Spinning Plates with Sophie Ellis-Bextor - Episode 76: Marawa Ibrahim

Episode Date: October 10, 2022

I first saw Marawa perform as part of a circus show about 15 years ago. I was mesmerised by her hula hooping and roller skating simultaneously to disco music, and I've been following Marawa on Instagram for years now. Her posts are always fun and uplifting. They are usually of her rollerskating in the sunshine at her home in LA in high-heeled roller skates. She is also a hula hooper extraordinaire. As well as performing all over the world she has broken multiple skate and hoop world records - including spinning 200 hula hoops simultaneously - and is now in the Guinness World Record Hall of Fame. Marawa got pregnant at the beginning of lockdown and enjoyed the accidental privacy that gave her, only posting films of her roller skating with a bump, after her son was born. Now a toddler, her little boy is fascinated by Marawa's roller skates and she recently got his mini Timberland boots made into skates! Marawa has also written a book called The Girl Guide. It's aimed at pre-teen girls, to help them navigate body image, periods, spots and moods - it's kind of fun and serious all the same time - a mix that Marawa carries off beautifully.Spinning Plates is presented by Sophie Ellis Bextor, it is produced by Claire Jones and post-production is by Richard Jones. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Sophia Lispector and welcome to Spinning Plates, the podcast where I speak to busy working women who also happen to be mothers about how they make it work. I'm a singer and I've released seven albums in between having my five sons aged 16 months to 16 years, so I spin a few plates myself. Being a mother can be the most amazing thing It can also be hard to find time for yourself and your own ambitions I want to be a bit nosy and see how other people balance everything. Welcome to spinning plates Well, hello, it is a beautiful sunny Sunday I'm walking back from the river. I had a coffee coffee with my mum. And I'm walking alongside Jesse, who's doing some Pokemon going, I think. Is that what you refer to as?

It's called Pokemon Go. It's like a game where you catch Pokemon. And if you want to move in the game, you have to move in real life. Great. Well, it's keeping us walking. And it's quite funny, actually, because Jesse just had it where there was a Pokemon he had to catch. And it was outside a house that had a blue plaque. So that's what we were looking for. And to the untrained eye, it looked like I had a child that was fascinated with blue plaques. So I went, here we are, Jesse.

We've reached the blue plaque of the humanist and humorist and reformist MP, whatever his name is, and Jessie went, yes! But really it's because that's where Pokemon was. So if you ever see a family and you think, oh, they're very cultured, they might just be catching Pokemon. Yes.

Sunny Sunday, going home to roast beef. My mum is vegan. Oh, well done. That's great. So good. It's actually all been pretty nice this weekend. I've had a busy few weeks and I've just been loving the fact that this weekend I've had no work, just been at home.

It is delightful. And we have Nanny Claire staying with us. So Nanny Claire was our nanny, the first nanny we ever had from when Sunny was four months old all the way until he was four months old, all the way until he was 11 years old. She's very much like family.

She's currently in my kitchen making her famous Cadbury's tribute cake, which we put a recipe of in our cookbook. Only when we did the test of the recipes, the lovely chef we were working with emily ezekiel she said listen per slice claire's cabri's tribute cake is more calories than you're supposed to have in one day so the publisher's got a little bit worried and said oh you might have your cookbook down as a sort of unhealthy cookbook so we toned down the recipe so that it wouldn't be so unhealthy. And I've regretted it ever since, actually, because it's a flipping cake, so you already know it's not healthy.

And the real recipe is so much better. So I might put it on my Instagram, actually, the real recipe, because it's like, then you get the full impact of the Cadbury's. And that's what Claire's's making today and oh i have such a lovely guest for you today years and years and years ago i went to watch a circus show at the roundhouse in camden and there was this woman i've never forgotten it because it made such an impression on me who came out on roller skates in a skin-tight leopard print dress, looking very hubba hubba. Yes, Jessie? Let me show you how much I got. Let me show you my Pokemon.

Look at this! You've got so many Pokemons. Jessie, we will discuss that properly in a second. I just started the skin-mark today. I know, but Jessie, let me just finish... Oh, God. Let me just finish telling people about the podcast, please. Yes, and this woman came out looking amazing,

very beautiful, very cool. And she had roller skates on and a ton of hula hoops. And she hula hooped and roller skates her way around to Thelma Houston's Don't Leave Me This Way, which is incidentally what cemented it as my favorite disco song of all time. Because it starts off slow and then by the end when it gets all crazy, Marowa, the woman in question, was spinning around and then kind of got lifted into the air spinning hula hoops and a little aerial pulley thing and it was amazing i loved it so much and all the while she was making kind of cartoony faces like puffing out her cheeks and kind of looking

shocked and surprised and flabbergasted like kind of really cartoony and fun and so I started following her on Instagram as soon as I found her on there and about two years ago she had a baby and I was like great I'll have her as a future guest on Spinning Plates even though at the time I'd only just started the podcast so today she is my guest we spoke on Zoom because she was in she's actually Australian but well grew up in Australia but she she's actually, hold on Jessie, I won't be long. But we spoke on Zoom because she's currently in California, California, and we had a lovely chat and I think you're going to really like hearing her stories.

So yes, over to you Marawa and your hula hooping wonderful ways. All right, speak to you in a bit. And that means I know Jessie, we're going to talk about Pokemon. Yeah, I'm going to catch some Pokemon while we're listening in. All right, speak to you in a bit. And that means I know, Jesse, we're going to talk about Pokemon. Yeah, I'm going to catch some Pokemon while we're listening in. All right, see you on the other side.

Bye. I've actually been so excited to talk to you because I first saw you perform, I think it must be around 15 years ago, at the Roundhouse in London. Yes, quite possibly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You were responsible actually for giving me a love of one of my favourite songs. Because you know when you have a song and then something crystallises the moment of the song and the image.

And you did a whole routine on your roller skates with your hula hoops to, um, Thelby Houston's don't leave me this way. Don't leave me this way. I believe it finished with you being elevated. You were aerial by the end. Yep. And it was so magic. Um, that it literally is one of my favorite songs, but I always think of you when I hear it.

Oh, nice. And it's got those great builds and key changes in it. And it just kept getting the route. It just gets, nice. And it's got those great builds and key changes in it and it just kept getting the route. It just gets, yeah, to the bit where I'm in the air and there was a glitter cannon and it was a whole thing. Yes. So what's going on in your world at the moment? Where are we speaking to you now?

I'm like, you're in LA. Yeah, coming from slightly sunny, but a little bit actually quite cloudy today um LA uh April LA it's been it was like 100 degrees all of last week so not too hot uh this week thankfully um and yeah just surviving coming out of the weirdest couple of years I think we've all just happy to be alive and and still standing at this point yes yes so what's are you are you sort of back with your work because obviously so you were saying your little boy is 18 months now. Yeah, I had in some ways what I think is just the absolute most dream run,

pregnancy run, which is that I got pregnant in January of 2020 and sort of thought, oh, I'm going to have to cancel all my work and I'm going to have to tell everyone and shows and it's going to be complicated and I'm not going to be able to travel. And then the world just like shut down around me. And then people were calling saying, oh, we've had to cancel this show. And I just thought, this is amazing. This is brilliant. And then I, you know, like to keep my personal life kind of personal and private.

And so it was this amazing thing where no one knew like you know those that needed to know needed but I but in terms of work no one knew and then you know had the baby which obviously was obviously there were a lot of downsides it was locked down I couldn't my family's in Australia I couldn't see them um and there was no vaccine at that point so it was all a bit uh you know scary but we got through it and then when the world started opening up again and shows were coming back and people were calling saying can you come and do the show I was like yes absolutely yeah and I just managed to skip the whole bit and then I was like oh yeah and I had a baby don't worry about it because I

think you know you were already a bit worried then about the idea of having to not work for a little bit? Yeah, I definitely was like, you know, looking for the gap and trying to work out, you know, as someone who has definitely suffered from a lot of FOMO in the past. And also the idea of like, I wasn't under any illusion of how much work was going to be required to have a child. It's not just, you know, the pregnancy part. It's the recovery. It's not just, you know, the pregnancy part, it's the recovery, it's the looking after, it's the, you know, having energy. Like it's not, it's not just like, oh, and then I, I got a nanny and then I went and did the work because you're exhausted. So it's like, how do you, how do you balance all the parts together and when's the best time? And, you know, there's

never a good time, but I do feel like somehow I lucked out and it sort of fit a really natural gap that actually came up anyway. Yeah. And so have you now gone back to doing your day job, so to speak? Yes, yes. And I kind of had already been sort of, you know, I spent nearly, I mean, more than 10 years traveling and touring, performing, dragging hula hoops from one side of the world to the other, and a lot of roller skates and a lot of oversized luggage in various airports. You know, there was no version, at least I'm sure there are people out there that can do it,

but I wasn't really interested in also trying to have child and the hoops and the roller skates and be touring and traveling and running around. And so, you know, I think when I started out, it was that thing of, I didn't want to be trapped in a nine to five. I didn't want to be stuck, you know, in one place. I wanted to be able to move around. And so I'd found this career that allowed me to do that and I was thrilled with myself and thought it was really clever and then after a few years I was like oh my god I'm trapped in this version I can't stop I have to keep touring and I can't stop touring and I want to stay in one place now and then so you know it took a few years to then come up with the next plan and work out how I could stay in one place now. And then, so, you know, it took a few years to then come up with the next plan

and work out how I could stay in one place and pick and choose the shows that I really wanted to do versus have been forced to continue traveling like that. So I feel really, really lucky that it worked out that way. And so now, you know, I can do the shows that I really want to do. And then a lot of my work is also just online now with the shop that I have, um, and the writing and things that I do so I can do it from wherever I am. Yeah. I mean, I think when you said trapped in nine to five, that is literally the last thing that you are, I would say.

And you're so magnificently hard to put down to any one thing really because there's lots of things that you go up to from yeah teaching to writing to world record breaking and obviously the core of it is is your performance um so how long have you been doing the stuff with the hula hoops and the roller skates I was a late bloomer in circus terms because I didn't actually start circus school until I was 21, which is, I mean, the idea of going to school for circus is kind of ridiculous anyway. Getting a Bachelor of Circus Arts is always like, do you really need a degree to join the circus? Not really, but it was handy. So, yeah, I was a late bloomer in that sense. And I'd been roller skating my whole, I've been roller skating since I was two. I had tiny, tiny.

Wow. Since you were two? Yeah. And I just yesterday went. They're very, very cute, but not as cute, I think, as the ones that I'm getting for my son, uh, which I got yesterday. I took, um, because you know, you can get shoes modified into skates. And so obviously he has a really tiny, tiny little foot,

so I've got tiny, tiny little Timberland boots that are going to be, oh, my God, they're going to be so beautiful. I just love that. You've learned to walk. Brilliant. Let's put wheels on it. Yeah, because, you know, to be fair, he keeps putting his feet in my skates anyway,

which are obviously up to his knees, you know, and he just wants he just points at them and he puts them on and then I have to sort of walk him or you know roll him around the house he loves it so I thought okay it's time oh my gosh that is gonna look amazing when you take him out and about on his little roller skate tin plan boots that's amazing um so what are you, I suppose your early memories, and if you were doing it from two, what made you first put your foot inside a roller skate? My mum. So was she into something she did? No, she works at a university. Both my parents are quite academic, but she roller skated. She did roller skate and she got me these tiny little pair of roller skates out of the trading post, which know I guess is the the craigslist of that era um

they were 20 bucks and they had big orange wheels and I learned in them and then my brother and my sister and my other but you know went down the chain um and so you know I loved skating I just loved it and it because I started so young, it just feels, has always felt second nature. I've never had to really think about it. And when I started teaching, I had to sort of really go back to learn how to teach it because to me it was just like, well, you just put them on and you go, like, rather than having to break down how to do it.

And then obviously the circus stuff was much later. I did gymnastics and I did rhythmic gymnastics, so I had had experience with a single hoop in rhythmic, but obviously the circus stuff was different and multiple hoops. And it just, looking back, it all kind of makes sense. At the time, I don't think I knew where I was going with it. I was one of those kids that just, you know, climbed on everything and jumped up and down and couldn't really sit still.

And at the time, you know, there wasn't a natural line of when you get to high school and you go to the career counselor, they don't sort of say, oh, you should do a Bachelor of Circus Arts because it didn't exist. It was a brand new degree when I did the degree. And I remember thinking when I applied, I was like, well, I don't really know what this is, but I know that I like climbing on things. So it made sense. So when you do a circus degree, when you look sort of left and right around

you in the room what are the what are the people what are they what are they looking for what they try looking to do it was the dream when I did it it was the dream because it was so new so it was the absolute to me it's like it's it's similar to when I when I do world records it's that thing of like you know it's like the I always say it's like being in the Marvel comic studios, kind of like you've got one of everything. You've got, you know, the tallest person and the strong man and then the person who's a contortionist and the person, you know, all these people that specialise.

It's exactly why I love world records. It's people who have taken one very specific skill. Actually, I was just back in Melbourne last week, and one of my favourite people there, Tully, who I hadn't seen for a long time, who was also there at the same time as me, and he is a very unassuming, very normal-looking guy, skinny little guy, and his specialty,

he spent three years with a wooden spoon in his mouth and then the stick of the spoon sticking out of his mouth and then a wine bottle. He would throw the wine bottle behind his back and then catch the wine bottle, you know, the skinny side up and balance it on the wooden spoon. And you're just like, well, that's not a trick. I mean, but also what is that?

But then from there he would flip the wine bottle upside down. He could spin the wine bottle along the length of the wooden spoon and then catch it, like spike it into the wood. I mean, it's the craziest skill. And, you know, and he was still doing it. I saw him do the show when I was back in Melbourne and I was like, this is genius. It really is. But it's also's also I mean I think that's something I've really loved and I found really comforting as well during especially during the last couple of years actually

because I'd look on Instagram and start following all these people who are actually really eccentric with these one as you say these one thing they would hone in on and just think I'm going to make you know beautiful miniatures of I don't know vintage furniture and it's going to be tiny and perfect and I will just do that all the time all day every day and I just think well I'm really glad you exist but how on earth like like it's quite barking but in such a joyful way for for sure. Yeah. And I think now as well, when you get back on stage, you must be really feeling the love that people are just so excited to see something that's pure joy in that way. Well, it was really strange because the first gig that I did back

was Dita Von Teese did an on-demand live-streamed show, but it wasn't live. It was pre-recorded. So we had done the show in the same theatre, at the Orpheum Theatre downtown in Los Angeles, and it's a, like, just beautiful theatre. Like, you know, everything has been kept in mint condition, and it's, I can't remember how many thousand,

but quite a few thousand seats, and it's, you know't remember how many thousand, but quite a few thousand seats. And it's, you know, it's huge theatre, huge stage. And, you know, we've done New Year's Eve there and it's just, it's amazing. And then it was so bizarre to be in there again. And also I got to bring the baby, which was fun. So he was, I think he was six or seven months at the time and, you know, got lots of pictures with him backstage

with all the performers and, you know, sitting on Dita's fully Swarovski chair and things like that, just all these great, great shots. Lots of feather boas. But, yeah, it was so bizarre to be on, you know, we'd been in isolation for so long and then double isolation with the baby and then suddenly being back on the stage but there was no one in the audience there was just the cameras and it was this bizarre way to sort of reintroduce performing again and

then having the show be live streamed so then it was that same thing of like watching it happen through the phone and people commenting through the phone and then you know versus like actually finally being out in front of people again which is also great well I can't really imagine how it must feel to go through your pregnancy at times you say when everything shuts down and then you do your first show back with your only you know six seven month old baby and everybody else is talking about how it's their first show back for ages. So you're sort of feeling like it kind of mirrors, but you would have been feeling like that anyway. So it must be quite weird.

Exactly, exactly. Yeah, that's what was so weird about the timing, and I think it's really marked how I feel about the lockdown and stuff because there's a version where I would have been like that anyway. So before and after, you know, that thing of pre-pandemic, post-pandemic, it's like, well, not that we like that anyway so before and out you know that thing of pre-pandemic post-pandemic it's like well not that we're we're almost well I don't know where we are but wherever we're at now but it's like oh that's how it was anyway because it was pre-baby and post-baby so there's a sort of yeah a mirror there yeah and then a personal way

how did you feel because I'm always interested when when women have had babies had babies, they've already got such a strong relationship with their bodies if it's intrinsic to what you do for a living. So how did you find that? What's it like to be pregnant on wheels? It was so bizarre. The wheels were fine. I felt fine on the wheels, 100% fine. It looks amazing when you see it.

The videos are incredible. Yeah, and it was really funny because I didn't... I went through the whole... I didn't announce that I was even pregnant online until after I'd even had him because I knew, like, the internet's bad at the best of times and so plus hormones, I was just like, I'm not even... You know, I went right through and then...

So I did post afterwards some videos of me skating and you can imagine, you know, the people right through. And then, so I did post afterwards some videos of me skating and you can imagine, you know, the people that the very opinionated couch, you know, it's endangering her baby and all this stuff. And, you know, I've, I've, you know, I've been skating while I felt very confident in how and what my body did and how I could do things. What was interesting to me was that I had no interest at all in picking up a hula hoop. Like from the moment I knew I was pregnant, you know, you see there are videos and I know friends who've been pregnant that hula hoop that do that thing where they spin the hoop, you know, around their bump and things like that. And I thought I'd want to do all that stuff. And

immediately I was just like, never, like no way. Like I don't want to be hitting this child with a, I was like, this is ridiculous. Like, why would you, you know, I, like no way. Like I don't want to be hitting this child with a, I was like, this is ridiculous. Like, why would you, you know, I just had no interest in it, but I did still want to skate and I did skate. And, and the biggest accident I had, which was terrifying was, um, getting in the shower at four months. And I did the, the classic stepped in the shower and started falling backwards. And the core muscles that I relied on were not there and I just went from you know vertical to horizontal in 0.2 of a second and thought oh my god that's it I'm dead baby's dead every I was you know full I had a full

the most you know that thing where you're hearing your voice but you don't realize it's part of your own body because I just was like what is happening and that was the biggest accident I had was in the shower but I never for one second felt unsteady on the skates I think because you're also focusing and concentrating more and I skated up to well I skated distance up until I was six months and then I would still skate every now and then um right through to the day before when I was 42 and a couple of days and no signs of any dilation. And they were just, you know, I was just, I had to, you know, I was, I'm sure I would have gone back to Australia at the very start because the American healthcare system, as

we know, is just something else. But I had, I really loved my gynecologist here and I knew I could get into the hospital that also had a postpartum ward, even though we were in COVID. So I felt really happy about where I was going. But I also was like, I had been reading a lot of stuff about Pilates, like women who had strong core muscles and how it works with the baby and the, you know, separating of the ab muscles and all these sorts of things. you know, separating of the ab muscles and all these sorts of things. And so from the beginning, I'd been really not consciously relaxing, like trying to keep everything as loose, stretch everything,

because I knew my muscles were just like so locked up and so tight. And he just didn't want to come out. They just, you know, I went and went and went, and then they induced me and they shoved every drug they could up there, and it just was like one centimeter, one centimeter, one centimeter. They put a balloon up there, and it inflated. I mean, they just couldn't. Wow. They went circus on you.

So they went full circus. They were like, we're going to stick a balloon up there, and we'll inflate it and see what happens. So I did, and then I had a C-section because he he started crashing he crashed a couple of times and then they were like on the at that point I think I was 28 hours into the hospital and you know they do the pitocin they you know they were doing they said that I don't I'm not a doctor but there was something about you know that they can go up to 24 with pitocin so they go two four six eight they keep increasing it every time they got to six, it just, it was not, my body just wasn't happening.

And also, you know, when I got in there and I was, nothing was happening and they hooked me up to the machines and they were like, oh, you're having massive contractions. And you can see on the machine it's going off. And I was like, I can't feel anything. But it was going up and holding for like five minutes. And I'd never really thought about it. And I'm like, oh, yeah, all my muscles are going like this.

But they were crushing him, the poor little guy. But then once they started with the Pitocin, I was like, oh, that. Yes, I can feel that. Where's that man with the magical epidural? Yes, please bring him immediately. And then in the space of time that he came to give me the epidural I thought oh you're such a wuss you can't believe you've had like you you've felt like two contractions and you've and then in the space of time that they were setting up to give it to me I

had another one and I was like yeah let's go I don't know like I have got a strong pain threshold. I know I do. I've done a lot of painful things in my life, but that was something else. And, you know, and kudos to anyone who can, you know, everyone does things differently. And I just, I don't know. My mum was a midwife. She had four cesareans. She's tiny as well.

She's a very, very tiny little lady. And she worked all in the refugee camps and she's seen a lot and I've through her I've heard a lot of stories and feel very strongly that like for me you know having access to first world hospital environments and spaces like that it's I'm not I'm not trying to be a hero or, you know, I just, it's that thing of like, she, and she would always say it. She's like, it can all be fun and games. And then at the last minute, and that's kind of how I felt like with what happened with me. Yeah. So I was, I felt very, yeah, I felt really lucky to be there and be in that space and to have access to everything that I had. And, and then, you know, so then they, you know, cut me off.

My doctor was there and she was like, I can see an ear. And then he came out all screamy-nearing and he was out. And then, but then I could hear her saying to the other nurse while I was trying to throw up, not that I had anything to throw up, but I thought I might try and throw up. And she was saying, you know, we're going to take it very, she's like, I'm going to do, I'm going to throw up but I thought I might try and throw up um and she was saying you know we're going to take it very she's like I'm going to do I'm going to line these you know line my muscles back up really perfectly when she was stitching me back together because that was you know that was the big thing was I was really like what you know you just don't know

is it going to go am I going to go back together are they going to miss are they going to cut something they're not meant to you know so it was very strange coming back to then smashing myself with, you know, a hundred hula hoops in the belly over and over again. I was like, ooh. I think as well with the labour and the pain, I haven't actually experienced labour, so I'm not speaking, I've had caesareans with all of my babies but um I think I don't think it's one size fits all with the pain and with that whole thing anyway so I think no everybody's having their own no not at

all and um so when you and it's just to me it's that it's to me it's just that really simple thing that people seem to skip over is just like hundreds and thousands of women die in childbirth. It's not something that it's not like, well, 100 years ago no one used to. Yeah, but they were dying, like literally horrible and still to this day. And, you know, if I think personally the things,

not even the baby, but moments where I've gone to hospital in my life, it's like, well, yeah, I would have died. Like I just would have died. That's, you know, that's the alternative. So, yeah. No, I think it's, and you're right to remember that because, yeah, same here.

I definitely would have died with my first 100%. Yeah, and I think it's probably the era that we're living through and stuff like that. But, you know, and even, but even in the hospital, everyone was, you know, what's your birth plan? You know, what's your birth plan? We need you to write up your birth plan. You know, what, what's, and I just kept saying on every form, I just wrote healthy baby, healthy baby, healthy baby. I was like, and if I get out of it, that's great. But all I want is, you know, a healthy baby. That's it.

I'm not, don't need to talk about which herbal essence they're going to spray on me. And obviously all that stuff was out the window anyway because it was COVID. So I was barely lucky to have my husband there with me. Yeah. Well, I think you're right to have the emphasis on the healthy baby.

And I can, you know, I think that's something that's always the focus on that because I think sometimes with the birth plan, I don't really know many people have had the birth plan and then that's exactly the birth they've had anywhere I feel like it's just something you do to sort of process what's about to happen maybe if you can but when you first started getting back into your fitness did you find anything had changed from before or was it like totally oh yeah everything oh yeah everything was out the window because I had no I'm so used to having a really tight core that you don't I didn't realize how much you know just everything walking opening doors getting in and out of cars you know all that

sort of stuff not only was it like under um stimulated because it hadn't been used for nine months while I was growing a baby. Cause it was, you know, it was all loose, but also it had all been literally cut open. So it was very interesting to kind of rebuild it basically from the, from scratch because it was,

you know, the street we live on very LA is very steep. Um, and when I was pregnant, which now, when I think about, I, I would not ever do that again. It was very odd, but I, my one thing was like, and it was locked down, but I was like, oh, I'm just going to walk up and down the street three times, but it would take 45 minutes. It was very steep up and down. And after I'd had the baby, my doctor had said, I said, you know, what can I, what should I do? What can I do? And she said, she said, just try and even if it's five minutes, just go for a little walk every day if you, if you're up for it. And I said, oh, you know,

I'll do my walk up and down the street. And she said, no, no, no, no, no. She said, you can't. And I just, you know, we would drive to this park near the house that's flat up in Griffith Park. And, and we do this flat bit and my husband would have, you know, tiny little baby and sometimes I'd be like, oh, I'm just going to get in. He was like, no, can't you see the incline is changing? And I would be like, oh, I'll be right. And then you'd take two steps and I'd be like, and it was like, oh, right. I can't do that yet.

So it was really slow, again, lockdown. So I didn't feel any pressure. I didn't feel like, um, you know, I had to be back on stage five minutes later or anything like that. I felt like I had the time and I was breastfeeding and I was tired. And so I really, really went slow as the, the thing I really wanted to do is swim. As soon as I could get back in the pool, I got in the pool and, and just really it was I think I was 10 or 11 weeks post-birth when I picked up a hoop and I was really like let's just take it little time actually I think I have a video of when I I took some videos that sort of show when I first started through to like when I felt like I was back and it was I didn't I didn't rush

I just didn't rush and I just thought and I just knew so many stories about people that had either way I don't think I was interested in rushing it but that thing of rushing and having your abs you know you can't you just skin muscles don't, there's no quick fix with any of that stuff. You can't just, you know, the snap back, you know, idea, you know, even if you're 16 or whatever, it's, it needs time. And I mean, do you think you even always wanted to be a mum? Was that always on the list for you or were you thinking about other things? I, look, I definitely, or were you thinking about other things? I, look, I definitely, you know, and I was 38 when I was pregnant,

or 37, I was 38 when I had the baby. And I really had sort of made peace with like, I was like, what's, you know, and a few years before that, I was like, what's left on the list? Like, I did the world records. I did the traveling. I wanted to go, you know, I traveled to the places I wanted to, like, what's left on the list? Because I was like, I don't know what's going to happen. Like, not just in like, I don't know if my body's going to come back, but also I don't know if I'm going to want to, I don't know. And I, I mean, sometimes there's such an expectation, isn't there, that everybody's going to want to have a baby and that if you're a young woman people have sort of an interest in it even though maybe you're not

even thinking about that you don't really want people it's not an invited bit of interest that you've got yeah other people and um you know you've been doing your own thing and I suppose it sounds from the you know from what you're saying is if you weren't actually even sure if that was definitely something that you were headed towards really totally and I was very like I I feel I used to get really angry when I was like that thing of being 25 or 26 and because I was touring all the time you know if I did see doctors I was seeing different doctors for the first time in different countries it wasn't even doctors sometimes it was physiotherapists sometimes it was someone who'd seen a show or whatever. And it was like, everyone felt, it was like, you know, you know, when someone's driving and they're wearing a skirt and the skirts out of the door and you're like, oh my God, this skirt's going to go under the

tire. And you're like flagging the car down, like, oh, I need to tell you that your skirt, it was like that. But they were like, you really need to think about having children. I just need to tell you, have you thought about having a baby? When are you going to have a baby? And I was like, do I know you? Like, I've come to you as a doctor because I have a sore throat or something. Like, why is everyone so involved in this idea that they need to tell me that my eggs are going to freeze up and that I'm going to not be able to have a kid? I was like, have you asked me if I've got a, who's, who am I having the baby with? Who's looking after the baby? Who's going to pay for the baby?

I was like, there's so many other things rather than this. Do I even want a baby? Like all these questions that I was just like so mad that people felt that they, in this, that they felt that they really needed to tell me, you know, don't wait, don't wait. Did it feel a little bit like if you were going to do it, you're going to a baby then you know time was moving on it maybe had to be now yeah I think that fed into a bit but also I think the other thing is that I definitely and you know especially going home for this trip you know all the you know the people that you went to high school with and apparently come back and they're like oh you always said you were never gonna have a you

were always anti-kids and it wasn't that I was anti-kids, but I was anti this idea that everyone from the get-go was like, you know, when are you having the kid and what's your plan? And I was like, I've got other things to do. Like, there's so many things I want to do. And it wasn't that I was anti the kid, but I was like, what about career and life and travels? And I was very, I'm the oldest of four and there are big gaps between us. So I was like under no illusion about how much time I was going to be giving up and work

I would be giving up. And, and I was, and I also was like, I didn't want to be, you know, being in LA, which is the land of this type of stuff. But that idea of like, I'm having the baby, I'm taking two weeks off work, then the nanny moving in full time, then I had the night nurse and then I'm going to be, and I was like, I don't, why would you have the kid just to have someone else look after it? Like, if I'm going to do it, I want to spend time and be able to spend time and not be stressed about money and work and stuff like that. So I need to prepare now so that I can do that. I mean, was there like a sort of turning point? Was there a moment where you thought, okay okay I think I better do this now yeah I feel like I

I feel like look the thing that really was um I think I would have been sort of playing around with like you know you test out whether you really feel it's like any big major life decision you're like first it makes you feel sick then you're like do I really want to do this then you kind of play you know until you get to the bit of doing it for any project and my my gynecologist he was really funny she kept saying she'd always say what birth control are you using and I'd say I'm not using birth control she said well you can't do that and I said well if it happens it happens she said no you can't you have to make a decision I said why and then she said I said you know I don't know I don't know you know I just was very much in the sort of

I don't know phase which is usually the phase before the yes phase but she was um she said just go and do an egg count she said and just see you know and it doesn't you know let's just see what it says and and it was the process it wasn't what it means that nothing came out of it they just sort of said you have the normal amount of eggs for a 37-year-old woman, which is not that many eggs, but it's normal for a 37-year-old. And I was kind of like, huh. But it wasn't that that really got me thinking. What really got me thinking was looking around the waiting room

and being like, oh, this is like I'm at the age now where you do like, she's kind of like what my doctor had been saying is kind of right. Like you need, because if it's not going to be straight, if you do want to do it and it's not going to be straightforward, then, you know, it's, it's hard out there. And, and for some people it, it doesn't just work. And I was like, okay, I, I should make a decision and I should think about when and how and all that kind of stuff. So it was, it was definitely like a catalyst for it in the moment. And then it was that thing of like, oh, yeah, that worked. That was easy. I was like, okay. And so that's good. Yeah. So that was real. So I feel, and I was, I was saying this earlier to a friend today who's just found out she's

pregnant and I just, she's a similar age to me and it was this thing of like I really understand I really deeply understand why it makes so much sense to be 16 and have a baby like I get it like it makes so much sense but the way things are set up and the way you know that society and and work and all these things like it also really makes sense to be 45 and so I feel like I have you know relatively uh good energy and I feel like I scraped in you know like I'm exhausted in all the ways that I should be exhausted and it probably would have been easier when I was 20 but I you know I didn't even know my partner when I was 20 and I didn't have the house that we live in and all those sorts of things so it's it was that you know finding that in between so I just I just feel so lucky about how it worked out and I'm yeah and anyway the baby comes along and that's that's the baby you were going to have then and that's exactly that's what

happened there is no other life but I do wonder where that real drive came from that you had with your work I mean so you said that your parents were both academics so is there much about your childhood that you think might mirror the childhood that your son will have yeah it's funny we were talking about this because I've very early on very before we even thought we would have babies I've been very clear with my husband who is born and bred native LA, that they would be going to school in Australia because I just, you know, I've lived on and off in America for years and I just don't feel like that's the place for kids to go to school.

That's me, you know, everyone feels that. So does Australia feel like home? Is that where you're when you think of home? It does feel like home, but, and this is what I was talking my friend about today is is um I traveled right through to high school we lived in Papua New Guinea we lived in the Middle East we traveled through Asia I was going I would do little bits of homeschooling I'd be going to this school for six months in this school for that you know and I feel like I maybe didn't get, my mum always says, you know, I really missed out on grammar a little bit. But, you know, what I lacked in.

Which would have been so helpful with the circus skills. Exactly, so helpful. But then, you know, but the experiences we had, you know, you can't compare it. Like, you know, I got to experience so many different cultures so many different ways of like that's the stuff that really opened my eyes up to so much um and so yeah I feel similarly I feel like maybe you know we've got time to still travel live in some different countries not like you know I'm not excited about like getting a backpack and

one of those bikes where you load up lots of stuff on a bike and no I'm not um bit too showgirl for that um but uh but um yeah it would be nice to you know maybe move around for a few more years and then but then be in one place and Australia for me is like is it where you can have a really great childhood, like a real childhood. And I have, you know, friends who have kids in New York and I just, they're like little adults. They're like, I'm like, did you get to climb enough trees and things like that? You know? And I think, I think you can in the right places, but yeah, I really cherish, I always talk about like my favorite age was when I was eight. It was this amazing year where I was very aware of like the world got a lot bigger,

but I still had that like innocence of there wasn't a fear around it. And I was literally barefoot on a tropical island eating mangoes out of a tree and life was great and it was yeah such there was it was just such a time where I'm like I I feel like unless you're on a tropical island or you know in somewhere remote um that maybe some kids miss out on that because the real world is like right there on the doorstep but when you've had an experience like that where it's so crystallized in your childhood um and it's kind of almost technicolor and and very free and and sort of very in the moment do

you think there is a part of that emotion that ended up being intrinsic to what you ended up doing or living is there something that carries over when you do something that's extraordinary? Totally, and I think it's that thing of chasing it, you know. You want to be back there. Yeah, definitely. And I think I was, you know, when I think about all those things leading up, when I think about what I did, you know,

When I think about all those things leading up, when I think about what I did, you know, weird performances in high school and things that I wanted, things that I saw. I think Stomp are having their 30-year anniversary or something this year. Oh, wow, yeah. Like I remember when Stomp came to Australia, one of my mums. Yeah, I remember when he came to London.

And I was just like, this is amazing. Like I was like, mind was blown. And then I spent the next two weeks spinning a rubbish bin lid on my finger. And then my mum took me, and it's so embarrassing, my mum took me and the rubbish bin lid to the rhythmic gymnastics school that was near our house and said what can you do with her and then they took the rubbish bin lid and gave me a ribbon and a ball and a hoop and some clubs and I was like oh yeah that's amazing though isn't it when you suddenly realize that all these other people

out there exist and I mean I was I was reading something where you were saying about all the people that influenced you and people like Josephine Baker and yeah um Esther Williams all these people who were actually like living extraordinary lives and putting forward this such their shows are so incredible and actually especially with Josephine Baker when you're performing you do quite sort of big caricature-y cartoony expressions do you think that kind of came from because she does that when she's dancing which is brilliant yeah so I was in a show I'm trying to think where I was I think I was in London and I can't remember how he found me but it was an Australian producer who was putting on a show in New York and he said oh we really want you to be in the show and to play Josephine Baker

and I was like I was like again with the Josephine Baker thing I was like everyone keeps seeing I was like I'm not the only mixed race girl that like dances on I'm like why does everyone keep saying that and he was like oh you know it's the faces and this was like you know YouTube had only just sort of kicked off and I was like yeah you know I think I'd seen a picture of her in a banana skirt and that was it and I was like I don't know you know but he was like you know we want you to audition for the show and you know so I was like I don't know you know but he was like you know we want you to audition for the show and you know so I was like okay let me go find out more about this person and I googled it and I was like oh I was like we do yes the faces thing I was like oh my god I was like really bizarre like watching you know and then at the time, like it's changed a lot, obviously, in the last

10, 15 years, but there was very few, the videos were terrible quality, and you could only get very strange little snippets, but I was like, oh yeah, no, I really, this is really amazing, and then back to the children thing, you know, one of the things that when people used to always you know that stupid high school stuff of like oh you know if you're never going to have children like well you're never going to have to also all that stuff about children but I would always say oh I'm going to adopt I'm going to adopt you know I'd always say I'm going to adopt because you know I don't I'll be older when I want to do it kind of thing and then reading about Josephine Baker and how she had the 12 adopted children, the rainbow tribe and how she'd had, you know, she had 12, she adopted.

So the jury's out. There's a version that says that she had a baby but a stillborn baby. Whether or not she ever had a baby, she adopted 12, and they were all from different countries. They all spoke different languages, and they spoke English, French, and then whatever their native language was, she had a nanny that taught them that thing. And they lived literally in a castle.

I mean, this is in the heyday and it didn't end great. They lost the castle and stuff. But she had the rainbow tribe and she had the 12 kids. And when, you know, like there's this whole thing about like, you know, MLK and the civil rights movement, like when he was assassinated, she was the first person they asked to take over the civil rights. Like people don't know how much they were like, oh, the one in the banana skirt with no top on. I'm like, no, no, no, no. It's like the craziest story.

So then I got really fascinated and was trying to get my hands on any information I could. And now there's tons. But at the time, you you know I felt like I was really trawling through things to get information and um and then I got into the show and they then I played her for six months in New York and in New York on uh 42nd street between 10th and 11th is Chez Josephine which is the restaurant that one of the adopted sons runs is like an homage to her, which has like life-size, like huge paintings, like just the most incredible French fabulous, like when you go to a Broadway show, you go to Chez Josephine

and have dinner or go after this. And they have piano and it's where Harry Connick Jr. as a teenager played piano and that's where he cut his teeth. And it was a great, incredible restaurant. But I was terrified of him finding out that I was playing Josephine and I had Marco Nuhli, my German flatmate, he was doing straps in the show and he was like, we have to go, we just have to go to the restaurant.

So we went to the restaurant and he was German. So they were speaking in German just have to go to the restaurant. So we went to the restaurant, and he was German. So they were speaking in German to each other, going back and forth in German. And then Marco was like, what do you do? And he was loving Marco, and, you know, he was like, oh, I'm in Ackerbill, we're doing a show, blah, blah, blah. He's like, the show is about Paris and blah, blah, blah. And then he turned to me and he said, you,

you should be playing Josephine. And I was like, oh, thank God. I was like, I am. That's amazing. And then every, yeah me and he said, you, you should be playing Josephine. And I was like, oh, thank God. I was like, I am. That's amazing. And then every, yeah, and it was amazing because every Friday for the duration of the show, I would go and have dinner there and he would announce me when I would enter the restaurant and he would tell me stories and show me things. And it was just the most incredible time to be not only playing her in the show but learning so much.

I just felt like I got such an incredible insight to it. I felt really lucky to get that close to it. When you find those, I suppose what we're talking about as well, it's like sort of kindred spirits like the other performers where I feel like they're probably delving into a similar part of their psyche to be able to bring that show and I did wonder when you're about to walk out on stage and you you have to bring what you bring is there a sort of place you go in your head like a show that you're playing in your head that

helps you get into that right headspace to be able to do it yes and it it varies I go I have different depending on depends on the show I guess a little bit but um often I just listen to really I listen to a lot of like pusha t or like really blonde like hip-hop like blaring in my headphones really that gets me like yeah I don't know why that's that's usually where I am pre-show and And then I'm like, I'm going to go out there. I'm going to grow some quarters. I'm going to break some stuff by the time I get out there. You get so pumped. Yeah, really pumped, yeah.

And do you think you're going to, now that you've had your baby and you're sort of the other side of that bit where you felt like, okay, I'm going to have the kid and I've done the world records and I've done so many things already. We haven't even really talked about your world records. I think so you is it 12 that you've got right well yes but but the thing that the really big news for me with world records which is why which is also I I didn't know I was getting it I was actually pregnant when I found out so it was just like the most incredible bonus is I found out that I have, and last year I was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Guinness World Record Hall of Fame.

And I have two pages in the current book dedicated to all the records, which I really was like, that's it. That's amazing. And every day you wake up like, please let no one have spun 201 hula hoops. 100%, 100%. No, it was funny. I think I was like that for a long time like when I was working on records and getting more records and I used to be like

you know I could break into a sweat just thinking about it and then again like somewhere along the line I was just like you know what I'm kind of at you know I feel like I'm at peace with it like you know then there was a there was a guy a guy at the same circus school that I went to and he was like, I mean, he had to be close to six foot and he specialised in hula hooping. And I found myself, rather than being like furious about it, because all the other people that had the hoop record before me had always been taller because really it just comes down to how many,

you know, and I'm quite short. Of course, yeah, if you've got a lot taller body you're gonna be able to put more hoops there exactly exactly gonna fit them and so he I was just like my initial thing was like oh no if this is it and then I was like no I can train him I can this he could do like 300 hoops and so yeah I feel I felt like I was at peace with it. You could get the world record for training the most amount of hula hooping world record holders. Exactly, exactly, exactly.

And that's, you know, I have a troop of girls in London that I teach that I hula hoop with and I'm always like trying to, you know, psych them into doing more bigger and better things. And, you know, even when I started, I liked to, I've always liked teaching and I, and, and even more so now, I feel like with the experience, not just in the performing, but all the other aspects of it, you know, how to, how to do,

how to run it, how to have, you know, how to do the invoices and how to do all those sorts of things. I feel really passionate about like sharing it with, you know, the up and coming next gen. Well, I can see that in you and I love that. I love that you do the teaching and the majorettes. And I wanted to touch a little bit on the book. What made you want to write your book?

I wanted the book. That was, it had stuck with me because I remember being like, like a, what do you call it? When you're just like, you know, frozen, petrified, like at the thought when I, when I had, you know, had had the, whatever, you know, whenever they tell you at school and whatever my mom had said, I remember my mom giving me a pad and saying, you know,

you should just keep this in your bag in case you ever need it kind of thing and I was just like oh my god this is another really unfair thing about being a woman and why do I I just thought it was the biggest injustice of all time and I was paralyzed with fear of when it was going to happen, you know, just like when, when, when, like, is it going to happen right now? Is it going to happen in the next five minutes? You know, just paralyzed. It was, I was terrified. And then when it happened, I was like, this is so much worse than I even could have imagined. This is just horrific like it's terrible and then you know and then I got it and then I very dutifully went to my diary and did you know I thought if I write p then everyone's gonna know like I was like what can I so I did like a circle or some weird shape that I was like

no one will know what this means and carefully went through and every 28 days marked it and then did something a couple of days before so and then of course it doesn't come every 28 days it was like 26 days 28 to 29 days 24 days because I was still you know and so I was like well what is this now and I was just like and my mum you know she obviously she worked in health and stuff and and so she had these prehistoric textbooks that were like you know size eight font with long descriptions and I was like this isn't really and also they were from the 70s I was just like this is terrifying this is unhelpful I'm not asking anyone and also the internet didn't exist or anything like that so I was just like terrified and miserable and, you know, and boobs and stretch marks and sweat and all of it

was just, like, all of it. And, you know, and no one, you know, went to an all-girls school and it was, like, the only comments were sort of either bitchy backhanded comments. No one, it didn't really feel like you could actually, you never wanted to expose yourself to reveal to anyone any of it. And I also had this furious, probably slightly competitive side to me that was just like, you know, I was doing a lot of athletics and sport and stuff like that. And I was like, I will not, I will not spend three days in bed because I had crippling pain. I had, you know, I had really painful periods and felt like terrible. I just

felt wanted to sleep. I just wanted to sleep. And I was saying this to my sister, cause there's me, there's two girls, two boys in our family. And I mean, I've talked about this a lot of friends, but it's that thing of like, you know, that you hit that teenage hormonal thing and boys just sleep. They just sleep all day. And it's like, oh, they're boys, they're sleeping. But with girls, it's like, oh, you need to go to the doctor. There's something wrong with you. Oh, yeah, we've got to put you on all these different, you know, you need to take this tablet or this supplement or you need to do this. And it's like, why don't we get to sleep?

Yeah. I can't sleep all day. You know, it's like, why? Yeah. So I sat on that and was furious about that for what, another 15 years or something. And then, and then the opportunity to do the book came and I was like, I know exactly, like I had it, you know, I know that writing books can be, I mean, books are difficult. They're difficult.

But in terms of writing it, I was, it was, it was already percolating in my head. And yeah, we, I think it was, I think when I did the first brain dump it was 70 70 lessons and then by then we refined it and it was in the end it's 50 lessons so it's it's everything that I wish someone had said to me and it's really it's I find it really um come it's in 22 languages now so um you know I I remember having the marketing meeting with them and I was sort of, Instagram was really popping at that time. And I was like, you know,

we should do this Instagram campaign. And they were like, no, no, no, no. You can't do any Instagram campaigns because the book is being targeted or marketed to kids that are, you know, you're not allowed to be on Instagram until you're 13. I'm thinking, they're all on Instagram.

And sure enough, every day I'm getting messages from kids in Germany, kids in Japan, you know, they're all on Instagram. I mean, you know, they shouldn't be, but they are. But all the messages are just like so, you know, comforting and satisfying for me because I just really relate to them because they're like, oh, the chapter about the shooty bum pains was, I thought I was dying, but it was so nice to read that, you know, you know, and oh, you know, I felt so embarrassed about this, but now I can talk to my mum about it. And a lot of messages from mums and dads too, who were like, I didn't want to have to bring this

stuff up. And, you know, we've been able to have really great conversations, either that they've had really great conversations or thanks that I didn't have to. Yeah. And also, you know, now we're, we're mothers of sons. We have to like actually tell them what goes on as well so that they know and they can be supportive to the women in their life. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. And a lot of people, either that they've got boys and girls, you know, brothers and sisters, where the boys have read it too, or even just people that just have sons who've also passed it on to read. And it's been, and when I talk at schools, like they often they'll ask, you know, or should we just have, and I said, no, it's girls and boys always. And it's fascinating, you know, it's really

fascinating when I do the talks at schools because the kids, they always say the same thing. They say, you know, oh, they're at a really awkward age and they don't really like to they're not going to really ask you any questions and you know you'll probably just need to keep it moving and keep reading or whatever and every time I go in I tell there's three stories and it's really three unbelievably embarrassing like revoltingly embarrassing stories and um just horrific and I read the worst one which you'll just have to go and see it it's um I put all the embarrassing stories in my book as well it's like why did I do that but then it just kind of yeah like I obviously felt like I needed to

overshare something but yeah exactly and but it's amazing because as soon as you do that as soon as I read the story and then I say are there any questions I mean that's it it's amazing because as soon as you do that, as soon as I read the story and then I say, are there any questions? I mean, that's it. It's, you know, they want to know every, you know, how big is it, you know, if my fingers is big, how big is the tampon? How far up does it have to go? And how much blood, you know, what happens here? And what does this, you know, and they get really wild questions.

And then the boys start asking questions and then, you know, it goes all the way. And it's great. It's great because it's just stuff that doesn't you know often takes a long I feel like you know sometimes it I can see on the kids as well like that thing of like they might have been thinking it for so long and just waiting for a way to be able to ask it and then all of a sudden it's just like you know and another thing and what, and what about this? And you can see the relief when there's like, okay, you know, I can talk about it. Yeah, no, no, it's really, communication's always brilliant.

And I think those things, I think we're getting better at not being squeamish about it actually. Yeah, and I think I feel, I really feel for the, you know, younger kids now because the other thing, and I did this with the book, is that what's terrifying for me is that so many of the subjects, so many of the things that you would want, you know, I was like, I took the book and the questions from the book

and I sat in front of my computer and I was like, okay, this is eight-year-old me. I'm going to type. I know what I would have typed. I know what I would have searched. And every time it's like, it's straight to porn and straight to misinformation, like crazy misinformation. And I was like, if this is what these kids are Googling

and this is what they're seeing, I'm like, this is not the one. No, I know. That's a whole other conversation. But I'm conscious of your time, Mara, because also I know that you've been very patient with me with all the tech stuff as well. So I just wanted to ask you a couple of things I always ask everybody.

I think it's really interesting with you considering as well how much thought you've put into the moment where you said, yeah, okay, let's do the baby bit. But are you the kind of mother that you thought you'd be? Yep, I think so. Oh. That's the nicest thing I've seen.

Yes, I am. Okay, great. I mean, yes, I guess you are. I just bought your kid roller skates, so yeah. Yeah, I think I'm trying to think of the things that have been surprising. I think also it's that thing of like I'm not 20, you know. I'm 40 now. So I feel like I was prepared, I think, for a lot of things.

I think the things that I wasn't prepared for were I think I'm a little bit more protective than I thought I would be in the playground and stuff i find myself being like oh don't go over there you know um really i thought you'd be like why i'm not true yeah exactly yeah off you go clamor no no no i'm like your body's perfect let's not break anything that's everything is in perfect alignment wow i get the feeling though as your son gets older and sees a little bit more about what his mom is capable of he's gonna be like I don't think you're the one to tell me that

I think I just I've got a real I've got a real paranoia around how hard all the floors are in our house and um and their heads I mean I know they can fall on their heads but god no that's horrible and those things never really leave you, you know. No. I sometimes go to bed at night and then I get this little series of images of just horrific accidents happening, like a little montage. Oh, yeah. Don't worry.

I'm reading a lot of, is it Philippa Perry? Oh, yeah. Oh, she's brilliant. Yeah. The book you wish your parents had read. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

All of that. But everything she writes, like she does the bits in The Guardian. I read everything. Yeah. Everything. I'm obsessed.'s yeah she seems so sensible i know i love her too yeah so sensible but um the other thing i wanted to ask you what is the thing about having a nomadic childhood like that where you said you traveled around a lot what's the thing about that kind of childhood that you think is different to a childhood that's in one place because I think it's probably quite a defining thing like being people you've had I yeah I think it's look it's you know living in the you know we're very aware now of carbon footprints and like

you know I've always you know obviously as a kid, we traveled a lot. And it was for work for my parents and I traveled for work as well. And that was sort of my way of always justifying and being like, well, I have, you know, I'm not going on holiday. I'm, you know, I'm working, but, but that, you know, putting carbon footprint aside, I just think it's gotta be like one of the most important I also come from mixed culture backgrounds my dad's Somali my mom's Australian um you know we've so we've got the two different cultures already at home um and then traveling and just

being able to I remember I did sociology and psychology at and just being able to i remember i i did sociology and psychology at university before i went to oh wow i did two years of that two years of that first and i always remember there would i used to i loved i loved loved those subjects so much and i remember that there was this lecturer who would ask this question of like what's something that's acceptable in all cultures you know what's what's something that's acceptable in all cultures you know what's what's something you can do a gesture or a grit you know things like that and people used it would always be the same people in the class they'd be like you know a stupid you know a handshake handshakes universal you can do that in any country you know there's no country

that you couldn't do a handshake everybody knows that you know and I would just be like I was always just like no like there's nothing like you Like, you know, there's just everything and anything in the world. And how do you explain, you know, in the Middle East where you see men walking around in effectively a dress, dish dasher, you know, with their pinky fingers, you know, linked walking as two men with their two wives walking behind them. as two men with their two wives walking behind them and in a country that's really you know we can see is very behind in terms of acceptance of same-sex marriage and stuff like that you know how do you explain all these little nuances and then um and then food because I love to eat and just flavor my mom would cook and you know experiencing different ways of cooking different and I feel like you know super lucky to be able to sort of take all these little bits all my favorite bits of all these different cultures and all these different customs and and put that into

one space um but I just think it's so especially for children like it's so important I'm reading um I'm really obsessed with Colors magazine um it's c-o-l-o-r-s like the u.s spelling is Italian Italian old Italian magazine uh all the guy that founded it was Italian but it was like he's the same guy that did all the Benetton ads in the 80s and 90s and it's just like the most, I think it's called something like a magazine about the world or about the rest of the world or something like that and it's just like it's really full on. Like I would buy it as a kid and there were issues that I probably,

there was an issue on wall that was like, there's a lot of very graphic photos and stuff like that that probably I was a bit too young to be looking at. But it's a really, really, it's's not I think they've started up again but it stopped I think they ran for about maybe 15 years and um but it's it's that thing of like looking at all these different cultures all these different things that are in the world like the like I don't know why we're bothering with Mars even the moon like there's so much here we still haven't unpacked that's just it's just crazy what's out there and I think the more that children can see

yeah other cultures and see other people's ways and I was also lucky because when we traveled we went to international primary schools and international primary schools the ones that I went to at least, I had really incredible experiences of, like, experiencing lots of different cultures. And, you know, and I think this also feeds into, you know, why I love the Olympics and why I love Guinness World Records and these sort of celebrations of differences and specialties

rather than conflict between different cultures and finding ways to celebrate all of it. That's a lovely way to put it, actually, and I guess that's what you get as well crosses over into show and circus and all those things. It's about taking someone who looks like they're going to do one thing and then they do something totally different and it surprises you and it's unique and it's celebrated.

And you also think how wonderful that there's a place where that quirky little talent that you have, that you've honed can now be put out there in front of everybody. Totally. I love it. Totally. Yeah, it's kind of magnificent. Literally, exactly.

Yeah, it's kind of magnificent. Literally exactly. Yeah. It's literally what circus is. Yeah. It's that thing of taking someone's, you know, skill or oddity or whatever the thing is and celebrating it. And yeah, that's what was great about shows like when we were at that show in,

in the Hippodrome and in the Spiegel tents and, you know, yeah. I think you're going to be roller skating until the end of your days, by the way. I can't imagine that. I hope so. I've got enough pairs at this point.

Yeah, yeah. You'll be up there. You know what? It's been so lovely to speak to you. I'm honestly such a huge fan. I hope you come over to London soon and I can see you perform again. And please can you teach me to hula hoop a bit better? I'd love to do one of your classes.

You just need a bigger hoop. It's your classes. You just need a bigger hoop. It's not you. You just need a bigger hoop. I say this to everyone. Anyone who thinks that they can't hula hoop anymore, let me tell you right now, the ones from the pound shop, the 99-cent store hoops, they're for very small children. Yes.

It needs to be up to your hip. And a good weight. So you can still do it. Yeah, not too heavy, but it needs to be. The ones from the, you know, those really super light ones, they're very small. No one can hoop. I can't hoop they're too small you need bigger hoop and it's not you it's the hoop back and forward not side to side right I say yeah I don't I say it's not like the dance you're not going you're not actually doing circles

you can actually make it like a sit-up that's why my core is so tight because every time I push the hula hoop it's like I do a sit-up it's like a crunch so you you're pushing like there's a string in your belly button and you go forwards and backwards wow yeah okay cool what can we start and then you don't get lopsided okay we'll start with that then I'll do a little bit of roller skating and then we'll combine the two and if no one else fails I'll give you a giggle See, that was a cool chat, wasn't it? And yes, I have bought Mara's teenage girl handbook. It's really excellent. As you can see, she's a smart woman with knowledge she wants to impart

that go beyond how to be great on hula hoops and roller skates. Although, to be honest, that would be enough to offer the world, quite frankly. During lockdown, I bought some hula hoops. I was like, this is it. I'm going to learn how to hula hoop. I'll be doing it on stage. I'll be singing and hula hooping just like Grace Jones. It's going to be great. I was rubbish. I know you're supposed to go forward and back and not side to side with the hula hoop, but that is the tip of the flipping iceberg. Anyway, never mind. There's someone else doing it better than me, so you don't need to wait for me to learn the skills go and see marawa she's awesome and uh i'm now nearing my destination i'm about to walk through we have like a little antiques market thank you sorry around here um so a woman just waited for me while i walked past and she looked fabulous

all dressed in shades of purple and pink anyway um yes i'm approaching my home and going through the antique market which weirdly i've never been to they've got vintage clothing there but i just it's almost too easy for me to go and see it also i think it's like proper stuff as in things that are worth money and my home house is full of tat so i think it's a bit too highbrow for me anything that describes itself as antique market is probably not the things that i will desire because it'll be proper i like the cheap stuff please and i hope you're having a lovely day or evening whatever you're up to and oh i've got some excellent guests for you coming up oh my word i already spoke last weekend on radio 2 with rylan about how i've just interviewed mary berry so that might be next week or the week after.

And I've got another couple of cool ones as well. And in the meantime... Oh, wow, there's loads of dogs around. In the meantime, have a lovely day. Thank you for lending me your ears again. And thanks for listening to Marawa. And maybe... Should we get some roller skates?

I've got mine in the attic. Maybe I'll give it another go. I did used to love it so much when I was a kid. She makes it look such a fun way to keep fit as well. Yep, that'll be me now. Roller skating my way around Chiswick. All right, see you soon my darlings. Lots of love. Thank you.