Life Uncut - Finally Getting Her Baby Girl - Uncut with Tanya Hennessy

Episode Date: March 12, 2026

Today’s guest is one of our most beloved comedians, writers, broadcasters and content creators Tanya Hennessy! We first sat down with Tanya just over a year ago when she shared one of the most challenging and heartbreaking chapters of her life, her fertility journey. She spoke openly about their IVF journeys (all 7 rounds), the emotional and financial toll it had taken and that deep knowing she had a little girl waiting for her.  You can listen/watch here Since then, Tanya’s life has completely changed. She’s had her baby girl Scottie and she’s released her 8th book! Today we chat: How Tanya will never write smut books Being painfully anxious during pregnancy What it was like to finally hold her baby girl (it’s not quite what you think) The high followed by the crash Is motherhood what Tanya expected it to be? The expectation of motherhood vs the reality Where Scottie’s name came from What Tanya feels helped her get pregnant How becoming a parent affected her relationship Why she wrote Sunny and Storm You can find more from Tanya on Instagram  You can get a copy of her latest book Sunny and Storm You can watch us on Youtube Find us on Instagram Join us on tiktok Or join the Facebook Discussion Group Hosted by Britt Hockley & Laura Byrne Produced by Keeshia Pettit Video Produced by Vanessa Beckford & Lachy Pugsley Tell your mum, tell your dad, tell your dog, tell your friend and share the love because WE LOVE LOVE! XxSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hi guys and welcome back to another episode of Life Uncut. I'm Laura. I'm Brittany. And today's guest is someone who I'm very, very excited to have back in the studio with us. She is one of the most beloved comedians, writers, broadcasters, and content creators. And just women. Women. And just women. Loved women. And she's just a loved woman. It's also her second time back on the podcast. but we have we have her back for a very exciting and like literally the happiest reason that could

possibly ever exist it's tanya hennessey tanya welcome back to the podcast thanks so much for having me can i also just before we get into like all the exciting becoming a mom and everything else pink santa and pink easter we received pink easter yeah and your books are the fucking tits my kids love your books and guys if you want to go out and buy a book go and buy pink easter i haven't read pink easter sorry tanya i don't dare you i don't think it's in my category of books it's is it soft porn no yeah yeah yeah a 300 word poem about easter actually it's quite feminist because the easter bunny's female i love it it's actually great and also but does she get late no okay it's a children's book no i'm just saying why it's not in my category

what are you reading because it's not like smutty literature brit just wants its smutty literature So if you're ever going to write some sort of smut, then send it to Brit. I'm never going to write smut. I couldn't read a smut novel if it was written by someone I knew. That hits different because then you're in their brain and I'm like, oh, Tanya likes it from behind. Like I don't want to know that.

I don't know why, but you don't give me dirty talk vibes. Like you don't strike me as the person who's writing smutty literature. Maybe it's because I do read pinky stuff. I'm just not the biggest fan. This is a weird cross-pollination of topics, But I am not, like, the biggest fan of sex. Just sex as a whole? Yeah, like, even when I was, like, young.

That's probably why you didn't fall pregnant. It's so true. No, no, I hate it. It's not for me. Really? Like, yeah, I'm not the biggest fan of sex. Do you think you're asexual? No.

Not completely asexual. Do you think you're tired? Yes. Yes. And I'm just, and Tom, because I'm, oh, he's just like, oh, come on, let's go. Any opportunity. The other day I wasn't wearing a bra and he was like, oh, an opportunity. He was like, no, I just, they need a rest.

I'm touched out. They're not for you. I just want to be free. And he's like, oh, I can see your nipples through the top. And I'm like, stop. Away from me. You're like, that's because they're pyjamas. I'm a mother now.

We do want to say this because it's why it's so exciting. Last time, if you haven't heard Tanya's first episode that you did with us, we were talking about your IVF journey. And you even said in that, you were like, I have become, without wanting to become, the pinup person for infertility. Because at the time you were talking about your experience of going through seven rounds of IVF, of your deep want to become a mum and how that hadn't happened yet. And then very shortly after, and it was something. A month, girl.

A month after that episode. I don't want to take credit, but I did manifest in my notes. I know. We talked about manifestation on that and I'm sure it had a lot to do with the IVF and sex, but I will take some little credit. No, absolutely take credit because when I did that podcast, there's a little bit from it that went super viral and I swear it went out into the universe and I did a different thing, like it's called an immune protocol, and it worked. So I'm like, maybe it was this pod. Or the immune protocol. Or the immune protocol.

Maybe it was the steroids or maybe it was Life Uncut. We'll never know. You'll never know. So I'm glad that we're in the mix. I do want to put a tiny little bit of that interview here. Obviously, go back and listen to the whole thing, but this was really special and it was about you manifesting your little girl and how you knew you were going

to have a little girl. I just want to meet my kids so bad. Yeah. I want to meet her so bad. I know it's a girl because I see her sometimes when I do my stupid acupuncture. I don't want to do acupuncture anymore. I'm going to hug you at the end because otherwise

we'll just both cry the whole time oh because I see you're such a beautiful mom where I see your beautiful girls and I'm like I want girls I don't care I just want a healthy kid I honestly I don't care if it comes out half a monkey I'm happy honestly like I don't I just want it to be healthy I just you know and I just I want to hold my baby to term because I keep you know it doesn't can't hold it yeah and I just I want to know what it feels like to be pregnant I want to know how it feels like to be a mom I want to know how life feels on the other side Becky Lucas said in a video once and she's a great comedian I'm such a fan of hers she said being a mother is knowing there's a door there the whole time but you've not opened it and then when you become a

mom you open it and you wonder why you never opened it and I I get it I'm like I hear you girl I want to open the door so bad the door's locked oh so emotional and then what's so wild is that we got the gender card which I still have and I was like oh my god I've got the gender card like and I just was so I was like it must be a boy it feels like a boy it's gonna be a boy maybe I was saying that because I was a bit like what if it's not the girl that I've dreamt of what if she doesn't come to me and then I opened it and wept because I was like she came my little girl came the girl I asked for came the girl I was seeing in my dreams came and it's oh we're four minutes in and I'm crying already we've gone from smart to children's book to tears it's a wild

journey oh I know and I look at her and I'm like it was you you're my little you're the little one I asked for and I talk to her all the time I'm like do you know how much I like I wanted you do you know how much I love you do you know how much you like you're my favorite you know and I'm obsessed with her obsessed she's loud she is loud she's a crier squawky squawko she's chatty too you know for 10 weeks old at the time of recording she's like you know what I mean like a dinosaur but I feel like it's the beginning of the Tanya and Scotty podcast yeah you're right when she's able to talk you're like it's gonna be the first ever mother and 10 month old daughter podcast it's very monologue heavy for me very one-sided very

yeah honestly Tanya we couldn't be more happy for you and you know when you announced that you were pregnant there's so much to unpack in this because when you announce that you're pregnant obviously like our entire team were just so stoked for you. But also until that baby's in your arms, until that baby's earth side, there is still so much fear around the unknown and the possibility of that baby not being in your arms. I mean, talk us through a little bit around that period, what it was like announcing that you were pregnant and knowing that this was happening this time. And did you still have those fears? Were you still like, how do you kind of reckon with those? For nine months, I was so painfully anxious.

Like, I felt like a chest, like my chest was like, and every time I went to the toilet, seriously, for nine months, I was like, I'm going to bleed. Like, it's so wild. Yeah. I just, I think it's also a level of self-protection that you're like, she might not come. So like, I'll be, yeah, I need to be aware. Yeah. Yes, exactly. And, you know, people, you know, media conversations and stuff,

people were like, and how did you announce it? Like how did you find out and how did you tell your family? And I was like, lightly, you know, because it's like I didn't get that, oh, here's the pregnancy test thing. It was sort of like I've got a positive but I don't know. I don't know what that means for me. Yeah, and just be careful with it. Just hold it, you know, don't mention it all the time.

I don't know. Yeah. And so it took me forever to announce, so I think it was like 17 weeks. and yes it was on the cover of a magazine very normal subtle no but you know you described something just then which I think any woman who's ever had a miscarriage understands that feeling it's the going to the toilet and wiping and and pre-empting blood that is like it becomes so normal to do that or just like hold your breath okay we're still good and I think that that description will be so relatable to anyone who has had pregnancy after loss I used to give myself

UTIs because I just would not go to the toilet because I thought if I didn't go to the toilet I couldn't see the blood the red so it was not over if that made sense but if I went to the toilet and I saw the blood it was over ignorance ignorance yeah so I would I'd get so many UTIs my first couple of months of pregnancy and then towards the end she wasn't moving a lot and so I was like oh god oh god oh god just thinking about it's like bringing me back to that like oh and I was uh at the hospital a lot getting the heartbeat the baby heartbeat done yeah and that was like it's just like you had anxiety the whole time and you know what i want to show you some of my pictures of birth i had a c-section and when she came out i was like

there's no fucking there's no way she was in there like it and i think people who have had ivf pregnancies or whatever will get this even though you like logically know you are showing and I was like very you know pregnant my brain couldn't wrap itself around the fact that I truly wasn't and she was gonna come and she was here and then he pulled her up and I was like no way no way what she's here no fucking way like I was like so excited and Tom Tom I think men go through it as well he was like holy shit like we didn't actually think it would happen literally literally both of us were in absolute like we logically knew it but there was something about until we you should see our faces because we're like and she's fine

yeah and she's fine like she's here and she's well because we got stuck at uh embryo level for you know seven years which is my eggs kept breaking so every time they would do the ICSI which is inserting the sperm into the egg, it would disintegrate. So imagine getting stuck at the level of like the phone calls, hey, it's not worked, hey, it's not worked, hey, it's not worked, to all of a sudden one round, no different really besides that immune protocol, all of a sudden it's a whole baby. What was the problem with your eggs for people listening now?

Like did they give you any in-depth detail about the egg quality? Like was it something that was a hereditary thing or was it just your eggs were unstable? Endo. so it all linked back to the endo so then i had an endosurgery in january i had a this immune protocol and then uh yeah so it's just so weird to go from like you know stuck at embryo level to baby and it's it just it's messes with your brain still guys still i'm like looking at her being like are you real you're like a full person that i made like i think every mother or human or

you know it's like it's wild it really is and you have these moments like i even have it with poppy where i like hold her and i like like sniff her and i'm like just like trying to climb inside her and i'm basically like nothing is ever gonna happen to you like i'm gonna keep you so safe and i i think i mean what you're describing sounds like you had this sense of relief like you were in protection mode the whole time that you were pregnant because of fear that the outcome might not happen what was it like the first time that you held scotty oh well first of all she was covered in poo um it's really not like the movies where they pull them out beautifully yeah like she wasn't a huggies ad she was covered in her own poo and um which is like black yeah it was

foul and the doctor she didn't cry and i was like oh my god she's not crying because like everything is i was on you know and the doctor's like she's half tom like she's gonna be less feral and like chatty and yelly as the new when they put her on me well first of all she was covered in her own feces I will just reiterate that I didn't care I would have eaten this woman alive I was like let me exactly the same as you I was like let me get let me eat your poo I love you so much I was just like look at this baby look at this baby and you know what else she looked like when she was born she looked like me and I was like everything that I'd ever like I've been so critical of myself my whole life like you know i'm not pretty enough and i i wish the cool girls

would like me and you know and i looked at her and i was like oh my god like how can i ever critique my yeah look again she's so pretty and she looks like me i can never ever say i'm unattractive again because she looks like me and she's perfect you know i'm gonna cry fuck you tanya hennessey I'm going to cry through this whole episode. I'm so happy for you. I actually didn't wear waterproof mascara either. I'm squinting like a dog to stop the tears coming out. They're coming.

Whatever. Just let them roll. Honestly, Piers, that hat you're wearing is really funny. She's wearing a hat that says dog mum. I know because it's the only mum that I am too. Yet girl. Hey, I do have, you look on YouTube, I have a dog mum hat on. It's my new pride and joy.

My husband bought it for me. It's really cute. What was it like to go from dreaming about being a mum for so long to the reality of being a mum oh that first week is so weird by the way you're in this hospital and it was christmas right so like all the nurses were in like pink christmas scrubs because i've got this book pink santa and a lot of them knew that which was it's so weird because i've made so many videos about being a nurse and stuff so a lot of these people like these nurses thought i was a nurse and they were like you've got this i was like bitch i got no idea i just stole some

scrubs off a friend and made those videos. Like, I got no idea. Can you sew yourself up? Honestly. Honestly. And I don't know. I felt like I was in a dream. It was the best week of my life.

This sounds so cringe. When we got home, I took so many pictures of that week and then I got them, all the pictures, off my phone and made into magnets and put them on the fridge. Oh, it's so funny. Because it was like the best week. Yeah. And I feel like I've done so many great things in my life

but this was just like the best. And everyone was like, it was just joyful and the nurses were so great and, you know, she's still half asleep. We were watching Carols in the Domain and the other one. What's the other one called? Carols in the Park? Yeah, with that one. The Maya Christmas whatever.

I was living my dream. We were watching Home Alone with a newborn. Oh! It was the best, the best week ever. You know it's good if it makes it onto a magnet in the fridge. Well, I was just like, I need to remember this was the best week ever. like nothing will top this and I was like I've never been a drug user but this is like the greatest high ever and I get why I get why you have three kids did you have a crash at all though

because oh yes oh yes yeah and when you're describing this because I mean a lot of people have the crash at like day two day three but obviously very special time of year and also different for you when it's been I mean I don't want to put words in your mouth because I'm sure some people go through the infertility struggles that you've been through and then find the postpartum incredibly hard which would be absolutely disorientating but once this like high of like christmas and newborn and we're watching the carols and then all of a sudden you're like fuck fuck fuck my baby doesn't sleep and they're only screaming like what was that sort of shift like for you it was like samantha jade in a ball gown to how do i make her sleep

she's very yelly oh god don't know because everything's easier than ivf i will say that which is really nice to have in your head and a gratitude as well because the week I gave birth was the week that the Bondi scenario happened. So there was a lot of gratitude, you know, for everything. Nothing to complain about. Yeah. But I did have a crash around week three or four and it was hard because I was so high, like an angel above the city just living

its best life and then yeah it was like oh god I've got to leave the house and I need a bag and I need a I need everything I've ever and she's crying in the car and she's shat herself and I don't know how to get her out of the car how do I put the pram together how do I be Tanya and be her mum and how do I feel holding a pram I look like a different person now and who is this person so was your crash more about maybe it was a mix of things was it more about trying to reassess what your life is right now and who you are as this new chapter or was it more about the overwhelm of like oh this is my life now and how do i deal with screaming and how do i deal with crying will i ever sleep again because i feel like they're almost like two separate things

good that's yeah that's a really good point um i feel like you're a therapist in this moment i'll take it you could be a therapist i'd be great yeah you would be great i don't know it was more like it's also it's a hormonal thing as well so like a lot of it's just like and then i started crying and then i was like oh no why am i upset but i wasn't hurt it was just me feeling disoriented and just having to go oh you just have to put these things into your life and now i'm okay But at the time, it's like really overwhelming to recalibrate 40 years of existing and then having to go, oh, you need to remember to take this. You can't just leave the house. You need to make sure you have this and da, da, da.

And if you don't, it's going to affect her. And I just don't want to affect her. I don't want to be upset for her. I don't want to have not enough dummies or whatever for her. It's also you're doing it all on lack of sleep. You know, you add that in the mix. And, like, when you've been so high, I think this was, like, the biggest lesson I learned, when you've been so high

on that endorphin rush that you get, it has nowhere else to go. Like, you cannot run on that for forever. Your body has to have a dump at some point. And for a lot of people that's what I meant by it comes at, like, day two, day three. But, like, it sounds like yours kept ticking until it absolutely was able to crash, you know. And then it's got to build itself back up.

New Year's. Like, it was so, like, I was like, oh, this is the best. And then Tom's mum came and that was really fun. And most people, like, you know, don't love in-laws. Because Tom's mum was like so fierce and great and wonderful and lifted me up. And she said this wonderful thing that I think more people should say to new mums.

She was like, you're doing a really good job. And I was like, girl, I needed to hear that so bad. Because she was in the house watching us live, right, and watching it and was like, that's how you do it. Because you're like, what am I doing? Am I doing it right? Is it right? Yeah.

Yeah. And she's like, she's so happy. And I tell you, the bond I have with this little girl is outrageous. Like, oof. you just stare at her and I'm like she smiles and it's like oh my god I'm whole like it's so beautiful like you know you created that yeah yeah is it what you expected is motherhood what you expected it to be now it seems messier than I thought it would be I thought it would be more like like an Anne Getty's photo shoot at all times p.s Gen Z don't know who Anne Getty's is

do you know a lot of people don't you don't know who Anne Getty's is no Gen Z oh I was like Anne Getty's was like I remember just going to like the local news agency just to look at the cards and the calendars the baby and the pumpkin yes and I think that that is interesting because I think most people think that's what motherhood is and I think the common realization from people is like oh it's so I knew it was hard but it's so much harder than I thought like you can you can be aware and I say this to Laura all the time I know how hard motherhood will be because I see my friends go through it but it's impossible to realize until you are in it agree and just the guilt I think totally you know you asked before like what what was like one of the you know it's

identity shift ultimately and just recalibrating to that but it's also the guilt starts straight away like you know I had a c-section right so I couldn't necessarily get up and change her all the time and I'm like oh I'm I feel bad I'm a bad person I'm a bad mother I'm a you know and then I was like that's I'm like six hours into parenting with mum guilt what yeah I thought to womanhood yeah 100% even now I'm like I'm guilty because I'm not with her and I'm guilty because I'm like you know it's all of this and sometimes I'm I'm working and I feel guilty for working and but you have to work to feed the babies exactly and I also like want her to see you know this hustle yeah like you know I was dressed as Tracy the other day who's a 50 year

old hairdresser with a you know wig on and I've been dressed as a boomer mom and I've been dressed as like a y2k version of myself and she's seen me in all these different things and I'm like this is what your mom does and it's kind of cool like I hope you think this is cool maybe she'll think I'm so lame she'll be embarrassed by it oh they all are she'll grow up be like god my mom's that one on the internet so true what's it done for your because like I think the biggest shift that happens is not just in your own personal identity but it's also in your relationship and you really find out what kind of person your partner is through parenting oh that's a wild one isn't it you do I mean like some relationships it makes you just like the most amazing version

of yourselves together because you see what a great team you are and then on the flip side for some people parenting can be just like such a magnifying glass for the cracks that were already there and it shows you all the things that your partner actually is terrible at what's this period been like for you and tom pretty good but he is a stay-at-home parent so like we are together full time all the time so good it is it's like oh no no no no no no no no like it's like a privilege It is because you're not in the depths of it on your own. Like, honestly, there's so much to be grateful for. Like, honestly, it's amazing.

However, when you're with someone 24 hours a day, it's a lot. You know what I mean? Yeah, I average 24 hours a year. It's perfect. I was actually going to mention that to you. That laugh! I don't mind the long distance. I did long distances with Tom for a bit.

I quite liked it. I joke about it. Yours is full on, though. yours is like not no no this is not a domestic jester i just can't yeah i just can't imagine 24 hours a day every day it's a lot because you go to bed with them you wake up with them you're up at 2 a.m 4 a.m i found this fascinating and it also explained a lot to me after i had kids your brain as a mother completely changes like the chemical like basically how your brain is structured is completely reframed and that affects the way you sleep so like you never are able to

have as deep sleep again once you've given birth and it's because you're always on high alert so if you hear a baby crying you're awake and it's why we can wake up straight away and go straight to feeding whereas like i try and wake matt up and i'm like get a bottle get a bottle matt get the bottle and he's like oh what yes and this must be nice and it's he's not doing it intentionally but there is like a hormone shift and I'm going to butcher this but the second I hear her crying in night time, I'm awake. Same. Like wide awake.

So it's not. I even hear phantom cries and stuff and like I'm in the shower, I'm like, is she crying? I'm here and she's, God knows, no, she's downstairs. God knows, she's downstairs. And I'm like, is she crying? Is she in the fridge again? It's because you're perpetually in fight or flight.

That's what happens to you. Yeah, a little bit, yeah. And you're in survival mode now for the next 18 years. Honestly, and it's actually the weirdest thing to say, like to hear that because I'm like how weird to think she's going to be one she's going to be you know because you're just so present in the moment and like we've already thrown out well not thrown out but put aside her five zeros and her four zeros she's almost out of her threes she's really tall she's really long because tall Tom's six three so she's really tall so we're going through

onesies and it's like oh my gosh like the time's already going so fast and you don't want to miss a moment but sometimes it's hard but especially when you know she's a bit colicky so at night she just kicks off for three hours and it's like oh god you know people are like saying to enjoy it and you are enjoying and I do enjoy it but when she's screaming and you don't know why you just want to fix it but I think it's okay for people and like I don't know I find it hard to talk about because I'm not a parent but I still have opinions you can want to be a parent and not enjoy every moment like not many people enjoy being screamed at on no sleep being shout on and vomited and like you don't have to enjoy that part it doesn't make you mean you don't want it but like no the

people that are like I still love it you don't love the moment you don't love a baby screaming crying shitting on you you love it you love them yeah but you don't have to love that moment like it's okay to be like wow this is hard yeah or like I just want to I don't want you to be upset I don't want you to be in discomfort like what can I do and then they can't just go oh my god girl I've got a sore toe totally but you've been putting a bottle in their mouth and they're just like oh my god it's my foot bitch but because they can't tell you but also with your what you're saying Brit like in in that sense I think that that is tenfold when you are someone who has tried for so long to have a baby when it's something that you've so desperately wanted I do think that

there is this sense of not being able to dislike any of it like you've got to be grateful for all of it you wanted this be grateful for everything and it's like that is a really dangerous place to get to because it means that for new mums who desperately wanted to become mums who also then have moments in parenting that they struggle with which we're all going to 100 that's you no one is immune from struggling with the massive shift that parenting brings but it means that you're not allowed to because you got to be grateful because you finally got that thing you always wanted and talked about so much i know i definitely feel that but i do feel really grateful and i do feel really happy and i'm actually i feel like the most best version of

myself and that's not to say some people won't feel that you know i i can imagine potentially a lot of people would have babies after wanting them for years and feel oh this isn't how I thought it was because you've had years and years potentially to have developed a sense of what you thought it was going to be and it wasn't or then you feel guilt for you know like there's so many different ways that this could show up but I do you're so right when she is colicky and when she's upset I'm like oh I can't I can't be frustrated because I wanted her so deeply and I can't how dare i but that feels like a dangerous place to get to as well because anyone should be able to ask for help regardless of where they are yeah or how much they wanted something exactly when they

just scream and scream and scream it's really hard to connect with them as well because they're not calm or peaceful and it's it's more of like a totally and also you never want your baby to be in any sort of pain or distress you're like how do i fix this and sometimes babies just purple cry and they just cry for absolutely no reason or maybe there is a reason you can't figure it out like you said it's the toe you don't know but like it's I found it particularly hard with Lola when it would be that especially over like the quote-unquote witching hour and it would just be hours of screaming and that I found I found really quite tricky and I don't think I realized how tricky I found it at the time but what I think is really beautiful about what you're saying is

like you know of all the ways this could have shown up and of all the versions that you could of experienced like it does sound like you have a colicky baby and that's really hard but you are still able to feel so amazing throughout all of this and you are so grateful and you are so happy yeah yeah I'm like that's all right I'll figure it out it's like you know what I mean it's not it's amazing but like it's not the end of the world it's not the end of the world and she's so when she's like it's only at night time that she's colicky so then I'm like is it colic is it which this girl the amount of times i've spent like googling talking to midwives are just like annoying everyone trying to figure it out but it's also like that's a part

of the process of being a new mom is like you're trying to advocate for somebody else and like that feels really cool and fierce as well to be like someone's voice yeah where did the name Scotty come from oh I like the name Scotland so her name is actually Scotland okay and then Scotty but it was because I had a huge mental shift when I was at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Scotland yeah because I think you have a bit of a like an allegiance or well yeah I used to live there yeah I love Scotland it was like the first country I moved to when I moved overseas yeah then when I met my husband he was living in Scotland so I went back and spent a lot of time there I moved there to be in Outlander yeah Outlander didn't know that but um yeah and I

was never in it yeah you just need to be present for it I tried to yeah I tried to but no I have an affinity with Scotland as well so I think that's really cute and so that for you ties back to your time on stage in the at the Fringe Festival or first time you said you had a mental shift there yeah what was that I ever did stand up was in Edinburgh and I just was like I heard this quote by Shoshana Bean who's this musical theatre queen and she did this cabaret and she said you either do it terrified or you don't do it terrified either way you're terrified and I was like oh my god either way you're terrified you may as well do it right so that night after I watched this Shoshana Bean cabaret I went and did stand up for the first time when I

was like 20 and I was like this is really fun and that's when I really decided to lean into comedy and do comedy and make that my, yeah, thing and tell stories and not, I guess, not do my backup plan. I was always going to be a teacher. It was like go for your dreams kind of moment. Yeah, and I was like, because I was going to go back to uni. I'd just finished my theatre degree and I was like, I'm going to go back and do my teaching degree.

And then there I was like, I'm not going to go back and do my teaching degree. I'm not going to have a backup. I'm only going to do comedy and if it doesn't work out, either way I'll be terrified. And broke. And broke. I was, I was broke until I was at least 32.

So, you don't know me. Things are looking up now though, don't worry. Speaking of. Although according to my net worth. Laura's net worth, she Googled, what was it? 200 million? No, no, Brittany's was 200 million. My net worth, I said this on the podcast, but I'll rehash for the new people.

My net worth used to be, and I don't know why, like if you Googled me, it used to say 247 million. Which is not true. Just FYI, in case you're curious. It is definitely not true. nowhere near it not even a lot of take a lot of zeros off like we're not even it's hilarious but I loved it because I was like oh you want but when I met my husband Ben I knew the first thing he was going to do is like google me and see what's up you know who is this chick and I had to have a

full sit down with him and be like I know you would have googled me and I don't own several castles well I said I need to tell you that's not my net worth and he's like I figured that when I came to your apartment and I was like the fact that you even live in an apartment and allegedly have all this money totally he had to like climb over stuff to get through the door but um we were all years worth of lana jane to get to you but we were all googling our net worth on the back of that just to see because it's bullshit just to see what it was and tanya's was like after years of ivf tanya is now worth eight thousand dollars it was like tanya spent 120 000 on ivf has no money to her name the fact that my net worth is eight grand it's like so

mean it's so unnecessary you're like I've worked my whole life my net worth Jesus it's rough it's rough and yours is like 248 mil I can give you some okay please so can I some of your fictitious money if we can just go back to the start for a second because I think a lot of people listening to this are going to be people that either went on their struggle or are on their struggle and are in that now do you feel like you did something different with who you are what you were eating what you were consuming hormones injections different kinds of IVF because for someone listening they're like okay she did it seven times and didn't work and then it worked what did she do I you know what I got asked that so much so much and I I actually felt a huge guilt

getting pregnant in a way in a way because I felt like I was letting down a community that I was representing and like like infertility yeah they were like how dare you and I did get a lot of like oh now you're pregnant I don't want to follow you anymore I was like no that's okay you can absolutely you should unfollow me unfollow anything that makes you feel however but I have to revel in this because it's taken me so long but I can see where you're coming from and a lot of people like how did you do it how'd you do it and I put a list together of what I did and posted it and then I got a lot of aggression from that as well yeah people were like yeah I had a lot of emails that were sent to my manager being like Tanya's not a medical expertise I'm like clearly I'm not I've

got eight grand to my name but like you know people were saying how dare she how dare she give this medical information and or you're making me feel really bad because I've tried all these things and it didn't work and I was like I'm just trying to help so I'm happy to share it but I just don't want people to be mad at me no of course but also it's really hard when you have come to represent or come to align with people on a shared grief on something that is you know people have connected with you because they're like me too I also am going through infertility and then especially when you know you've spoken about what it's like when other people have their pregnancy announcement or other people are sharing things online and then when it's your turn because

you are going through the biggest and most beautiful thing that you've experienced in life and you had the thing that you've always wanted so you want to share it how do you find that line between not being the person that you hated seeing when you were going through infertility yourself oh I just felt like another layer that I was like oh I don't know what to do honestly I felt well I felt strange because people kept being like well now you've converted so like you know I guess like whatever about you sort of thing and I was like but she's not here yet and I still have lived through those years yes I've come to another side of it I still have the scars and I've still really like I've still been through this experience it's not like all those years and all that time

goes away totally so people I think it's okay I think it's normal what's not okay is the aggression that comes with it and the announcing the exit and why you follow people because you connect with in a time of life and whether it's as silly as I remember we had this conversation on a really small level when I got into a relationship for the first time. Oh, yep. That sounds so ridiculous but the pushback I got because I wasn't flying the single flag anymore and I wasn't unlucky in love anymore

and I was happy, a lot of people didn't want that because they were connecting with me because I also couldn't find love and, you know, it's such a small thing. No, but it's – But I think for the people coming for you – No, but it's like it's okay for people to want to unfollow you at a certain time because it doesn't resonate with them you'll find your people again but the people coming for you for posting what you did at that time and where you were and what you

were eating or what you were doing and what worked for you those people that come with you for anger and that are taking the time to write to your management they're coming from a place of hurt because they've probably done it and it hasn't worked and that's the thing it's not like i'm reading them and going oh fuck you i'm going no but it's hard like i actually feel the opposite it I feel deeply I'm like you I want to hold you I want to call you I what can I do for you you know what I mean it's not it's not anger at them I'm like I'm sorry like I feel you I know what you've been through no I know don't be mad at me because I I want it for you too I know how it you know like it hurt and it just when people coming at me so angrily I could understand why they were

angry but I was like I'm just trying to help I'm just trying to help but that's the thing there's plenty people and I would say 10 times more people that will look at the advice that you wrote and be like, great, I'll give that a whirl. Do you know what I mean? It's like, people are not taking what you're saying as medical advice. They're not. The people that are calling it that are just the people that are in place of her. There are so many people that genuinely are in the same place as you that are like, I'd love to know if she switched something up. I'd love to know if she gave up some kind of food, you know? And so would I. And in fact, the way that I actually became a pregnant human being was through so many people online. Like Kira Rumble was like a huge, she gave me my

OB. And if it wasn't for my OB, but he did my endosurgery and he obviously delivered Scotty and like, you know, he was a monument. DM me if you want this OB. He really helped me. And if it wasn't for Kira, I wouldn't have him. You know what I mean? Christy Whelan-Brown gave me great advice. You know, there's so many who's got endo, you know, all of these endo warriors, a friend of mine, Laura, who's a producer over at Sunrise, she told me about the immune protocol that I went on. it's other women with endo or who have survived infertility or you know gone through it have helped me so I wanted to give back and I just happened to have a slightly bigger platform to to do that what is the immune protocol so you've said it a few times I know it sounds like I'm an

ambassador for it which I'm just I'm curious is it like something that you eat and change in your diet to build immunity or is it more of like a medical based thing it's a medical based thing and you see like a specialist in it. So I went to a doctor that does that and found out I had killer cells through a biopsy and then with the killer cells, that means that you need more of an assistance to get the embryo to stay or to stick. So you do intralipids, which is intravenous, over six hours.

Right. So then you take prednisone, which is a steroid. Yep. And then you take clexane and then you take a bunch of other things and that is what the protocol is. and you'd take it a certain amount during and before the transfer and that was the main thing that I changed. The other thing that I changed was I went keto,

which I absolutely hated because how good is bread? Carbs are life for me. Sorry, I would be a pasta stick if I could be in another life. Oh, same. Like do you love a carbonara? It's my favourite meal in the whole world. Same. If I was dying tomorrow, I'm having a carbonara.

Oh, unbelievable. So like being keto was really hard. And then I took all the candles out of my house. so no candles no scents i didn't wear deodorant like i did wear deodorant but i wore natural deodorant it's like no fragrance no perfume i still don't wear perfume is that meant to have that much of an effect on people's fertility girl i just did everything i think if you're that deep you're gonna try whatever right and then like i didn't microwave anything like i just was like this is i kind of said this is my last round i'm doing everything wow and then i did acupuncture

and then i did a lot of visualization so i visualized the crib i visualized them laying next to me what it felt like what they smelt like or like just believed in it it's so interesting isn't it I mean and with this but it could have gone the other way totally but I mean knowing that the protocol is something that you did that was different and you also manifested on Life Uncut podcast so the main thing was the manifestation on this podcast and so what does the future look like for you now and how are you adjusting I guess your career path now that you've got another tiny little human in the world well the thing is I thought when she came out I was gonna like really change like I thought I was gonna be like not making jokes and like being really um matronly

for some reason I genuinely thought that why would you think that I become a priest why would you think that your essence is a person would I mean like like you have a human in the world but like why would you think that the thing that makes you you changes I don't think that idea I honestly thought I don't know I thought my fashion was gonna change you will never make a joke again I wasn't sure about how and how I would joke with her and about her like yeah yeah today someone said to me they're like oh she's got Tom's eyes but your chin and I was like she's got two chins um hurtful yeah like backhanded yeah like it's like and then I like you know said that my daughter has two chins and I'm like is that okay and they're like yes like she's and she's my baby

And you're like, what will she think in 10 years when she sees it on the internet? Oh, people used to say the same. I used to call Marley Wild Beast and Lola Melon when they were babies because Lola had literally the biggest head that's ever existed on a human child. You still call her Melon? No, not as much. Now it's just, I mean, she's grown into a head, so it's not about a head anymore. It's just a nickname.

But people would message me. A lot of people loved it. Some people would message me and be like, think about how your children are going to grow up. And I was like, fucking fine. I was like, happy. You're like, they're in a holiday house. With a sense of humour.

They're going to grow up in their beach house in Ulladulla. The kids are fucking fine. Ulladulla is so great. It's so good. Ulladulla's lit. I just discovered it. I was called Peahead my whole life. I'm doing just fine.

We're all fine. And that Peahead of yours is so cute. Yeah. I have to get extra small. Why do they call you Peahead? I have a really small head. You can't see under the hat and the hair. But I have a really small head for my body.

I was like extra, extra small hats and helmets and stuff. So I can't ride a bike anymore, okay? It's too much. It's too much. Can you really not ride a bike? I like it. Because of your small head. I tell you, that's like my mum used to get bullied because she was too tanned.

I was like, mum, that's deeply unrelatable. Because I was like, mum, I'm getting bullied for being fat. She was like, Tanya, don't worry. I used to get bullied for being too tanned and thin. I was like, hmm. I was a model, Tanya, and so it was really hard for me. It was hard for me because I was on the cover of Dolly. I was like, that's not the same.

She did do a bit of adult modelling, my mum, which is so weird. Anyway. That's cute. But you have too. You've been on the cover of Stella. You've done heaps of shit. Modelling is hard. It is hard, yeah.

Especially when you're, like, known for your voice. To take the voice away and just be your aesthetic is, I find, almost impossible. Or you were a smoke show. You nailed it. I feel like I'm getting better at it. Both of you are good at it. No. Do you not feel that?

No. You photograph very well. Thank you. I have one angle. Both of you are very good. I have one single angle that I will. What is it? It's just one side.

and it's like one standing pose. Anyway, let's get back to – because this is, for you, a very interesting transition, right? It's funny because it's the same angle so we can't – Do you have the same angle? We have the same side, yeah. I always end up not getting mine though. Fuck off.

We share every time. Never. We do it twice. We stand on one foot. The one that's of my better side is never the one that ends up on anything. I don't get to choose them, Laura. Maybe my side is better. I don't know.

She got a more intense management. Literally. literally she just she puppeteers from behind no but 24 million no 224 this transition is huge in terms of like career as well when you're someone who runs your own career you are freelance yeah you you write your own books like you are running a business but you also have to take care of a baby how are you finding this transition in terms of juggling motherhood and career i mean firstly you're like the queen of this and you're someone I look to constantly as like a how is she doing this no one knows to be honest I didn't realize I'm AI I'm a cyborg

I'm actually just a computer but I will say I did have a chat with Laurie just before the end before I gave birth actually and she said to me this great piece of advice you said when you're a mother you kind of just have to get it done so you just do it and you have less time so you just do it. And at the time, you know, before, you know, when I was pregnant, I was like, sure, in concept, after I have a baby, I'm like, got it. And you're right. And so I just work when I've got time and the time is less, but because I've got less time, I've got less time to procrastinate. So I just do it. Yeah. And I also think for me, a big thing was like, it doesn't have to be as perfect as what I always think it had to be before. Like now it's like,

this is how many hours I have to get something done. I'm not going to spend two hours researching that thing that like I didn't need to research what's the best camera it's like that camera is good enough I'm gonna get that camera it's like the decision making has to be done faster whereas I find that's where Matt and I are very different like he's the procrastinator he's the one that needs to like labor over fucking 17 options of fridges and I'm like that one that fridge is fine I'm the decision maker because I don't have time for that anymore in my life and so things get done quickly or the things that are just not priorities until it makes its way to the top of the priority list it literally never gets done which is fair like and it just it's like this constant the

squeaky wheel gets the oil and absolutely nothing else gets done in the meantime and I don't know I feel like for me I'm just I've got less time I'm doing it and to be honest with you I'm doing it better and my content I feel like is better my work is better my writing maybe is not better because I can't see very well because I got postpartum vision loss my brain isn't quite working as quickly but it's working enough what's the postpartum vision loss what level of vision have you got now I just can't see out of my left eye very well oh there's no biggie yeah but it's better it's better when I first I was yeah I reckon I could have been looking at a shoe and thinking it was Scotty like oh it was pretty bad for a while and does that just come back yeah it comes

back having a baby is wild yes it comes back how has it affected your ADHD in terms of like the way you function has it exacerbated it or has it made you more streamlined I think it's streamlined because I'm like her and then everything else. It has made it a little bit, yeah, streamlined, weirdly enough. But I'm not on medication, though. Right. I'm not medicated. I have it.

I just don't take it. I think I'm a bit scared to take my medicine. I've never taken it before. That's a whole other conversation. That's another conversation. But, yes, I find working and doing it simultaneously difficult because I find doing them together hard. So like when we did the Stella shoot, it was hard because I had to be mom and Tanya, but sort of more separately is slightly easier.

But I was surprised at how much I can soar with her actually. It makes me so happy to hear that because I do think that there, and I don't want to, I don't want to disregard anyone's experience who has found juggling anything really, really hard after having a baby. And I know that for a lot of women, they literally like, I couldn't even get out of fucking, you know, I couldn't even put a clean pair of pants on. And that is an absolutely very real experience. Oh, I smell, by the way. Oh, same right now. Don't worry. Don't come near me.

We can't smell a thing. I was like, I need some deodorant. But that's just from lack of preparation and lack of time this morning. But I know that there are people that really, really struggle during the postpartum period. And I'm absolutely not discrediting how hard it is. But I do think it is so important that there is a voice that women know that you can have a baby and still get shit done. like I think we've been told so often that like your life is over once you have a baby that like

it's all going to be so hard you're not going to be able to leave the house you're not going to be able to do this and like I said as much as that is the version for some people for other people it isn't the reality and that alternate possibility I think is not discussed enough and I remember sitting there and bawling my eyes out when I just had Marley she was a couple of days old and I was like to Matt, your life hasn't changed. Your career hasn't changed. You can get up and go to the gym. I was like, I will never have the same career again. My life and my career has never been bigger since I had children. And yes, you said that to me. It's possible. It is possible as well. And I was like, yes, you don't even realize how profound what you said to me,

how much it helped me. Oh, thank you. Like I agree with you. I feel like my work is better. my writing is better I feel like the the best creative I've ever been and I agree with you it's almost like a rebirth for some people and I know like that's I don't I'm so careful about saying it because I know it is not the case for everyone but my experience was once I got through the hell hole of like the very postpartum period I was like wow I can do so much and be a mum and still achieve and run my businesses and do all of those things but I think it does come down to having a supportive partner agree and if you are someone who doesn't have that and your partner doesn't show up in the relationship or doesn't show up as a parent then like that is where it's

actually not about the baby it's about the shitty relationship yes a hundred percent and I feel very fortunate that I have Tom and and you with Matt like it really you really need I feel like I really need him so much also did you not find he fell more in love with matt when you had a baby i was like oh my god tom you holding that baby is very attractive i was like did i well it's probably i had three of them with him so yeah i think so yeah because i i read or i maybe i was listening you know when you can't figure things out because the postpartum brain is real but i think i maybe consumed something about you saying that you never feel like you'll be done because yeah do you think you're addicted to the newborn bubble or is it just that you love being pregnant or do you love

giving birth like what is it i hate being pregnant i think birth is like the fucking wildest drug you're ever gonna take like like birth itself is amazing but also like i love the experience of having this little human and like each one of my children are so different and so the thought of like never doing 10 months again never doing two again never doing four again never doing 10 again like whatever age that they age out of I'm always going to have this moment of like oh my god I'm never going to do this again and I really enjoy like the baby age I love it and I just love that each of my kids are so fucking different you could have 10 kids and they'd all be so different but there is a I think a point as well where like I couldn't have any more children because I

cannot give each one of them enough of me like having a fourth kid wouldn't be for that child it would be purely for me and so there's no there's no need for that for me anymore yeah So, yeah, I feel like what's weird is that the timing of everything is so weird. So I gave birth on the 20th of December, had a book out, Pink Easter, on the 3rd of February, then have one out the 3rd of March. Do you know what I mean?

Like that's – It's a lot of books. The timing is crazy, but what are you going to do? You just pick it up and just keep going. But I'm really proud of both of these books. I know you're talking about Pink Easter at the beginning, but Sunny and Storm, I think, is my best work. It's a junior fiction, so it's for girls particularly.

It's a chapter book. It's a chapter book from 7 to 12, and it's sort of based on beaches, like the dynamic in beaches. And I just really wanted to write about female friendship because it's really important. And the second book actually gets into what happens when a third person comes in to a two-bestie relationship. And it's really fun to play in because it's set in rural Australia.

And so there's cows and pigs and animals, and they're trying to figure out who they are, learning their own language, well, making up their own language in this rural environment where there's just those two and that how fierce and necessary female friendship is. My best friend, that's who it's dedicated to. And it's just, it's my, I don't know, I feel like I've really worked at my writing. I'm really excited for it. Well, I called, the reason why we spoke pre-Christmas was because I called you to say how much Marley

was enjoying it and how much she loved it. And, you know, one thing that I think is really special about that and very full circle for you is when you spoke on the podcast before, you were talking about how it was your friendships have gotten you through so much of the period that you've been through, through infertility. And this is just, I mean, obviously it's a children's book. It's very different to that, but heroing female friendships, like that was the ground zero of what this podcast started, why it started, you know, and it's something that in terms of relationships is right up there as one of the most important that we're going to have in our life. Yeah. And it starts when you're young

And the dynamics of friendship, people forget like Marley would be going through it right now. Dynamics of, you know, how many people are in the group and do you like this thing and do we all agree on this and this is how we exist in the world and how monumentally horrendous it is when it falls apart. You know, those types of discussions happen even when you're a child. and I don't know what you don't think about I was talking with my best friend about this on the weekend my best friend and I have been best friends since we were five years old we met in kindergarten we might be an anomaly we have never had one disagreement not one fight nothing so we yeah we have been best friends for how old am I 34 years or something like that and it's it's crazy to think that like Laura and I were touching on it the other day but the kids that Marley are meeting now could be it like that that person that she makes now could be it for the next 40 years like it's pretty incredible and like that's really powerful like women and women together

is everything and that's why you know someone said to me the other day like do you still feel as ambitious now you're a parent i'm like i feel more ambitious because i have more ambition to tell stories that show diverse females show strong females show you know uh intense females and so Sunny and Storm, Sunny is a little bit more shy. Storm has ADHD and Storm is the one who's narrating the book. So you can see how Storm sees the world and goes through the world. And she doesn't understand the chaos sometimes that she is creating, but that's the beauty of it. And she's also so fiercely herself and she doesn't care and she takes up space and we need to see these kinds of girls. And I want my daughter to read these kinds of books. And we don't have

enough female authors to be completely frank. I'm almost one of the only ones writing junior fiction at the moment because let's be honest there's no money in it and maybe eight thousand dollars is my um net worth because i continue to choose non-profitable things what's funny because people think writing and books and if you're a bestseller and stuff that it's it's a lot of money it's often not it's often like you get a lump sum to write it which isn't that much i'll just tell you i got seven grand to write sunny and storm it's not a lot of money minus agency commissions you know what i mean you don't get a lot you take home three take out three and you do 18 months worth of work you know it's a lot but I feel so passionate about writing these female characters

and showing up as a woman for these kids because I mean who else is gonna do it especially when they've got no money on the line I sound like I'm being really altruistic I'm not at all it's more just like you are your passion it's your passion it's my passion I you know I wish I didn't have this desire to do things that have no money attached to them. Yeah, yeah. My manager's like, you know what, you should do some more shit with Shark Beauty. I'm like, you know what, I want to write a book about a kid on the farm.

Tanya, we absolutely adore you. We honestly could not be happier for you. You're living in the dream that you've had for the past however many years it's been that you've been going through infertility and we just are I was so effing thrilled to have you back and to be able to have you back and for this end of this story to be something that is so beautifully positive. Yeah. And you know what?

It could have easily not gone this way and I'm so thankful that I didn't give up. And I'm thankful that she didn't give up. Yeah. Maybe. She had to really fight in there. She's fighting against these really evil endometriosis and she's fought to be here. You also fought bloody hard.

Oh, yeah. We, like, found each other. Yeah. We're so happy for you. Thank you guys so much for having me on this podcast. We'll see you next week.