know, the thing is, is that when we, when you take all that noise away and you look at how we live our lives, we work hard, right? We, we've got gorgeous children that are happy and kind and giving. We live in a beautiful setting. He is just always there, not always like physically telling me that you know sometimes he doesn't have to sort of say but just the way that he acts day to day he's like
Starting point is 00:39:32 he's just my rock angel strawbridge i am so honored that you came on how to fail and that you spoke your truth today how does it feel yeah that's as good as we're gonna get I think oh don't be nice you know what it's like oh you've done so well you've done so well thank you so much for coming on how to fail but don't go anywhere because now we're doing the listener failures and questions so the focus is off you my darling now we're heading over to failing with friends where we're going to answer listener failures and questions over on my subscriber series to everyone out there here's a little taster as you get older without a doubt you're Yes. You know, you have just got a longer list. But actually, if you're meant to find that one,
Starting point is 00:40:30 they will come into your life at the right time. And remember to follow us to get new episodes as they land on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And please share a link with everyone you know. This is an elizabeth day and sony music entertainment original podcast thank you so much for listening

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