Hello, and welcome to Something to Talk About The Stellar Podcast.

I'm Sarah La Marquin, your host, and every week I sit down with some of the biggest names in the country, because when Australia's celebrities are ready to talk, they come to Something to Talk About.

Anna Robards was fresh out of university and working as a criminal lawyer when she met her now husband Tim Robards on the inaugural season of The Bachelor back in twenty thirteen.

Once a camera stopped rolling, Anna found herself as half of one of the most publicly watched relationships in the country.

Or while she tried to navigate a career in the media while continually doubting herself behind the scenes.

Then after a stint on reality show Says Australia and a near fatal birth experience, Anna found her confidence and her voice.

I used to always say to herself, Oh why me?

But now I'm a bit more like, well, why not me?

Like I am in this industry?

Why can't I be on that?

On this episode of The Stellar Podcast, Anna reveals how a single sentence on a reality show changed her perspective on life, how she really feels about seeing her husband kiss other women, on TV and how that near fatal birth experience taught her to finally live in the moment.

Anna Robards, welcome to the Stellar Podcast.

Thank you for having me.

It's so nice to be chatting to you, so thank you.

Last time I saw you was not in a podcast situation.

We were at an event in Sydney.

But we're in different cities today.

I'm in the studio in Sydney and you're in the studio in the Gold Coast.

And the reason I'm giving our audience that context is Anna, because you and your husband Tim, along with your two children, only moved to the Gold Coaster, as I understand it, in June of this year, and since then you have taken thirty four between the Gold Coast and Sydney.

I mean it could be more.

By the time this episode drops, we could be getting closer to forty.

I was going to ask you, you've just listed your apartment for sale.

Why is that?

Or is the thirty flights in a matter of months a bit of a clue as to what the answer might be.

Yeah, it's definitely a clue.

I did not expect to be flying this much, I said to Tim before we came over to Queensland.

I said, we'll probably come over maybe once a month, and then and then when we got here, I was like why.

I did not realize we had so much work back in Sydney, and there was one week and actually this week as well, so actually two weeks that I've had to come back to Sydney three times.

So for me, that was a big part of it.

And also I kind of realized how much I missed my friends and family.

I love the Gold Coast and we still don't know what's going to happen.

We're still kind of a little bit in limbo.

We are selling our place, but it doesn't mean we're going to not stay in Queensland possibility.

But I really do miss my family.

I'm so close to my family, and it actually has been quite stressful these flights, as flying with kids, it's not easy.

I've got a five year old and a one and a half year old and flying with them.

Honestly, if I didn't have to do it again in these early stages, I wouldn't.

So definitely the flying and the family.

But it's beautiful up here and I've never actually lived in another state before, so to move here it was kind of I don't know.

It was really special and exciting, so but who knows where I'm going to be.

That is just so wild to think that you don't even know where you're going to be.

I mean, it sounds quite exciting.

Kind of like I'm a planner.

I'm a massive planner, so not knowing exactly where I'll be, I'm kind of heading more towards Sydney because that's it has been a bit of a struggle with work over here.

So my husband, he was away for a month in November through to the beginning of December, and that was really tough.

And I had the kids on my own, and it sounds like, oh, well, you are the mum, it should be okay, but it's a struggle.

Getting them out the door in the morning is actually really hard.

And I think I've just always had Tim to rely on, and this is the longest period that Tim has been away for ever, so and not to be able to go and see him for a month straight was yet really, really, really difficult.

But you make it work, you get through, and we survived.

It's such an interesting and timely conversation, I think in some ways, and the fact that you and Tim made this move and then you found that in reality, from a work perspective and also family, it just isn't practical.

It's a bit of a story of where we are as a society, where we are as a country, I think, and at the end of twenty twenty five, coming up to six years since the COVID pandemic and that whole idea of work being portable and of course for a lot of Australians that's proven to be true.

But as you and I both know, this conversation about hybrid working and working remotely and where is it actually at for different people in different careers and different sectors six years on, it sounds like you're really like a case saying it's not as easy as it sounds.

Yeah.

Well, my business partner she moved up here about a year and a half ago, and she had family up here, and she's someone in her line of work that it actually was okay to do that.

It worked for her.

But for me, I've just realized it's not it's really hard, and it doesn't mean I'll never come back or it's not like we're going to stay longer, but I just see whether it's potential in Sydney or I just didn't see the potential that I had when it came to work and what was really on offer.

And I think it really highlighted the fact that no, ac Anna, you actually do have a lot of work still, which is fantastic, and a lot of the work is in Sydney.

There is work up in the Gold Coast.

I've been doing little bits and pieces, but majority of my work is in Sydney.

I'd love to talk to you a little bit about the nature of that work, because this work that's keeping you very busy.

It's encompassing everything from running your own business as an entrepreneur, brand ambus at work, television and of course you are a lawyer.

That's your background.

When Australia first got to know you, when you were on The Bachelor where you met Tim in twenty thirteen, you were working as a lawyer.

Have you completely moved away from that career and is that a permanent decision?

Yeah, so I'm no longer a lawyer.

I didn't renew my practicing certificate and to me that was a little bit of a relief.

I was leaving school and again I said, didn't know what I wanted to do, and I did an arts degree, and I actually took a year off first and I went traveling because I didn't know what I wanted to do.

And then my dad was a lawyer, and I was like, well, maybe I'll do law, because then once you do law, hopefully you can get whatever job you want because you've got a law degree.

And I started working in a firm and I asked me to stay on.

So then I felt not that I felt trapped, but I was very thankful because I had a job, and I know a lot of people didn't have a job and they wanted a job at the time.

But I also felt like it was, as they say, you fall into things, and I really did feel like I fell into that job.

And then it was only probably a year or so later that I went and applied for the Bachelor, or my girlfriend applied for me, and from then on it was like a completely different story.

How does that play in and inform, if at all, the nature of the work that you do in an average week for you, which again I imagine even average week is probably nonexistent in some of the projects that you work on.

But how often would you be tapping Do you think into that background and that discipline that law degree would have given you.

I think I've had discipline my whole life.

I think I've never been someone who is just smart from the get go.

I feel like I really had to earn it.

I always had to study really hard for my exams.

It wasn't sort of that moment where I was like, oh, I'll just quickly read it the night before and I'm going to ace it, like I've really had to work for it.

And for me with the law degree, I really had to not only prove to myself but prove to others.

And that again was another reason why I actually wanted to go into law, because I didn't have the trust in myself that I could do it, but also the faith in myself that I could actually go out and get a law degree, because I've always had issues of self worth, and I think it's always stemmed from when I was a lot younger and I was called Barbie back in the day, and it wasn't a positive positive thing.

It was actually a really negative thing.

And it's probably only now that I am slightly a different person, and I feel like I'm probably changed more than I ever had.

In the last five years, than I have over my thirty five years, So I think time management as well.

For me back at school, that was a really big thing for me, but it's also today because time for me is like it stresses me out more than anything else.

And the only reason me and my partner fight is over time.

In what way are you very precise with time?

And he's the reverse.

Exactly Like I will turn up to things half an hour early.

I'll be sitting in the car just in case, because you never know what's going to happen.

It can be quite naked if where my husband might come back, and even though he'll probably be ready at the right time, to me, I can't see that he'll come back and he'll want to go on the sauna or go for a quick workout session and we're literally leaving in half an hour.

So it is so stressful to me, and that's something I've got to work on because it triggers me more than anything else.

No, I think the whole concept of time blindness is really fascinating and how it plays out in different dynamics.

Totally because I'm like that, even though I'm very punctual, I don't want other people to be punctual.

It's more it's more me, and I think I never want to disappoint people.

So for me turning up an hour late or half an hour late to something, I don't want to disappoint that person to or feel like it's rude.

So that's for me a big thing.

I never want to sort of let people down.

So and with some of the work that you're doing, for instance on the podcast, is that something that you think you eventually would have found your way to anyway in a non bachelor world.

I don't think so.

I really do think this has like stemmed from me taking that risk initially.

And I always do think that when you step out of your comfort zone and you take that risk, good things happen.

And I can see it in certain people that I'm friends with that if they just stuck in that one situation or that one position or that one role and they're too afraid to get out of even though I've heard them complain about it so many times, and that could have been me if I didn't take this opportunity or this risk.

I have so much doubt in myself from no matter what I do, from starting the business.

So I've got my business into wellness and I've got a business partner and she kind of we came together, but I was still afraid.

I was still so afraid to even start my own business, and like my podcast, I was like, no one's going to want to buy this?

Why are they going to want to buy from me?

Or why is someone going to want to listen to my podcast?

And I've just had that my whole life and it's only now that I'm gradually even I think the podcast and having a business has really helped that to get me out of that fear state.

Or even one thing that I've learned and I actually learned this on sas was anticipation is worse than participation.

I think that actually goes for all aspects of your life.

Because I was so worried about everything and it hadn't even happened.

It was like I was in this fear state of mind all the time, and that's why I didn't want to venture out and get out of where I was, even though I wasn't completely happy with where I was, but I was so afraid to do it, and it was always this in my mind, like, oh, this is going to be so hard, this is going to be so scary, but it hadn't even happened.

And I like to think that I'm I'm not one hundred percent out of that state of mind, like I still feel there's a time doubt still sort of creeps in.

So it's crazy when you actually do put yourself and get yourself out of your comfort zone.

Like I said, good things happen.

I love the fact that Says played a role in turning that around.

SAS actually changed my life.

Going into SAS, I again, I was like, oh, I'm going to get out on the first day.

I'm going to get out on the second day.

I don't even want to do this.

I actually didn't even want to do it.

I remember I was ten months before I had my daughter l and so I was pushing her in the park and I got the call about SAS and they said, would you want to go on this show?

And I was like, no, that's the only show I do not want to go on, absolutely not.

And I said, thank you, but I'll look, I'll think about it, but I'm not going to go on that show.

And then I got off the phone and my husband was there and I was chatting to him, but I said, oh, they want me to go on, says, but I'm not going on it, and he's like, no, Anna, let's think about this, like this could be great for your personal growth.

And I was like, oh God, why do you always do this to me, Tim, But it's so annoying.

He's like the person of reason that I definitely needed in my life.

So we spoke through it and eventually I was like, you know what, this is going to be a challenge I'll never get again.

So I'm so thankful that I got this opportunity and how much changed who I was as a person.

And you've really proven that because the fact that both professionally and personally, your life has taken all these twists and turns that you could never have foreseen.

I go to coffee cut readers once a year.

He's a Turkish coffee cut reader and it's kind of like my therapy, and so I go to him and I kind of get an idea of what's to come, and even if it doesn't turn out or eventuate into anything, it kind of gives me a little bit of peace of mind.

And I remember maybe four or five years ago, he said, oh, you're going to go into wellness and I was like, Oh no, no, I'm not.

There's no way I'm going to be doing wellness.

Like my husband's very much into that.

But at the time I was like, there's no way, Like maybe a bit of fashion, maybe a bit of this and a bit of that, but not wellness.

And now I'm literally in wellness.

And it's so crazy to think that that time where I was like there's no way, and now I'm completely in the world of wellness as well.

Like I do a lot of different things, but my podcast is all about wellness.

We're speaking all about longevity and things like that, which kind of blows my mind to think at that time I was like no way.

And now here we are.

And coming up and a surprising answer about how she really feels watching her husband kiss all the women on TV.

How do you navigate two big careers, especially one for him that can take him away sometimes overseas for a month and for you, as discussed, you're also hopping around on planes.

Well, actually, before the last of six months to a year, it actually has been really manageable because we are both at home.

We did find love on TV and we were a couple, but I think from the get go we wanted to have our own careers, and we wanted to be individual people, and I think that's what has I think helped us continue to do what we do and we're not just known as a couple of Tim and Annas.

So it has been probably more difficult over the last year when it comes to travel, and my husband has been doing a lot of things that have sort of taken him away.

He probably has been probably work commitments for about three months of this year, whether that's filming or whatever he may be doing.

You know what, Like I can complain about and sit here and say how hard it is, but you kind of just have to deal with it.

And I feel like we're so fortunate with what we're doing.

I don't want to complain.

I try it.

There's times where it's harder than other days, but at the same time we make it work.

And sometimes I feel really guilty as one where I'm like, I'm in Sydney three times this week overnight, so I might have to get a babysitter for that, but I'm like, that is my work.

And as I say, like you try and balance as best you can, You're never going to have equal amounts of balance.

But I think over sort of the year over sort of.

Well, hopefully your lifetime you do have an equal amount of balance, But right now it might be more work, and then maybe next year, if we have a bit of more free time, it will be maybe more ourselves and our kids and things like that.

So I truly believe I live a balanced life.

But it's just not in equal portions at all times.

I mean, especially a few years ago, Anna, when you and Tim were on the cover of Stella, he said he would really love to be James Bond.

I mean, there's no one being past as James Bond at the moment.

Bit of talk, give it to him, give it to him, Come on and here.

Do you what role do you see him?

Or do you see more like an action star, like a James Bond, or more like a romantic comedy leading man.

I think he could do both.

I really do.

I see him as James Bond.

He'll love you saying that, But he's worked really hard, and I think a lot of people see that.

He might be giving these opportunities and things like that, but it's not without a lot of work behind it.

He did get that role in Neighbors and he was there for two years.

And I was actually pregnant at the time, and he had to leave that role because he was worried that the borders were shut and he wasn't going to be there for the arrival of our first girl, eld But since then he hadn't had a role for years, and it was quite stressful and it really got him down.

And it was years and years, and he was doing all these auditions and when you're an actor, you're doing these auditions for no money.

You are spending so much time on these lines, so it could be a good two three days a week to do an audition, and then you don't get it.

You never hear back, and it can be so disheartening.

And I saw that.

And there were some roles that he was so close to, and I was like, oh, there was one that was like a bay Watch one where he was up there and it was probably between him and someone else and the other person got the role.

He actually works hard and he's really good.

He's been in front of some of the best in the beers and for him to get this role is really incredible.

But also we do so many other things as well, so it's kind of cool that he then gets to do that, but then he gets to do other things and that kind of keeps us in line and kind of keeps the work coming in and at least we get paid if he's not getting any acting roles.

I mean, the acting industry is tough, but particularly in a country like Australia, our industry, for all the fabulously talented people that we have here working in our own shores and of course that we showcase internationally, the work isn't as plentiful as we would like, and a lot of people, most Australian actors do have to supplement it with other work, you know, being waiters or uber drivers.

So I think the fact that you know, Tim's got other revenue streams that know no shade on uber drivers or waiters, but are not involving that is really fantastic.

I've always said to him when he does get and he doesn't get this role, I'm like, you're in such a fortunate position that you do have other income coming in.

You're going to get that break.

Because if he did want to quit a year or two ago because he wasn't going to get anything, then he wouldn't have got the role that he got now.

And he has been so close, so I think he's just going to keep going and keep giving it a go, because, yeah, because he can.

With Tim working in a romantic comedy, I'm assuming he's had to do romantic scenes with other women on screen.

How does that feel for you?

I met him when he was dating twenty four other women, so I don't know if I can.

I don't know if I can complain, but I don't know.

I think out of sight, out of mind, I probably don't really want to see it, and I just have to have trust in him that when he goes in to do that role, it's a role, and it's a role only, and you don't get you don't serve bridge those boundaries and take it outside that role.

And I really do have trust in him, and I feel and my full confidence that he will keep it to that.

So at this point I've had no reason to worry about that.

And even if he had to have a lot of kissing scenes, he doesn't really tell me about them that much like on Neighbors, I didn't really want to hear about it, and he didn't really tell me.

So I was, like I said, out of sight, out of mind.

You and Tim, of course, met in the inaugural season of The Bachelor Australia and still together.

More recently in Australia, we've seen The Golden Bachelor its inaugural season and I really wanted to ask Youana, had you watched any of it?

What do you think of the concept?

And even from the conversation around at Samantha Armitage launched a show here on the Stellar podcast earlier this year, we spoke a lot about how the narrative is so different when it's people in their forties, fifties and sixties looking for love as opposed to people in their twenties and thirties, as say you and Tim were.

Yeah, I agree with that, but it was funny because I did watch it and I just saw so many similarities even though they were women in their fifty sixties.

I was like, that was us.

We were just younger.

But it was funny because you still act the same way when you're in a house with a bunch of women or a bunch of girls.

It was just it was bizarre because I was like, yes, they are fifty sixty, but I'm like, I can see I can see me in those women and being in that house.

But I think it is they are in a different situation in terms of where they are in their life, and they have had that worldly experience and that life experience, which is really nice to see.

Like I really enjoyed it.

I really thought it was nice.

Coming from a different perspective.

Kind of brought me back because there was a time I probably watched a number of seasons after our season, and then I kind of stopped watching.

I don't know, I felt like it had changed a lot from the first one.

And I remember they always when it comes to the first one, they really want you to fall in love, they really and they also they didn't know what to expect, like going and that's why I said to my boss.

I was like, do I have a job to come back to you?

Because this could go terribly wrong.

I want to make sure that I don't come out and I'm like the laughing stock.

And I really didn't know.

My dad didn't want me to go on the show.

He was really worried, and so was I.

And I remember going in and I remember seeing all the women and we only had our phone for probably an hour or so before they confiscated the phone and I called my mom.

I was like, oh my gosh, Eryl models like, oh, I feel so awkward in here, Like I just don't know if I'm in the right place.

And everyone just looked like these models to me, and I just felt very insecure at that point because you are competing against other women.

But then as time went on, I was a border and so I was and I have two sisters, so I've always surrounded myself with girls, and I've always been surrounded by girls and women, and so for me being in that situation, I felt quite comfortable.

And I didn't get jealous because I never thought it was me.

I kind of just kept going and I was like, hey, the next week rolled on, the next week, and I just and then it kind of got to the end I was like, it could be me, but I still didn't know if it was me, and I still didn't want to put that in my head because I'm this is one thing that I'm working on as well.

But I used to always think the worst and hope for the best, so I was always quite negative in my mind about where I am or what the situation was.

So even towards the end, I was like, I don't think it's me.

I don't think it's me, and then it was me, so it was Yeah, it's very it's crazy that it was twelve years ago, and it's I think having kids shows me how time flies.

Like I know time goes quickly, but when you have kids, that kind of puts that on a big pedestal, and it shows that you kind of got to start living your life to the fullest, like every year, because that's how I feel now.

I'm forty next year, and I'm kind of thinking, Okay, what more can I do?

Like I do really feel like I'm starting my life now, and that in the past five years I've changed more than I ever have.

And I think that's just because of having kids, the business that I'm doing, and all those things combined.

I've done more in these five years as well than I ever have.

So it's exciting.

When you gave birth to your second child, it was actually a really traumatic birth experience, and I know you have spoken about that before, Anon, I just wondered if that experience had played a role into shifting that mindset about everything you've achieved in that five years.

And as you're coming up to your fortieth birthday, of course, as you said, you beautiful five year old Ell and then this was when Ruby was born in only in March of last year, actually, and what a terrifying experience.

You know, at one point, you know there was huge blood loss and you know Tim was told at the hospital that you know, there was a bleed that could have been fatal.

How has that changed, if at all, your sense of mortality and urgency and priorities, and just given hearing that tone and what you're saying that there's a sense of really wanting to achieve and extract as much as you can out of life.

I think that's definitely something that has also changed my perspective on things.

I had an emergency cesarean first time around, and so second time around, I was like, I'm going to go in for another cesarean because of the time gap, and I was like, I'm going to do it.

It's all gonna be fine.

I'm gonna come out because the first one was quite stressful as well, and I thought it was all going to be perfect, it was going to be rainbows and butterflies.

I'm just gonna hold my baby and it's going to be amazing, and you kind of forget how dangerous childbirth can really be.

And you hear about women they're going in they're going to give birth, but the stories they're all so different, and I didn't realize what my story would be, and I it was.

It was one of those things where I felt like my husband felt felt it more than I did, because he was there on the outside looking in versut me.

Just I had to just roll with the punches like I honestly was just.

I had given birth and it was all good.

I called my dad, we said, everything has gone brilliantly.

He called the extended family.

He told them how well it went.

And it was probably half an hour later that the wound where they cut me open was like swelling up with blood and it just it wouldn't stop.

And so my obstetrician, who I love, came down and he looked at it.

He kind of felt around.

He's like, oh, I think he'll be okay.

There might be a blood clot in there.

We'll kind of work on that.

And then he went back and thankfully I was in as north Shore Private, and I was so glad I gave birth then because he could come up and down then had to come down a second time and kind of realized this was really quite serious, but didn't also know the extent of it.

So he just said, oh, we're just going to go back in there.

We're just going to re sit you up then, and he told my husband He said it would be maybe half an hour or so, and then went back in.

Tim had to hold Ruby and take care of Ruby, and then I went back in and it wasn't I think it was around two hours or so later, and he kind of came out and his face was quite white because I don't think he realized how stressful this situation was and how fatal, like you said it was going to be.

And he literally said, you could prick me with a pin and I would have bled out, like I lost two leaders of blood.

I had no clotting factors at all.

And then after that I was in ICU and I had a big balloon in my stomach and was so painful and I couldn't move or do anything that was to make sure that I wasn't going to bleed out.

And so it wasn't a nice experience, that's for sure.

But I don't know.

I try not to dwell on it, to be honest, I really it was a situation that it could have been fatal, but I don't want to think about that so much.

I kind of see now that where I am, I'm like every day that I want to live like, I want to have a good mindset.

Mindset to me is huge and be really positive.

And I think overall probably ninety eight percent of my day is positive or just I'm not putting myself in that negative state of mind or leaning towards those situations that could really bring me down.

And sometimes I get there and I have to get my husband and he talks me through it, and he'll get me out of that state, and he's like, you've got to realize that this is actually not that important.

I feel like there's so much more to come.

Have you got any dream guests coming up?

I mean, I was thinking maybe you should try for Kim kardashi In because she is trying to get into a career as a lawyer.

She's been sitting in the bar and I feel like, you know, she's sort of wanting to move into that direction, and meanwhile, you've gone in the other direction.

You're sort of, you know, in taking over from Kim Kay.

Well, she's knocking at the door trying to get into a loss and maybe bring her on and you can think.

So, yeah, we're very aligned.

We both started in reality, so that's the start.

We both well.

I passed my legal my legal exams, so I could give her a few pointers if she wanted them.

But yeah, she should, she should come on, and she could learn a lot from me.

She really she can help me in the business side.

You know, this is the thing.

It could be, you know, a bit of give and take.

But I think it's so true.

You know, the privilege of meeting different people and talking to different people, and of course this is why we do what we do.

It's storytelling and there's something to be learned from every person that you speak to.

And without sounding you know, a bit giddy about it, but it is true.

And so of course you know you're learning different skills and perspectives as you go, but then also living through certain things like the birth of your two children and what you went through with the birth of Ruby.

They're also formative experiences.

So exactly.

And I feel like all opinions are valid whether or not you agree with them.

I think they're still valid.

So I love hearing people's perspectives, whether or not I agree on it.

But I do.

I do really like hearing it because sometimes I think a certain way, but then I speak to someone, I'm like, oh, you know, like my opinion has changed based on that conversation.

So I think it is about being very open and everyone that is listening to certain people on podcasts or wherever it may be, even if you don't agree, be open to like absorbing that information so you can take that on and then you can use it and you don't always have to agree, but you've got to be open.

You were talking earlier about turning forty next year and some of the things that you'd like to achieve.

Are you somebody that has a five year plan or some version of that?

Looking ahead to you know what maybe the forecast is, you know, the psychic prediction for the twelve months ahead, what's on the big ideas dream list where life.

Might take you next?

For Ana Robots, Well just on that.

My husband he also went to the coffee cup reader and he said that he would do acting.

And whether or not it was that moment, well, I know it was that moment that he started doing lessons and practicing and doing all that he It was literally from that moment.

So I don't know if it was there was a sign, but sometimes when you do hear that, then you're more likely to start trying it out and actually giving it a go.

But for me, I actually I don't have a five year plan.

I think what I've learned in this industry is that you never know what's going to come up.

Like I've got I've got a business plan.

So we've actually got some new products which are going to be Australian first in skincare coming out next year.

And to be honest, like where that came from almost came out of nowhere.

So my husband and we definitely don't fly business all the time, but in this particular instance, he was flying business class and he was speaking to a businessman next to him and they had this really incredible conversation and he basically has this technology that he was like, oh, this would be great for you, Tim, like you could help do this and that.

And now that we were in conversations with him about this technology which we are now going to be bringing out next year.

So it just shows how crazy life can be.

And one day you think you're on this certain trajectory or this certain path, or you have this plan and things are just thrown into the woodworks in a really positive way.

So I think for me, it's more about being open to opportunities and with business.

Like I said, you can have like a plan, but honestly, our business plan a year ago is completely different to our business plan right now.

And I think it's just continuing to grow day by day and be open, be really open to the opportunities that are actually out there.

And just for me, I just I feel I don't know, I just feel just completely different, like a different weight is.

I don't have that weight on my shoulders of like something bringing me down where I can't achieve things.

So without being arrogant, I feel like anything is possible and I really want to kind of continue on that path.

No, I don't think that sounds arrogant at all.

I think living with the energy and mindset that anything is possible is really encouraging and inspiring to hear from somebody because also that's what your recent life has shown.

You expected opportunities presented themselves, and you were open to them.

And I mean that goes all the way back to when you your friend first put you forward to go on the Bachelor.

I mean imagine how things would have played out there.

I actually don't that I don't know who I would be.

I really don't.

I think I would be still in one sort of job and too afraid to do anything.

But I actually don't know what sort of person I would be.

And I say, I've changed so much in the last five years, but it's in a positive way.

It's not.

It's not you know how when people say, oh, she's changed, I'm hope.

Well, I hope I've changed in a really positive way.

I do believe that it.

Sounds like it because I think the fact that you've been so hard on yourself and have struggled with that self doubt, the fact that you're coming out of that, it's got to be a great thing.

I think it's a great thing.

But you've kept that, You've kept the core of who you are there.

I don't think when people when you say that, it's not as though it's like, oh, don't even recognize her anymore.

You don't have that or about you.

No, No, and my core values are still the same.

But I used to say, and any job that I worked on, and I've been lucky enough to be on a number of Stella's covers, and I used to always say to myself, Oh, why me, But now I'm a bit more like, well why not me?

Like I am in this industry, why can't I be on that?

But I've always brought myself down, So I think that is a really positive thing.

And like I said, I'm not fully there.

I think I'm going to continue to grow, like for the rest of my life, and I'm going to continue to evolve and change into different people based on my experiences and the people that I meet along the way.

And also I'd never wanted to do I think I've done about three podcasts in my life something like that, Like like I've rarely done podcast because I was too afraid to go on them because I I used to say, like, why is anyone I'm going to want to listen to?

I don't have anything valid to say.

But knowing that, I'm like, Okay, now I actually feel confident enough because I feel like I do have things that maybe people want to hear.

And that was me starting a podcast.

I was like, I don't really want to start this podcast because like this is just crazy, And that was the same of going on a podcast.

So yeah, definitely different, definitely different.

Well, I'm very glad that you that you came on this podcast.

I was thinking before when you were saying you and Tim don't travel business class all the time.

Now if he gets cast as James Bond, you'll be flying first class all the way.

We better, we better wait?

How long has it been?

Hasn't it been about five or six years to keep talking about this new James Bond?

But I know he's really he's got to get an audition.

Yeah, anyway, those Bond casting directors have got to hustle along.

You know.

My final question is I was just thinking when you were talking about if you hadn't taken that opportunity to go on The Bachelor.

I mean, it's like the sliding doors moment.

Everyone has them in their life.

It's impossible to ask.

And of course it's a hypothetical because it's not going to happen because he did go on it and we know how it played out.

But if you know, indulge me to go in hypothetical land for a moment.

I think, as with the sliding doors scenario, sometimes when things don't happen when they're meant to, sometimes they might happen at another time.

I wonder, with the given the Golden Bachelor, if neither you or Tim had gone on The Bachelor the inaugural series in twenty thirteen and mad and fallen in love and built the family and the partnership that you have in the twelve years since, do you think that you both might have ended up there in your fifties or sixties and maybe been Australia's Golden Bachelor a couple.

Well maybe maybe.

But it's funny because Tim and I actually worked on so my girlfriend who actually signed me up for The Bachelor, she worked in events and we had this one event and we both worked at that event.

This is prior to going on The Bachelor, and we both didn't look at each other at all.

It wasn't like, oh I like him or he liked me, and so I think it was really like the right time and it was just something about that moment that was we both were drawn to that situation and I probably would still be single, So yeah, I probably would go on The Golden Bachelor, but I just think it was the right time for both of us because when we're at that event, we didn't even look at each other or And another thing that the bachelor does is it allows you to actually get to know someone.

So on the outside we worked an event, we didn't look at each other, didn't even like, don't even think I think we had actually a photo that came out like originally I think it was the Telly or something that had a photo of me.

My arm was over tim like this was at the event, and it looked like we'd known each other, but we didn't speak to each other at all that time.

But it allowed us to get to know each other.

So it was a really positive thing because if we'd met outside, which we did, or even at a party or something because we were living in the same sort of area, I just don't think it would have happened.

So this forced us to get to know each other on a deeper level, and that's why it worked.

That's right.

It played out exactly as it was meant to be.

If it was a movie, there would be the opening scenes where you were in the same room but never overlapped or connect, all leading to the moment that it was meant to happen when.

Exactly and right timing for everything.

I really do believe that about timing now, and there's certain things in this industry.

You kind of you do compare yourself, and I'm trying to get rid of that side of me because I don't because you're always like, oh, why did she get that job?

Why didn't I get that job?

Things like that.

You're constantly comparing yourself to everybody else that is out there.

Well, that's me, and I'm trying to again get rid of that.

My husband's like, just it's the thief of joy comparison, as they say, And I truly agree with that now, but it is it's kind of I don't know.

I think you've just got to sort of stay in your own lane and know that things are going to happen when they do happen and it's the right timing for you.

So many things have kind of happened.

I was like, oh, why didn't I get that?

And then I'm like, I see it now, I see why I didn't get that, and I see because I'm doing what I'm doing now and I love it.

And I think it's just don't get disheartened when certain things don't happen at that time, because it's probably just not the right time, agreed.

And I think that's a really nice message for all of us to think about it this time of year too, as we're reflecting on the year that was and looking a little bit forward to the year ahead.

So we may see you back in Sydney at some point, or you may be staying in beautiful Queensland.

But whatever happens, I wish you all the best.

Anna.

And if you'd like to find out more about Anna, you can find a link to her Instagram in our show notes.

Anna, thanks so much for joining me today on the Stellar Podcast.

Thank you so much for having me.

It's been a pleasure.

Thank you for joining me today.

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