Book Club Meets: Desire, hormones, and tampons, with Miranda July

The size zero trend... the circle of shame... the fad diets... Millennial women who grew up during the 2000s now have the lowest body confidence of any generation, and Rita Ora understands the pressure for women to look a certain way all too well. In this chat, brought to you by Dove, Fearne and Rita explore the factors that might have influenced their relationships with their bodies over time – from magazines, to catwalks, to so-called health hacks. As part of Dove’s Self Esteem Project, Fearne and Rita chat about how to focus more on how your body feels, than how it looks. Millennial women are 1.3x more likely to define self-care as working on their appearance, so, how can we create self-care routines that really listen to what our individual bodies need to be strong and energised instead? Rita also opens up about how she manages the anxiety that comes from her internal chatter.   If you want more support, Dove has created a journal full of body confidence exercises to help in building better awareness about our internalized beauty belief systems that might be more harmful to you than helpful. You can find it at dove.com/why2k. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hit midlife? What do you want to do with the second part of your life? Immunologist Dr Jenna Macciochi wonders that despite living longer now, we’re not necessarily living as healthily or as fully as possible during that time. In this chat with Fearne, Jenna talks through how we can keep our bodies as resilient as possible as we age, so we have the strength to properly embrace the fun parts, and better cope with the shit parts. Jenna breaks down the science of immunity and its relationship with ageing, but there’s no mad biohacking here, just simple advice to make sure your body is a comfortable home to live in: we’re talking food to support your gut microbiome, oral hygiene, and reducing stress. Plus, there’s chat about how your social life is affecting your immune system! (Spoiler – you’ve got an excuse to hang out with your mates more!) Jenna’s book, Immune To Age: The Game Changing Science of Immune Health, is out now. If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:   Bob Waldinger   Emily English   Liberty Mills   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How good are you at switching off on holiday? Are you even any good at taking a proper holiday in the first place? Broadcaster Tess Daly reckons wellness is being physically and mentally able to turn up for everything in life that demands your time... And that includes prioritising time off from a busy schedule! Welcome to The Happy Place Guide To Holidays! In this chat – brought to you by British Airways Holidays – Fearne and Tess share their advice on how to take your holiday wellbeing more seriously, including making lists ahead of time, locking your phone away, having your feet rubbed, and eating delicious local bread and desserts. Plus, Tess reveals Strictly’s contingency plan for if things go wrong on the dancefloor, and the incredibly sweet vow renewal husband Vernon Kay organised for her… British Airways Holidays are ATOL protected, offer a 24hr holiday helpline, and allow you to book with a low deposit. All holidays include a generous baggage allowance per person. Go to Ba.com/holidays to find out more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Do you find stripping and nudity empowering or degrading? Burlesque performer Dita Von Teese says feminism is about respecting each other’s choices, even if they wouldn’t be your own. In this chat with Fearne, Dita charts her life from working in strip clubs in the 90s, to performing in sold out burlesque shows now. Painfully shy as a kid, Dita explains how turning herself into a femme fatale helped her feel confident and powerful in her own skin. Fearne and Dita talk about the joy of getting older and understanding more about how to handle your sexuality, and Dita reveals how she makes herself feel more sensual if she’s not particularly in the mood... There’s also advice about how to own your unique look and characteristics, and be more assertive in using your voice. Dita’s new show, Diamonds and Dust, is on at London’s Emerald Theatre now! Dita is also returning to the UK’s grand stages in early 2026 with her most enchanting show to date: Nocturnelle. If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:   Munroe Bergdorf   Florence Given   Zandra Rhodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Has your name influenced who you’ve become? Would you have different characteristics, would people react differently to you, would your life have turned out differently, if you had a different name? These are the questions author Florence Knapp grapples with in her book The Names – our Happy Place Book Club read for June. In this chat, Fearne and Florence share their own experiences of having slightly unusual names, and how they shaped them. Florence also explains the long journey she’s been on to get a novel published, having started writing in the late ‘90s, and wonders that she likes getting lost in fictional worlds because she’s naturally introverted. Thank you to Phoenix for the use of The Names audiobook, narrated by Dervla Kirwan, and to composer and musician Jeni Saint for the opening music. If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:   Book Club Meets: Emily Henry   Book Club Meets: Lorna Tucker   Book Club Meets: Clare Leslie Hall Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.