• Spring clean your life: how to make a fresh start
    Apr 25 2025

    Is your lifestyle in need of a spring clean? Maybe now’s the moment to pivot your career, pick up healthier habits, or embrace a new life you wouldn’t have chosen, but now need to make the best of?


    In this episode, Fearne reflects on the Happy Place episodes that’ll give you a bit of a push – or a bit of inspiration – to get you making that fresh start you’ve been thinking about for ages...


    In this episode you’ll hear from –


    -Poet Donna Ashworth on making a slow, organic career change later in life, and re-finding who you really want to be under the crap that real life shovels on top of you


    -TV personality Mille Mackintosh on giving up alcohol and acknowledging the big moment when you realise something needs to change

    -Author Raynor Winn on being forced into a huge lifestyle change by factors out of your control, and choosing to make the best of a bad situation

    -Musician Shania Twain on how illness can change you, and how to come back stronger after a huge setback

    -Musician Kesha on rethinking and embracing a different side of your character, so your personality reflects who you really are, not who others want you to be

    -Charlotte Church on her career change from singer to healer, and how ceremony can help move you into a lifestyle re-birth

    If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:

    How to stick two fingers up to beauty standards

    How to laugh when you’ve been to hell and back

    Saying no: more boundaries, less people pleasing

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    39 mins
  • Fearne Cotton: “I’m completely out of my depth!” Happy Place turns seven
    Apr 21 2025

    It’s Happy Place’s 7th birthday! To celebrate, Fearne’s put down her own trusty notebook and let her presenter mate Alex Jones turn the interview tables!


    In this chat, Alex asks Fearne about Happy Place’s evolution from a podcast, to a book publisher, to a festival, and now a marketplace too.


    Fearne opens up about feeling bleak and being on anti-depressants before she created Happy Place, as well as all the moments she’s cocked up personally and professionally over the last seven years. Do you have imposter syndrome and a deep desire to be liked? Fearne chats about how to cope with those feelings.


    Fearne’s also got better at admitting she’s ambitious and proud of her work, and wants you to be allowed to feel good when you’re good at something too!


    You’ll hear some exclusive BTS stuff: how does Fearne pick guests for the show? What does she look club in Book Club author? And how the bloody hell does she manage her time as a brand founder, presenter, mum, and mate?? (Spoiler: she tells Alex about the reality of bringing her kids to work!)


    Plus, Fearne answers the questions you’ve voicenoted her on Instagram! One of you has sparked an important conversation about fertility, and Fearne and Alex cover other big topics like taking more time to consider death and grief.


    If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:


    Alex Jones


    Elizabeth Gilbert


    Bjorn Nathikko Lindeblad


    YungBlud


    Paloma Faith

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 3 mins
  • Pete Doherty: “I was seen a wreck head!” The truth behind the headlines
    Apr 14 2025

    Does anxiety or darkness drive you to create? Is creativity the ultimate catharsis? For musician Pete Doherty making art has, at times, been a matter of survival.

    In this chat with Fearne, Pete explains why taking drugs was less about trying to escape, and more about what he was trying to find. Now he’s stopped taking drugs, how does he unlock and express his creativity differently? Pete also confirms that ‘addict’ is the right word to describe his behaviour, but that our attitude towards addiction needs to change.

    Fearne and Pete catch up about the early days of The Libertines, and what Pete labels as ‘the chaos and risk of youth’. He describes how he was sold on the enticing mythologies of a rock n roll lifestyle, but is now much more comfortable living quietly in rural France with his family and dogs.

    For contributions to #2 of Pete’s ‘On Strap’ fanzine please post to:

    'ON STRAP’ FANZINE c/o The Heavy Horse

    Hôtel le Rayon Vert

    Rue Général Leclerc

    76790 Etretat

    Normandie

    FRANCE

    Pete’s fifth solo studio album, Felt Better Alive, is out May 16th.

    If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:

    DJ Fat Tony

    Matt Willis


    What Really Happens At Therapy

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    55 mins
  • Manifesting won’t make you happy: Express true emotion with Estelle Bingham
    Apr 7 2025

    So many of us have had to shut down our heart and numb our emotions to survive. Estelle Bingham is dubbed ‘The Heart Whisperer’; she knows the greatest anxiety can come from suppressing parts of ourselves.

    In this chat with Fearne, Estelle – a holistic therapist and healer – explains how when the mind is spiralling out of control, the heart can bring us back to stillness. She shares how to feel your emotions in your body instead of just analysing them in your head.

    Fearne has done her own personal work with Estelle, and they talk though how Estelle’s guidance can banish shame and put a circuit breaker in negative thought patterns.

    Plus, why Estelle reckons the type of manifesting you see on Instagram is “a load of old cobblers”, and how she would recommend manifesting joy instead...

    Estelle’s book, Manifest Your True Essence, is out on April 8th.

    If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:

    Florence Given

    Gabby Bernstein

    Joey Hulin

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    59 mins
  • Book Club Meets: First loves and sliding doors, with Clare Leslie Hall
    Apr 4 2025

    If you had a second chance at your first big love, would you take it? What about if you were already married to a very different kind of person? This is the dilemma Beth is faced with in Broken Country, the Happy Place Book Club novel for March.

    In this chat Fearne and author Clare Leslie Hall talk about why first love can be so intoxicating, and why it’s only human to feel the pull between very different lifestyles, knowing there are multiple ways you could be happy...


    Clare explains that Broken Country used to be a very different book, and she almost abandoned it entirely, so what can we learn about being patient with our creative blocks?


    Plus, if you ever fancy going to Dorset – where the book is set - Fearne and Clare go off on a tangent about all the best places to visit...

    Thank you to John Murray Press for the use of Broken Country audiobook, narrated by Hattie Morahan.

    If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:

    Listen to Book Club Meets: Holly Bourne

    Listen to Book Club Meets: David Larbi

    Listen to Book Club Meets: Dame Harriet Walter

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    27 mins
  • “Don’t talk to yourself like that!” Teddy Swims on learning self-compassion
    Mar 31 2025

    We change all the time, which means self-love is an ongoing practice; we’re constantly learning to love the person we are today. Musician Teddy Swims wants you to be able to look in the mirror and see what a great person you are every day.


    In this chat with Fearne, Teddy explains why he and his partner chose to go to couples therapy to help them prepare to become parents, as well as the incredible impact having an emotionally articulate father had on his ability to process his own big feelings.

    Fearne and Teddy both see music, art, writing, and creativity in general as cathartic outlets for emotions, but can this sometimes tip into wallowing in the same negative thought patterns over and over again?


    Plus, Fearne spotted a tattoo gun on Teddy’s dressing room table... will she let him tattoo her even though he’s “not very good yet”...?


    Teddy’s album, I’ve Tried Everything But Therapy (Part 2), is out now.


    If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:


    Olly Alexander


    Yung Blud


    Jon Bon Jovi

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    42 mins
  • Feel the fear and make the change: Live from Tatton Festival
    Mar 28 2025

    Has fear ever stopped you from making the changes you want to make in life? Even if you know what you want, how do you turn your big goals into manageable daily habits? And what role does mindset play in enacting real change?

    The Happy Place Festival Talk Stage hosted loads of speakers across the weekend at Tatton Park last summer, who all explored these questions, and Fearne wants to bring you in on the Festival magic!

    In this episode you’ll hear from:

    -Dr Rangan Chatterjee on making transformative change that lasts, and learning to listen to your own gut instinct to create the life that works best for you

    -Founder of mental health and wellbeing app Shoorah, Lorri Haines, on how to build routines and habits that over time lead to positive lifestyle changes

    -Life coach Michelle Elman on the beautiful confidence that comes from feeling fearful but doing the scary thing anyway

    -Musician Beverley Knight and her husband James O’Keefe, founder of men’s mental health retreats Unguarded Warrior, on trusting that you have the answers and power to make changes inside you already

    -Broadcaster Adele Roberts and her partner Kate Holderness on what a cancer diagnosis has taught them both about coping with change you didn’t ask for

    Tickets for the 2025 Happy Place Festivals in Gunnersbury Park and Tatton Park are available now at happyplacefestival.com.

    Listen to Rangan Chatterjee’s Happy Place episode

    Listen to Beverley Knight’s Happy Place episode

    Listen to Adele Roberts’ Happy Place episode

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    35 mins
  • Will Poulter on OCD and intrusive thoughts: “It’s never easy but it gets easier!”
    Mar 24 2025

    Coping with mental health conditions is never easy, but it does get easier; that’s what actor Will Poulter has learnt through his own experiences with OCD, anxiety, and intrusive thoughts.

    In this chat with Fearne, Will explains how OCD has manifested for him ever since he was a young kid. He also talks through why finding reasons to be grateful for the lessons mental health conditions have taught you can be helpful.

    If you’re honest with yourself... would you give yourself or others more grace if they had to take time off work because they’d broken their leg, as opposed to because their mental health was poor? Fearne and Will unpack that one, as well as discussing the importance of personalisation in looking after our brains. The same medication, meditation practice, or diet, is going to affect us all differently.

    Plus, do you constantly worry that you’ve said the wrong thing and pissed someone off? Fearne and Will have been there and offer their advice for overcoming that spiral...

    You can see Will in UK cinemas in Death of a Unicorn from April 4th, and Warfare from April 18th.

    If you liked this episode of Happy Place, you might also like:

    Joanna Lumley

    Mel Robbins

    Tuppence Middleton

    Jordan Stephens

    Chiwetel Ejiofor

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    1 hr and 2 mins