The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories Podcast

Opposites attract, as they say! He is the calming presence who guides us through some of the most tumultuous events, and she is the cat-loving, snort-laughing, colourful and vibrant presence.

Our very first guests on The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories podcast are none other than Pete Overton and Jess Rowe, aka the owl and the pussycat.

Jess is also the cover star of the love issue, March 2026! Read our exclusive cover story with her and Pete here.

There’s nothing like the giddy rush of first love. But while not every first romance will last the distance, for Samantha Harris, her first love became her husband… and now the father of her newly arrived baby daughter, Bella.

In this intimate conversation, new mum Sam talks to her journey from shy small-town teen to international supermodel to the latest member of the new mum club, with the sleepless nights, self-doubt and reflection that come along with that ride.

Before she was the first winner of MasterChef Australia, Julie Goodwin was a 19‑year‑old girl on Pennant Hills Road, in a car with a quiet boy who loved rock music. The Angels came on, “I Just Want to Be With You” started to play, and somewhere between the traffic lights and the chorus, Mick casually said, “This’d be my song for you.” For Julie, that was it. Her heart locked on. “This is my person.”

If you’ve ever loved someone through a hard season, hidden your own unravelling from the person you trust most, or wondered how couples actually stay together when life goes sideways, this episode has something to say to you.

What if your armpit smells, your birth control, and a dying octopus all had something to say about your love life? In this episode of Love Stories with beloved Dr Karl – Australia’s loudest shirt and sharpest science brain we pull apart the chemistry, hormones and fascinating questions behind who we want, why we stay, and when we should absolutely run.

We ask if your “butterflies” are actually your gut‑brain axis hitting the panic button, and how your fight or flight reflex can make you do objectively unhinged things in the name of “love”. Dr Karl advises “never have sex with someone who has more problems than you”: a thesis, a warning, and a t‑shirt.

In this special bonus episode of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories podcast, we speak with the founder of Vixin Beauty and sponsor of the podcast, Charmaine Caldwell.

She candidly shares her “why book”: a journal stuffed with handwritten messages from customers, friends, charities and, most of all, her son. She reads a note she wrote to herself 16 years ago, a letter for the days when everything feels heavy, and quitting would be easier, to give her the strength to keep going.

If you need a gentle reminder to keep going, or permission to start talking to yourself like someone you actually care about, this Love Note is for you. 

Journalist and TV host Narelda Jacobs and her wife, political strategist Karina Natt share the very tender story of how friendship across state lines became a marriage, a baby and a whole new way of living. From a chance meeting in the ABC Q+A green room, through late‑night five‑hour phone calls and a WorldPride first date, to Karina packing up her life in Adelaide for Sydney, they talk about choosing partnership when you’ve spent years insisting you don’t “need” anyone.

Working Paws Australia co-founder and former SAS soldier Ryan Wilson peels back the curtain on what a “life of service” really means for military dogs once the missions end. He explains why these dogs so often retire with serious injuries, how common PTSD is in canine veterans, and why handlers are suddenly left to shoulder eye‑watering vet bills completely alone. 

Singer and TV host David Campbell and his casting director wife, Lisa Campbell, rewind to the moment they met by chance, with a little help from their very own Cupid, Magda Szubanski. After only three weeks of knowing each other and a one‑way ticket across the world, it’s the kind of meet‑cute that should not have worked, and yet somehow it did. They open up about what came after the rom‑com montage, from tiny apartments and call‑centre jobs, through to the years of “rapid ride” parenting.

Who loves you the longest? Not in the dramatic, fireworks way, but in the quiet “did you book your scan?” way. In this episode, we sit with Miss Universe Australia Lexie Brant and her mum, Penny, in the kind of conversation that usually happens in hospital corridors or parked cars outside imaging clinics

In this special bonus episode of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories podcast, the founder of Vixin Beauty and sponsor of the podcast, Charmaine Caldwell, returns for part 2 of her story.

She revisits her own journey whilst also opening up about an incredibly personal story that she is finally ready to share for the first time. It’s raw, personal and a reminder of why we need to keep talking about the big things that matter.

The couple found love on MasterChef while competing for the title. Australia fell in love with them as they fell for each other and watched their relationship blossom.

In this episode of Love Stories, Tiffany Dunk, Deputy Editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly, Sarah and Declan rewind to the beginning and take Tiffany on their love story.

But the centre of the episode is the birth of their twin girls: an emergency C‑section that descended into 14 of the longest minutes of their lives, when both babies came out silent, and Sarah’s health started to spiral.

In this episode of Love Stories, actress Ana Thu Nguyen joins her mother, Uyen, to share a powerful, multi-generational story of migration, sacrifice and ambition.

They reflect on Uyen’s extraordinary journey fleeing Vietnam by boat as a young woman, building a new life in Australia, and the family’s years of hard work running a bakery while raising their children.

Ana opens up about growing up feeling torn between duty and desire — studying law and commerce, working in corporate consulting, and quietly believing acting “wasn’t for someone like her,” before ultimately taking a leap of faith into the industry.

Together, they explore the moment Ana told her mother she was leaving corporate life, and how that decision eventually led to landing a major role in Mortal Kombat 2.

A heartfelt conversation about resilience, identity and the quiet strength passed from mother to daughter.

When Australian singer Katie Noonan’s 20-year marriage ended, it wasn’t a clean plot twist. It was the slow unravelling of the life she thought she’d be living forever: two boys, one family, a future she could name.

In this episode of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories podcast, Tiff and Katie have a conversation about divorce, and about what you build in the empty space afterwards. A different kind of family, a different kind of faith, and a love story that starts awkwardly, imperfectly with yourself.

In the late 1970s, Deborah Lawrie had the qualifications, the hours and the experience to become an airline pilot. But Australia’s major airlines were not hiring women, and Ansett made it clear it did not intend to change. So Deb fought them.

In this episode of The Australian Women’s Weekly Love Stories, Deb joins host Tiffany Dunk with her son Tom Lawrie, who grew up with a pilot for a mum and later became one himself.